Person of Interest "Blunt" Review: Stuff, Stuff, Pass

Person of Interest S04E16: "Blunt"

There aren't many television shows that rely on a core group of characters as much as Person of Interest does. The series starts and ends with our bros Reese and Finch, and it's zilch without either of them; anyone who thinks otherwise is a total poopyhead. Yes, Root and Fusco have become important members of Team Machine over the course of four seasons, but I still wouldn't label them as "core." Root is very much a free agent, more dedicated to the Machine itself than she is to the team (she comes and goes as she pleases and serves as a liaison between her computer goddess and the brains-and-brawn duo of Reese and Finch). And Fusco, well, he fetches coffee and flashes his badge at opportune times. Even Carter was phased out because she became redundant at one point, reducing Person of Interest's central trio to a more streamlined duo.

When Person of Interest first introduced Shaw, we all freaked out because she was entering a sacred space. Shaw played a different role than Root and Fusco; she was a grumpier, female version of Reese. Dumped from her government job and lost in the world, she joined Reese and Finch as a full-fledged team member, once again giving the show a core trio. But the delicacy with which Shaw was brought in was phenomenal. "Relevance," her first episode and an installment that barely featured Reese and Finch, remains one of my favorite hours of Person of Interest ever, and the show's writers managed to incorporate her into the team and the series' mythology without making waves. Although I do think it helped that she was already part of Person of Interest's backstory as a hired gun for Control, instead of some random hottie off the street with an itchy trigger finger. Any fear we had of Shaw disrupting Team Machine was quickly washed away, and now it's difficult to imagine the series without her.

I'm stressing this sanctity of the Person of Interest team because the number of the week in "Blunt," a con artist lady named Harper (one of her many aliases, and the one she chose to stick with), elbowed her way into the group and totally disrupted the group dynamic. Her story is barely worth talking about: She tried to rob a marijuana dispensary that belonged to Dominic, got herself involved in a beef between Dominic and the cartel, played with the heart of some stoner dude, and used Reese and Finch to execute her own plan, which involved tricking one set of bad guys into thinking they were going after another set of bad guys. She didn't seem like someone who needed to be saved as much as someone who needed a little extra help to do her own thing. Ummm, I thought this was Person of Interest? You know, the show where Reese and Finch take the lead and save people?

But the bigger problem with Harper was that she wasn't presented as anything more than a generic slippery character, and my interest level in her story was negative 1,000. Plus, she was a bit of a jerk, wasn't she? I guess we were supposed to appreciate her tactic of stealing from criminals, but to me, she was a sociopathic petty thug who didn't care about anyone but herself. She also made Reese look pretty silly a few times, which is NOT COOL; no one gets to make Reese look dumb or incapable except Root or Bear. There's no way Harper could've beat Reese with her baton in an alley and scampered off while he was like, "Owwwww my back," or blinked out of sight at the club after Reese found her again.

Of course, the final nail in Harper's coffin is that she was played by Annie Ilonzeh, who I still remember from ABC's horrendous Charlie's Angels reboot. I still haven't forgiven anyone who was part of that disaster (you too, Rachael Taylor and Minka Kelly). And geez, I hate saying this, but I don't think Ilonzeh had the acting chops to power through this underwritten role.

The saving grace of Harper's storyline was the underlying theme of recruitment that's permeated Person of Interest's entire fourth season. Harper is one of those lost souls who can be steered either way, and by the end of "Blunt," both Team Machine and Dominic wanted to add her name to their payroll. Maybe Harper will redeem herself in her inevitable return, much like Claire showed improvment in last week's "Q&A." But I wonder if all these female characters who are being added on a recurring basis are attempts to replace Shaw or to keep her seat warm until Sarah Shahi gets back, and that's not working for me right now.

Finally, "Blunt" was a missed opportunity for Person of Interest to pull off one of its trademark comedy hours. I certainly wouldn't have been as upset with the episode if it'd been 60 minutes of pot jokes and Finch giggling. However, there was some insinuation that Finch gets high all the time, as Reese wondered how Finch knew how to get medical marijuana so easily. I knew it! Hey, the guy has done ecstasy before, so weed is probably like a cup of coffee to him.

The most interesting part of "Blunt" involved Root, of course. She and the Machine were working on an app to "get the attention of the right people," and the right person was Caleb Phipps, a tech genius and CEO who first appeared in Season 2's "2-Pi-r." I'm not totally sure whether the Machine's goal was to build an app to get word out about Team Machine's cause, or whether it simply intended to get Caleb's attention so that he would recruit Root, but we'll get that answer soon enough. I hope. For now, Root will be helping Caleb work on a new security app. Whatever that means!

"Blunt" was probably the worst episode of the season so far, and to me, it's all because of Harper. I don't know how she'll be an asset to the team, I'm not sure she really needed or deserved Reese and Finch's help, and I hate the way she made Reese look like an amateur. He should've shot her in the knee.

NOTES OF INTEREST

– Harper shakes with her left hand! That snake! AND she steals fries from other people's plates. Ugh.

– According to Harper, Tre came down with a bad case of getting ripped and playing Far Cry 4. I know that feeling, bro. I have been hit with Destiny-itis several times since September.

– Reese had two great moments early in the episode: being a creep with a phone in the dorm corridors, and proudly announcing that he has PTSD and has been shot multiple times while gaining access to the weed dispensary. "Sweet Mary Jane!"

– It was also fun to watch Reese beat up bad guys in da club. That's how he gets down!

– Root: "Everything that happened. Is that her name now?" Awwww, poor Root.

– Stoner Tre, with a gun-toting stranger in his room: "Do you want some ice cream?" Ha, classic Tre.