TV Review: PERSON OF INTEREST - C.O.D 2.9

My initial reaction to “C.O.D” was that its a lot better than the previous offering from Person of Interest “Til Death”, having time to reflect on the episode and do some research I haven’t changed my mind. I still think this was a better offering but I think at the same time a lot of what happened here was very forgetful. I found myself reading reviews as I always do, only this time I was thinking “what are they talking about?”, “I don’t remember that”, “or that person”. Mind you coming to write the review two days after watching it probably doesn’t help, as during that time I’ve also watched Dexter and Homeland already.

I still think this was a good episode, the weekly procedural may have been a bit of a bore but what was going on in the background was probably more important to the show. We thought at the end of the first season that we had seen the last of HR, but it seems that Simmons is eager to have them set up once again. This week he was looking for the back-up of Elias in their corrupt business venture, but he doesn’t seem interested in that right now. It’s great to see how they still use Elias in the show, although he is in prison he has featured and done something important regarding the plot in at least three episodes that I can think of. HR, of course are going to prove a problem for Fusco, the dirty cop turned clean is still a little dirty, he desperately wants to change his ways but is ultimately paying the price for things he has done in the past, for want of better words Simmons has him by the short and curley’s .

The weekly procedural side of things this week focused on a taxi driver from Cuba who wanted to bring his family into the country. An Estonian gang were prepared to do that for a certain sum of money, however when he come to drop it off wouldn’t you know? The price has gone up. Not only did he have that to contend with but someone just went and left a secretive laptop in his cab, and now the people who are after it want him dead. Step up Mr Reese for some kick ass scenes, although at the time of writing this I don’t remember them all particularly that well, but what I do remember was that Reese dealt out a healthy dose of justice as per usual.

Ok, I have left this way to long to write the review of C.O.D, I will be watching tonight's episode later and will be sure to let you know in more detail how we get on. I really have nothing more to say on this episode, the more I read the more I'm reminded that an awful lot went on, problem is non of it was all that memorable. Here's hoping this weeks offering has a lot more to offer.

TV Review: PERSON OF INTEREST - Til Death 2.8

I have to apologise here first off, Person of Interest, or rather IMDB duped me this week, I got hold of the latest Person of Interest (2.9 C.O.D) and was ready to go ahead and watch it last night thinking Thursday gone was it’s first return to CBS since episode 7 “Critical”, at least that’s what IMDB told me. I thought the numbers looked a bit off so I checked and yeah, I missed one, this one in fact, turns out it was on last week. Never mind I’m back on schedule now and it’s a bonus for you, as you will get two Person of Interest reviews this weeks starting with “Til Death”.

I don’t know whether it’s the fact I have had a two week break from this show or whether it’s the fact that Dexter’s seventh season has been so good, but I found “Til Death” a bit of a chore. Nothing was really going on in this episode which was all about love, fate and the choices that we make in life. For our main man Finch that “choice” was quite a big one, faking his own death in order to protect Grace from ever knowing about the machine, Finch’s backing story is always one which I love to see, he is still surrounded in mystery just as he was in Lost and that really lends to his character for me, following this episode I really don’t think we are any closer to finding out that much about the guy, other than he was, and still is deeply in love with Grace. It will be interesting to see where they take this, will he reveal all to her? I’d say he’s got some major explaining to do if he does, and it would probably become a weakness for him if he brings her into the fold.

There was nothing going on this week with the main story of the show, the machine, corrupt HR, nothing. I did think for a brief moment that Fusco was finally going to get rumbled by Reese for joining in with his past shady ways once again, but that would have been too quick. I can’t help but think that Fusco’s dealings with HR are going to have some sort of come back on Finch, Resse or even Carter landing them in some sort of sticky situation probably towards the end of the season. Although, whilst were on the subject of “love” Fusco was having a little dating action himself this week, who knows, maybe that woman could turn him on the right path and Fusco could go straight once and for all.

Carter also found time for a little “love” this week with her fellow detective and Jamie Foxx look-alike asking her out to dinner, now that’s a role I had pinned down for Reese, I always thought our man in the suit would be the one who ended up dating Carter. Of course, at this time it’s only dinner, it might not even work out for her. It was nice to see everyone involved this week with the weekly procedural. The story was a bit lame but at least it was backed up by some decent acting talent in Mark Pellagrino, he and his hot shot wife had taken out contracts on each others lives only to be sat down at the end of the episode and be given some relationship advice from Mr Smooth himself John Reese. Reese is the only character who was not really delved into this week (unless I missed something), I don’t know why but I’m sure more will be coming about the mystery man in coming episodes.

