What I’m Watching: Person of Interest

Person of Interest: Season 3, Episode 13 “4C” (A-)

This episode felt like an entire movie, and I’m so impressed on a number of levels. In recent weeks, this show has focused on its auxiliary cast to demonstrate just how resilient it is in the wake of one of its main characters’ deaths. Yet this hour was all about the one who took a backseat to Shaw and Root recently, and who demonstrated his awesomeness by reluctantly helping to save someone’s life from multiple attackers. The fact that the machine rearranged Reese’s flight itinerary so that he would be there to help stop the threat was fantastic, and it makes this show so unbelievably interesting, even more so than ever before. Shaw going to see Hersh and drugging him to have a calm and productive conversation also helped to linked her back into things, and to show just how enthralling it is to have them working to prevent a national security threat and not something more individualized. I had the added benefit of watching this episode on a plane during my flight to Salt Lake City for the Sundance Film Festival, and that made its events all the more thrilling. This hour didn’t let up, keeping the action going as new assailants revealed themselves. It also gave Reese a trustworthy ally who didn’t turn out to be a bad guy, which was great, and they even got to see each other in Rome and leave the door for any future interaction. Reese battling another version of himself was cool, but nearly as satisfying as his request to join Finch on his plane ride home after being fitted for a new suit.