The trilogy that is supposed to reboot Person of Interest is over. With the latest episode ‘The Devil’s Share’ the series has been shaken to its core an hopefully found a new equilibrium. Since the middle of season 2 PoI has had its dull moments in which the show seemed to rehash old storylines and dealt with antagonists in a visceral way. With this reboot trilogy old enemies are finally taken care off once and for all and though some rules are broken others are shown to be watertight. This last episode is all about revenge, it is a motif that affects all of the lead characters but Shaw, Finch, Reese and Fusco in particular. They are of course hell-bent on avenging the death of Detective Carter (Taraji P. Henson) of the previous episode. This common thread that all the lead characters have in this episode binds them together to fill the void that Carter left. For me this episode was better than the previous one as the dénouement to the trilogy was done to near perfection. Carter place in the team is not easily replaceable but it does seem that Root (Amy Acker) will from now on be a cast regular. No doubt she will be able to get the better of Finch quite a lot and thus draw him out into the open a bit more.

The Devil’s Share

Flashbacks in this episode illuminate Finch’s dealing with survivor’s guilt which likely is the impetus to add the backdoor to the Machine, Reese’s time doing wetwork, Shaw’s former life as a surgeon striving for technical excellence while completely indifferent to the people she helped, and Fusco’s recounting of exacting vigilante-style justice to a crook that slipped through the system (the devil’s share). The race is on to get to Simmons before he can make his escape. Reese starts sliding into his old, dark ways while also sliding towards death from wounds dealt by Simmons in the last episode. Finch, Fusco, and Shaw go to an HR attorney to get information on Quinn’s whereabouts so they can question him for Simmons’ plan, but the Russians have killed him, shortly after Reese was able to get the information. The team turns to Root, who is able to get her knowledge from the all-seeing Machine. She joins them at the FBI safe house and helps hold off the Russians. Reese gets Simmons’ location and is just about to kill Quinn when Finch reminds him that killing Quinn now would destroy Carter’s legacy of bringing him down legally, and he collapses. The team, minus Fusco who stays with Quinn until FBI backup can arrive, get Reese to medical care. Fusco finds the note that Reese dropped, and goes after Simmons. After a brutal fist fight, Fusco emotionally refuses to kill Simmons as he might have in the past but takes him into custody, citing Carter’s influence for turning his life around. Finch and Shaw return to the library, and Root, despite having opportunity to flee, returns to her cell, and Finch thanks her for staying. Ultimately, Elias has Simmons murdered in the hospital.

Conclusion

As I mentioned in the opening remarks I think this episode is the perfect conclusion to ‘The Dark Knight’ trilogy of PoI. It finishes off HR in style while foreshadowing the rise of not only Elias but also those parties still interested in The Machine. The episode has a brisk pace with he shootouts and action scenes not disappointing like they kind-off did in the previous episode.

Mr. Reese’s temporary journey to the Dark side feels as something that may remain a problem for Finch. All the characters on PoI are a bit unhinged due to a desire for revenge but Reese had already avenged Jennifer’s death so this relapse may be a symptom of a bigger problem. Reese terminator style vengeance seeking was nonetheless very entertaining while his wounds and near-death experience punctured that superman image he had developed throughout season 2. Jim Caviezel’s Mr. Reese of this episode reminded me a lot of the early days of Person of Interest. It is something I would like to see back more often.

With Root and Shaw having joined the cast as regulars this season we essentially have four people hunting after criminals. Some fans have already speculated about how Reese, Fusco, Shaw and Root will exactly team-up. Will it be boys and girls together? The banter between Reese and Fusco never did grow old nor the open animosity between Root and Shaw. We will see in the coming episode just exactly what role Root will have. If you haven’t seen the previous two episodes yet then I suggest you watch all three back-to-back in one go.

PoI will take a little break for 3 weeks and will be back on December 17th. A number of other shows also have their mid-season breaks so keep tuned to SciFiEmpire.net for the review of those shows that are still on.

Score; 9.5 /10. Perfect ending to a fantastic three-episode arc.

Source; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Person_of_Interest_(TV_series)