What I’m Watching: Person of Interest

Person of Interest: Season 4, Episode 2 “Nautilus” (B+)

I’ll continue to praise this show for tremendous performance under pressure, meaning that it hasn’t showed any signs of letting up while its characters are in crisis mode. In fact, the end of this episode signaled that the show is returning to its familiar format through an entirely different lens, with Finch operating out of an abandoned subway car where Samaritan can’t hope to find him. I love seeing what everyone is up to as they try to maintain their covers, Shaw trying to hold in her extreme talents while operating as a low-level criminal, Reese using his badge to help him out of more than a few jams, Fusco proving to be quite handy when it comes to word jumbles, Finch seeing a younger version of himself in Claire, and Root doing whatever the hell she wants, namely kidnapping pilots so that she can pose as a flight attendant. Claire was an effective number because she was utterly unconcerned with the dangers of what she was doing, intent on completing the game and unfortunately now serving as the perfect recruit. It’s amazing to me how much the artificial intelligence beings on this show are capable of, as Samaritan put together that game for Claire and others to prove their resourcefulness and demonstrate competence for the future doing of Samaritan’s bidding. It’s good to see the team back together again, but they have quite formidable competition to go up against, and let’s hope that Finch’s precious machine is up to the task of helping them defeat it.