Person of Interest – “QSO” and “Reassortment” double feature

Watching both episodes one after another brings a lot of the threads into much starker relief. It is curious to wonder what a 22-episode season would have produced, and what if any unrelated numbers-of-the-week would’ve slotted inbetween and what those episodes would have possibly dealt with. Or maybe they’d be more simple distractions, a way to turn the viewer away from the threat of Samaritan if only for a brief moment before it reared its head up again and we were met with a glimpse of its plans for humanity.

One could also reason that in the meanwhile, the team has been tackling more irrelevant numbers but they’ve been doing them so well that they no don’t really run into any interesting complications or twists in their investigations until a real snag hits and it turns out the only possible party that could conceive of this was Samaritan.

“QSO” also shows us a side of Root’s missions we rarely see, to be honest. She jumps into the story with the rest of the cast when a danger is generally more present, but here in the season she is much more of a central character, possibly to substitute for Shaw’s vacancy. But it’s grown clearer and clearer she does care about the people she’s saving, even if ultimately they are still in some ways a means to an end – both the ballet fan and the radio talk show host get Root and the Machine further towards their plan, but not entirely at their expense.

Max Greene, the conspiracy talk show host (who is played by Scott Adsit, who I’ve only seen from 30 Rock) also plays similarly to Fusco’s arc this season. The code in the electrical interference that he’s discovered brings him closer and closer to Samaritan and his constant digging – for being even more of a public figure – puts him in greater danger than a police detective who knows when to keep their whiteboards hidden from view. But Max is also one of those people who, when they learn the truth or catch wind of it, refuse to run away from it, preferring to scream it from the rooftops. The truth is and should be out there.

Ultimately the entire endeavor was a 2-for-1 special. Max was technically saved by the danger from Samaritan while Root was given a way to communicate a message to Shaw, providing her hope that her friends are still looking for her. Max chose to exercise his free will and despite knowing the truth, wanted to let people know about it. Finch becomes uncomfortable with the fact that the Machine justified the radio talk show host’s death with acting under free will. But that is what Finch taught it, after all. Forcing someone to live off the grid, not be themselves, is very much against what Max Greene believes. It just so happens that it coincides with the fact that exercising free will might get them killed. At some point where do those things might intersect; the exercising of free will and the value and sanctity of human life, and how do you reconcile that when you reach that point? Does saving a life matter if you destroy what was unique about that life? All Finch sees at that point is that Root and the Machine “traded” Max Greene for hope that Shaw got Root’s message.

“Reassortment” delves into some more technical matters concerning Samaritan’s plan for the world. It also reveals a lot about how it selects particular individuals. The POI, James Ko, was targeted specifically for his genetic structure. And the same can be said for Jeff Blackwell, who learned he also had some particular genetic makeup that made him immune (or at least completely asymptomatic) to whatever dangerous superflu concoction that Samaritan had created. And that is coupled with the ability for Samaritan to manipulate the healthcare system to allow for the creation of the superflu and the outbreak to happen. This episode showed us that these particular dangers are almost entirely inscrutable to most people. The Machine had to be enlisted to find a possible cure to the one in a billion (or more) chance of a superflu mutation created by another AI. And ultimately the incident it caused proved to work like a disease outbreak version of 9/11, scaring the populace into submission and making them susceptible to wanting to have their genetic information catalogued. The scary implication is then, what is next when everyone’s genetic information is collected and indexed? Samaritan could just as easily use that information to cure many diseases, or just as easily use it to find specific markers to kill individuals or groups of people, at the genetic level. “Reassortment” shows that in the great war of ASIs, there is nowhere that these superintelligent beings don’t have a stake somewhere and haven’t already considered every facet of our lives and found a way to manipulate in some fashion. As Blackwell’s Samaritan handler/liaison says about the whole matter: sometimes you need to throw out a few rotten apples to save the whole lot. But just how far will this go?

Fusco in the meanwhile is still a bloodhound on the hunt that brings him closer to Samaritan. Like the radio talk show host in “QSO”, he’s not going to let this one fall to the wayside. Everything happening around him seems inscrutable and he’s determined to find his way to the truth, no matter where it takes him. Though sadly it puts him in greater and greater danger that the team debates if they should tell him, the fact of the matter is that he is not blinded to Samaritan, so indulging him is not really an option. But neither is letting him run around alone when Samaritan is able to keep eyes on him and can act immediately if needed.

Shaw is still feeling the effects of her time in the simulations, and it will interesting when she reunites with her friends, how it will feel and how she will reconcile whatever image she has had associated – and in effect rewired and reinforced in her head by said simulations – with reality. If she can discern reality at all. At this point she’s become even more nonchalant about the whole thing and frankly, a little unhinged if that’s the case. There is some hope and optimism is her when she finally escapes the facility. The viewer knows it’s real, but does she, or will she care to make the difference this time around?

 

Miscellaneous thoughts:

• QSO was a really fun way to show Root’s jumping identities.
• Interesting to see that POIs are quickly being off’ed. Even the 3 or 4 more additional deaths caused by the flu in Reassortment showed just how serious it all is.
• Paulie is absolutely fun. Reminds me of the one guard in Orange is the New Black, whose name escapes me at the moment.
• Unfortunately I haven’t watched The Shawshank Redemption, so I really am not qualified to really make that punny joke.
• More references to the Great Filter, which is interesting. I am curious how much more work Samaritan thinks humanity needs to reach the next evolutionary level, and who gets left behind?