‘Person of Interest’ season 2, episode 11 review: It’s all about Finch

With our other main character locked up, “Person of Interest” season 2 went down a pretty interesting road for Thursday night’s new episode: telling us a story that was really largely about one character in Michael Emerson’s Finch and what he does in order to save the soul of a brilliant but troubled high schooler.

When it comes to the format of the episode, not much was really changed even with the cast shake-up for the hour. We had a case, some action, and ultimately a resolution to wrap everything up. What instead made this episode interesting is what came in between. Oftentimes we are so spoiled by “Lost” that we forget just how talented of an actor Emerson is, and some of the work that he pulled off here was rather outstanding. In particular, his description of Pi was the perfect combination of great writing and a monologue that brought a whole new level of truth to what would otherwise be a mathematical symbol.

Oftentimes, we have a tendency to be a little bit cynical about shows that air on CBS, mostly because so many of them are episodic and don’t necessarily have the sort of long-term storylines that create headlines. However, “Person of Interest” is a fine example of what a great procedural looks like: there is another of a story going on here (as evidenced with what Carter is up to with Rikers) in order to keep you hooked, and the individual cases are by and large captivating and well-acted. This is probably the show that CBS should have given their post-Super Bowl slot to, mostly because it has that wonderful Jonathan Nolan edge to it that few other shows on network TV can execute properly.

Do you think that “Person of Interest” did right with a story that was really about Finch? Be sure to share below, and you can read some more news related to the show over at the link here.

Photo: CBS