Distributor: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Episodes: 23
Duration: 43 min (per episode)
Person of Interest: Season 3 (Blu-ray) – Series Review
We’ve already reviewed season 2 of Person of Interest and now season 3 has arrived to give us a whole bunch of new episodes. There are a lot of new cases ready to be handled and even if you don’t really like the case-based system of episodes, Person of Interest is an entertaining show to spend your precious TV time on. All major characters from last season are back for more action so let’s get down to business and get that Machine running!
Wait, you might not know what the ‘Machine’ is exactly. Well, basically, it’s an invention of one of the leading characters Harold Finch (Michael Emerson) and it is used as some sort of Big Brother system which keeps tabs on all citizens in the city. Crimes and other unusual behavior isn’t that hard to track down this way and that’s basically the work Finch and his co-workers keep themselves busy with, day in, day out. Season 3 provides its viewers with a lot of diversity in plotlines and although the series suffers a bit from the trait where some cases are more interesting than others (it’s hard to pull off a continuous flow of original ideas in shows like this), you’ll still get enough quality to justify the purchase of the Blu-ray box.
As describing what each case is about is a bit too much for both reviewer and reader, I’ll just give some examples of what can be expected story wise. One episode introduces us to a company called Lifetrace which basically collects all kinds of important information on people (which is of course a huge invasion of privacy). The comparison with the Machine is easily made but Finch insists multiple times that his creation is meant for helping people, not spilling their sensitive information all over the place like Lifetrace seems to be doing. Apparently, someone has a feud with the owner of the company as he constantly gets harassed throughout the episode. Whether it’s because his private conversations (which aren’t the most friendliest most of the time) get recorded and spilled in public or his car gets taken over from a distance, someone seems to want to break the guy completely. It’s up to Finch and his team to find out what exactly is going on here. This episode was a particularly strong one as the continuous cat and mouse chasing kept the pace pretty high for the entire episode.
Not all episodes are as heavy on the action as others. In ‘4C’ we see how Reese (Jim Caviezel) tries to turn away from his life as a ‘problem solver’ and takes the plane to make his escape. No numbers or weird situations for him anymore, he must’ve thought. Unfortunately though, events happen which eventually put Reese in the middle of another number assignment (Finch retrieves numbers from the Machine to know who to help). Although not happy about it, Reese accepts the job and stops several murder attempts on what looks to be your everyday computer nerd. Although there’s quite some action in this episode, the general pace is a lot slower than you might’ve gotten used to by now. It’s good to see that the show takes its time with several storylines instead of holding on to the momentum other episodes created previously.
The acting performances are very good in the third season of Person of Interest. The core cast members are back with high-quality performances and don’t fail to impress with their interpretations of the main characters. Emerson is great as the somewhat shy and introvert genius Finch while Caviezel and Sarah Shahi (who plays Sameen Shaw) spice things up with some awesome action sequences. The actors and actresses that come and go throughout the episodes are all good at what they do and nobody really stood out in a negative way. Hell, even Beast (Finch’s dog) plays his part like a true movie star.
Person of Interest: Season 3 comes with a bunch of extras on the Blu-ray discs. As is often the case, there’s a Gag Reel where you can see bloopers and other funny occurrences on the set. The Comic Con panel for 2013 is also available to watch and accompanied by an interesting Q&A session with the fans of the show. Further, there’s a whole featurette about our lovely friend Beast (must watch for dog lovers) and some other extras like season finale commentary and information on how computer intelligence can change our lives.
Conclusion
The third season in the Person of Interest series proves to be a worthy successor and keeps a fine balance between fast-paced episodes and more tranquil ones. Although this is another case-based TV show which suffers a bit from the not-all-episodes-are-as-interesting-syndrome, the fine general acting, several really strong storylines and overall decent quality of the series will provide you with hours of entertainment. And then there’s still Beast of course.
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