Person of Interest episode guide for the (current) non-fan

[rose_griffes]

Okay, while the list of "Tech things for Reese to steal" that y'all made in the poll wasn't very useful, it was nonetheless amusing. So that's good. I still need a MacGuffin for chapter three, however. *sigh* (Hee, raincitygirl totally figured out that I wanted a MacGuffin.) If I can get past chapter three, the next two chapters should get done a lot faster. (Then I'll be weeping and moaning again about chapter six.)

Moving on. If I'm going to procrastinate fic-writing, I should at least do so in a topical fashion, right? The topic being the show Person of Interest, of course. I'm copying emmiere's format for an episode guide--what to watch and what to skip. I liked the show from the beginning, but there are several fans out there who have said that they didn't enjoy the earlier episodes. I'm trying to keep as much of the season-long story arc intact, plus include episodes that I found more interesting for various reasons.

I like Finch and Fusco, but my Carter and Reese bias probably shows in this list.

bolded = episodes I think are necessary to understanding what's going on
strikethrough = you can probably skip
italicized = episodes you should watch anyway, with reasons!

1-01 Pilot sets up the premise, although the weekly intro also explains the basics. (If you watch the pilot and don't like it, you're not the only one who feels that way.)
1-02 Ghosts
1-03 Mission Creep

1-04 Cura Te Ipsum Linda Cardellini (ER) is the guest star, plus the final scene is great.
1-05 Judgement
1-06 The Fix Introduction to Zoe Morgan. She's Catwoman in this universe.

1-07 Witness Introduction to Elias, a recurring villain.
1-08 Foe The main storyline was merely okay, and the fake foreign accents are distracting. But this is our introduction to Stanton, a... well. She's something.
1-09 Get Carter More backstory for Carter (yay!). While there's a valid criticism to be made that the subject of spousal/partner abuse isn't handled well in this episode (which I place squarely on the writers, not the character), that part is brief and the rest of the episode works well. And did I mention that there's more backstory for Carter? ;-)

1-10 Number Crunch Important stuff happens to Reese and we find out a bit more about his former CIA connections
1-11 Super Carter-related stuff, plus it's the funniest episode of the season. (Not a lot of humor in this show most of the time.)
1-12 Legacy Carter-Reese interactions make this a fun episode.

1-13 Root Cause important for the seasonal arc
1-14 Wolf And Cub stunt-casting of teenage actor? meh. Reese interacting with the kid? d'awwww...
1-15 Blue Code The part with Fusco at the end is why Kevin Chapman deserves an Emmy; the CIA stuff is interesting as well. The rest of the episode wasn't as compelling.

1-16 Risk
1-17 Baby Blue what looks like a gratuitous "aww, baby" episode ends up being not so much about the baby. Also, OUCH.
1-18 Identity Crisis enjoyable juggling of two interconnected cases, plus FBI stuff

1-19 Flesh and Blood Elias and kidnapping and subtle inversion of some storytelling clichés
1-20 Matsya Nyaya less-interesting case of the week, but STANTON!
1-21 Many Happy Returns lots of fans loved this episode; I was bothered by the flashback storyline. Definitely not necessary for the seasonal arc or character development.

1-22 No Good Deed more information about the Machine and Corwin
1-23 Firewall awesome season finale with good potential for early season two

Comments

[brickhousewench.livejournal.com]

Really, you think you can skip the pilot? It sets up the premise for the entire series!

[rose-griffes.livejournal.com]

This list was made partly in response to two people on Tumblr who said that they watched the pilot and immediately disliked the show. And that's not the first time I've seen that reaction in my corner of the internet. Really, the opening "You are being watched" monologue does enough, I think, for the casual viewer.

Although personally I really like the pilot episode. Maybe I'll shift it to "should watch" status (but not must watch).

Funnily enough, while I thought the show generally got stronger after the early episodes, I can recall some viewers who thought it got worse. I finally had to block one Tumblr user who was just negative all the time, to the point where I didn't know why she was even watching.

[brickhousewench.livejournal.com]

Ugh, nothing worse that people grumbling about the thing you're fangirling about when all you really want is someone to squee and jump up and down with you.

Personally I loved the POI pilot. I think I've watched it five or six times now. I generally think that pilot episodes in general give you a good idea about what they have in mind for a show. I'd be surprised if someone who hated a pilot ended up really loving a show later in the run. I usually give a new snow three episodes (three strikes). If I'm not loving it after that, it may fall off my viewing list (unless it's something weird like the only half hour show on in the second half of the hour while I'm waiting for my next show to come on....).

