TV Review--Big Brother A Good Guy?

Most of the material on television is unoriginal, formulaic, and derivative (this season is almost equally divided among brilliant lawyers, brilliant doctors, and clever, dedicated cops). Some are revivals of previous TV shows. Of those, most fail immediately--with fun, well-acted exceptions such as Hawaii Five-O. So when something new comes along, it's worth mentioning. I refer to the spy/justice/individual redemption series Person of Interest.

The basic premise is that a computer genius who set up an ultra-sophisticated network for law enforcement that predicted future acts of terror and major violent crimes becomes disenchanted with the "big picture" and wants to go after crimes about to be committed against individuals of no particular national importance. It turns out that his system also detects thousands of potential violent crimes in New York City alone. He is finally pushed out of the shadow agency for obsessing over the crimes that are not being prevented, but not before he has set up a duplicate system in his own "basement."

Although the concept of "pre-crime" was explored much earlier by Philip K. Dick and put (somewhat badly) on the big screen in the movie Minority Report, this is not a ripoff of the Minority Report train of thought. Here, the "hero" is not a cop who is part of a large team of police officers, but instead has left the "cop business" and works to prevent individual violent crimes. A cyber-vigilante, if you will. The genius is played by Michael Emerson, late of Lost. His name is Harold Finch. He is eerily determined, walks with a limp resulting from a spinal injury, and has no particular physical abilities which would allow him to pursue the potential criminals personally.

Finch needs a partner to handle the "street work," and after reviewing as many computer files as he could, comes up with former CIA operative John Reese, played by Jim Caviezel (The Count of Monte Cristo, Passion of the Christ). Reese is a very quiet, unassuming type with an underlying hint of menace and mystery. He can set up clever ruses, put himself in dangerous situations, and exhibit occasional expertise at chop-sockey when called upon to do so. Though the plot is always set up by Finch's obsession and genius, most of the action in the show revolves around Reese carrying out the physical parts of the plan.

Each episode revolves around a single potential crime, but the ongoing relationship between Finch and Reese is the leitmotif which holds the series together. Additional regular characters of note are the police detective played by Taraji Henson and a dirty cop played by Kevin Chapman.

NYPD Detective Carter (Henson) is drawn into the plan at varying stages by the two main characters, but has no idea who they are, what they are up to, and considers whoever they are to be [pre] vigilantes. She is determined to run "him" down, not even knowing that there are two men doing the work she is blocked from doing by police rules and regulations and constitutional restraints.

Dirty cop Fusco (Chapman) actually interacts with Reese, but not by choice. Reese has Fusco's entire record of illegal activity, payoffs, and participation in criminal conspiracies (one of which resulted in a murder). Reese uses Fusco to get inside NYPD information and files and occasionally uses him as a Judas goat to trap the bad guy(s). Fusco works under Detective Carter, but Reese has made sure that Fusco will never inform Carter of his existence.

The show's tagline is "ever feel like you're being watched?" In the case of this show, you are. Each episode gives a brief explanation for why Finch has chosen a particular crime to prevent. Reese usually sees his point, but occasionally can't fathom why Finch has chosen that crime to prevent. The growing trust between the two is emphasized when Reese simply takes it on faith that Finch has chosen the crime for good reason. The two meet to discuss the crimes, but aren't traditional partners. Finch won't tell Reese where he lives or where his sophisticated computers are located. As of a recent episode, Reese has decided on the neighborhood Finch lives in because they most often meet at one particular restaurant.

Unlike the CSI's, the fact that Finch has state-of-the-art computer programs that often seem silly and improbable on CSI becomes believable in Person of Interest because Finch is a computer genius who would reasonably be expected to have equipment almost nobody else has. Finch has, of course, tapped into the public/law enforcement networks as well. There will always be one or two shots taken from hidden cameras and closed-circuit police cameras in each episode, identifying either the scene of the crime or the potential victim. Sometimes both. So far, all the actions take place in New York City and environs. That will probably hold because of the huge population of NYC and Finch's limited mobility.

If you find that scenario interesting, you should probably watch the show as it unfolds. First, the relationship between Finch and Reese is vital, and without seeing it develop, it will be hard to know what is going on if you come in too late (much like Lost). Second, the whiz-bang technology Finch uses could be old hat two or three years from now, given how quickly publicly-available technology advances.

And then there's the "Big Brother" thing. We are in an era in which individual rights and privacy are in apparent conflict with the need for information to fend off terrorist acts. Anyone who doesn't have an occasional bout of paranoia is not thinking about how much of his or her personal information, private communication and correspondence is subject to snooping by the government and clever private parties. Person of Interest smartly does not try to resolve that conflict. It simply uses it as a plot device and leaves the viewer to decide whether what Finch and Reese are doing is right or wrong.