# "Person of Interest," a ~10-year old series whose time has come--BACK **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [August 7, 2025, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-of-interest-a-10-year-old-series-whose-time-has-come-back/1021824 "2025-08-07T18:03:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-of-interest-a-10-year-old-series-whose-time-has-come-back/1021824/1 "2025-08-07T18:03:55Z")
Should be subtitled, “The show where they routinely crush cell phones underfoot.” > **[Person of Interest (TV Series 2011–2016) ⭐ 8.5 | Action, Crime, Drama](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1839578/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_5_nm_2_in_1_q_pers)** > > 43m | TV-14 _“An off-the-grid and presumed-dead former CIA agent, John Reese, is hired by a mysterious tech billionaire software genius, Harold Finch, to prevent violent crimes before they happen in New York City via an advanced surveillance software.”_ When this show ran from 2011-2016, AI wasn’t on the top of everyone’s mind like it is now. I didn’t watch PoI in its first run but stumbled on it a week or so ago and was hooked immediately. I’ve been binging nonstop. The first season establishes it with a quirky _stop crime before it hurts someone_ premise–interesting and satisfying-- then gets dark, then darker, then darkest. The body count goes up and up. And I’m only halfway through season 3. Yikes. But there is wit, humor, eye-popping characters (The Women), a fabulous dog who responds to commands in Dutch, and a few Easter Eggs for the alert of a certain age. QUESTION: Can anyone tell me what kind of cell phones they were using at the beginning? It has an average rating of 8.5 on the IMDB (and you know how fussy _those_ people are) with many episodes rating a 10. Take a look. Or another look. - NOTE: If you demand utter, believable realism in your portrayals of what high-tech can do, then skip it. The tech stuff is waaaay over the top, often at sci-fi level. If that’s going to make you cranky, don’t complain to me about it, just go watch something else. Okay must get back to my TV. 📺 ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-of-interest-a-10-year-old-series-whose-time-has-come-back/1021824/2 "2025-08-07T18:07:32Z")
I still believe it was a prequel to “God Friended Me”. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-of-interest-a-10-year-old-series-whose-time-has-come-back/1021824/3 "2025-08-07T18:25:19Z")
I know, right? I kept hoping for a cross-over episode or some other sort of reveal. Never happened. I was so disappointed. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-of-interest-a-10-year-old-series-whose-time-has-come-back/1021824/4 "2025-08-07T18:27:28Z")
Semi-reveal and big hints in the last episode of the latter. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-of-interest-a-10-year-old-series-whose-time-has-come-back/1021824/5 "2025-08-07T19:00:14Z")
_PoI_ - or as I’ve been known to refer to it, “This. Fucking. Show.” - is one of my all-time favorite series and possibly the best science fiction TV show ever made. I’ve watched it from beginning to end three times and I’ll probably watch it three more. I’m always happy when someone else discovers it. Incidentally, Season 3 is when the show _really_ starts getting great. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-of-interest-a-10-year-old-series-whose-time-has-come-back/1021824/6 "2025-08-07T19:03:43Z")
Thank you for that reply. I agree completely. Season 3 pulls the rug out from under you. Okay, need to ask since you’re familiar with the show, Why did Harold adamantly refuse to let Root help when they might have been able to save Carter if he (Harold) had? If the answer gives away something from past mid-season-3, don’t tell me. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-of-interest-a-10-year-old-series-whose-time-has-come-back/1021824/7 "2025-08-07T19:38:08Z")
I think it’s because he believes (with some justification) that she’s an amoral monster, and because he’s terrified of the Machine taking a more active role. At this stage he doesn’t trust either of them. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-of-interest-a-10-year-old-series-whose-time-has-come-back/1021824/8 "2025-08-07T20:26:47Z")
The way the title was written I thought they were doing a reboot. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-of-interest-a-10-year-old-series-whose-time-has-come-back/1021824/9 "2025-08-07T20:33:28Z")
Yeah, I know he didn’t trust either of them then. But damn! And while we’re on the subject, what about that kiss that John gave Carter while they were holed up in the morgue? I know it was gratitude for her having set him back on the right path, but there was a romantic vibe there. And I never caught any romantic chemistry or vibe between them before that. The kiss really threw me. Unless he believed they were were both doomed and felt he wanted to make sure she knew how much she meant to him. It was weird and didn’t really fit, IMHO. Did that moment strike you as odd? * * * > [@Loach](#): > > The way the title was written… Did you figure out that I meant that this series is more topical now than it was in the years when it was first run? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-of-interest-a-10-year-old-series-whose-time-has-come-back/1021824/10 "2025-08-07T20:39:30Z")
The problem with the show is that talking about what the show is actually about, is also a massive spoiler. > [@ThelmaLou](#): > > It was weird and didn’t really fit, IMHO. Did that moment strike you as odd? Yeah, it always has. They respected each other immensely, but had never shown any physical attraction before that. ---
**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-of-interest-a-10-year-old-series-whose-time-has-come-back/1021824/11 "2025-08-07T22:05:10Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > The way the title was written I thought they were doing a reboot. . I thought the same thing. Man I was momentarily excited! This has always been one of my favorite TV show. I think I have watched it all the way through about 5 or 6 times. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-of-interest-a-10-year-old-series-whose-time-has-come-back/1021824/12 "2025-08-07T22:09:04Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > The problem with the show is that talking about what the show is actually about, is also a massive spoiler. I know. People just have to take our word for it as intelligent, discerning, aware Dopers who know a brilliant TV show when they see one and would never steer them toward a dud. If they don’t trust our opinion, I’ll note that on the IMDB, there are 628 reviews of the series as a whole. Of these, 297 give the series a score of 10 (out of 10). However, my neighbor who is pretty geeky didn’t even make it through the first episode. Of the eleven 1-star reviewers on the IMDB, several only watched the first episode or part of the first episode (not the first _season_ but the first _episode_) and bailed. It’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. But it is mine. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-of-interest-a-10-year-old-series-whose-time-has-come-back/1021824/13 "2025-08-07T22:16:49Z")
Sadly Jim Caveziel is a horrible person. Maybe **Fringe** is a better show to revisit. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-of-interest-a-10-year-old-series-whose-time-has-come-back/1021824/14 "2025-08-07T22:33:22Z")
Yeah, I know. Probably too much exposure to Mel Gibson. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-of-interest-a-10-year-old-series-whose-time-has-come-back/1021824/15 "2025-08-11T20:40:10Z")
Three consecutive screenshots from _Person of Interest_ [S3, Ep22, “A House Divided.”](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3615628/?ref_=ttep_ep_22) When the episode first aired on May 6, 2014, this was science fiction. [![](https://i.imgur.com/LWrCLwi.jpeg) ](https://i.imgur.com/LWrCLwi.jpeg) * * * [![](https://i.imgur.com/1BaeUcP.jpeg) ](https://i.imgur.com/1BaeUcP.jpeg) * * * [![](https://i.imgur.com/PhlHjJV.jpeg) ](https://i.imgur.com/PhlHjJV.jpeg)