Like I said above “Til Death” was all a bit of a chore for me, we seemed to be coming out of a lull of Person of interest episodes after “The High Road”, but this seems to have taken us back to square one. I know it will get better because there are so many avenues to be explored, I guess we should remember sometimes that POI has over 20 episodes in a season, from “Wolf and Cub” onwards in the first season it did not come up for air with one brilliant episode after another I just hope season 2 goes on to do the same. How about you? What did you think of this episode of Person of Interest? Your comments are welcome as always.

TV Review: PERSON OF INTEREST - Critical 2.7

I wouldn’t say I was all that blown away by this weeks Person of Interest episode “Critical”, it really didn’t do all that much for me up until the last twenty minutes or so when Reese decided that he had enough of playing games and donned his ass kicking shoes, even kicking one guy up onto a car bonnet. Last weeks “The High Road” was a lot more effective in the weekly procedural, although my liking of Son’s of Anarchy may have had something to do with that (go read the link). What “Critical” didn’t do this week was give me any reason to care about what was going to happen to the Dr’s wife, she didn’t get enough screen time and although we were “living it” through the eyes of the brilliant surgeon I didn’t feel all that engrossed. What served better last week was the fact we got to know the whole family in the story and what they all stood to loose, I really wasn’t feeling that this week.

“Critical” did do something which we didn’t see in “The High Road”, it moved on the story a little, bringing people back who haven’t been in the show for a while as well as introducing us to another possible “big bad” guy for Reese to keep watching out over his shoulder for. Alistair Wesley (Julian Sands) was the former MI-6 operative who this week was in New York with his elite team of former SAS soldiers, they needed business man and energy Tycoon Oliver Veldt to be done away with, their plan? Get the surgeon (mentioned above) to botch her open heart surgery on him, as Mr Wesley stands to make a fortune if energy tycoon is out of the picture. I think all in all this may serve as an introduction to a new bad guy, Wesley knows Reese from their former Government lives and left the party a little unhappy thanks to Finch and Reese messing with his plans. He will be back, he even said it himself, so I guess we will just have to wait and see what the writers have in store for a guy who like Elias will clearly be a worthy opponent to Reese.

You always know that Reese and Finch are going to win whatever battle they are involved with, and this week that was no different, even when it emerged that they were up against former elite SAS soldiers. It never crossed my mind that they wouldn’t win and save the girl’s life and her wife’s job. I have to be honest, the SAS is the UK’s elite in the military, I’ve never been in the military but from what I gather, in order to be in the SAS you have to be hard as f**k, non of Wesley’s crew really gave me that impression and Reese dropped them like flies, now I know he is ex CIA but aren’t they more of the thinking and strategy type? They leave fighting up to Navy Seals who would probably be the US equivalent of the SAS. Of course I wouldn’t want to see Reese get beat up and I’m pretty sure that the CIA, like MI-6 will train their field operatives to a pretty high standard.

No part again for Fusco this week (well, he was in a little at the end), not that I really missed him but his corrupt story line with HR will no doubt come back into the frame of things at some point. Nice to see Carter in on things though, although she wasn’t actually involved in the weekly procedural side of things, this week she was actually doing police work showing up at the office of some tech company where someone has just opened fire. That person just happened to be our old friend FBI Agent Snow, who unbeknownst to Carter had a bomb vest strapped to himself. This could be the week where Crater finally drops deeper into the fold, as Snow informed her that “She” is going to do something terrible. We as the audience have known since season 1 that Reese’s former partner Kara Stanton is still alive and has something planned, quite what that is we don’t know as yet but I’m hoping there will be some brilliant episodes to come so we can find out. Plus Reese doesn’t know she is still alive yet, so that should be fun. She doesn’t have a reason to go after Reese though, does she?

We are really starting to get some stack of bad guys built up in this show now, all of whom seem to have something against Reese, Finch or the Machine. It should serve as an excellent run for some hopefully brilliant episodes. This week was mediocre, but like I always say they can’t all be brilliant, I think this week’s could be the staging for some brilliance to come but I guess we will have to wait and see. How about you? What did you think of “Critical”?

TV Review: PERSON OF INTEREST - The High Road 2.6

Well it would seem that Person of Interest is back to its best, if your interested more in the bubbling background story than the weekly procedural side of things then "The High Road" probably won't have interested you all that much, unless of course you are interested in the flashback story of how Finch met the love of his life Grace Hendricks (Carrie Preston, his wife in real life). The bubbling back story wasn't actually that bad but I really enjoyed this week’s procedural drama as Person of Interest went a little Sons of Anarchy with an Opie look-alike in Graham Wyler (David Denman). Person of Interest was back to what it does best, delivering a brilliant weekly procedural whilst letting the story unfold in the background.

