As I had said in my Advance Preview of tonight’s season 5 premiere, this week has particularly been a bummer for me.  Another CBS show that I have grown to love over the years, The Good Wife, just aired the penultimate episode of its last season, and in less than a week, that series will be history. And, now, beginning tomorrow night, we head into the final stretch of the quirky, futuristic crime drama that I immediately fell in love with at San Diego Comic-Con in 2011. It was a series like none I had ever seen — very compelling but also unique and original, which is a rarity these days in television. At the time, I thought it was going to be CBS’ next blockbuster — the new “NCIS” — and so, it seems almost surreal that it’s ending just 5 short years later.

Obviously, I can’t help but be sad, as I’m sure the rest of the fans can’t. In fact, the fandom has been in a perpetual state of mourning since the show’s official cancellation was announced almost 2 months ago. However… even though Person of Interest and The Good Wife share a common fate, there is one big difference, and one that none of us should forget — POI’s cancellation wasn’t dropped mid-season, and so that the writers had more than enough time to give the series the proper send-off that it most certainly deserves. We got a final season. We got 13 more chances to hear that familiar opening theme, and 13 more chances to see all of our favorite characters. That’s something — in fact, it’s ALOT. I’m a glass half-full kind of girl, and the way I see it, we should all be thankful.

And, that thankfulness should all begin with tonight’s season 5 premiere. Wow. Wow. Wow times 10! Of course, for me who has been a critic of the show since the very beginning, this isn’t all that surprising since the writing and acting have been top-notch since day 1. The episode begins pretty much where it left off in the season 4 finale with our heroes facing 2 major challenges — getting Finch (Michael Emerson) and the Machine back to the subway before the suitcase’s battery runs out of juice and evading all of the Samaritan operatives who appear to be emerging in exponentially-growing numbers. It’s bad enough that Samaritan has close to an entire army working for her, but when you take into account the fact that Samaritan can also turn anyone in New York City into a virtual “agent” with just a few keystrokes, it’s a pretty harrowing situation to say the least.

Take, for instance, Root (Amy Acker). After Reese (Jim Caviezel)  is finally able to catch up with Finch, the duo immediately heads for their subway mancave, leaving Root to fend for her lonesome self. Now, we all know Root’s history. She was an assassin-for-hire before she became Finch’s #2 Nerd, and so she rarely has trouble taking care of herself. But, when you have Samaritan popping up a crime bulletin on the phone of everyone in a subway car that labels Root as a wanted fugitive, it’s a tall task, even for Root, to fight off an angry mob of dozens of people. But, even still, she somehow comes out on top and even manages to steal the big shotgun of the police officer who arrives on scene.

Person of Interest has made a name for itself with its over-the-top firefights, pyrotechnics, and hand-to-hand combat showdowns where the likes of John Reese and Root make it look so easy to take down a dozen bad guys in 6 seconds or less. And, in the end, our team does finally make it back to The Third Rail but in my opinion and taking a term from the vocabulary of the series, that part is “irrelevant.” Think about it. We KNOW the group must make it back to the subway, and we KNOW the Machine must survive (at least to some capacity) because otherwise, the story would be over, there would be no need for the remaining 12 episodes, and everybody could just go home now.

Instead, the crux of the episode turns out to be the moral dilemma that is going through Finch’s head as they are fighting their way across New York City and the one that has been haunting him for over a decade — the decision of whether to inhibit the Machine and prevent it from growing. With the advent of Samaritan and the sheer destruction she has caused in just a short period of time, I think Finch now see the error in his ways. But, the question still remains as to how Finch arrived at the decision. And, better yet, WHO had a hand in helping Finch arrive at such a monumental conclusion that has brought mankind to the brink of disaster?

IN ORDER TO GO FORWARD, WE MUST GO BACK

One of the great things The Good Wife did in its final episodes is bring back several past recurring characters and thus, create somewhat of a “parade of guest stars.” This was such a brilliant move because it created such a fantastic nostalgia and also, it allowed fans to reconnect with some familiar faces that they may not have seen in a while, perhaps several seasons. This being said, I was so hoping Person of Interest would take a similar approach, and if the premiere episode is any indicator, that’s exactly what the writers may have done.

In order to achieve this, we are treated to several wonderful flashbacks, which in my opinion, is one of the best things about this series, especially thinking back to the earlier seasons. Honestly, one of my favorite characters on the show is Nathan Ingram, and I wasn’t really sure if we’d ever see the guy again, but yes, everyone, Brett Cullen is back reprising the role — and in the first flashback, being the voice of reason. In previous flashbacks, Ingram is often depicted as an inferior Software Engineer compared to Finch. While that may be true, I have always felt that Nathan was the one with common sense, and I may even go as far as to say as the one with the heart. Remember, HE’S the one who had a crisis of conscience about neglecting the numbers of the “irrlevants.” And, HE’S the one who took the first step in doing something about it, even though it ultimately cost him his life. Now, as we see in this flashback, he’s also the one who questions Finch’s thinking about holding the Machine back and preventing it from learning.

