Major spoilers here! When last we saw Person of Interest in the Season 4 finale, La Machine was compressed, her source code stored on Z-drives in a bulletproof case powered by a piezoelectric battery. Finch was toting her out of the electric station, protected by Reese and Root, while a fresh horde of Samaritans began to fire on them. It was evening.
"BSOD" (Blue Screen of Death) begins with an ominous telephone recording in Root's voice accompanied by a foreboding image of their subway sanctuary, trashed and abandoned, with no subway car. Root's message: "If you can hear this, you're alone. The only thing left of us is the sound of my voice..." (All very disturbing, but is it truly a portent of things to come? Like Scrooge, I need to know, "Is this a shadow of what must be? Or what may be?")
Next thing we know, we are back in real time, on the streets of New York at night. The opening scene transitions to the edgy song "No Wow" by The Kills. Zachary and his Samaritan goons are relentlessly pursuing Reese, who carries the case, protecting the valiant machine and occasionally using it to shield or bludgeon (I cringe each time). The fight scenes here are highly stylized. Choreography feels slightly overdone, but Reese fights just as he always has — efficiently, with whatever tools come to hand.
Fast forward to full daylight, with "No Wow" still playing. Root is alone, hunted, but she makes short work of the two men who crash into her vehicle and fire dozens of shots into it at fairly close range. Somehow Root emerges with barely a scratch. (Not credible, but a fun scene.)
Meanwhile, Harold Finch is outside alone — not even a Bear to watch his back. With nothing but his wits he eludes Samaritan's stalkers and meets Reese at the ferry. In an unusual switch-up, Finch saves Reese from Zachary (Manning does his own stunts). Reese urges Finch to board the ferry but Finch is reluctant, getting flashbacks to Nathan's death. On the ferry, Finch lectures Reese because the suitcase is scuffed up and the piezoelectric battery is damaged. La Machine is now running (limping) on a lithium-ion backup battery.
(Finch does too much sniping at Reese in this episode. It feels unjust, but since he has been on the run since last night — with his old spinal injury — I give him a pass. Plus, charged emotions.)
Then comes another flashback to Nathan. Finally we see why Finch is frightened of his brainchild, why he decided to hobble it, "to contain its growth, clear its RAM every day at midnight." Nathan tries to dissuade him, saying it's cruel, and that someone else will program an unbridled super-intelligence with fewer scruples. (Wise Nathan. Rest in peace.)
Still on the run, Root skirmishes on the subway when several citizens attack, conscripted by Samaritan. After kneecapping two burly men with a wrench, she glares into the subway cam: "You can just call me Root, Bitch." (Acker's expressive body language!)
Finch and Reese arrive at the subway entrance in Chinatown but cannot immediately enter their Batcave because some guy wants a candy bar, and the vending machine doubles as a portal (gotta love that). Reese deals speedily with him: "Sugar's bad for you." Finch gets his fading Machine inside and powered up pronto, afraid that it's too late.
Meanwhile, Fusco is in trouble again with Internal Affairs. His old nemesis Detective Soriano (season 2, "In Extremis") is on his case for shooting Dominic and Elias. Fusco argues that he didn't shoot them. However, Reese urges Fusco to keep the truth to himself and let things rest. Fusco grudgingly does so and is subsequently hailed a hero by the FBI (Chapman does befuddled well). When Soriano demands to see the FBI report, he dies. (I guess Samaritan can access pacemakers. Chilling. And here's another case of Samaritan offing an obstructionist.)
Later, Samaritan is watching via the precinct cam when Fusco again expresses his frustration with the whole mess, so he is added to Samaritan's watch list.
Then it's back to Finch in the subway resuscitating the source code. There's a sudden electrical fire (how many times have we seen blazing computers on this series?). This time it's Bear to the rescue (an amazing animal). Flashbacks of Grace (rather pointless). Flashbacks of the machine.
Reese decides to go find Root. A frantic Finch argues it's too risky, but Reese is calm: "We don't leave anyone behind." He finds Root with Bella, a Russian hacker-mobster she once knew. Soon the Samaritans attack, led by a surprisingly chatty Zachary (we haven't seen Lambert at all this episode). The battle is pitched, but Root refuses to abandon Reese (how far they've come).
Turns out Bella has oodles of shiny new Playstation consoles in his warehouse and no time to play, bless his greedy soul. Hundreds in stock! Root wants them. (Apparently Playstations have actually been linked to build a supercomputer, especially useful if running Linux.)
Finch and Root link about 300 game consoles to La Machine and then begin to decompress her. Fingers crossed. They freak when she overheats, but once again it's Reese to the rescue with a handy-dandy canister of liquid nitrogen. (See video "The Liquid Nitrogen Tanks of New York" on YouTube. However, some reviewers claim it was really just CO2).
Finch: "Can you see me?" Long anxious pause. A cursor. (We're grinning like loons.) Let the games begin.
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