Person of Interest "M.I.A." Review: Let's Play Sim-Aritan City

Person of Interest S04E13: "M.I.A."

Person of Interest entered The Twilight Zone in "M.I.A.," an episode that held onto a big secret about a small town until it was time to reveal another frightening step in Samaritan's plan to turn us all into its playthings. Up until about two thirds of the way through the episode, I thought it was going to be a total dud. But that was the result of a typical POI ruse, and "M.I.A." finished strong, emotional, and surprising. Well, most of it, anyway.

The meaty portion of "M.I.A." saw Root and Reese vacationing in bread-and-breakfast country, an upstate New York burg named Maple. (Was anyone else reminded of The Leftovers' Mapleton and ready for everyone to *poof* at any moment?) This was a town known for its artisanal cider, where the mayor held Founder's Day festivals in the town square, and regular folks offered to help you with your bags—even if there was a body inside, as Root found out firsthand. Maple also happened to be the last known whereabouts of the truck that hauled Shaw, dead or alive, away from New York City, and the double-R team of Reese and Root was there to get her back... or at least to find closure with regard to her current state.

With an ex-Special Ops agent and a Machine-worshipping, trigger-happy sociopath patrolling Main Street, USA, "M.I.A." was ripe for big-city-versus-small-town comedy, and the early portion of the hour embraced that. Especially when Reese tried to remember how to use the facial muscles that make a person smile but could only muster up half a snarl:

The town's overall fortune had turned around when a tech company that made transponders moved in and handed out jobs to everyone who needed one. But it quickly became apparent that life in Maple wasn't as copacetic as its citizens made it seem. Residents in top positions were fired from their cushy gigs while those circling the drain were yanked up into high-paying jobs or experienced some curiously fortuitous luck. Need an example? How about the trust funder who lost all his free money and ended up gulping tequila as a junkyard watchman while the town drunk suddenly traded in his rags for a $10 million lottery payday?

A little kidnapping-of-the-mayor later (why not?), and we learned that some mysterious entity (gee, who could it be?) was controlling Maple. And the mayor, who not too long ago was working at a CVS in Pittsburgh, was taking orders via email and regularly having her life threatened. Reese and Root put two and two together and figured out that Samaritan was using Maple as an "ant farm," studying human nature in various scenarios while also pumping out tracking devices at the transponder factory. And guys, the more we see of Samaritan's takeover plan, the more I'm willing to befriend my toaster in an effort to suck up to our robot overlords.

These scary small-town revelations were buttressed by an emotional search for Shaw, with Root desperately seeking information on what happened to her "special" friend. And Root was going to find Shaw, even if it meant putting a hole through the mayor's hand with an electric drill (which she did, much to Finch's chagrin). But all her efforts turned out to be for naught, as the lead she and Reese were pursuing turned out to be a dead end (although they did determine that Samaritan was testing out neural implants on innocent people, yikes!). Getting so close to confirming whether Shaw was alive but coming up empty felt like Person of Interest had put my emotions in a blender and set them on fire. It was effective, and really gave us a glimpse of Root's headspace.

Broken and helpless, Root turned to the Machine for the truth about Shaw, and the Machine replied with "Sierra Tango Oscar Papa," i.e. S.T.O.P. Ouch. I haven't had a machine punch me that hard in the feelings since Wall-E. Regardless of whether the Machine knew if Shaw was alive or dead, it still needed to put its virtual hand on Root's shoulder and tell her that it was time to let it go. It was time for Root to stop worrying about Shaw—it was time to move on. And for Root, who would stop at nothing to find Shaw, that truth was hard to swallow. The Machine's sentiments were echoed by Finch ("for our own survival, our sanity, I believe we must reconcile ourselves with never knowing the truth..."), and not just for Root's sake, but for ours. We don't know how long Sarah Shahi will be away from Person of Interest on what amounts to maternity leave, so the show had to put her character on hold in a believable way, and this was the way to do it. I really appreciated how the writers took the time to spell everything out, because we needed a few episodes of desperate searching for Shaw followed by a sentimental goodbye for now, but not forever.

BUT THEN WHAT THE HELL?!? The final scene of "M.I.A." revealed that Shaw was alive, but not exactly well, in the grips of Greer in his secret Greer Cave. Shaw isn't dead! But she is in a place where she can chill out until Shahi can return to work. "I sincerely hope you managed to get some rest, my dear Sameen," Greer said. "You're going to need it." Oh no you didn't, Person of Interest. No you did not. (But I'm kinda glad you did.)

So now the torture of questioning Shaw's fate is over for us, but it's still very much in play for Team Machine, and that's exactly how it should be. Many TV series fumble when real-world obstacles interfere with their actors' availability, but I think Person of Interest handled Shahi's pregnancy as perfectly as it could have. Give it up for the writers who took the time to give her an emotional and mysterious farewell without interrupting the overall plans for the season. Besides, we all know Shaw can handle herself, and Team Machine has an out-of-control AI to worry about in the meantime.

All told, "M.I.A." may not have been a season highlight, but that's because Season 4 continues to be incredibly strong overall, and episodes that are merely "good" are prone to standing in the shadows of the many great ones.

NOTES OF INTEREST

– Normally a Fusco adventure would get a lot more love from me, but the B-story of Fusco and Silva (the person of interest from the episode "Point of Origin") was as straightforward as could be aside from the fact that the number was actually the perp this week. It felt like a run-of-the-mill slasher flick, didn't it?

– Is Person of Interest grooming Silva to be Shaw's temporary replacement? I could live with that.

– I loved it when that guy said to Reese, "Please, don't shoot!!!" and Reese shot him. No one tells Reese what to do.