'Person of Interest' - The Relationship Between Reese and Finch

***WARNING: SPOILERS FOR SEASON FINALE, "GOD MODE". So if you didn't stop your entire life and watch it the day it aired and don't wish to know what transpired in it beforehand, please don't read any further :)

So, we've now gotten to journey through two thrilling seasons of 'Person of Interest' - that's 45 episodes of gleefully watching Reese and Finch - a duo so dynamic just seeing them sitting on a park bench together gives you a tingle of excitement - take on the baddies and save the part of the free world that would otherwise slip through the cracks. And man, what a ride it's been! As we wait (impatiently, excitedly, and with so many open questions and wild theories dancing around our heads) for POI Season 3 (~Wake me when September comes...~), let's take a brief look at how we entered and exited the relationship that is the core of Team Machine in each of the two seasons...

Sx01, Ex01 - The Initial Meeting:



I'm considering it the initial meeting because it's the first time we the audience see them make contact. Yes, Reese encountered Finch before (in the flashback where Reese learns of Jessica's death), but he didn't know it was Finch and they didn't talk or become introduced to each other. Finch might have known about Reese for a long time - I'm still a little hazy on the timeline and details of the whole laptop/virus-within-a-virus/Ordos/Harold-Finch-is-behind-it-all stuff - but again, he never spoke face-to-face with Reese then, so this scene in the pilot is their first important introduction.

I love the way Finch is all "I know exactly everything about you, Mr. Reese." It makes him quite the mysterious figure. Yet at the same time, he has a sensitivity toward Reese that makes us think there is so much more here to explore. And they did that throughout the season. I was floored when they revealed Finch was right there in the hospital (in the aforementioned flashback) with Reese's picture and number. Bleep! So many times after watching a new episode that divulged a secret reveal like that, I'd have to go back and rewatch a previous episode's scene to see how this new information incorporated into it. Sure enough there'd be glimpses of the fact that it was true the whole time! And either I just hadn't picked up on it, or I'd noticed something originally and happily wondered when it would be revealed.

Finch is guarded, he doesn't yet know if he should open up to Reese. So many awful things have happened to Finch since the instating of The Machine as the government's secret weapon against terrorism, he has to be sure before he tells Reese things, before he trusts him.

Reese himself is in a dark place. He doesn't want to trust anyone either - he doesn't care to trust anyone. There's no use in it, his life is over, why bother? Only, Finch can give him purpose again. Finch can save Reese's life. He does so in 'Number Crunch' where he comes and rescues Reese from the building after Reese is shot. But it's interesting to note that Finch in fact saved Reese from the very beginning. Who knows what might have happened had Finch not intervened at this point in Reese's life? No one else could do for Reese what he needs, what Finch can do for him. No one. At the same time, Reese is the only one who can supply Finch with what he needs to keep going. "The skills to intervene." Who else could Finch hire to help him rectify his mistake about the irrelevant numbers?

So we begin this ever-evolving relationship between these two very different, though ultimately super similar, characters at a time in which both are at a point where they could not reasonably continue without the other. That's really powerful, and it makes it just the right moment to start their journey with them. A journey to find redemption and to learn to trust again. And to feel joy again.

Sx01, Ex23 - Side by Side:



By the final episode of Season 1, "Firewall", Reese and Finch have grown much closer. That's just something that happens when you cheat death together, have nobody else to confide your vigilante actions to, and spend day after day shoulder to shoulder working for a common goal. They've become very dependent on each other's presence - something we then see upset in a major way with Root kidnapping Finch and causing him and Reese to be separated for the first time since the beginning. It was heartbreaking to see Reese so hollow when he's looking around the empty Library afterward. His friend is gone, and he may not get him back. How can he continue saving the numbers without his friend, benefactor, mentor, conscience, and "tech support"? (This makes me think of poor Finch also returning to the Library after the loss of his close friend and only confidant. In Finch's case though, he never got Nathan back...)

Because Finch is kidnapped by the end, this is the only scene in which Finch and Reese are together in the episode; for the remainder of it they are in different locations, only communicating over the phoneline.

