Julad's Somewhat Haphazard and Biased Guide to Person of Interest
So. I had an awesome trip the US with 
kaneko, which I will probably post about eventually. While I was there,
cesperanza did her best to pimp me into Person of Interest. She wasn't really successful (sorry Ces!) but I feel compelled to demonstrate how one could pimp me into Person of Interest, because, having been laid up with the flu and watching another dozen episodes, she was clearly emphasising all the wrong things.
Part 1 - these are the people in the show.
This is Carter. She's the good cop. She's super awesome and also, as a woman heroine, very down-to-earth and real, and she is sometimes very funny and sometimes very badass, which is a good reason to watch the show.
This is Fusco. He's the bad cop, who is sort of being blackmailed into being a good cop by Mr Reese and Mr Finch. He actually turns out to be pretty awesome too. Fusco's storyline was one of the pleasant suprises of the show for me.
This is Mr Finch. He's a super geek who can do things like take over ATMs with his clamshell phone or whatever. He built a supercomputer that spies on everybody and can tell when somebody is going to kill somebody or get killed (this is the show's plot btw). He also invented social networking, apparently. He's mega-rich and mega-paranoid and lives a mega-paranoid life. For example, he faked his own death so that nobody knows he exists. He's that kind of paranoid. There's lots of Mysterious Backstory including his apparently unrequited love for his male business partner who is now Mysteriously Dead.
This is Mr Reese. If you're into your chiselled men in nice suits doing psychotically badass things and also rescuing small children occasionally, you might want to watch the show. If you like your chiselled men getting bruised and bloody, you also might want to watch the show. Mr Reese is super-broody because he used to be a badass in the CIA and then the CIA wanted to kill him for some reason or other, so he eventually faked his own death and became an alcoholic homeless person. Then Mr Finch found him and cleaned him up and put him to use.
Also, Keith Mars is a regular. So, you know.
Part 2 - these are the episodes that are worth mentioning if you happen to be pimping this show to somebody like me
117 - The One Where Mr Finch And Mr Reese Have A Baby. Yep, They Already Started Your Kidfic For You.
Mr Reese: It's just a teargas grenade.
Mr Finch: It's still a grenade!
Mr Finch: I told you to move your arsenal.
Mr Reese: I was going to.
(This is not me paraphrasing BTW. This is the actual dialogue from the show.)
109 - The One Where Mr Reese Thinks An Arms Smuggling Gang Leader Might Be Planning To Kill Detective Carter, So He Blows Up The Gang Leader's Garage Door With A Grenade Launcher And Then Shoots Everybody In The Gang And Then Steals The Gang Leader's Shiny Purple Car
Mr Reese does this type of thing a lot, but it's the shiny purple car that makes this one special.
116 - The One Where Mr Finch Is Suddenly Mr Reese's Tailor. Even Though I'm Pretty Sure He Wasn't Before This. And There Is A Lot Of Unexpected Touching And Some Very Eyebrow-Raising Kneeling.
118 - The One Where Mr Finch Accidentally Gets High On Ecstasy (Yeah They Started That Fic For You Too)
Possibly my favourite scene in the whole show. Mr Finch watches stuff blow up in the microwave.
Mr Finch (still high): You don't wanna talk?
Mr Reese: You might regret it in the morning.
Part 3 - in conclusion
If you like your angst-ridden, emotionally shut off BSOs having gunfights in dark streets, this is really going to be for you, but I generally prefer my buddy cops with sunglasses and palm trees and pet names and stuff.
However, I think Person of Interest is very fertile ground for a bunch of other fannish clichés. These are the straight men, so to speak. You've got the guns, grenades, surveillance, corrupt cops, organised crime, blackmail, conspiracies and buckets of angst - it just needs a parrot or a clown, really. Mr Finch wakes up with wings, and hacks lots of computers with his wings on. Mr Reese goes undercover as a hooker and blows some shit up in his fishnets.
The show's already started half of the fannish tropes you need, and for the rest, you know, just add "Somehow, in the night".
Finally,
cesperanza is writing it and lim is vidding it. Yeah, your argument is invalid.
