sense and sensibility

I think it exemplifies my reaction to this show that I had to go watch an episode of "Lost" afterwards to calm down.

And I do apologize to anyone who friended me expecting some even distribution of post topics, only to be flooded with Finch's face (really should make some other icons. But this one says it all). Believe me, I'll be back to "oh, Simon" etc. someday. But today is not... yeah.

I expect to have some time today to pull back and think about stuff like season arcs and why some of them worked so perfectly and others less so (not to share here unless I come up with something profound, but just because that's how I roll), but for now I still have little fireworks shooting off in my brain saying "oh EVERYBODY" and WHY IS IT NOT NEXT WEEK YET. Though I'm sure they'll leave us with a cliffhanger.

Also, Older Son's twenty-third birthday is today, which is bound to make me feel... well, too old to be freaking out about a TV show, for one thing. Except I AM, OKAY.

The absolutely-necessary-at-this-point POI pimping post

So in the hope that I can convince even one more person to risk their sanity by watching "Person of Interest," here is the post where I attempt to explain why I've fallen for the show so hard (and then hopefully shut up for a while). This is the post that got me started, last fall (warning, does contain spoilers); you can see by the comments that it took me a while to warm to the show, but soon enough I started saying "Oh, Mr. Finch" and capslocking a lot, and the rest is silence history.

I'm going to do a (non-spoilery as much as possible) list of what I love under the cut, but first, a quote from last night:

I've lost people before, so when I care about someone, I plant a tracking device on them.

In essence, the show is about how we arrive at and justify that horrifically adorable statement, thank you John Reese.

So: take one reclusive computer genius billionaire with a compulsive need to save people and serious boundary issues, add a damaged ex-CIA-assassin tough guy with a heart of melted chocolate (and peanut butter, I suppose) and a fondness for kneecapping, neither of them using their real names, mix in all-seeing artificial intelligence and an unrelenting caseload of last-minute rescues and painful backstories and a pair of wonderful cops, and... it's a start. But here's what really draws me in:

( moral ambiguity, redemption arcs, acting, character development, great female characters, humor )

Also, it should be mentioned that this is a show not just for unrepentant fangirls, but for everyone. It's got high levels of action (guns! cars exploding! Reese fighting, OMG); it's got the FBI, the CIA, and the NYPD; it's got crooked cops and crooked politicians and gangsters and good people trying to make their way through it all; it's got New York City, as a character in its own right; it's got intriguing science-fictiony AI stuff and a deserted library hideout; it's got Big Brother at his biggest; it's got Finch's gorgeous clothes and Reese's gorgeous face. They adopt a DOG (and give him a bath, together, and bicker about which one of them he belongs to, like an old married couple). They kidnap a BABY. They play chess with a mob boss. Many, many people end up in car trunks. There are movie homages and inverted cliches and bomb vests and love stories (I happen to think Finch and Reese's is the greatest of these, but YMMV) and lots of literal and figurative gut-punches (I think I've been figuratively kneecapped quite a few times too). It's just such FUN. (Until you realize you've been sucked in too far and it starts to hurt. I can't honestly say you won't be sorry, but it'll be in a good way.)

One more episode in season two. You've got lots of time to catch up over the summer. Let me invite you to Queensbridge Park on a gloomy morning, and talk you into joining us.

(And if no one listens, I had to write all that anyway. But I hope you do.)