Person Of Interest
Okay so my new TV series enthusiasm is quite definately “Person of Interest”.
oooh yeah..
Seriously I just inhaled season 1 and I am scrabbling to watch season two (thankyou thankyou net gods and your access to US Hulu and Netflix - I so cannot understand why we can't just pay the studio directly to watch the damn episode on the internet..is my money not good enough?)..
I will stick things under a cut because I don't want to spoiler people who may be in the process of watching..
I had been wondering for some time what new TV thing I would latch onto. As there seems to be a void at present where decent TV used to be. NCIS has gone a bit wierd, there isn't enough Psych to keep me happy, and most of my other favourites have finished their run. I gave up on C.S.I. in all its formats a while back because, and I don't know if anyone eles noticed this, but I noticed when they ran through all their story plotlines and started again. I mean yeah they have a mix and match of characters sometimes its the girl, sometimes the boyfriend but its the same plot line. (seriously, Channel 5 did a CSI marathon of CSI, New York and Miami.. the three episodes they ran were all the same plot line... I was goign 'But I just watched this?'). I have this I have this theory that all American Who-dunnits whether its Perry Mason or CSI all pull their storylines from a massive bible/file of Who-dunnit plot lines.. because whether its diagnosis murder or Without a trace, the same plot lines come up in almost the same format every single time. .. of course it could just be that I have seen Waaay to many series.. and after a while it makes you .. well you know.. a bit weird. but still..
Anyway sorry back to Person of Interest.
I like it .. I like it a lot. mainly I think because like early NCIS it has character.. or rather the characters have character and it happens they are doing this stuff but they have character while doing it.
It also helps that the series is very much like one i used to watch back in the 80's called "The Equalizer" staring Edward Woodward (god rest his soul). How's about that to show my age. The series works the trope of Ex-CIA operative who wants to "do good". It also actually harkens back to the days of the Cold War, where information is the key. The whole set up of POI is a spook’s wet dream and nightmare all rolled into one.
The basics of the series if you haven’t encountered it yet is.. “John Reese” is an ex Army Ranger, Ex CIA wet works man. Very good at his job, he is a patriot, but liek a lot of patriots he had to do a lot of very nasty things and it was destroying his soul. in the end it got between him and something he did care about. and he quit. then spent his time slowly going to pieces living as a vagrant in New York. getting into fights and generally attempting to commit suicide by thug/cop.
Enter into his life Harold Finch, very rich, reclusive man, with a stiff neck and a limp. Who, after some persuasion hires Reese to help him with some work. Mr Finch has the social security number of a "Person of Interest" this person will be involved in a violent crime in the near future. The catch is that Finch does not know if they are the perpetrator of a dastardly crime, or a victim of a dastardly crime. It's up to them (Finch and Reese) to figure this out and help or hinder in a way comensurate to the level of trouble involved.
I have only seen the first season so far, have started on the second season but taking a bit of time over that to savour it a little:).
This is a really fun series. I wasn't sure I liked it to start with, but then i found that the charcaters are actually quite catchy. It of course helps that Jim Caviezel is tall dark and rugged.. but thats just me being hormonal :D:D:D.
I like the fact that the tech is "just over the hill" science. The computer is a logical extrapolation of the tech already freely available. Pattern matching, database retrieval, face matching etc are already being used. Its just a case of having a system powerful enough to pull it all together and do soemthing with it.
Finches' development of the program and how it works is also within the boundaries of belief up to a point.
Another thing I am liking is the use of violence in the series. Reese uses only uses the necessary amount of force required if he has to engage in any combat. He thinks things through and engages in a combat style that will suit what he wants the outcome to be.. e.g. his preffered style of close combat is to allow the opponent to threaten him with a gun.. which he proceeds to take away from them and then shoot them in the legs. Possibly even shooting all their friends too. Hand to Hand tends to be quick decisive and not to flashy, reflecting his actual training.
