Person of Interest (TV)

All non-Nolan related film, tv, and streaming discussions.
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One thing that surprised me a lot this season is the number of red herrings: Harold's Trojan Horse with Beth Bridges taking down Samaritan, Control being the one to release the AI's stronghold on the government (as well as popping Greer), Grice being an ally for the team, Harper getting texts from The Machine with the implication that she'd aid them in taking down its rival, to name a few. None of them came to fruition, which is kinda bold on the part of the writers. The ones with Control, the concept of the Trojan Trigger, & Harper can still be revisited in Season 5, though.

Pushing the science fiction angle going into Season 5, I think they already have a cool device in place: The Pseudo Google Glasses utilized by ISA operatives in Control-Alt-Delete. Given how the concept of the Machine (& eventually Samaritan) is ideally a spiritual successor of the Sonar System in The Dark Knight, either the newly rebooted Machine or Samaritan can give its operatives a modified version of these shades, providing them access to AI POV (like the white-eyed Sonar Vision), as opposed to just getting them through instructions via earpieces & texts.

It's easier for Samaritan cause it just has to either tweak the existing ones provided to the ISA, or task any of the multiple organizations it has shuttered (& continues to shutter) over the course of the year across multiple countries in the world with high technological capabilities to develop them. The old Machine was a closed system, and nobody could see what it sees. But given the new one being more proactive is a likely possibility in theory, I suppose this can come along with it. And if either the Thornhill Corporation or IFT has a role in creating them (going by how I theorized either of these companies could have a hand in TM's reawakening), even better.

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Last edited by ChrisTilford on July 1st, 2015, 1:17 pm, edited 10 times in total.

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Hey folks,
I know Chris is probably the only one who's going to (or at least going to pretend to for courtesy's sake) give a damn about this, but I know I'm not the only one who thought Karma was a missed opportunity. I was hoping for a Martine episode, for one, but we didn't get that.
So, using what information the showrunners have given us in interviews and the like, I started to write a short episode from Martine's POV, telling her story.
I'm going to post a couple of pages here, any feedback would be appreciated.
Cheers,
GeneMod
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GeneMod wrote:Hey folks,
I know Chris is probably the only one who's going to (or at least going to pretend to for courtesy's sake) give a damn about this, but I know I'm not the only one who thought Karma was a missed opportunity. I was hoping for a Martine episode, for one, but we didn't get that.
So, using what information the showrunners have given us in interviews and the like, I started to write a short episode from Martine's POV, telling her story.
I'm going to post a couple of pages here, any feedback would be appreciated.
Cheers,
GeneMod
Gotta say, that opening scene had me grinning ear-to-ear. Specifically liked the shot direction of "Signal Lost" followed by the kill. It's a sign that the writer's so incredibly well-versed of the show's visual language, that the actual scripting of the beat makes the reader imagine exactly how it'll play out.

With the flashback, I liked that the exposition of the old guy's crime wasn't very elaborate. The show is forced to do that many times (being on CBS and all), but keeping it to the point while peppering with Martine's intimidating statements made it even better.

If there's one thing I'd recommend changing, it's the word 'investigator' used by Naves to address Martine. That, to me, is a bit expo-ish. Unless you have a reveal planned about her real last name, then it's fine.

Overall, a kickass intro. Thanks for sharing, Gene. Would like to read more as it comes along. Cheers!

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Thanks, Chris. Didn't expect that detailed a response for what amounted to about 20 mins work.
By Title Screen, I meant the "Created by Jonathan Nolan" credit screen followed by a direct cut to 2008. I notice the show has done flashbacks without the transition, so I just thought it'd be simpler.

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GeneMod wrote:Thanks, Chris. Didn't expect that detailed a response for what amounted to about 20 mins work.
By Title Screen, I meant the "Created by Jonathan Nolan" credit screen followed by a direct cut to 2008. I notice the show has done flashbacks without the transition, so I just thought it'd be simpler.
You were going for a title card intro for this one? I get it now. Thanks for the clarification. If that's the case, would there be a way to make the act a bit longer? Something that could play out for like 4-5 minutes before cutting to that.

And yes, you can do a direct transition to flashbacks (A House Divided did it once for Collier, for his brother's memorial service, right after the ad break). But I think that was the case because The Machine was down cause of the blackout. Better example to support your case would be the last 2 flashbacks for Greer in The Cold War, which cut directly to the scenes after break, with just the year displayed. Not many people pay attention to that, but that's okay. :)

Best of my knowledge, it hasn't been done right after the title card (Terra Incognita doesn't count, as those're hallucinations), but there's a first time for everything...

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GeneMod wrote:I know Chris is probably the only one who's going to (or at least going to pretend to for courtesy's sake) give a damn about this, but I know I'm not the only one who thought Karma was a missed opportunity. I was hoping for a Martine episode, for one, but we didn't get that.
While I like Karma for what it is, your idea here is a great one. And you've already created an engaging vibe for the episode -- as Chris said, it's easy to visualize. It's also way more than I could do in twenty minutes.

