I have always found Jim Caviezel quite attractive since his role in The Count of Monte Cristo. I loved his acting in that film and it has led me to feel very positively about any of Caviezel's future works.
Michael Emerson is a PERSON OF INTEREST
- Thread starter Starbreaker
- Start date
I will concede that Jim Cavizel's portrayal of "John Reese" did remind me of Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne. Hopefully as we learn more about him though this will evolve. As was mentioned before he is repressing his personality and emotions due to incidents and events we know nothing about yet.
I did like Emerson's Mr. Finch character. I wonder if he has attempted to contact people beyond "John Reese". It seems though from their conversation he specifically targeted and profiled him for this "job".
I did like Emerson's Mr. Finch character. I wonder if he has attempted to contact people beyond "John Reese". It seems though from their conversation he specifically targeted and profiled him for this "job".
I think saying it operates under "fairly absurd rules" is a bit premature since they only gave the vaguest idea of what rules it operates under at all. Nor is there any need for this to be science fictiony or magical, since all the technology to achieve a system like this already essentially exists. If anything, the only difference I see between Person of Interest and our actual present day is that the show seems to have an even greater erosion of civil and privacy rights (though not by much) and more centralization and cooperation between agencies in regard to the data they acquire.
The basic premise of the data mining computer system Finch was using already existed in the form of the ADVISE system and the USAF's TALON system, which were both replaced in 2007 by the FBI's Gaurdian system:
Finch already established that it can't do anything science fictiony or magical like predict a crime of passion or convenience that happens rapidly and without planning, so it's no PreCrime from Minority Report. It's only the crimes that are premeditated and planned over a period of days, weeks, or months that it can build up sufficient warning signs to prevent.
The US/UK/Canadian/Australian/NewZealand based ECHELON system uses a variety of signals intercept techniques to monitor global satellite, cellular, radio, microwave, and fiber-optic communication. They basically get around laws preventing the NSA and its counterparts spying domestically by spying on allied nations and having them spy on us and then share the data back and forth. Data mining systems gathering information from ECHELON can monitor keywords (names, "Bomb," "attack," "jihad," etc.), or do voice recognition and voice stress analysis.
The FBI can monitor emails and electronic communications with its Carnivore software (replaced by NarusInsight in 2005) which uses elaborate filtering criteria to target specific individuals.
When Reese turned the ADA lady's cell phone into a GPS tracker and microphone to listen in on her conversation, they were simply using a real FBI technique called a "roving bug" whereby software is remotely downloaded into a cellphone and can listen in on conversations in the vicinity of the phone whether it's turned on or not. It's already been used to take down mob bosses.
Mathematical algorithms are already used by law enforcement to predict likely places and times where crimes will occur based on crime statistics, upswings in 911 calls in certain areas, criminal pattern profiling (most strike within certain areas near where they live, and you can often establish a search area for the criminal by going to the center of the distribution of crimes), and other factors.
Then you have the omnipresence of CCTVs, traffic cams and red light cameras. There's facial recognition software and micro-expression analysis, body language analysis software, voice recognition, voice stress analysis, and keyword intercepts. You have data mining of identification, medical, financial, criminal, credit history, and driving habits (in cars with OnStar-type systems, GPS, or insurance tracking monitors) records that can establish patterns of behavior and locations.
So, all in all, I'd say the system as presented on the pilot episode of the show is all too frighteningly plausible. Whether it continues to be in the future or if they start adding more magical or scifi Deus Ex Machina functions to it remains to be seen.
The implausible parts are the ones being manufactured for the benefit of the drama, namely that the magic machine can't tell whether the person is victim or perp (how does the machine know the person is involved at all, if it doesn't know the details of their involvement? is the person emitting some kind of bad vibes that criminal stuff is coalescing around them?) and that only sending Finch the social security numbers somehow prevents the big bad gubmint from realizing what he's doing (are social security numbers less protected than names and addresses?)