The series is intelligent TV. both Reese and Finch are not beyond bribing people black mailing them in some cases kidnappign them, and generally doing what they must to get the desired outcome. Alwasy of course with an overall benevolence in hand. Finch thinks nothing of cracking peoples wifi, computers, phones what ever to watch and monitor them (all things which are illegal and ethically hazy).
I also find the irony of the "batcave" for "Team Machine" to be a Library.. the bastion of information that is secure from electronic hackery because it is "obselete technology"..
But yes I am finding the series to be intelligent with intelligent people doing what they do with intelligence. I am sorry but I find stupid smart people tedious. It’s a “quirky stereotype” that’s only amusing for about a total of 30 seconds… (this is why I am going off the later part of the Big Bang Theory.. the characters are getting stupider and stupider.. the only “funny” being that they are smart peopled doing stupid things:/ …). I also like the fact that episodes have effects on other episodes. Reese has a “bag-o-guns” he picked up in the first episode which gets handed around. He picks up stuff which he uses in other episodes (particularly drug stashes) we often see recurring characters in the precincts etc. its nice to have a “universe” rather than a ‘Stage’.. Also it is filmed in and around New York.. (going back to a conversation someone in fandom had about the "alleys" of New York" which don't exist.. POI spends all its time in parks, on streets and in warehouses... I think i have only seen 1 "alley" and it was a very very short one, more of a bin recess than an alley). I am guessing by the lighting that its done in early mornings/evenings
Characters are also developing, especially the sub-characters, Fusco and Carter go from secondary characters to almost as important as the main characters in their character archs.. because Finch and Reese are naturally so secretive the story has to be filled with some personal development so they get the character expansion stuff. But this in itself is used to help ease out little bits of background about Reese and Finch. Indeed through the arch of the series “Team Machine” goes from just two people with associates, to four people working on the lists and helping people.
POI is a very nice series, I know it's got a third series I am hopign that it gets to have a good run because its interesting and just different enough to other mainstream stuff that it stands out.
oooh yeah..
Seriously I just inhaled season 1 and I am scrabbling to watch season two (thankyou thankyou net gods and your access to US Hulu and Netflix - I so cannot understand why we can't just pay the studio directly to watch the damn episode on the internet..is my money not good enough?)..
I will stick things under a cut because I don't want to spoiler people who may be in the process of watching..
I had been wondering for some time what new TV thing I would latch onto. As there seems to be a void at present where decent TV used to be. NCIS has gone a bit wierd, there isn't enough Psych to keep me happy, and most of my other favourites have finished their run. I gave up on C.S.I. in all its formats a while back because, and I don't know if anyone eles noticed this, but I noticed when they ran through all their story plotlines and started again. I mean yeah they have a mix and match of characters sometimes its the girl, sometimes the boyfriend but its the same plot line. (seriously, Channel 5 did a CSI marathon of CSI, New York and Miami.. the three episodes they ran were all the same plot line... I was goign 'But I just watched this?'). I have this I have this theory that all American Who-dunnits whether its Perry Mason or CSI all pull their storylines from a massive bible/file of Who-dunnit plot lines.. because whether its diagnosis murder or Without a trace, the same plot lines come up in almost the same format every single time. .. of course it could just be that I have seen Waaay to many series.. and after a while it makes you .. well you know.. a bit weird. but still..
Anyway sorry back to Person of Interest.
I like it .. I like it a lot. mainly I think because like early NCIS it has character.. or rather the characters have character and it happens they are doing this stuff but they have character while doing it.
It also helps that the series is very much like one i used to watch back in the 80's called "The Equalizer" staring Edward Woodward (god rest his soul). How's about that to show my age. The series works the trope of Ex-CIA operative who wants to "do good". It also actually harkens back to the days of the Cold War, where information is the key. The whole set up of POI is a spook’s wet dream and nightmare all rolled into one.