“The High Road” was kind of no different to what we have seen in the last couple of week’s in that it didn’t really deliver any story of the Machine, reveal any past truths about Reese, Finch, Carter or Fusco, deal with the bubbling HR problem or anything of the sort. But, what Person of Interest done a whole lot better this week was the seemingly procedural story line. Graham Wyler, a seemingly legit business man and doting father living in the New York suburbs, his number has come up, but why? Cue the weekly twist, Graham is not Graham, he changed his name in order to go straight after a couple of his safe cracking friends got busted and done 15 years in prison, now they want him back for one final job before killing him in return for the time they have spent in prison. From then on in you just knew Reese was going to be kicking some ass.

What was good in the story this week was the back story of Finch and Nathan Ingram developing the Machine, I’m not sure if Finch wrote the code in a way where the Machine would adapt and learn or whether it was purely by chance that he realised that the Machine watched all the time, learnt Human behaviour and developed itself into what it is know. At first I thought the lady in the park painting was going to be a display of how Finch figured the machine could detect things before they happened. Turns out I was wrong (as usual) and the Machine was acting like a dating website matching Finch up with the perfect woman for him, that woman was Grace Hendricks the woman who Finch had to leave behind to protect her from what he knows. I touched on this during the first season of the show, but it does seem that Finch’s Machine is kind of like Terminator’s Skynet, only way cooler.

If you weren’t really interested in Finch and the love story side of things then “The High Road” certainly wasn’t going to let you down as the weekly procedural was just brilliant. Taking Reese out of the city and fighting for an “every man” was a brilliant move from the writers and also gave them the opportunity to bring Zoe Morgan (Paige Turco) back into the story. Her and Reese have brilliant chemistry and they bounce off each other (not in that way) really well, fancy moving into the suburbs and pulling your gun on the first girl scout who come knocking trying to sell some cookies! If this was Dexter then Reese would have been in their with Zoe already, the urges would have been to much. Who knows? Maybe Reese and Zoe will get together some day.

There was no Fusco this week, obviously keeping him self busy with HR issues, you know? Trying to keep his name out of certain documents in order that he does not get sent to prison, no worries though I’m pretty sure he will be back to his ways before long. If you hadn’t guessed already I thought “The High Road” was one of the best episodes of this second season so far, especially since Root has been done with for now, after two lesser weeks this was a real action packed episode with all the usual wit and excellent story. Reese and Zoe should be making more trips to the suburbs in my opinion. Roll on this weeks episode “Critical”, I can’t wait.

TV Review: PERSON OF INTEREST - Triggerman 2.4 & Bury The Lede 2.5

I have some catching up to do with Person of Interest, I haven’t reviewed any of the episodes since “Masquerade” which I actually really enjoyed, it really took the show back to what was so good during the opening season, it dealt with a weekly procedural story whilst the main plot involving the machine bubbled away in the background. Since “Masquerade” I have watched all the episode’s including “Triggerman” 2.4 and “Bury the Lede” 2.5 and have to say that I found them very forgetful, not what we have been used to of late with Person of Interest, I think since season one’s “Wolf and Cub” this show has continued to deliver brilliant episodes that we have come to expect it week on week. The first season didn’t go by without its offering of poorer quality episodes, I even debated whether or not I would be reviewing it week on week but thanks to “Mission Creep” any doubts I had were surpassed.

I suppose we can’t expect brilliant story developing episodes week on week, I still think Person of Interest is a brilliant show with a brilliant story that I’m sure still has many layers to be developed and I can forgive it for delivering a couple of poorer quality episodes at the beginning of the season. Although they have been poorer in quality I have still enjoyed the story which has been delivered, Reese has been kick ass as usual and what the show has done well is deal with the aftermath of Finch being kidnapped, he took that harder than even he thought he would. Finch has been frightened to leave the office, a fear that in “Bury the Lede” he finally seems to be making some strides to get over.

I’ll start with the fourth episode “Triggerman”, it’s been a while since I watched it and its no longer on my DVR so I think this will be more of a recap than a review, you can count the above as a review if you like. “Triggerman” was actually an ok episode but it did nothing in relation to moving on the story of the machine, as always a new number was delivered, that of Riley Cavanaugh, an Irish Mob enforcer who worked for a mid level gangster named George Massey. At first it was obvious to Reese and Finch that he would be the perpetrator, and they needed to stop him doing something, but then hold up! The usual Person of Interest twist came to the front and it turned out that the guy was actually going to be the victim thanks to his love of Annie Delaney, one of Massey’s former partners, Massey knows and was going to be dealing with him and Reese needed to stop him. Problem was that Riley saw Reese as a threat, so needed his ass kicked before he realised that Reese was actually there to help him. A decent episode like I say but nothing involving the machine just your weekly procedural to see here.

