Nerdophiles Catches Up With… Person of Interest

Season 5 of Person of Interest premieres this
Tuesday, May 3rd, at 10pm on CBS

After a long wait, Person of Interest is finally back on our television screens. It is going to start on May 3rd with a single episode, and then from there on out CBS is going to knock out two episodes a week (Monday/Tuesday) until the thirteen episode season five is done. Can’t wait that long? We caught up with the cast and crew at New York Comic Con last year! Check out our interviews here.

It was announced that this season will be the last on CBS, and while fans are holding onto hope that it may be renewed elsewhere, I’m skeptical. However, I’ve also come to terms with it, since I know the creators have had the ending in mind since the beginning, and I bet season five is going to speak well to the entire series and end it on a high note.

Before we tune in for the premiere on Tuesday, let’s run through a quick list of what happened last season.

• Samaritan went online at the end of season three, and season four picked up with the crew functioning under new identities. Reese became a police officer, Finch a teacher, Shaw a makeup associate, and Root a shapeshifter.
• The Machine dragged the team back together, after Reese and Shaw both refused to let the numbers slide by. Finch took more convincing but eventually joined them.
• Their underground lair was established in a defunct Subway tunnel.
• Bear was cute.

• Samaritan started recruiting bright minds, and the Machine tried to as well.
• Root, the direct connection to the Machine, aided in helping the AI with its plan and kept dragging the rest of the team into her tasks.
• Samaritan made a move to get its people situated in the New York government.
• Samaritan also continued to spit out numbers of relevant people, and its agents continued to hunt them down like they did under the Machine. However, Samaritan ultimately used these agents to act out its greater plan.
• Dominic and his Brotherhood got into all sorts of trouble as they waged war against Elias for control of New York City (while being completely oblivious to who was really controlling things).
• Shaw got caught by one of Samaritan’s cameras when interacting with agents she once knew (who let her go) and Samaritan continued to search for her.
• Shaw’s cover was eventually blown and she had to go underground after engaging in a shootout with Martine.
• Elias’ right hand man, Scarface, died after the Brotherhood made a move to try and take Elias down and Scarface (Anthony) sacrificed himself to take out a chunk of the Brotherhood.
• Samaritan decided to play games with New York City. It provided a day where justice was served, everything ran on time, and everyone was okay and then promptly turned around and wreaked havoc in order to try and get the Machine’s attention.
• Samaritan and the Machine finally met face to face, Samaritan using the vessel of a young boy, the Machine using Root.

• Samaritan told the Machine in no uncertain terms that its mission would be to destroy her.
• The team tried to get a leg up on Samaritan but Shaw, who showed up at the last minute when the team was cornered, was shot and captured even after the mission was a success.
• Root and Reese went on a number of trips, believing Shaw to be alive, intending to find her.
• They found a town where Samaritan controlled everything, and was working on brain implants to better control people.
• Reese goes to therapy and ends up in an inappropriately romantic relationship with his therapist.
• Control began to question the authenticity of Samaritan’s missions, though she continued to carry them out even in her doubt.
• No one really won in the war between Elias and the Brotherhood, no matter how much Dominic tried.
• Samaritan continued to usurp the greatest minds in NYC; the ones who question things, who think outside of the box. It worked to create sheep who would bend to its will.
• Reese almost died in a car out in the middle of nowhere and had a talk with a ghostly Carter.
• Samaritan tried to flush the Machine out of hiding by cutting the power grids all over NYC, because the Machine had been building herself into the power lines themselves.
• Control found out too much. She got taken by Samaritan as a result.
• Elias got out of Dominic’s grasp and was able to flee to safety.
• We revisited the young man, Caleb, from earlier in the series who had planned to kill himself regardless of his knack for computers. However, his algorithm (compressing large amounts of data into small spaces) would help Finch act out the final plan of the Machine.

• When everything went to hell in a handbasket, Finch, Root, and Reese were able to abandon everything and get to a place where they could download a small part of the Machine’s “DNA” into a machine in a briefcase.
• In a haze of bullets (as Elias was shot across town, as Dominic was knocked off) the team escaped with a small part of the Machine that may allow them to rebuild.
• Before the download was finished, the Machine and Finch had a conversation about the state of things.

Odds are, this season will pick up promptly after the last one ended. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw things from Samaritan’s point of view, first. After all, it seemed like Samaritan came away from last season with the final victory. Only tuning in on Tuesday, May 3rd will tell us, though. I hope you’ll check it out!