Person of Interest stars Michael Emerson (Lost's guy you love-to-hate, Ben Linus) as Harold Finch, a computer software genius billionaire who has built a machine that the government uses to monitor emails, phone conversations and surveillance video in order to keep the U.S. safe from terrorist attacks in the post-9/11 reality. Not content to just prevent major terrorist attacks, a rogue Finch has decided to try to prevent the "irrelevant" murders, at least the ones in New York, but he can't do it on his own. He enlists John Reese (Jim Caviezel, Frequency, The Passion of the Christ), former Special Ops ass-kicker turned generic homeless guy who cleans up really well, as his muscle after Reese has a run-in with the law. This encounter puts him on the radar of Detective Joss Carter (Taraji P. Henson, The New Karate Kid), who then devotes her time to finding this elusive "man in the suit" whose fingerprints keep showing up at crimes scenes, new and old.
Reese has some demons of his own, which makes him perfect for Finch's plans. Even though he couldn't save someone close to him, he can certainly try to save someone "The Machine" pegs as a Person of Interest when it spits out their Social Security number. The trick is that The Machine doesn't know whether the person is going to be murdered or is involved in the murder itself, so there’s always lots of danger and intrigue. Finch and Reese will enlist the "assistance" of dirty cop Detective Fusco (Kevin Chapman), who eventually turns into a strong member of the team and finds himself smack dab in the middle of Carter's precinct, having to keep her from getting a lock on Finch and Reese.
In addition to a strong continuing story arc about Finch and Reese's respective pasts, they will also have to deal with cases that include dirty lawyers and politicians, a baby in danger, a teen with vengeance on his mind, a beautiful "fixer" named Zoe Morgan (Paige Turco) who becomes a recurring character and potential love interest for Reese, the Russian mob versus a handful of Mafia dons, a smuggling team, dirty Wall Street dealings, identity theft turned deadly, and much, much more. Amidst their adventures, a fellow hacker will surface who goes by the name of "Root" and this person not only plague Finch's impervious security system, but may just turn out to have much more deadly intentions.
Each and every episode of Person of Interest: The Complete First Season is an exciting thrill ride and it's great to see Finch and Reese's backstories unfold throughout the season. Michael Emerson plays Finch in a very similar manner to the character he played in Lost, that is to say, he is high intelligent, manipulative and snarky – but Finch is most definitely one of the good guys and Emerson is flawless in his role. Caviezel as Reese is fantastic. He's gorgeous, incredibly bad-assed, and definitely hero material, but he's also battling his own personal demons, so he's character you can sympathize with. Henson as Carter is great as well. Although I was never a big fan of hers, she has totally grown on me and I love the character of Carter. She's up against so much, yet she continues to fight. Even Fusco's character morphs into someone likeable and I want to tell Reese to quit picking on him.
Special features include the series on both Blu-ray, DVD and Ultraviolet (portable), with the original Pilot episode with commentary, as well as an extended Pilot with commentary. There's also a gag reel and a featurette on the reality behind the surveillance technology shown in the show. If you have a high def setup, I highly recommend the Blu-ray over the DVD since some of the shots of New York are beautiful, but a big focus of the show is visuals. Not necessarily crisp visuals, since you'll often see things through the eyes of a security camera, but you'll want to take in all of the details high def offers. Quite simply put, Person of Interest: The Complete First Season is must-see TV. It will appeal to you whether you are a technophile or a conspiracy theory fan, whether you like action or drama. Great writing, compelling storylines, an excellent cast - Person of Interest is the complete package. Highly recommended.