I think Lambert could just give an inquiring look, or open his mouth to ask, and then the "Long story" line preempts him. Also, you could use the SIGNAL LOST as a point to transition to the flashback (quickly sets a parallel between the two scenarios), then have the title card right after the arrest, although I'd still want to work in that "Nope" somewhere. In any case, I'm interested to see more!
ChrisTilford wrote:Best of my knowledge, it hasn't been done right after the title card (Terra Incognita doesn't count, as those're hallucinations), but there's a first time for everything...
I think it has been done, e.g. No Good Deed, unless you mean an example without the full transition effect.

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Whistler wrote: Also, you could use the SIGNAL LOST as a point to transition to the flashback (quickly sets a parallel between the two scenarios), then have the title card right after the arrest, although I'd still want to work in that "Nope" somewhere. In any case, I'm interested to see more!
The cameras shutting off coinciding with an execution is awesome. The show's attempted to do it before (Prophets at the Election Commissioner's office, Search & Destroy when Khan's in prison), but the killers came up short on both occasions. Martine executing Novak the journalist in the premiere happened with them down, but the feed cutting away is too a good a device not to be utilized. Perfectly displays just how much a manipulative bastard Samaritan truly is.

But to work in a transition from present to past before the title card, it can be accomplished by doing away the SPOV shots. Smash to black on Martine's target as he's about to be executed, followed by a gunshot ringing out. Once you fade in, we're in flashback mode (like the opening scene of Terra Incognita, where Reese being shot is heard over a blank screen, followed by sounds of what eventually turned out to be Gil dragging John through the snow, before fading in on John in the car). As Martine comes into focus, the legend can indicate the year they're presently in. Though this has the tendency of coming across a little heavy-handed as well.
Whistler wrote: I think it has been done, e.g. No Good Deed, unless you mean an example without the full transition effect.
Did a quick rewatch, and NGD opens with the MPOV screen cutting away from 2012 to 2009. Out of curiosity, rechecked Season 2's The High Road, and right after the title sequence, it cuts to a black screen that reads "May 8, 2004: Day 859" (like the Day 1 shots in The Contingency & Prophets, and the opening scene of God Mode), before showing Finch & Ingram testing out the Machine in a park. And to an extent, there's Karma, as well. After the intro, there's a recap from scenes in God Mode, and it directly transitions into flashback.

So I stand corrected, it HAS been done before. Been such a long while, I forgot about it, and wouldn't mind seeing it done again. :D

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i seriously just had to debate to someone who thought Megan Boone the lead actress from blacklist has better acting then Michael Emerson... we live in a world where that's possible ?

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I know I'm not alone in this line of thinking: Grice striking a nerve with John over Shaw in their fight in Control-Alt-Delete, somewhat created an impression that he'd end up being an ally of sorts to the team. Maybe not directly, but as their plant in the ISA, & would eventually have a hand in taking Samaritan down. I mean, the character's capable, & they cast a likable actor in Nick Tarabay who's well-regarded for his work in Spartacus.

Choosing to kill him off as a twist, reminded me of what George RR Martin once said pertaining to A Song of Ice & Fire/Game of Thrones: He killed off Robb Stark so the audience did not incorrectly assume the story was about Ned Stark's heir avenging his death (novel series & show). Not only that, but offing his pregnant wife Talisa as well, so his heir could not avenge HIS death either (show only). It's fair to assume Brooks might try to get some retribution about what happened to Grice (Greg did mention that she's still out there, and 'possibly very angry'), but that could be misdirection. She's big on following orders, but when her partner got killed, she'd want to go 'fuck that' and be out for blood, but given what she's up against, and how more capable people have fallen because of it, she's likely to get offed, too. TVTropes call that the 'Heel-Face Door Slam'.

There's also a note of Fridge Brilliance in Grice's death: When he's shown to be killed onscreen, Greer says 'And then there's the disloyal'. He also mentioned Samaritan's been watching the world for a year. It obviously knew Devon let Shaw escape in Honor Among Thieves, and a lot of folks questioned why it didn't do anything about it back then. But once the finale revealed it has settled on a list of corrections, and was gonna take 'em all out in one stroke, everything came into perspective. He wasn't just killed for aiding Control in what Samaritan perceives to be an act of disloyalty, but he let someone whom it considers a terrorist herself to go free. Magnificent bastard.

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thedarkshaw wrote:i seriously just had to debate to someone who thought Megan Boone the lead actress from blacklist has better acting then Michael Emerson... we live in a world where that's possible ?
I read a lot comments saying that Megan Boone was a miscast- portraying as a badass that is. But decent otherwise.


Anyway, why compare ME to Megan Boone. :facepalm:

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