When CBS spoils its own show...

[aragarna]

So, tonight was episode 5x04 of Person of Interest.

So, in tonight's episode, Shaw returns... Things happen. And during the last commercial break, they show a promo for tomorrow's episode... Where John looks very much in one big piece. You know, breathing and alive and whole, in a perfectly clean white shirt...

And then of course, back to tonight's episode, Shaw kills John. D'oh! How am I supposed to believe it for a second if I know he'll be just fine tomorrow!
So, ok, I had a pretty good feeling at that point that it was a simulation anyway, but still, really, CBS?! Way to spoil the end of the episode barely 10 minutes before the end...

Back to the episode, I have to say, despite the fact that I was glad to see Shaw again, and the fact that the concept was cool, I'm really not a big fan of this kind of things (torture and violation of one's integrity), which I've been fearing would come ever since Shaw fell into the hands of creepy Greer and Samaritan...

Comments

[treonb.livejournal.com]

That's actually funny. I think there was a similar issue with White Collar when they showed Mozzie in promos quite healthy after he was supposedly shot. But it wasn't in the same show.

It was very hard to believe anything in this episode anyway, especially when she killed John.

[aragarna.livejournal.com]

And that promo was even a spoiler for episode 5, since it was saying that "OMG John's in trouble - but wait for the BIG TWIST".
USA TV seems really horrible with spoilers. There's an episode of Grandfathered where the promo they showed before the episode was basically spoiling the very last second of it!

Back to the POI episode, yes, of course, John wouldn't die when there's still 9 episodes left. I won't say they're not going to kill him, but if it happens it'll be at the very end.
But, you know, actually I thought it was still very well played on their part. I might have to rewatch it, but the whole episode I was feeling the characters were a little off. And actually everything felt a little off. Including the sex scene. That didn't seem quite your usual POI. But it makes a lot of sense if we're in Shaw's mind. Especially since Root was her safe place.

And if it's a Samaritan simulation, everything is a mix of projections from Shaw's mind and Samaritan's. So it also makes sense that the characters don't sound really like themselves because they're viewed from different POV that are not what they really are.

[treonb.livejournal.com]

Exactly! I also felt something was off (besides her constant freezes). I felt the characters were either over-acting or under-acting.

I don't understand it though, how can they expect simulations to tell them where they're hiding the machine. Shaw has no idea, so if the simulation knows, the knowledge is already there, they don't really need Shaw.

[aragarna.livejournal.com]

Doesn't she know about the subway?

[treonb.livejournal.com]

You're right. My mistake. I was sure she was never there. Okay, so at least that makes sense :-)

[aragarna.livejournal.com]

Though, we know that the Machine can move itself, and hide in the "unused space of cables" (or something like that). So now that it's back online, I'm not sure the subway is actually this relevant...
But at the same time, Samaritan could try and find Team Machine to try to force the Machine again into giving its location. Though I doubt they'll do S4 all over again.

I've felt for a long time that they were just doomed. Samaritan seems impossible to defeat. So I'm *very* curious to see how they will.