Fall Preview: Person of Interest

The Premise

John Reese, a former member of the CIA has completely disappeared following the death of his one true love and is considered dead by most. After a time he is approached by a reclusive billionaire who refers to himself as Harold Finch. Finch tells Reese that after 9/11 he built an extensive surveillance system for the government. The catch is that the machine was able to predict crimes deemed to be "irrelevant". Finch hoped the government would try to prevent these crimes but since they chose not to he has decided that it is his job to help protect the "irrelevants". Enter Reese, who Finch hires to keep an eye on the targets and get involved as necessary. The machine built by Finch dishes out social security numbers of people that will be involved in the crimes. Reese and Finch attempt to prevent the crimes solely based on these numbers, not knowing if they are following the perpetrator or the victim.

Their story also gets tangled with two NYPD detectives; the once-dirty cop Lionel Fusco and the straight-up officer Joss Carter. For the longest time both help Reese and Finch without knowing that the other is involved. The team also has friends in the city like Zoe Morgan who is known as a professional "fixer". A majority of the plot focuses on a corrupt law enforcement known as "HR" and their participation with the crime-lord Carl Elias. One other antagonist is Root, a woman determined to take control of the machine and set it free.

Jim Caviezel (The Passion of the Christ, The Count of Monte Cristo) stars as John Reese, Taraji P. Henson (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Karate Kid) stars as Joss Carter and Kevin Chapman stars as Lionel Fusco with Michael Emerson (Lost, Saw) as Harold Finch.

Person of Interest returns on CBS, Tuesday, September 24th at 10PM EST.

Where I Would Go With the Plot

The season two finale impressed me a lot, but it left me more than confused by what exactly is going to go on in the next season. John, Harold and company don't really care about where the machine is as long as it's not in the wrong hands (and it's only in its own hands right now). One of the best things about this show is the ability to have episodes that don't add to the ongoing plot of the machine -- episodes that make you wonder whether the number given is the good guy or the bad guy. And then watching John help. Season three will be an excellent opportunity for us to return to that on a weekly basis.

Of course, we can't get rid of the rest of the plot. The government is obviously going to be mad about the machine being gone. Root still appears to have access and a special connection with it at that. There will still be people looking for it. The machine is really no longer that -- a machine; it's turned more into an AI. That gives it almost a human aspect. It'll trust certain people (Root, Finch, Reese) and it'll distrust others. I have the feeling that first off it will help Root break out of prison in the first couple of episodes but won't be willing to divulge it's location. This will make her continue to bother Finch and Reese.

Then comes the finale -- it's time for us to see the machine. But there has to be a twist and this it what I would do. Because of last season's finale we've already kind of got an idea of what the machine is like -- a massive expanse of computers filling an entire government complex. And that's how it started, but we've already seen that it's been able to translate itself to another location, why not make it even more? Finch will be shocked to find that the computer has made itself mobile and compact -- maybe one small laptop computer. It's begun to evolve and Finch will come to realize that the true villain in everything may be the machine itself.

What I Think Will Happen

Really, I think that we'll pretty much get where I would go with it. The writing on the show is so excellent that they really shouldn't stop what they've done right so far. The third season is so integral in making a show last for a few more seasons and changing things up might do more damage than good.

Of course, it's completely possible that Johnathan Nolan surprises us all and turns the show into more of a government spy game focusing completely on finding the machine while helping people in the process. I'm sure he'd do it justice, but I don't think that's the smartest thing they can do.

Oh -- and the one thing I'm positive will happen this season. It makes sense. I wouldn't do it yet, but it'll have to happen. Someone will die. This season adds on two new cast members and the storyline would be getting pretty crowded. I'm not sure who it will be though, but my gut instinct says that it'll be one of our two ex-CIA friends. Personally, I think it would be interesting for Reese to die and have the woman (I can't remember her name for the life of me) take over. But I also feel like the fans won't like her as much -- she's too hardcore and doesn't have the charismatic smugness that Caviezel brings to the show. So she'll get offed instead, nearing the season finale.