The basics of the series if you haven’t encountered it yet is.. “John Reese” is an ex Army Ranger, Ex CIA wet works man. Very good at his job, he is a patriot, but liek a lot of patriots he had to do a lot of very nasty things and it was destroying his soul. in the end it got between him and something he did care about. and he quit. then spent his time slowly going to pieces living as a vagrant in New York. getting into fights and generally attempting to commit suicide by thug/cop.
Enter into his life Harold Finch, very rich, reclusive man, with a stiff neck and a limp. Who, after some persuasion hires Reese to help him with some work. Mr Finch has the social security number of a "Person of Interest" this person will be involved in a violent crime in the near future. The catch is that Finch does not know if they are the perpetrator of a dastardly crime, or a victim of a dastardly crime. It's up to them (Finch and Reese) to figure this out and help or hinder in a way comensurate to the level of trouble involved.
I have only seen the first season so far, have started on the second season but taking a bit of time over that to savour it a little:).
This is a really fun series. I wasn't sure I liked it to start with, but then i found that the charcaters are actually quite catchy. It of course helps that Jim Caviezel is tall dark and rugged.. but thats just me being hormonal :D:D:D.
I like the fact that the tech is "just over the hill" science. The computer is a logical extrapolation of the tech already freely available. Pattern matching, database retrieval, face matching etc are already being used. Its just a case of having a system powerful enough to pull it all together and do soemthing with it.
Finches' development of the program and how it works is also within the boundaries of belief up to a point.
Another thing I am liking is the use of violence in the series. Reese uses only uses the necessary amount of force required if he has to engage in any combat. He thinks things through and engages in a combat style that will suit what he wants the outcome to be.. e.g. his preffered style of close combat is to allow the opponent to threaten him with a gun.. which he proceeds to take away from them and then shoot them in the legs. Possibly even shooting all their friends too. Hand to Hand tends to be quick decisive and not to flashy, reflecting his actual training.
The series is intelligent TV. both Reese and Finch are not beyond bribing people black mailing them in some cases kidnappign them, and generally doing what they must to get the desired outcome. Alwasy of course with an overall benevolence in hand. Finch thinks nothing of cracking peoples wifi, computers, phones what ever to watch and monitor them (all things which are illegal and ethically hazy).
I also find the irony of the "batcave" for "Team Machine" to be a Library.. the bastion of information that is secure from electronic hackery because it is "obselete technology"..
But yes I am finding the series to be intelligent with intelligent people doing what they do with intelligence. I am sorry but I find stupid smart people tedious. It’s a “quirky stereotype” that’s only amusing for about a total of 30 seconds… (this is why I am going off the later part of the Big Bang Theory.. the characters are getting stupider and stupider.. the only “funny” being that they are smart peopled doing stupid things:/ …). I also like the fact that episodes have effects on other episodes. Reese has a “bag-o-guns” he picked up in the first episode which gets handed around. He picks up stuff which he uses in other episodes (particularly drug stashes) we often see recurring characters in the precincts etc. its nice to have a “universe” rather than a ‘Stage’.. Also it is filmed in and around New York.. (going back to a conversation someone in fandom had about the "alleys" of New York" which don't exist.. POI spends all its time in parks, on streets and in warehouses... I think i have only seen 1 "alley" and it was a very very short one, more of a bin recess than an alley). I am guessing by the lighting that its done in early mornings/evenings
Characters are also developing, especially the sub-characters, Fusco and Carter go from secondary characters to almost as important as the main characters in their character archs.. because Finch and Reese are naturally so secretive the story has to be filled with some personal development so they get the character expansion stuff. But this in itself is used to help ease out little bits of background about Reese and Finch. Indeed through the arch of the series “Team Machine” goes from just two people with associates, to four people working on the lists and helping people.
POI is a very nice series, I know it's got a third series I am hopign that it gets to have a good run because its interesting and just different enough to other mainstream stuff that it stands out.