And that's how I'd pimp Person of Interest if I was going to pimp it. :)
This entry was originally posted at dreamwidth (
comments).
kaneko, which I will probably post about eventually. While I was there,
cesperanza did her best to pimp me into Person of Interest. She wasn't really successful (sorry Ces!) but I feel compelled to demonstrate how one could pimp me into Person of Interest, because, having been laid up with the flu and watching another dozen episodes, she was clearly emphasising all the wrong things.
Part 1 - these are the people in the show.
This is Carter. She's the good cop. She's super awesome and also, as a woman heroine, very down-to-earth and real, and she is sometimes very funny and sometimes very badass, which is a good reason to watch the show.
This is Fusco. He's the bad cop, who is sort of being blackmailed into being a good cop by Mr Reese and Mr Finch. He actually turns out to be pretty awesome too. Fusco's storyline was one of the pleasant suprises of the show for me.
This is Mr Finch. He's a super geek who can do things like take over ATMs with his clamshell phone or whatever. He built a supercomputer that spies on everybody and can tell when somebody is going to kill somebody or get killed (this is the show's plot btw). He also invented social networking, apparently. He's mega-rich and mega-paranoid and lives a mega-paranoid life. For example, he faked his own death so that nobody knows he exists. He's that kind of paranoid. There's lots of Mysterious Backstory including his apparently unrequited love for his male business partner who is now Mysteriously Dead.
This is Mr Reese. If you're into your chiselled men in nice suits doing psychotically badass things and also rescuing small children occasionally, you might want to watch the show. If you like your chiselled men getting bruised and bloody, you also might want to watch the show. Mr Reese is super-broody because he used to be a badass in the CIA and then the CIA wanted to kill him for some reason or other, so he eventually faked his own death and became an alcoholic homeless person. Then Mr Finch found him and cleaned him up and put him to use.
Also, Keith Mars is a regular. So, you know.
Part 2 - these are the episodes that are worth mentioning if you happen to be pimping this show to somebody like me
117 - The One Where Mr Finch And Mr Reese Have A Baby. Yep, They Already Started Your Kidfic For You.
Mr Reese: It's just a teargas grenade.
Mr Finch: It's still a grenade!
Mr Finch: I told you to move your arsenal.
Mr Reese: I was going to.
(This is not me paraphrasing BTW. This is the actual dialogue from the show.)
109 - The One Where Mr Reese Thinks An Arms Smuggling Gang Leader Might Be Planning To Kill Detective Carter, So He Blows Up The Gang Leader's Garage Door With A Grenade Launcher And Then Shoots Everybody In The Gang And Then Steals The Gang Leader's Shiny Purple Car
Mr Reese does this type of thing a lot, but it's the shiny purple car that makes this one special.
116 - The One Where Mr Finch Is Suddenly Mr Reese's Tailor. Even Though I'm Pretty Sure He Wasn't Before This. And There Is A Lot Of Unexpected Touching And Some Very Eyebrow-Raising Kneeling.
118 - The One Where Mr Finch Accidentally Gets High On Ecstasy (Yeah They Started That Fic For You Too)
Possibly my favourite scene in the whole show. Mr Finch watches stuff blow up in the microwave.
Mr Finch (still high): You don't wanna talk?
Mr Reese: You might regret it in the morning.
Part 3 - in conclusion
If you like your angst-ridden, emotionally shut off BSOs having gunfights in dark streets, this is really going to be for you, but I generally prefer my buddy cops with sunglasses and palm trees and pet names and stuff.
However, I think Person of Interest is very fertile ground for a bunch of other fannish clichés. These are the straight men, so to speak. You've got the guns, grenades, surveillance, corrupt cops, organised crime, blackmail, conspiracies and buckets of angst - it just needs a parrot or a clown, really. Mr Finch wakes up with wings, and hacks lots of computers with his wings on. Mr Reese goes undercover as a hooker and blows some shit up in his fishnets.
The show's already started half of the fannish tropes you need, and for the rest, you know, just add "Somehow, in the night".
Finally,
cesperanza is writing it and lim is vidding it. Yeah, your argument is invalid.
And that's how I'd pimp Person of Interest if I was going to pimp it. :)
This entry was originally posted at dreamwidth (
comments).