Onto last week’s “Bury the Lede” a good episode I thought, again nothing here about the machine but a real comeback for a problem that we thought had been dealt with by the end of the first season. HR was supposedly done with after Elias went to prison but if “Triggerman” proved anything then it was that Elias reach far extends the bars of his prison cell, after his sit down with Finch he called off the hit that Massey was planning so I guess it was a given that HR would be coming back into the story. What is sad about that is the corruption of Fusco, he was corrupt to start with until Reese got him cleaned up but it seems that HR’s secrets and what he’s done in the past are just going to be too much to keep covered up if he remains legit. Now that Fusco has once again stepped over to the dark side you can’t help but thing that is going to scupper what Reese and Finch are trying to achieve, but I’m pretty sure Reese will figure him out before he gets to out of hand. It’s a shame because I actually quite like Fusco, he’s does provide some laughs in the show, hopefully he will stick to his new morals for a little longer.

“Bury the Lede” was helped in its weekly procedural in that it tied in with the story of HR, the latest number to be delivered by the machine was Maxine Angelis, a New York investigative reporter who is currently looking into HR, trying to expose the head of its operation and the other names involved, that of course would include Fusco so whilst Reese is trying to help Maxine, Fusco is trying to help HR in keeping her from finding out their names. It was a good episode which I enjoyed and hopefully it will serve as a stepping stone to getting the story up and moving again.

It will be back to normal for me with Person of Interest this week, with “Bury the Lede” I was confused as it had not been uploaded to where I normally get it from, I actually thought it had not been on because of a Presidential debate, it was only when I saw a review and checked CBS’s website that I figured I had missed an episode, ISOHunt saved the day and I managed to get it from there, at least I know it is on this week so hopefully normal service will resume with me watching it on a Friday night. Roll on “High Road”.

TV Review: PRESON OF INTEREST - Masquerade 2.3

Person of Interest really is one of the best shows on TV right now, right? The first two episodes of this second season were a little out of the norm for POI, although no less outstanding in story and development. “Masquerade” saw Finch back to the controls and Reese with his latest number to track down, the POI episode which we are all so used to, kick ass and witty comments from Reese and some hilarious moments involving Finch and dog, whilst all the time the main story / conspiracy of what Person of Interest is essentially about kept bubbling away nicely in the background with what looks like more worries for Finch on the horizon.

Person of Interest is well known by now for being quite witty but I have to say, this is one of the funniest episode’s I have seen and at times it even had me laughing out loud. First off, I loved the conversation between Reese and Carter before he charged off into that gang bar, “just give me three and a half minutes”, “please John there are at least 10 guys in there”, “ok, four minutes”, that was a brilliant little scene between Jim Cavizel and Taraji P. Henson and what topped it off was Carter saving his ass just as he’d finished kicking ass. Reese’s parting line, “This guy hit me over the head with a neon sign, it was just un-sportsman like”, ha. Then you have all the moments with Finch and his new furry pal Bear, some of the facial expressions from Michael Emerson were brilliant and I got a real laugh out of it, but what was also great to see was the relationship grow between the three of them, three is not a crowd.

I’ll talk a little about Finch now, the normally cool and confident man behind “the machine” seems to have been affected by his kidnap ordeal at the hands of Root (Amy Acker). Attempting to leave his “office” Finch took a panic attack and rushed back wondering what’s going on, it would seem his new pal Bear could not have arrived at a better time, at least he can feel safe whilst Resse, Carter and Fusco are out doing there thing. That “thing” is also something else which has been so good about the return of Person of Interest, Carter and Fusco are now actively involved with everything that happens when a new number is delivered and it really adds a whole brilliant new angle to the show. Resse is still the brawn of course but Carter is a though cookie too whilst Fusco is his usual bumbling self, he’s a really good guy though and it’s hard to remember the corrupt cop who initially tried to kill Resse in the opening episodes of the first season, Reese and Finch have given the guy a whole new reason to be a decent person and good law abiding cop.

I also enjoyed this weeks procedural, and no, it wasn’t just because that Brazilian diplomat’s daughter Sofia (Paloma Guzman) was extremely hot, it was actually because it sent you in a completely different direction other than where you would have thought, she was a real pain in the ass and it wasn’t hard to imagine why someone who is high up in politics may want her out the way. The story however took us in another direction, her sleazy ass rich boyfriend, who thanks for his efforts was hung off the edge of a balcony by Reese towards the end of the episode. Reese also showed his commitment to Finch here, as the hot Brazilian wanted him to relocate and become her full time body guard, I know it would have ruined the story of POI but if that was me….. Just sayin Reese.