I’m sorry for your loss. Today is the 25th anniversary of your father’s death — The Machine to Finch

This is how the flashback opens, and Finch finds the level on which the Machine has evolved quite unsettling. Finch tells Ingram that he thinks there is a “bug” in the code, that the Machine has become too presumptuous, too intuitive, too clever. But, the good news is Finch has a solution for that, and it’s to erase the Machine’s memory every night at midnight. Ingram is taken back by his friend’s comments and fires back saying that he thinks it’s cruel as memories are what makes us who we are (which Finch should be able to relate to since his father died of Alzheimer’s Disease). This banter continues to go back and forth, but ultimately, Ingram wins the argument, in my opinion, with such a critical observation that it has stayed with Finch until this day — it’s not a matter of “if” but “when” someone else will come along and create an uninhibited AI. The only question is does Finch trust that person to make the AI as friendly towards mankind? Obviously, facing the events that are occurring with Samaritan right now, he clearly sees that Ingram was right, but of course, hindsight is 20/20.

But, Nathan Ingram isn’t the only other past character we see in tonight’s premiere, and he’s also not the only person that influenced Finch’s decision regarding the Machine and erasing it’s memories early on. In a very unexpected twist, Carrie Preston also reprises her role as Finch’s fiancee, Grace Hendricks (and, as an added bonus, the scene also features Michael Emerson and Carrie Preston’s very own dog, Chumley! Move over, Bear, because you now have some competition!). As we all know, Finch always kept Grace in the dark about this work, and so, any mention of the Machine to her would have been impossible. But, Finch is struggling over this decision, and so, in a very subtle, roundabout way, asks Grace for her help. He simply says that he has an employee that he thinks he has to let go and goes on to explain that “he’s extremely talented, resourceful, innovative” but also has “major boundary issues.” Of course, Finch is referring to the Machine, but even without knowing that, Grace gives as insightful an answer to Finch’s dilemma as Ingram did:

That’s what I like about you, you’ve got a good heart. Go with it, it won’t steer you wrong — Grace to Harold

Of course, Harold’s heart has been saying all along “Don’t do it!” However, even with both Ingram and Grace’s influence, we all know that Finch chose to ignore their recommendations, and so, here we are in a world that is about to collapse under the rule of a tyrant named Samaritan.

But, it’s not over yet. As I had mentioned, Finch, Reese, and Root do miraculously make it back to the subway, and thanks to Root’s quick thinking, come up with a ingenious idea to create their very own super-computer to store the Machine’s source code as it decompresses. We still don’t know if the Machine that comes out on the other side is the same Machine we have all grown to love, but regardless, Finch vows that no matter what, things **will** be different this time. The idea scares the hell out of him, but he now realizes he has no choice.

FUSCO — SHOULD WE BE WORRIED FOR HIM? HELL, YEAH!!

Yes, what about our dear Fusco (Kevin Chapman)? Truth be told, of all the characters on the show, he’s the one whose life I am honestly fearing the most for. The rest of our characters get shot at, electrocuted, and nearly beaten to death in the premiere episode, but Fusco is still the one who is making me nervous as hell. Why? Because he just can’t leave it all alone.

While Finch, Reese, and Root are trying to put back together a Machine that Fusco doesn’t even know exists, IAB and the FBI are coming down hard due to the Elias and Dominic fiasco. Thinking that they are trying to pin both murders on him, Fusco gives the truthful account of what happened — that he pulled his weapon but it was a sniper above him who took out both kingpins. After Fusco finally manages to reconnect with his “partner,” Reese is extremely concerned about what Fusco said and makes clear that unless he wants to be these people’s next target, he should keep those details to himself.

By now, Fusco is beyond suspicious but what happens next pretty much seals the deal. The FBI Agent comes back and says ballistics proves that Fusco’s gun is what killed Dominic and that the shock of the events must have clouded his memory. What’s more, Fusco is now considered a hero and is being nominated for a medal. “Uh huh, yeah right,” thinks Fusco. He knows something’s up, and as he puts it himself, it’s like he’s stepped into the middle of “The Twilight Zone.”

Well, regardless of Reese’s warnings, at the end of the episode, Fusco manages to find the location the sniper and not only that, the shell casing of the bullet that killed Dominic. However, the bad thing about all of this is the fact that Samaritan is watching, and his sniffing around ultimately causes her to label him as a potential “disruptor” to her “correction action” but with a status of “Monitoring.” We can only hope that “Monitoring” won’t flip to “Eliminate.”

Person of Interest  continues next week with episodes on both Monday and Tuesday at 10/9c on CBS.

Critic Grade — A

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