Sx02, Ex02 - The Reunion:



It takes until the second episode of Season 2, "Bad Code", before Reese and Finch are reunited. Finch has changed; he's had to go through yet another traumatic experience, and he's had to look at his creation and what he's done to it through Root's psycho viewpoint. Reese too has changed; he's had to reason with the Machine, face the (permanent if he can't rescue him) void left by Finch's absence, and fill Finch's role as the one getting the numbers from the Machine. These are all things that bear on their dynamic as they go back to business as usual. Reese is careful to let Finch ease back to normalcy. Finch must consider that Reese won't prioritize Finch's safety below that of fulfilling the Machine's contingency plan. Finch may have been able to reprogram the Machine to not protect him, but he won't have the same success with Reese. Nope, if Finch is in danger then Reese won't stop trying to save him, and he'll give the unstoppable cannonball a run for its money in doing so.

Sx02, Ex22 - In Step:



As Season 2 closes out, our two heroes are ready for whatever the next stage will be in their mission as guardian angels to the numbers on the irrelevant list. Finch has fewer secrets than ever from Reese. Reese has had to forgive Finch for certain things, or more accurately, the decisions of Finch's that led to certain things. They are completely inseparable at this point. They are in perfect tandem. (Bear too, just look at him putting his paw forward in step with his masters.) They are two sides of the same coin. They walk alongside each other in the darkness created by the choices in their lives. As long as the Machine continues to call them with the numbers, they will continue to answer the phone.

I can't wait to see what awesome twists and turns await Finch and Reese in Season 3. If the storylines are anything like in the first two seasons, I'll be thrilled no end! Or course it'll be hard to top things like:

*The adorableness of the two self-inflicted bachelors caring for baby Leila in their secret hideout...

*The uh-oh moments involved in Finch leaving Reese out of the case that bore too much similarity to Jessica's death...

*The hilarious teasing that passes between them when there's a lull in the danger...

*The powerful bond that rears its wonderful head at moments when either one is in a life-threatening situation...

*The touchingness of Reese trying to make Finch feel better about his decision to protect Grace...

*The funny reaction from Reese when Finch tells him he set Reese up with a date with Maxine and has been texting her all day...

*The sweetness of seeing Finch's smile when Bear bowls Reese over upon Reese's return from Rikers prison...

*The cushion... (Yes, that's all that needs to be said)

*The tenseness of having to disarm a bombvest atop a roof at night when it's strapped to your other half...


But if the POI writers are up to the challenge of writing it, then I'm definitely up to the 'challenge' of watching it. Bring it on! Oh right, there're still weeks and weeks to have to wait...


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I had the idea to make this post a bit ago, but then last night I found this amazing fanvid, and it's a perfect showcase of the friendship and bond and funny moments I tried to cover above. Watch and enjoy! (If your feels explode, don't say I didn't warn ya ;)



(Thanks to talitha78 for making this vid!!)

80's Magic: "Punky Brewster"

"I have two different feet, why shouldn’t I wear two different shoes?"

One of the things most endearing and charming about Punky Brewster is her outlook on life. I appreciate the way she is an individual, with individual (and ofttimes highly unique) ideas, and isn't ever made to feel ashamed for being who she is. Actually most of the time her perky, spunky, optimistic, ready-to-try-anything attitude is the focus, rather than being something other characters are trying to rid her of, as is so often true in other cases of a drastically-different main protagonist.

This attitude is strung throughout the show itself too. The episodes always managed to pack both comedy and heartfelt issues into one nice bright package. And talk about bright! I think even for the rainbow-infused 80's Punky Brewster was more multi-chromatic than one would even think possible!

Watching the series on DVD - oh how I love DVD releases of fave shows :D - the jolt of the 80's-ness of this show is quite powerful. The pop culture references, the original score, the fashions and set design, the plots... - I love that about it. Plus it has this very comfortable quality to it, like you're in the company of long-time friends and family. It feels for me (having been only a few years younger than Punky herself in the eighties) exactly like that decade felt when living through it (minus the extreme comedic situations of course). There were plenty of things going on that adults were conscious of during that time, but Punky captures the mood of what was important to a child's mind then. The honest level to the writing and the on-screen bond between the characters/actors are both key elements in this, I think. The emotions so often feel unscripted, like you're just watching a group of friends going about their daily joys and troubles, handled in ways you feel certain you'd handle them if you were there.

Here's the TV guide fall preview mention (thanks to Brandedinthe80's for it), from the now-so-long-ago year of 1984:

Punky is the quintessential little orphan girl, Shirley-Temple-esquely softening the heart of the crusty, old, lonely man - there's something so timeless about that :) And it was great to watch Punky best all the difficulties that having been abandoned by her mother caused, and become part of a new family and grow into a truly happy, exuberant young girl. I've made up my mind that when I'm ready for kids, I'm going to adopt, cos it just isn't right for there to be children who are already in this world who have no stable, loving family of their own.

