What I’m Watching: Person of Interest

Person of Interest: Season 4, Episode 6 “Pretenders” (B)

This may not have been the show’s most impressive installment, but it did manage to make both of its plotlines very relevant, a loaded word for this show, in a way that I didn’t see coming. The character of Walter Dang, a.k.a. Detective Forge, felt unnecessary since our heroes already have plenty of opportunities to wow the people they’re helping in a way that doesn’t make their numbers feel so much like groupies. That said, it was endearing to learn that Walter invented his secret identity because he had been inspired by the Man in the Suit and felt the need to step up in light of his disappearance. I’m not sure how everything that happened with Walter didn’t lead Samaritan to discover Reese and Shaw and everything they were up to, but I guess they managed to stay mostly irrelevant. What we did get was Elias returning as more of a villain before coming to the aid of Reese and everyone when they most needed him, and, more crucially, the return of Dominic, which I did see coming but still found satisfying. Those two criminals and their enterprises are going to be this season’s HR while the more potent threat, Samaritan, looms large like Vigilance did in season three. In Hong Kong, Finch found himself a wonderful companion in Jessica Hecht’s Beth Bridges, and the episode turned their romantic banter, highlighted by Finch quite atypically using violence to recover their stolen possessions, into something much more laced with deception. What this means is that Finch has figured out a way to try to spy on Samaritan, at least indirectly for now, and let’s hope he doesn’t get too attached to the tech genius whose laptop he just bugged.