“You are being watched. The government has a secret system: A machine that spies on you every hour of every day. I know because I built it. I designed the machine to detect acts of terror, but it sees everything. Violent crimes involving ordinary people, people like you. Crimes the government considered irrelevant. They wouldn’t act, so I decided I would. But I needed a partner, someone with the skills to intervene. Hunted by the authorities, we work in secret. You’ll never find us, but victim or perpetrator, if your number’s up, we’ll find you.”
Person of Interest was a rare gem of a show when it aired between 2011 and 2016, a heady mix of action with conspiracy, sci-fi and cyber-surveillance. If that intro text doesn't grab you immediately, maybe this one isn't for you. It was conceived by Jonathan Nolan, with Nolan, J. J. Abrams, Bryan Burk, Greg Plageman, Denise Thé, and Chris Fisher serving as executive producers. It stars Jim Caviezel, Michael Emerson, Amy Acker, Sarah Shahi and Kevin Chapman and they all do amazing work playing their roles. I particularly like Caviezel as John Reese, who is recruited due to his skills as a former Green Beret and CIA agent who is presumed dead. Our first introduction to Reese is as a piss-stained hobo on the underground, who kicks several shades of shit out of a group of youths who try to steal his booze. You can't blame the guy.
This isn't your typical drama, in fact it feels more like the remedy to many modern shows such as Game of Thrones or Westworld. It's the actor who played Jesus beating people up and saving the world from a rogue AI, with the help of a good AI. It's as simple as that.
In season one, the show has a very much procedural feel to most of the episodes, but over it's five season course it evolves into something much more, while also exploring really interesting and cutting edge ideas such as cyber-surveillance and Artificial General Intelligence (or AGI). This isn't Mr Robot however, so don't expect the most realistic of "hacking" techniques, a lot of it boils down to sci-fi magic at times, but it's still fun. It has an overarching conspiracy that is reminiscent of the X-Files, or more recently Fringe (another show that Abrams was attached to). Overall, if you're in the market for something action-based with a healthy dose of conspiracy and sci-fi themes, then Person of Interest is the show for you.
Did you catch Person of Interest while it was airing? Or is there a similar show that you think I might like? Let me know your thoughts and feelings down in the comment section, and as always make sure to follow me for the latest Cryptocurrency, Technology, Internet and Pop Culture updates. If you're a fan of strange and/or YouTube videos, you might want to follow me on Twitter.
Oh, and as a side note, I'm trying to get a new tag started; #tvdiscovery so if you write posts about shows you enjoy and others might too, then add the #tvdiscovery tag to your posts. I'll be keeping an eye on the tag for new content, so expect a helping hand if you do join. Until we meet again, take it easy!
Sources:
Person of Interest on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Person_of_Interest_(TV_series))
Person of Interest on IMDB (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1839578/)
Image from The Complete ‘Person of Interest’ on Netflix (http://streamondemandathome.com/complete-person-interest-netflix/)
Image from Person of Interest ‘Firewall’ Season Finale Review! (http://scifiempire.net/wordpress/person-of-interest-firewall-season-finale-review/)
Image from ‘Person of Interest’ at 100: ‘A Celebration of All the Things the Show Has Done’ (http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/person-of-interest-cbs-100-episodes-michael-emerson-jim-caviezel-thriller-1201784070/)