What I’m Watching: Person of Interest

Person of Interest: Season 4, Episode 19 “Search and Destroy” (B+)

When someone’s life is being destroyed by an unexpectedly and impossibly specific hack, is anyone but an artificial intelligence to blame? It was interesting to have Khan as a guest character in this hour since he was actually capable of understanding what both Samaritan and the machine are, even though he didn’t live long enough to be able to do something to stop one or both of them. It was funny to see the team eating Chinese food and debating the idea of bringing him in, something that never would have worked out, mainly because he has the technical prowess possessed by Finch and Root but not the heart or do-gooder nature that guides them in their pursuit of helping ordinary people. It’s disconcerting to learn that Samaritan was pretending to search for viruses and instead searching for the machine, meaning it is one step closer to overtaking the good side. Greer shooting Khan for his arrogance and smoking in celebration means that he’s getting cocky, but for good reason. Martine getting permission to kill Root is troubling, but fortunately Root is just as set on killing her, so the score is about even right now. Root stealing the briefcase by smoking out the restaurant with no help from the machine was impressive, and it’s a relief to see that her temporary feud with Finch has been resolved simply by the nature of the circumstances in which they find themselves. It was a pleasure to see Zoe again, swooping in to be eyes and ears in a meeting and commenting to Reese about his new romance while flirting off the charts with him.