If Finch just wants to send Rambo to go stop crimes where they are likely to occur, he could do what the cops already do, namely target certain neighborhoods and demographic groups. He doesn't need a magic machine for that. But it's laughable that a machine would know that a certain lawyer is going to be either a victim or a perpetrator of a crime, without being able to say why, such as the fact that she is corrupt, which is WHY she was more likely to be involved in that particular crime.
Like that really unpopular one where he played Jesus.
Okay, I hope his sex appeal had nothing to do with the massive box office it generated, but I have a squicky feeling otherwise.
If Finch just wants to send Rambo to go stop crimes where they are likely to occur, he could do what the cops already do, namely target certain neighborhoods and demographic groups. He doesn't need a magic machine for that. But it's laughable that a machine would know that a certain lawyer is going to be either a victim or a perpetrator of a crime, without being able to say why, such as the fact that she is corrupt, which is WHY she was more likely to be involved in that particular crime.
Like that really unpopular one where he played Jesus.
Okay, I hope his sex appeal had nothing to do with the massive box office it generated, but I have a squicky feeling otherwise.
No, you misunderstood what was said on the show. The machine can determine those things just fine. The government doesn't only get social security numbers with no details sorting out who or what the potential threat or target or victim is. The government gets a full detailed report on the subject and when and where to best deploy its assets to avert a national security threat.
The reason Finch only gets social security numbers is because the back door he set up in the system can only pull so much data before the government gets wise to what's happening and tracks the data leak back to Finch. So, he deliberately limits himself to only social security numbers in order to prevent being tracked and caught. He probably chose social security numbers because those are always (except in the case of forgery, which will probably be a plot at some point) unique, unlike a name which could be shared by numerous people around the country. It's the best identifier with the shortest string of information.
It's done for the sake of drama, but at least they gave a fairly plausible reason for doing so, so I'm perfectly willing to suspend my disbelief on that. Plus, not knowing all the details in advance makes the premise much more exciting.
I understood that just fine. Why not set the back door to spit out names and addresses instead?
It's just a lot of contrived hooey to amp the drama. A list of numbers is more dramatic-looking than a list of names and addresses. No need to defend TV hooey.
Look, if you don't like the show, just say so, and that's fine. But don't try and portray your dismissive assessment of the technical aspects of the show as the final word when I gave a perfectly plausible reason why he would choose social security numbers in my post above.
And you clearly didn't understand how it works, since you were under the impression that the machine only gets social security numbers and somehow makes a magical determination of who's involved in an upcoming crime based solely on that, when that's not the case in regard to the information the government gets:
^ Regarding the bottom quote...the machine doesn't know the details of the person's involvement. Finch made this quite clear when he was explaining how it worked to Reese. He said that would be Reese's job to find out about the person attached to the number (I'm assuming this is also part of the hook of the show, Reese's research/investigation into the people and investment of his time). As we found out about the Assistant DA she wasn't the target but the mastermind. It opens things up for all kinds of plot twists like that.
Read back through my previous posts on the difference between the information the government gets from the machine and the information Finch gets from the machine, and then try that one again. Or just look at the post you're pointing at where I clearly specify that I'm talking about the information the government gets and not what Finch gets.
Finch said that the machine does get all of that information, it's just that he doesn't have full access to that stuff right now. If he really wanted to he could have all of that information recorded and sent to him so that his and Reese's jobs are made easier, but then the government might get suspicious that someone is saving and sending all of this data that is supposed to be erased. Just sending himself short strings of numbers is less suspicious, so that's what he's forced to do.
I found the exact dialog from the scene:
Reese: So where is the machine now?
Finch: The drives? Who knows. Government facilities somewhere. But the machine, the machine is everywhere, watching us with 10,000 eyes, listening with a million ears. I was building the government a tool of unimaginable power. I thought an off switch might come in handy. So I built myself a backdoor into it.