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And just for the fun of it, have a listen to the theme song for the Punky cartoon, "It's Punky Brewster"?

Person of Interest fan-art (sort of)

The following essay and reproduction I did for Fine Arts credit. I chose "The Red Tower" because I wanted to explore it so I could better understand it since it was used in my favorite current show.

Giorgio de Chirico’s “The Red Tower”
By Janis Kunz
3-6-13

         I hadn’t heard of, nor had I seen, Italian artist Giorgio de Chirico’s 1913 surrealist painting, “The Red Tower”, until it was used as part of a character moment in the CBS action-drama, “Person of Interest”. The character of Grace, an artist and illustrator, tells of a defining moment she had while in Venice, Italy:

GRACE: “I got to be two feet away from de Chirico’s ‘The Red Tower.’
His paintings have that sense of… mystery, of something looming.”

HAROLD: “Yeah, it’s like life is frozen in that moment,
and the universe is about to reveal all its secrets.”

GRACE: “Yes. And it did – in a way.
That’s when I knew I wanted to be an artist.”

         To me, on my first glimpse of it, I found the painting to be drab and sparse. So I was instantly intrigued as to why they had chosen it to be the piece so striking to Grace as to capture her imagination like that. There must be something about it I was missing. It was time to take a closer inspection.
         A quick trip to Guggenheim.org revealed that de Chirico’s works were an enormous inspiration to Surrealist painters, and that it’s his use of ‘irrational perspective, lack of a unified light source, elongation of shadows, and hallucinatory focus on objects’ that causes the dreamlike quality of his paintings. Plus, the fact that there is no event taking place within the painting can cause a feeling of melancholy or anxiety, as if ‘one senses the wake of a momentous incident’.
         Taking these things into account, as well as the characters’ dialog, I studied the painting – with its solitary tower imposing over the entire setting, its heavy use of shadow, its minimal palette, and its stark landscape – and I could see what it was they meant when they spoke of a sense of mystery and looming and an event about to occur. Other paintings by de Chirico’s, like “The Disquieting Muses” and “The Enigma of the Arrival and the Afternoon”, have the same sense of mood.
         Now when I look at “The Red Tower”, what had previously seemed drab and sparse, instead spurs my imagination. I feel compelled to fill the spaces, to wish to walk among them. I feel the desire to understand, or even solve, the mystery of that looming event. In essence, I can now look at the painting as Grace had looked at it, with a sense of fascination.

Happy Valentine's Day - Misfits Style!

Happy Love Day!! <3
--> click for mood music <---

Awesome HQ's [POI, MoS, WotW, Miracles]

There are certain fictional worlds that tug at you, worlds that make you long to be able to step inside that particular universe and walk around its environments. For me, 'Person of Interest', 'Misfits of Science', 'War of the Worlds', and 'Miracles', definitely do that!! Many a time I've dreamt about hanging out with each one's respective teams at their too-cool headquarters...

These awesome HQ's supply that tactile feeling mentally, like you know exactly what it would feel like to be there. What the lighting is, what the acoustics are, where everything is located, how the mood of the building impacts the activities within...

It's hard to remember that these aren't real places. They don't really exist. Due to the demands of filming a TV show, they need to be sets - and not even always contiguous ones either. One floor might be on one soundstage while the secret basement may have been created at another location all together. And the exteriors are 'second unit', filmed elsewhere in the city sometimes.

Occasionally a show is lucky enough to commandeer a real-life building for its purposes, but even then it can be, in actuality, located in a different city than portrayed on the show, and it still isn't going to be somewhere you can visit and find crime-fighters or superheroes hard at work.

However, once these HQ's - these focal points of where our favorite characters plot and plan and grow close - are seamlessly placed within the episode, they come alive in our minds and become a reality, a place that we can consider from all angles and fill in the gaps and shadows. What fan doesn't try to imagine what's behind closed doors in the background, or what rooms and corridors are in between the entrance shot and the interior shots, or what items are in the drawers and on the shelves.


And now, in no particular order except for year order, are four of my favorite awesome HQ's:

Humanidyne: H.I.T. Lab

    Location:
          Southern California

    Team members: 
          Dr. Billy Hayes
          Dr. Elvin Lincoln
          Johnny Bukowski
          Gloria Dinallo




Humanidyne is a large government complex and the Human Investigation Team lab is in the basement. (I wonder what work the rest of Humanidyne is doing all the time the Misfits are engaged in their shenanigans?) It's filled with complicated equipment of all shapes and sizes, and who knows what's in the walk-in freezer at present.