All this was going on whilst like I mentioned above the main story was bubbling away in the background. The Alicia Corwin investigation, who killed her? And probably more importantly who was tracking her? The assassin from the opening episode of this first season (the one who shot Denton Weeks) was back to retrieve the tracking device from Alicia’s arm and I’m pretty sure that we have only scratched the surface of how deep this story line goes. Reese’s former CIA partner Cara was also back in this episode, if you remember we found out in last seasons “Matsya Nyaya” that she is not dead as Reese thinks, what does she know or want to know? She has a great way of finding out, strapping some explosives to corrupt FBI Agent Snow who she has running around doing her dirty work into Alicia Corwin. Some real depth still to be added to this show from all of this and none of it is to complicated, it’s slotted in nicely along with the action which keeps Person of Interest so fresh.

Needless to say but Person of Interest continues to just get better and better and this really is one of my favourite shows on TV right now, it is essential viewing for me and I love it, with the people involved behind the scenes and the cast working so well as they are it’s hard to see anything other than POI just continuing to get stronger, roll on next week’s “Triggerman”, no more Presidential debates please CBS.

Side Notes;

Sorry about the delay, this should have been out over the weekend but I have been having computer trouble, hence no updates for the last five days.

TV Review: PERSON OF INTEREST - Bad Code 2.2 - The ROOT of The Problem

Well correct me if I'm wrong but I think this is the first ever episode of Person of Interest where we have not had a weekly SSN delivered by the machine, not that it mattered in the case of "Bad Code" because there was so much other stuff going on that small detail like that really didn't matter at all. As promised "Bad Code" took Reese and Carter on a road trip to Texas whilst Fusco was left at home dog sitting and digging up leads on the Alicia Corwin investigation, so, not much fun for him but plenty to be had by us as Fusco looking after a dog and attempting to speak Dutch was hilarious, whilst story lines were being developed into dodgy government officials and the story of Root has now been fully explained. I loved the way we had our story recap again this week with the CCTV footage being used before whizzing us back to 1991 to hear of a girl named Hanna Frey, could this be the weekly POI? No.

What was brilliant to see this week is Carter and Reese working together, side by side as apposed to Reese just delivering messages over the phone, the pair made a great team and its something I would definitely like to see more of as the season rolls on. The mission of "finding Finch" took them to Texas where 20 years earlier a girl by the name of Hanna had disappeared without a trace, believing her to be the now infamous Root, Reese had Carter on the case with local police whilst he decided that there was a quicker way to get answers, walk into a bar dressed in a suit and kick a little ass, effective and always seems to work.

I enjoyed the backing story to Root's character as we got to see the reason she seeks revenge, turns out Root is actually Sam, a friend of the murdered Hanna who left home following Hanna's disappearance, she then went on to rob some gangsters of $100k only to put the transfer name on the account as Trent the name of the man who kidnapped her friend Hanna. Turns out Root has actually been a bit of a computer whizz all her life, she completed that Oregon Trail game pretty quick, not that I have even heard of that game but it kind of reminded me of my old Acorn Electron, pretty retro huh! With everything Root has been through its no wonder she turned out the way she did, doing the right thing as a youngster and telling people what she saw the night Hanna went missing done her no favours at all, giving her the belief that all humans are instilled with "Bad Code", problem is back in the present day, kidnapped Finch does not believe that, his belief in humanity is completely different.

After all was said and done in this episode I'm still a little at a loss of what exactly Root wants with the machine, I don't think she is a bad person per-se but what does she want with a machine which detects acts of crime early? Finch of course uses it (although he probably shouldn't be, I'll explain later) for good and sees Mr Reese as the "Good Code" which the machine instills, preventing minor crimes before they happen, helping good people stay safe, what reason other than that would Root want the machine? Does she just want to destroy it and all of its creators? Or is she planning on becoming a one woman band John Reese, no offence Root but I don't think your all that kick ass, clever yes, but kick ass, No.

Away from the story of Root and Finch is the seemingly bigger plot bubbling away in the background as it did during the first season, the White House lawyer Denton Weeks who Root also kidnapped this week, plus all of the officials who have made base for themselves in New York City to find a lead on the Alicia Corwin case, the head of this group would seem to be one of the few people in the world who knows about the existence of the machine and he needs to sever all ties on the Alicia Corwin case so no one else can find out what it leads to. I'm really looking forward to seeing how they develop the story here, although Root is probably going to be the underlying antagonist of the season it would seem that these guys are going to be the more immediate threat to Finch and Reese, this season Elias and HR.