Reese: To access the irrelevant list.
Finch: Just a social security number. If anyone found out I'd lose access, so 9 digits, that's all we get.
It seems clear to me from this scene that although the machine gives the government much more information about the crime and people involved, Finch only pulls social security numbers so that he is not detected.
Reese: So where is the machine now?
Finch: The drives? Who knows. Government facilities somewhere. But the machine, the machine is everywhere, watching us with 10,000 eyes, listening with a million ears. I was building the government a tool of unimaginable power. I thought an off switch might come in handy. So I built myself a backdoor into it.
Reese: To access the irrelevant list.
Finch: Just a social security number. If anyone found out I'd lose access, so 9 digits, that's all we get.
It seems clear to me from this scene that although the machine gives the government much more information about the crime and people involved, Finch only pulls social security numbers so that he is not detected.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000151/
Finch- This is too much power for one person.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000288/ Reese- That's why I gave it to you. Only you can use it.
Finch- Spying on 30 million people isn't part of my job description.
With Jonah Nolan involved I almost expect this exact dialogue to come up concerning the machine.
Reese- When you're done type in your name.
Finch- This is too much power for one person.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000288/ Reese- That's why I gave it to you. Only you can use it.
Finch- Spying on 30 million people isn't part of my job description.
With Jonah Nolan involved I almost expect this exact dialogue to come up concerning the machine.
Reese- When you're done type in your name.
I think they could have come up with a better name for the show. 'Person of Interest'? I dunno.
But if they go there, it could be interesting.
I hated that bit of dialog. Who complains about having too much power? More power, the better I say.
But if they go there, it could be interesting.
I didn't invest much hope for this show to impressme off the bat. Thankfully, becuase it was riddled with let down. Emerson and the actressthat played the female cop were great but Jim Caviezel did not bring his A game or B game for that matter. He had no life, no presence at all. The show may get better in time but it isn't anything I care much about at this point.
I think that's the problem with Caviezel. He plays the everyman in a strange world well, but there's a fine line between being "Everyman" and just being bland. I even find his face hard to remember. I love Emerson and love watching everything he does. But the lead character should be a bit more...I don't know....THERE. If the show stays very episodic, I can see it getting boring rather fast.
I will definitely watch the next episode to see where it goes, but I hope it develops into more than just a simple vigilante-justice show.
I will definitely watch the next episode to see where it goes, but I hope it develops into more than just a simple vigilante-justice show.
Incidentally, the pilot announced a serialized plot point, namely, Reese's efforts to find out as much about Finch as Finch already knows about Reese. And of course we rarely have dead lovers without their deaths turning out to be most relevant to the in-universe present. Why ever are people maundering about how they need some serialization?
I think the reason people are left wanting something more serialized after watching the pilot is because the "crime story of the week" as it was presented to us here was just boring. I don't remember much at all about the actual crime that they were stopping or how they did it or who the people were - boring, blah characters and story that were forgettable. If it was like that in the pilot, I don't have much home for these episode specific stories in the future....I mean, look at a show like Bones. They have some background serialized stories going on that everyone enjoys, but they are also great at making the crime of the week into something really moving and captivating. I didn't feel that with Person of Interest...not to say it won't get there, I am still waiting to see, but if this first episode was any indication, it will have to have some really awesome serialized drama to make up for the lackluster crime stories.
According to Michael Emerson, this week's episode will start delving into the mystery of "the machine."
There are some other good quotes there that are worth reading too. (The paragraph directly left to the picture of Finch and Reese and the very next one below that have some mild spoilers for the episode, so skip that if you don't want even a brief synopsis.)
Well... Episode 2 was just as convoluted and boring. I'm gonna hoard them on my DVR and see if it gets better or canceled.
^I liked it. It gave us a glimpse of the backstory for Emerson's character. I found it interesting, anyway. Hubby and I will definitely keep watching.
