Person of Interest: Witness

As you may recall the premise of Person of Interest is that Mr. Finch created a computer that detects murders but can’t identify whether the Person of Interest is the murdered or the perpetrator. The computer was initially designed to detect homeland security threats by terrorists after 9/11 and each evening it purges the social security numbers of persons of interest who are not related to terrorism. This concerns Mr. Finch as he is well aware that with the over emphasis on tracking down terrorism organized crime will literally go undetected. And whether it is one murder or thousand it is still a danger to society. So Mr. Finch places a back door in the computer in which at the end of every evening he receives the social security numbers of persons of interests who are not related to terrorism. But Finch can’t resolve whether the person of interest is the perpetrator or the victim so he recruits Reese who is a former CIA operative who just wants to restore a bit of order to the world of chaos in the post 9/11 era.

So they enter into pre-emptive crime fighting mode. America is a bit gun shy about pre-emptive anything anymore so the premise of this show is good but cautionary. Most notably is Mr. Finch’s absolute certainty in which he believes the computer. Mr. Finch has no Scientific Doubt which is rather unhealthy in this show as the computer at best could only have a 95% success rate. Inevitably the computer will error and Mr. Finch and Reese will make a horrific mistake based on bad intelligence. Computers are built by men which are flawed human beings there nothing perfect can be created by an imperfect entity. The computer will be unreliable.

Tonight on Person of Interest episode witness Mr. Finch is given the social security number of a teacher who witnesses a mob murder. Reese is sent in to protect the witness. But murder’s don’t come with labels on them. Anyone given the proper circumstances is quite capable of murder especially if pushed far enough. So Reese will have to watch the crime play out and intercept in the very last minute to prevent a murder from happening and inevitably he will fail as well.

Charlie Burton is a high School History teacher who watched a Russian Mob hit go down and Mr. Finch was given his number by the machine. It is odd the reference to the word the Machine which is what the Greeks use to refer to their brains or cognition.

Reese is forced to enter a Bulgarian Housing Projects in which the Russia mob will not enter. Burton worked diligently as a history teacher and Reese refuses to share how he ended up with his career choice. They are cut off from Mr. Finch.

There is also the illegitimate son of the mob Elias who has come back to claim Brighton Beach. Elias is a cop after Burton.

Overall this show is really good. It has some very sentimental moments and Mr. Finch and John Reese are truly likable characters as they are so certain of their convictions. And in the end Burton is Elias the killer.