What I found quite interesting about Denton Weeks was his question to Finch, right before he attempted to shoot him he asked can the machine be got to? Finch answered the question like a politician, he didn't really answer it, he simply said that the machine could not be controlled remotely, so I guess that yeah it can be got to as long as you know where it is. I'm going to presume that the machine and its servers are not in the old library which Finch uses as his office and that maybe they are in that town mentioned in the first season which has no Internet or telephone access. That begs a question though, if the machine can not be controlled remotely how does Finch use it? He always said there were no back doors built into the system, and not to mention Root has already hacked it once that we know of.

"Bad Code" was a real step away from the usual procedural of Person of Interest but that didn't detract from my enjoyment at all, I thought this was a solid episode where a a lot of answers were given whilst new ones were also posed. It's nice to see Reese and Finch back together again, although I think Finch's rescue could have been a bit more dramatic. I think next week will be back to Person of Interest as we know it with Reese following a lead dealt by the machine whilst the backing story of the machine and government officials simmers away nicely in the background.

Side Notes;

Don't know why I haven't noticed this before, but although a little on the crazy side, how HOT is Root (Amy Acker), also from Texas in real life incidentally.

Finch has a new roommate thanks to his lavish gift of an apartment to Reese at the end of the first season the dog will have to live with him, time to get the Dutch dictionary out Finch!

Yeah it's worth mentioning again, Amy Acker!!!!

TV Review: PERSON OF INTEREST - Contingency 2.1 - Finding Finch

Out of every TV show, new and returning this Fall for me Person of Interest is without doubt one of the most highly anticipated, during it’s first season J.J. Abrams and Jonathan Nolan guided us through 23 episodes of gripping drama and kick ass action whilst all the while never loosing site of POI’s main story, what is the machine? It climaxed in the season one finale with Finch kidnapped by computer super hacker Root (Amy Acker) and Reese was left picking up a public telephone but to who? That was the biggest question on everyone’s lips last season and finally it’s answered, the machine can communicate with you, it can’t talk but it can cobble voices together from various sources and deliver a coded message which in this season two opener Reese was left to figure out on his own for the first time, proving that he is brains as well as brawn.

Even the beginning of this episode was brilliant with the season one recap being dealt with by way of CCTV, taking us right back to day 1 when Finch first fired up the machine, can you see me? Do you know who I am? “Admin”. Then it continued to roll through showing us how it found Reese, some of the scrapes they have been in together and then the discovery of Root and how Finch had designed the system so that it would never attempt to find it’s master should anything ever happen to him, just brilliant. What Finch probably didn’t account for was the machine becoming self sufficient, a form of intelligence with some sort of brain which enables it to learn and adapt. For me some of the best scenes in this opener where of Reese looking into the camera and making a deal with the machine, if it won’t help him find Finch then he will no longer be it’s contingency plan.

I loved the way in which Person of Interest stuck to it’s guns, it would have been far to easy to just go and deliver Finch’s SSN right from the off and have Resse track him down kill Root and save the day, instead the machine delivered another number, that of an Asian man (Lost’s Ken Leung) who has stolen some money ($8m) from the Aryan Brotherhood. However like last season the side line weekly story never lost sight of the actual goal, find Harold Finch, Reese was always certain that the number delivered by the machine was in some way designed to fit a part of the puzzle which would help him piece together where Finch was. Reese was quick to discover however that the guy was a bit of an idiot and really had no idea as to where Finch is, leading to “Contingency” ending with Reese making a deal with the Machine.

It was brilliant to see that Reese now has the full support of both Carter (Taraji P. Henson) and Fusco (Kevin Chapman), now that they all know what each other are up to they can ultimately work towards the same goal. Reese is as charismatic as ever delivering kick ass action whilst also keeping his witty humour, the scene about him only having one friend was very good, and also when he was explaining to Fusco about the gagging order. Reese was right back into it with the Aryan Brotherhood after dispatching a few of their guys in the local bar he found himself escorted to their warehouse, on purpose of course to save Fusco’s ass yet again, that glint in his eye just as he’s finished speaking Dutch to his new four legged friend, before the camera pans away to leave it all to our imagination was just brilliant. Also worth a mention was the head of the Aryan Brotherhood (Tim Holmes), he must have been at least 7ft tall, but hey he couldn’t beat Reese, he was only having a rest after all.

What is going to be brilliant is seeing how they develop the storyline, it looks as if Reese will at least get close to rescuing Finch in the next handful of episodes, maybe even next weeks “Bad Code” but what will become of Root? I can’t see them killing her off just yet as she wants the machine for more sinister reasons, does she even work alone? For all we know Finch might have his own plan up his sleeve about how he is going to escape, or even how he can manipulate what Root does to the Machine to work in his favour. Who are all of these new government officials trying to cover up the murder of Alicia Corwin? They clearly know about the existence of the Machine as they have dispatched their resident hit man to take care of “the man in the suit”, otherwise known as John Reese.

