Entry tags:
Person of Interest 2x20
I'm still kinda on the fence about PoI in general, mostly because it keeps sliding towards the moral event horizon in ways I'm uncomfortable with. But then Thursday night's episode happened.
And much squee was had. FUSCOOOOOOOO. ♥
I actually cheered out loud at Carter telling Finch "no". (Or, at least, "I'll do what you want if you do something for me too"). ABOUT DAMN TIME. They've only been keeping her in the dark, jerking her around, risking her career, ordering her to do things she's uncomfortable with, and basically using her for two years now. ABOUT DAMN TIME, I SAY AGAIN. :D
I very nearly stopped watching the show after the episode in which Carter roofied the guy and stole his DNA. It's interesting, though, to work through my own reaction to her actions in that episode, and to other shows in which characters who attempt to claim the moral high ground also occasionally slip from it (Highlander, White Collar). I think that it's a little easier for me, now, to understand some of the brutal fan backlash against Duncan in Highlander, because I caught myself feeling a shadow of the same thing towards Carter -- she pretty definitively lost the moral high ground, there, but keeps trying to behave as if she still has it, as if she's never done things like that herself. It's not that she can't have occasional moral failures; it's that she doesn't seem willing to engage with her own failures yet judges other people for theirs.
At the same time, I really feel for her because it seems as if Reese is stripping her away, layer by layer, and either he doesn't realize he's doing it or doesn't care. All the things she holds dear about herself are being lost, and her face when she walks out with the dog at the end of the episode, after having done another morally repugnant thing, is simply heartbreaking, the mix of stubborn pride and awareness of what she's done ....
On the other hand, I think her conversation with Reese about Fusco was a wake-up call she needed to have ("Once a dirty cop, always a dirty cop?" -- which of course applies equally to Reese and Fusco) and, also, everything she's done, she's done voluntarily. Reese and Finch know how to push her buttons, but they don't have a hold over her. In the end, the pressure they put on her never had to make her do anything. She's responsible for her actions. Which is why I was so "yay!" about her FINALLY saying "no", and I hope she'll fight a little harder to have a more equal relationship with them. She doesn't have to be their gofer girl; she lets herself be used that way in the interests of helping people, but it's sucking her down a deeper and deeper moral black hole ...
But mostly this episode made me go ♥ FUSCO ♥ a lot. :D I appreciate that his past is coming back to haunt him -- it should! He's done terrible things. And he knows it. I agree with![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ivyfic that Reese views Fusco as a replaceable asset rather than actually liking him ... but why should he? Fusco tried to kill him! I actually like that the show has more or less stuck to its guns on this, and they haven't become friends, and Reese is still basically okay with Fusco being hung out to dry. At the same time, the show's done a good job with making Fusco sympathetic despite all of the very legitimate reasons that other characters on the show have not to like him.
I'm finding Fusco's long, slow struggle towards redemption a very satisfying one, because it's such an uphill struggle, and none of the other characters are willing to give him the benefit of the doubt most of the time. They shouldn't! I don't know how I feel about Carter's actions at the end of the episode. On the one hand ... awwww, she's got his back (and it's a nice flipside to Fusco basically bringing a shitstorm down on his own head by protecting her). But I'm also uncomfortable with Carter going outside the legal system (AGAIN) to dig up and hide bodies in order to conceal her partner's very legitimate crime. She's a good friend in this episode ... but a very bad cop. (And yet, is justice really served by Fusco losing his job and being imprisoned for things he did in the past, when he's working to make up for it now? That's a very White Collar-esque question ...)
Also, regarding the cliffhanger ... unless the Machine going down is a symptom of other bad things happening elsewhere in the global computer network, I don't really see it as the Bad Thing that I guess it's supposed to be? I mean, hell, as we saw with Shaw, the government uses the Machine to find targets for extrajudicial executions! Yes, Finch and Reese use it to help people, but there are lots of other ways to help people that don't have such a huge downside. Personally I'm counting the destruction of the Machine in the "net win" column. It's going to be interesting to see which way they spin it in the next episode.
