In this episode, the name that comes up in the machine is a female doctor. If you've never watched the show before, Finch (Lost's Ben) created a machine which can predict crimes and pops up a name. The machine doesn't know if this person is the perpetrator or the victim, and comes to its conclusion from analyzing all sorts of big brother type information. Finch works with John Reese (the ultimate badass fighter who can take down armed people with one hand) to figure out what's going to happen and stop the bad act from happening. So, in this episode, they thought she was the victim, only to find out that she was actually stalking the guy with the intent to kill him and commit the perfect crime.
She wasn't a sociopath, but she was trying to avenge her sister's death, a suicide prompted by the sexual assault her sister suffered at the hands of this sleazy guy named Benton. From Reese's following of Benton, it's clear that he's a serial offender and that he hasn't stopped. The guy is the definition of a predator, slipping people date rape drugs and committing heinous offenses, and he has never been held accountable for his actions. Clearly the doctor's target isn't a great man. The situation raises a lot of questions. Should she be stopped? Should they just let events take their "natural course" and rid the world of this guy who will clearly harm again? Should they stop her because taking a life is just wrong? Should they stop her for her sake because taking a life would ruin her own, even though it could leave the guy to prey again? It's an interesting ethical dilemma for the characters.
Ultimately, the show left it open. Reese stopped the doctor from killing Benton, but did he do it himself? He had a "talk" with him but we don't know what happened after the end of the episode. Such an intriguing drama.
Two other random notes:
- The episode made me smile because they showed the doctor visiting the Frites n Meats truck. Food trucks are good for the city! Why can't the politicians understand that?
- I love that they actually film in NY. There's an authenticity that you get that other shows that pretend to be in NYC just don't have (coughCastlecough). I think I watch all the shows that film in NYC, other than A Gifted Man (which I was going to watch for a 2nd time but haven't decided yet if I want to). I like to think that it's because I want to support film in the city, but I think it's on a more subconscious level. Maybe I like a show more because the city plays a role in it (sort of like SATC where they called the city the 5th main character). It was a little distracting (in a good way) in the 1st episode of Person of Interest since they filmed it near my office and I was constantly looking to see if I knew anyone, but it was also kind of cool being able to watch knowing that I've been there!
No comments:
Post a Comment