Person of Interest: Karma

“We don’t even know what’s happening now.”

Watch the thrilling saga unfold as Reese and Finch struggle to save this week’s person of interest with approximately 12% of their usual intelligence thanks to a visit from the evil fairy of plot contrivance.

Seriously. What was up with the team this week? We’re usually a step ahead of them but by the time we got to the conclusion of “Karma” I felt like I was about three miles away, waving them on. C’mon boys, put it together. I know you can do this! From not picking up on Edwards being a vigilante to not understanding what was going on at the bank to the painful confusion at Edwards’ actions it was all just…annoying. You know the guy likes to revenge himself upon criminals by framing them for crimes that didn’t actually happen and you’re confused as to why he’s buying a gun under the guise of the man he thinks killed his wife? What a frustrating episode.

Person of Interest has tackled the vigilante angle before with much greater success. I’m thinking in particular of season one’s excellent “Cura Te Ipsum.” I feel like the issues there were tackled much better, primarily because Morris’ guilt was never made clear in this episode and yet Finch seemed the only one concerned by that. It was clear with all the vamping for time and extended pondering over basic plot that the episode ran short, so why not have spent some time looking at who the real killer may have been? There’s a potential murderer running around free out there, just saying. And now Edwards is supposed to move on with the knowledge that the person who killed his wife has never been found or punished? After years of obsessing over her death and the person he thought was a murderer the idea that he would let the whole thing go is a bit hard to swallow.

Instead of a new possible Shaw replacement (a trend I sincerely hope is over), we got to see more of Iris this week. I like her. I like her a lot. I hope we see much more of her, either as an ally of the team or as a romantic interest for Reese (“You look stunning by the way”).

The flashbacks were better than the main plot, but not by much. We explore Finch’s desire for retribution against those responsible for Ingram’s death which might have worked except that Alicia Corwin was alive in season one. I remember because Root killed her. With that knowledge, the threat of Finch’s revenge was almost non-existent. Not that it would have been particularly large anyway; we know Finch and I can’t see him ever murdering someone in cold blood.

Bits and Pieces

Fusco called Iris “Red” (less creative than usual, Lionel, step it up).

Michael Emerson’s cadence is so distinctive you could completely tell it was him even through the voice changer.

Finch and Reese were so dedicated in their constant descriptions of what was happening, I’m pretty sure you could’ve followed the story perfectly without even once looking at the screen.


Reese: “Edwards just planted a gun in someone’s gym locker. And now he’s leaving the gym without working out.”
I swear it seemed like he was equally scandalized by both actions.

one and a half out of four vigilantes

sunbunny, person of interest and Bear the Dog fangirl


Mark Greig said...

Couldn't agree more. This was the dullest episode of PoI I've ever seen.

Patrick said...

I dunno about dullest EVER, but it was definitely one of their weaker efforts. Also, no Root. I'm just sayin'...

But seriously, this episode definitely felt like half a script that was stretched to fill an entire episode.

More Iris, please. Also, can we get back to where she told Reese in a previous episode that she knows he's not a cop? Did she just mean he's not a cop "at heart", or that she knows he's an impostor? But whatever, more Iris please. She & Reese looked great together in formalwear :)

One thing I think the show actually got right was leaving it vague whether or not that guy actually killed the PoI's fiance. The whole point of the argument Finch was trying to make was "you framed a guy and you don't actually know for sure he's guilty". I think it would've been a cop-out if we actually knew for certain whether or not he did it, even if the characters themselves didn't know. Something characters in Tom Clancy's books used to say a lot is "don't know means 'don't know'". I have a feeling if he'd written this episode, we would have heard Finch stress that point.

Anonymous said...

Iris is terrible. I hope she will be gone soon.
I really don't see the chemistry you are writing about.
She is a very BORING character!!

tripper said...

A lot of people say there isn't a bad episode in POI, and I would have emphatically agreed ... until this episode. It clearly pained Michael Emerson and Jim Caviezel to say their lines. Who can blame them? Hands down the worst episode, and I'm sorry you even had to review it. You deserve a box of chocolates. Like three boxes, at least. And some Bear with that.

sunbunny said...

tripper, excellent point. I do deserve chocolate. :)
PoI's definitely had some duds over the seasons, but those tend to fall in the 'dull' category and not the 'just straight up bad' category. But over the years it seems to me any time we get two or more meh episodes in a row, we eventually get paid off with a really good episode so my fingers are crossed. :)

migmit said...

Dull episode, but I like the story being left unresolved. They usually wrap everything up nice and clean, while in real life mysteries do not necessarily get uncovered.

Dustin said...

I kept expecting that it would turn out that the doctor killed his own wife and the original frame was a cover for the murder.

It was annoying, as an audience member, to be so far ahead of team machine in what exactly was going on since we didn't see anything that Finch and Reese didn't see.

I did like the ambiguity of the ending - did he do it or was he innocent all along? Fill in the ending yourself - unless the show gives us a sequel (hopefully better written).

Josie Kafka said...


This is actually true. I just watched this while cleaning, and I don't think I missed anything.

Freeman said...

This episode was pretty weak. Though I guess the juxtaposition with Finch's backstory gave it a bit more gravitas. I'm getting really tired of these amateurs giving Reese/Root/Shaw the slip, it's really undercutting the concept of them being professionals.

I'm with Anonymous on Iris. I think she's terrible as well. For me, the sooner she's gone, the better.