ETA: Having gotten all of my thinky thoughts out, someone should DEFINITELY write the missing scene in which Carter asks Finch if she can borrow his dog to go dig up a body. :D
And much squee was had. FUSCOOOOOOOO. ♥
I actually cheered out loud at Carter telling Finch "no". (Or, at least, "I'll do what you want if you do something for me too"). ABOUT DAMN TIME. They've only been keeping her in the dark, jerking her around, risking her career, ordering her to do things she's uncomfortable with, and basically using her for two years now. ABOUT DAMN TIME, I SAY AGAIN. :D
I very nearly stopped watching the show after the episode in which Carter roofied the guy and stole his DNA. It's interesting, though, to work through my own reaction to her actions in that episode, and to other shows in which characters who attempt to claim the moral high ground also occasionally slip from it (Highlander, White Collar). I think that it's a little easier for me, now, to understand some of the brutal fan backlash against Duncan in Highlander, because I caught myself feeling a shadow of the same thing towards Carter -- she pretty definitively lost the moral high ground, there, but keeps trying to behave as if she still has it, as if she's never done things like that herself. It's not that she can't have occasional moral failures; it's that she doesn't seem willing to engage with her own failures yet judges other people for theirs.
At the same time, I really feel for her because it seems as if Reese is stripping her away, layer by layer, and either he doesn't realize he's doing it or doesn't care. All the things she holds dear about herself are being lost, and her face when she walks out with the dog at the end of the episode, after having done another morally repugnant thing, is simply heartbreaking, the mix of stubborn pride and awareness of what she's done ....
On the other hand, I think her conversation with Reese about Fusco was a wake-up call she needed to have ("Once a dirty cop, always a dirty cop?" -- which of course applies equally to Reese and Fusco) and, also, everything she's done, she's done voluntarily. Reese and Finch know how to push her buttons, but they don't have a hold over her. In the end, the pressure they put on her never had to make her do anything. She's responsible for her actions. Which is why I was so "yay!" about her FINALLY saying "no", and I hope she'll fight a little harder to have a more equal relationship with them. She doesn't have to be their gofer girl; she lets herself be used that way in the interests of helping people, but it's sucking her down a deeper and deeper moral black hole ...
But mostly this episode made me go ♥ FUSCO ♥ a lot. :D I appreciate that his past is coming back to haunt him -- it should! He's done terrible things. And he knows it. I agree with
ivyfic that Reese views Fusco as a replaceable asset rather than actually liking him ... but why should he? Fusco tried to kill him! I actually like that the show has more or less stuck to its guns on this, and they haven't become friends, and Reese is still basically okay with Fusco being hung out to dry. At the same time, the show's done a good job with making Fusco sympathetic despite all of the very legitimate reasons that other characters on the show have not to like him. I'm finding Fusco's long, slow struggle towards redemption a very satisfying one, because it's such an uphill struggle, and none of the other characters are willing to give him the benefit of the doubt most of the time. They shouldn't! I don't know how I feel about Carter's actions at the end of the episode. On the one hand ... awwww, she's got his back (and it's a nice flipside to Fusco basically bringing a shitstorm down on his own head by protecting her). But I'm also uncomfortable with Carter going outside the legal system (AGAIN) to dig up and hide bodies in order to conceal her partner's very legitimate crime. She's a good friend in this episode ... but a very bad cop. (And yet, is justice really served by Fusco losing his job and being imprisoned for things he did in the past, when he's working to make up for it now? That's a very White Collar-esque question ...)
Also, regarding the cliffhanger ... unless the Machine going down is a symptom of other bad things happening elsewhere in the global computer network, I don't really see it as the Bad Thing that I guess it's supposed to be? I mean, hell, as we saw with Shaw, the government uses the Machine to find targets for extrajudicial executions! Yes, Finch and Reese use it to help people, but there are lots of other ways to help people that don't have such a huge downside. Personally I'm counting the destruction of the Machine in the "net win" column. It's going to be interesting to see which way they spin it in the next episode.
ETA: Having gotten all of my thinky thoughts out, someone should DEFINITELY write the missing scene in which Carter asks Finch if she can borrow his dog to go dig up a body. :D