[rose-griffes.livejournal.com]

Well, one of the two Tumblr users who hated the pilot then went on to love the show, so... Probably that's more unusual, however.

Pilot episodes are often made way earlier than the following episodes; they get shopped around, and re-edited, etc. I would never have watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer based on the pilot alone. (I started in mid-season five, oddly enough, and played catch-up as the DVDs were released. And didn't watch season one until years later, because I'd heard it was not that good. And it wasn't.)

Hm, and Parks and Recreation had a bad first season; I tried one episode and wasn't impressed. I only went back to it after enough people whose tastes I trust kept pushing it. And they were right, and no one should bother with season one at all. I went straight to the middle of season two myself.

So I'd say it depends on the show.

[daybreak777.livejournal.com]

Hey, we tried! I had no idea what tech you meant!

You are really writing plot! All Hitchcockian and everything!

;-)

[rose-griffes.livejournal.com]

I am writing plot! Very Hitchcockian indeed!

[daybreak777.livejournal.com]

PoI - For about three weeks I watched the first 30 minutes of each show. But I'd get bored right at the half-hour mark. I'm not sure what that means. I think I like the premise but I couldn't get into the male characters. And Carter, well, I'm not sure she figured hugely in those early eps. But I don't remember.

I think I need a female character to make her presence known pretty quickly. Well, not on a show like Oz but that was about a men's prison. Very different.But in general, I usually stick with shows with a woman in large role early on.

[rose-griffes.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've said multiple times that I'm not sure how PoI got me so fannishly hooked, considering that three of the four regulars are men. White men above forty, at that.

While I do think PoI generally improved over the first season, if it didn't already grab your interest, I doubt it will now. If you really wanted to give it another shot just for fun, I'd say to watch either 1.17 "Baby Blue" (adorable baby factor) or 1.23 "Firewall" because eta: it has Amy Acker.end eta It sets up a lot of interesting possibilities for next season... and because it would give you enough info to read my fic. Which is over 12,000 words at this point, and I still haven't figured out a MacGuffin to use to finish up chapter 3. And I have seven chapters planned, plus prologue and epilogue.

I feel like sitting and whimpering about how this is never going to end...

PS You are under NO obligation of any kind to watch any more episodes of the show or read my fic. Although if you wanted a "skip to the stuff DB will like" guide to my fic, I'll let you know. ;-D (At this point? Chapter five. Though I've had to reorganize chapter breaks, so that may change.)

[daybreak777.livejournal.com]

Oh, I probably won't watch it again. Sometimes I'm curious what you see in it, sometimes. I don't find the men interesting or hot, either, which is probably a factor!

Ooh, a guide to your fic would be interesting but I could still read a fic of yours without knowing and just treat it like original fic! I'm weird like that. ;-)

[rose-griffes.livejournal.com]

I don't find the men interesting or hot, either, which is probably a factor!

Yeah. At least part of the interest for me is Jim Caviezel as Reese. We've hit the "Huh, now I find him attractive in everything" stage, which means DVDs. Callum Keith Rennie inspired this for a short time, but Due South lacked female characters, and most of CKR's other roles were serial killers, so that little spree came to an abrupt end. Caviezel has a few other movies that interest me. I remember you watched The Prisoner, which had him in it. I can't decide if I should try that or not; general consensus is that the first half is interesting and the second half entirely lacking in logic, so... But the screencaps and gifs from The Prisoner that I've seen on Tumblr are very, very pretty. I'm torn!

Oh, topic. I'll make you a guide for my fic. :) Although you still don't have to read it. Honestly, since you've probably seen the opening sequence ("You are being watched"), you have a pretty good idea of what's going on in general...

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

I think the pilot is also sort of important for also setting up the whole "the PoI may not be the target" plotlines. Sure, the Elias episode does, too. But without that very inverting of the "woman in peril trope" already laid down as ground-work, the Elias thing would have been a bit left-field.

It also shows us Carter having obvious empathy/knowledge of war vets, not to mention being sneaky and getting prints and such.

[rose-griffes.livejournal.com]

Hrm, good point about the numbers and about Carter backstory.

That "woman in peril" inversion was part of why I liked the pilot so much. And thankfully, we still haven't seen much woman in peril stuff on the show. (It may not be realistic, but I'm not watching TV for realism.)

[grimorie.livejournal.com]

Hi, I just saw this episode guide! This will really help some of my friends who are interested in watching the show!