This is a lab, yes, but it's also a doctor's office - waiting room, receptionist, and all. I can just imagine being a test subject or a volunteer there, surrounded by the kookiness that's present at all hours. However, amid that is a purveying sense of fun and joy of life and the desire to find advancements in science to better the human condition.

Who wouldn't want to join in one of Billy and El's experiments or do some test work with Johnny B and Glo? Even getting chewed out by administrator Dick Stetmeyer for not providing the test results on time would be great. The lab is always crammed with toys and science-y gadgets, so enticing for someone who loves to play around with that sort of stuff. Oh what fun it would be to grab a visitor's pass and hang out with the Misfits of Science for a while.

Entry for H.I.T. at 'Science of Misfits'.

The Cottage

 
    Location:
          Northern California

    Team members:
          Col. Ironhorse
          Dr. Harrison Blackwood
          Dr. Suzanne McCullough
          Norton Drake


The Cottage is a top secret government facility tricked out with the highest-end equipment and technology, with the sole purpose of providing a means for the Blackwood Team to protect the planet against the threat of invading Mor-Tax. Norton looooves his supercomputer, Suzanne is at home in her personal microbiology lab, Ironhorse has a gym and shooting range, and Harrison's office is an exact recreation of his old one at the college. The basement command central has all the feel of being inside the inner workings of a computer combined with a federal agency task force war room.

The Cottage is located in beautiful countryside, secured with the best in anti-intruder devices (Ironhorse knows this well, since he had to infiltrate their own security once). There's a horse paddock, a pond with swans, and tree-covered hills that lead to the water. Quite a picturesque contrast to the dark sick twisted gritty side of fighting aliens.

With its rich furnishings, the interior of the main house is right out of some Better Homes magazine and Mrs. Pennyworth and Kensington lend to the air of a rich home as well. But for all the stateliness the Cottage exudes, it can feel as homey as any family living room. One of my favorite scenes has got to be when the newly thrown-together individuals are spending their first evening around the fireplace and Ironhorse is telling Debi a story of his Indian ancestor.

 

 

Sodalitas Quarito

    Location:
          Boston

    Team members:
          Paul Callan
          Alva Keel
          Evelyn Santos




SQ is housed in part of an unassuming brownstone, a building that feels as mysterious and overlooked as the paranormal cases that the SQ gang investigates. Evie brings her son Matty to work with her, and while she, Paul, and Keel are researching cases and solving the odd haunting, he plays in the office rooms. What a spooky environment for a little boy to let his imagination run in. It reminds me of attics and hidden secret places that call out to be discovered.

What supernatural-related things are lurking among the jostles of office items? What sort of artifacts does Keel have stashed there? This place promises mysteries galore, like the floor that's not really there, so the rain leaks through to the floor below like it was the roof. Makes me just want to explore every dark corner and see what lies there.

It can only be reached by the alley entrance in the rear, making it feel like a place you have to search for to find. The way it has no walls and is just a lot of dark space trying to be filled up makes it feel haunted, like Paul himself. But at the same time it also feels inviting, because you know that its occupants are ready and willing to do all it will take to solve a client's problems.

 

 

The Library

    Location: 
          New York

    Team members:
          Harold Finch
          John Reese
          (Bear ^_^)


An old library owned by Finch, but in financial limbo and therefore off the record. Perfect for clandestine vigilantism. It has so much area that is 'broken down' - a metaphor for our heroes, no? It also has a dignified magnificence that befits an abode for these two world-experienced men. I can't help wondering though, we've been shown the apartment Finch gifts Reese, but where does Finch sleep? Surely not in the Library all the time.

The Library comes well-stocked with a horde of books, something that turns out to be more important to the work Reese and Finch do than just a nice collection. And the center round table (does that make them Dark Knights of the Round Table? ;P  ) with Finch's five monitors of geeky coolness is a great central hub.

Versatility is something this place doesn't lack, seeing as it's been used as a nursery, a doghouse, and a safe haven/detention cell for Leon. I like how things are used for unintended purposes; the damaged pane of glass in place of a whiteboard, books for baby Leila's playpen, a filing drawer holding not files but firearms... Speaking of, I wonder just how many weapons Reese has squirreled away inside the Library?

Entry for the Library at 'Pedia of Interest'