Season 2 looks as if its going to deliver on the same level if not higher than the first season did and I can’t wait to see how deep the story will continue to take us. Person of Interest is so much more than your weekly cop procedural and this is must watch TV on a weekly basis, keep up the great work, ala Jonathan Nolan, J.J. Abrams and Denise The.

Weekly TV Previews: Will REVOLUTION Get Any Better? PERSON OF INTEREST Finding Mr Finch, VEGAS and There Back DEXTER Season 7, HOMELAND Season 2

Hello and welcome back to the regular Fall TV season feature here at Movies Music & Television of the weeks TV previews, like always I will preview the next episode of all the shows currently under review here at MM&T as well as the shows which I’m watching but maybe not writing about every week. This is the first one back since last Fall so some shows (Dexter/Homeland) are yet to premiere on their respective networks, there for not to much to give away right now, but we’ll get through what we can, here goes;

Revolution – No Quarter 1.3

Following two episodes of Revolution I’m yet to be enthralled by what’s been on offer, best way to put it, is that in my opinion it’s been mediocre when compared to other works from J.J. Abrams, that’s not say that it can’t get better and in all honesty I hope it does, I touched on the subject in my review of “….” That there are plenty of avenues for the show to go down and hopefully it will do that. In respect of this review, well it does not really give much away other than Miles (Billy Burke) telling Charlie (Tracey Spiridakos) that the futuristic USB stick has the ability to turn the power back on and give the US it’s power back, take a look and let me know what you think.

 

Person of Interest – Bad Code 2.2

It goes without saying that Person of Interest is the best show that J.J. Abrams has on TV right now and the season 2 premiere did not disappoint in any way whatsoever. Reese was back to doing what he does best in kicking ass whilst Finch was off being all mysterious and wisdom like fencing off against computer hacker Root (Amy Acker). It seems that season 2 will deliver action, drama and mystery at the same level and above from what we got during season one and I can’t wait. “Bad Code” sees the hunt for Mr Finch head to Texas and possibly the first opportunity for the Machine to act outside of its usual jurisdiction of New York, amidst the kick ass who thinks Reese will be successful in finding Finch this week?

 

Vegas – Money Plays 1.2

From all of the pilot episodes I have seen so far in this Fall season this one has by far impressed me the most, it delivered a classy first episode which saw a weekly crime procedural mix together what should be a longer running feud between law enforcement and a local Mob boss, I’m hoping the weekly procedural side of things drops like I said in the review and hopefully we concentrate more on the bad guys v good guys side of things. The latest offering from Vegas “Money Pays” looks to continue in the light of the “Pilot”, plenty of kick ass from Dennis Quaid and a weekly procedural, I don’t mind that to much if like Person of Interest they can keep the focus on the main story behind the characters, take a look at the preview. 

 

Dexter – Are You…? 7.1

Without doubt the biggest returning show of the Fall season is Dexter, hype has been building since last December when Dexter Morgan plunged his knife into the chest of Travis Marshall’s chest, only to be caught by his sister and Miami Metro Lieutenant Debra Morgan, finally part of Dexter’s secret is out but now Dexter must fight even harder to stay one step ahead of Miami Metro and more importantly his sister, who can never find out the full truth behind Miami’s best blood spatter expert. Being the first episode I can’t find a direct trailer for the episode but this is the latest preview available from three days ago, enjoy.

Homeland – The Smile 2.1

Homeland was without doubt the biggest new drama to hit screens last Fall, from start to finish it was brilliant, it had you constantly guessing, is Nick Brody (Damien Lewis) a terrorist? Or is CIA Agent Carrie (Clare Danes) as crazy as everyone thinks she is? The question was answered during the season 1 finale when Sgt Brody was preparing to blow up the US President and a roomful of his representatives, of course he didn’t go through with it but now he has an even bigger position of power, spurred on terrorist Abu Nazir, Sgt Brody is now a US Congressman with an influential voice in US politics. Again like Dexter I don’t have a trailer for the first episode but this latest teaser really promises that Homeland will once again be hard hitting and possibly even better than season one.

 

Returning TV Shows Fall 2012, DEXTER, HOMELAND, PERSON OF INTEREST and THE WALKING DEAD, What Will I Be Reviewing?

As you probably know there really has not been to much on TV lately, in the last three weeks that would be largely due to the Olympics, fair play but some TV would have been nice. If you read this blog often then you’ll know that I have been occupying myself with some box sets, first up was Dexter season 2, which was brilliant and then I have been watching Breaking Bad's second season, which was also brilliant. Thing is were are coming towards September now and you know what that means, good TV will be back with all of our regular favourites, here I want to give you an indication of what you can expect to see from Movies Music & Television during the Fall TV schedule of returning shows, what I will be watching and what I will be reviewing. I will review all of the returning season premieres, but from there I discuss below what I may continue with.

