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It’s pretty clear that detective and private eye thrillers on TV aren’t going anywhere, so those that want to survive a full marketplace need something to give them a unique identity. Person of Interest placed its bet on some heady ideas of vigilante justice, the growing surveillance state, and the emergence of true artificial intelligence. As the series has gone along, the show has transitioned from a case-of-the-week format into a higher-stakes serial adventure, adding characters as quickly as subplots. The fourth season, with its heroes on the run and shadow war raging between rival AIs, ramps up the action and tension, resulting in a very satisfying run of episodes.
Computer programmer Harold Finch (Michael Emerson) has built The Machine, an AI that’s tied into every surveillance system and database with an Internet connection and can predict acts of violence before they happen. He and his colleagues, former black ops specialists Reese (Jim Cavaziel) and Shaw (Sarah Shahi), along with New York cop Fusco (Kevin Chapman) and hacker Root (Amy Acker), act on leads provided by The Machine to counteract criminal activity at all levels of society. Now a conspiracy within the government has unleashed Samaritan, a powerful and ruthless AI that seeks to control society and whose aggressive tactics have forced The Machine and its operatives into hiding.
Even that description leaves out a lot of moving parts in the series, giving you some sense of how much bigger the action has gotten since the early seasons, which featured two mysterious guys and a computer playing Robin Hood in the big, bad city. The fourth season isn’t the most hospitable jumping-on point for new viewers, but it pays great rewards to those who’ve stuck with the show through the previous three years. Along with the threat of Samaritan, The Machine team must also navigate a gang war between the show’s best recurring bad guy, Elias (Enrico Colantoni), and the Brotherhood led by the charismatic Dominic (Winston Duke).
Despite dealing with some heavy concepts and a somewhat tangled knot of subplots and characters, Person of Interest certainly hasn’t forgotten to keep things fun. The actors and writers have had a chance to flesh out what started as pretty broad characters, and along the way they’ve learned how to play them off each other. A brilliant midseason episode takes place from The Machine’s perspective, running various simulations during a moment of crisis that eventually breaks down into the actors spouting descriptions instead of dialogue along the lines of “coolly delivered sadistic warning” and “funny yet insightful retort.” The sequence plays out brilliantly, and it’s a measure of how well-drawn the characters have become that you can imagine exactly what they’re describing.
Person of Interest faces a lot of competition, and catching up with the complicated story may be daunting for newcomers, but thanks to a great mix of characters and some clever storytelling, it’s worth the extra effort. While it maintains some of its familiar genre trappings, it’s evolved into one of the best techno-noir thrillers on TV—and one that you can easily pick out of the crowd.
DVD Review:
Person of Interest: The Complete Fourth Season presents all 22 episodes in a pretty decent transfer for SD. You won’t find any commentaries, but there are a couple of featurettes on the music and one of the new sets that offer some nice behind-the-scenes material. There’s also a gag reel, but the one thing that fans should definitely check out is the show’s 2014 Comic Con panel, which provides some nice insight into the actors and creators, along with the show’s various themes.
