Season 3 of Person of Interest has ended. It ended with what I consider to be among the best TV episodes ever. Season 3 was certainly peculiar, it wasn’t as erratic as season 2 but it didn’t manage to deliver the procedural aspects as well as season 1 did. Nonetheless season 3 has what I consider to be the top 5 episodes of the show so far. It’s finale stands at number one followed by the three The Dark Knight episodes starting with episode 8 ‘Endgame’ and ending with episode 10 ‘The Devil’s Share’. They are so-called because the influence of the Batman movie The Dark Knight written by Jonathan Nolan was clear. Viewers still feel heartbreak over the death of Detective Carter even now.

The fifth episode is ‘RAM’ which shows the origins of Finch teaming up with Reese. With so many good episodes you can almost be forgiven for saying the season  was fantastic. Sadly this was not the case, several of the more procedural episodes were complete duds. I sincerely hope the shows creative staff will put more emphasize on these types of stories in the future now that the mythology is right back on track. In particular I miss the grit from the first half of season 1. Reese got his ass kicked more than once and that added realism. Bringing Elias and his mob back to the forefront sounds like the best bet possible. As for the season finale, below you can read the synopsis. I will discuss my judgment in the conclusion below.

Deus Ex Machina

Collier continues his trial of the people rounded up in the previous episode. Flashbacks show how Collier was recruited by Vigilance. Reese and Hersh search for the venue of the trial. Root and Shaw smuggle servers into the Samaritan array. Fusco deals with a diversion created by Vigilance. The presidential assistant is put on the stand, and Collier kills him after he becomes defiant. The Senator refuses to identify his superior, but inadvertently gives away that he reports to Control. The Senator is spared. Control refuses to confirm or deny anything. Just as Collier is about to kill her, Finch stands up and confesses that he is the author of The Machine. With a Vigilance command post now compromised, Collier takes Finch, Greer, Control and the senator away to a nearby rooftop. In an ensuing gunfight, Collier is wounded. Greer explains to Collier that he and his Decima team were the creators of Vigilance, to provide a “devil” for Samaritan to justify itself, and that it was he himself who recruited Collier. He then kills Collier, and is about to kill Finch just as Reese arrives.

In this gunfight, Harold takes a shoulder wound, but is rescued by Reese. Greer is able to flee. Meanwhile, Hersh has been wounded in another gunfight, in the “trial” building. He discovers a booby-trapped bomb, and is unable to disengage it before it explodes, killing him and arriving police officers as well as anyone left inside the building from the trial. The principals all escape, but Samaritan has now been brought online and is fully operational. Root advises the team that they must abandon their library home and assume new identities. The servers that Root and Shaw had installed contain code that falsely report the team dead, and hides any information about their new identities. As the team heads off in different directions, and the remaining Vigilance team members are killed on the streets, Samaritan asks Greer for instructions. Greer turns it around and asks Samaritan what it wants his team to do. The episode ends with the Samaritan screen displaying, “Calculating response.”

Conclusion

It appears I was right about John Greer and Decima Technologies in the previous episode review. I suspected that he allowed himself to be caught by Vigilance. The trial that followed this week felt a little underwhelming, but then again it was all meant as a show anyway. A show to persuade the government survivors to offer their support for Decima and Samaritan. Without knowing it Harold Finch played a key role in persuading the senator and Control to support Greer. I suspect that after his heartfelt confession of how he created The Machine Finch will try and reign in both The Machine and Samaritan prevent any kind off dictatorship occurring as Peter Collier warned. Collier’s death is that of a tragic freedom fighter, or terrorist, depending on your viewpoint. Viewpoints that will become increasingly more important as this show moves forward.

The episode concluded with not only our gang of four (Finch, Reese, Root and Shaw) being labeled as threats but also the three kids who helped Root install the faux Samaritan servers. The episode they originate from escapes me but I hope we will see them back next season as after the death of Collier and Hersh this show is ripe for some new blood. Speaking of new blood, this show could also do with more Fusco. We haven’t seen as much of Fusco this season as in the previous two. This is in part to blame on the fact that his past has already been explored in detail but I am sure the creative staff can do something to bring him more to the center of the action.

If there is one thing I could criticize about this season besides some of the procedural aspect is the depiction of both Root and Shaw. Their characters are too often used for either comedic effect or to act as a deus ex machina at the end of an episode. Teaming the two of them together was a stroke of genius as their conflicting personalities reminded me a lot of the banter between Mr. Reese and Fusco. However, I think some fans are premature in saying the two are a couple, through this episode does seem to hint at that.

Deus Ex Machina ends with an impressive cliffhanger and some wonderful cinematography of New York. Last year I was doubtful PoI was heading in the right direction but now I am very much anticipating season 4. Keep up the good work Jonathan Nolan. I expect season 4 of Person of Interest to start airing sometime in September on CBS. This was the Person Of Interest S3Ep23 Deus Ex Machina Review, please use the comment section below to give your own opinion or follow us on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.

Score; 9.6 / 10. The episode has a few blemishes but overall it is very good and it has a killer cliffhanger.

Source; http://www.cbs.com/shows/person_of_interest/