Dexter – Season 7 (Showtime, Sunday’s @9pm) – Premiere September 30^th

It goes without saying really that I will be covering Dexter, if you read this blog often then you know its one of my favourite shows on TV, I didn’t watch the first four seasons but I’m looking to make up for that and have already watched seasons one and two, I am thinking now that we are getting pretty close to the season 7 premiere so maybe I’ll just leave seasons three and four so I can assure my weekly Dexter fix once season seven wraps. Season 6 was not one of the best for Dexter but I still really enjoyed it, especially the ending where Debra caught her adoptive brother plunging his knife into the chest of The Doomsday Killer Travis Marshall (Colin Hanks). I will be reviewing every episode of Dexter season 7, so subscribe to make sure you don’t miss out.

Dexter season 6 reviews

6.1 – Those Kinds of Things

6.2 – Once Upon a Time

6.3 – Smokey and the Bandit

6.4 – A Horse of a Different Colour

6.5 – The Angel of Death

6.6 – Just Let Go

6.7 - Nebraska

6.8 – Sin of Omission

6.9 – Get Gellar

6.10 – Ricochet Rabbit

6.11 – Talk To the Hand

6.12  - This is the way The World Ends

Homeland – Season 2 (Showtime, Sunday’s @10pm) – Premiere September 30^th

Homeland is a show which I really enjoyed and during it’s first season I watched and reviewed most episodes, it’s hard to pick a favourite but the finale was brilliant watching protagonist Brody (Damien Lewis) come full circle ready to blow up the US President, he didn’t go through with it of course and it now looks like he is going to run for office which will see Homeland’s second season take more of a political angle, I don’t mind that but I wouldn’t say its really what I look for in a TV show, as far as Homeland goes you can be sure I will be watching every episode but I’m thinking that maybe this is going to be a season premiere review, a possible mid-season and the season finale, unless of course it is really great and I feel the need to write about it every week.

Homeland season 1 reviews

1.1 - Pilot

1.3 – Clean Skin

1.4 – Semper I

1.5 - Blindspot

1.7 – The Weekend

1.8 –Achilles Heel

1.9 - Crossfire

1.10 – Representative Brody

1.11 – The Vest

Person of Interest – Season 2 (CBS, Thursday’s @10pm) – Premiere September 27^th

Again, Person of Interest is a given, I will be watching and reviewing every single episode of this great show. Some people I heard of gave up on Mr’s Reese and Finch about three or four episodes in, all I can say to that is you should have stuck it out because is quickly became apparent that Person of Interest is not your normal weekly procedural, we now roll into the second season with questions looming large as to who Root is? And what she wants with Mr Finch, and more importantly who was on the other end of that telephone in the season finale closing scene? I’m sure POI will provide us with yet another fun thrilled ride.

1.1  – Pilot

1.2  – Ghosts

1.3  – Mission Creep

1.4   - Cura Te Ipsum

1.5  – Judgement

1.6  – The Fix

1.7  – Witness

1.9  – Get Carter

1.10          – Number Crunch

1.11          – Super

1.12          – Legacy

1.13          – Root Cause

1.14          – Wolf and Cub

1.15          – Blue Code

1.16          – Risk

1.17          – Baby Blue

1.18          – Identity Crisis

1.19          – Flesh and Blood

1.20          – Matsya Nyaya

1.21          – Many Happy Returns

1.22          – No Good Deed

1.23          – Firewall

As for episode 8 which I missed out first time around, I will watch that again when it airs in the UK, following that I will put out the review.

The Walking Dead – Season 3 (ABC, Sunday’s @9pm) – Premiere October 14th

I still have not seen season one of The Walking Dead, but I did really enjoy season two, more so towards the end and during its second stint on TV, this is one of those shows which breaks for the festive period and usually returns around February time, I reviewed a few episodes of the second season including the mightily impressive “Pretty Much Dead Already”, with season 3 I will be reviewing the premiere and then seeing where it goes from there, I will watch them all and hopefully with the introduction of all the new characters there will be something to talk about other than zombies.

The Walking Dead season 2 reviews

2.1 – What Lies Ahead

2.5 – Chupacabra

2.7 – Pretty Much Dead Already

So there is the low down on what I will be watching and reviewing in all of our favourite returning drams this year, I’ll be back tomorrow with a list of new shows coming to TV this fall and I’ll talk there on which ones I will be watching and adding to the weekly reviews, ideally there will be about two.