POI 1x02 - Ghosts
Mar. 5th, 2016 04:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
butterflyThis being the first proper episode of the season means that we get our full credits sequence. I like the POI sequence. It’s informative, it’s neat to watch, and it hides little hints about what’s going to happen in the episode without giving the plot away. Plus, it really sets-up the Machine as our framing PoV right from the start of each episode.
The teaser of this episode shows us that some time has passed since the pilot – John is pretty smoothly wrapping up a number that they handled without us even needing to see the process. I like whenever they have these ends of numbers in the cold open, because we get to be reminded that John (and Harold and, later, the rest of the team) are all competent and good at this job. And that’s important because main episodes are more likely to be something that challenges them because conflict is more interesting to watch than just competently taking care of business. So it’s vital to seed in these glimpses of other numbers so that we can remember that the tough ones are the exceptions, not the rule.
We also see that John and Harold are not yet on ‘comms on at all times that keep us connected during the numbers’ status. They’re still distant and don’t yet have that relationship of trust and affection that I remember from later episodes. This is also good – the show isn’t skipping through their character and relationship development; they’re planning to show that part on-screen. The distance is also more from Harold’s side than John’s, at this point – John is trying to level the playing field, find out more about Harold, while Harold is trying to keep him at arms’ length. Also interested to see exactly how that changes!
I think that guy talking to Joss in the ‘huh, a dude intervened’ scene might be HR? Or he just looks a lot like one of the HR characters. I will keep my eye on it and see if he shows up again.
Another glimpse into the servers of the Machine! I wonder if this is going to continue all season! It’s kinda exciting, actually! Then we flash back to 2002 and there’s a yellow box and, omg, it’s Nathan!!!!!!
(I really love Nathan Ingram, everyone. I love him a lot)
Wow, all these details about Harold working on the Machine. And the info we get about Nathan here and the look at Harold before he was our Harold Finch (he’s more open, but he’s still retiring and we learn that he’s already hiding himself from the world and living a ‘double life’). And bb!Machine <3 <3.
This scene also set-ups further the idea of Harold as the ‘hidden helper’, the tech support who stands behind someone else who is the ‘face’ of the group. In the past, Nathan was that face, and now with the numbers, it’s John. But as we see later in the episode, John doesn’t really let things stay that way. He asks Harold to come out of the shadows a bit – not all the way, but Harold isn’t able to isolate himself as successfully as he did when he was partnering with Nathan (or, as we see in RAM, as when he was partnering with Dillinger). Instead of only trusting one person with the truth about himself, John encourages Harold to extend that trust to some of their numbers as well.
Because it’s the second episode after the pilot, they are putting in little ‘reminders’ of the backstory that we heard in the pilot, but they’re doing a pretty good job of inserting the exposition smoothly. Like John reminding us of what happened with Lionel last episode, but he’s doing in the context of intimidation and a threat.
Harold gets a really great reaction shot to John saying that he can tell it was a professional hit because it’s how he would have made it look like a murder-suicide, too – just that ‘oh, yeah, wow, okay’ look on his face for a second.
We’re also, in this episode, reinforcing that theme of loss and what it does. “Derek never came out of the funk” of losing his brother and brother’s family, his ex-wife tells us. Loss is damaging and the effects are long-lasting. And when guilt is compounding that loss, it can make the effects even stronger (which, we find out later, is the case for both John and Harold).
Ha! John is so sparkly and happy that he’s tracked down the work place of Finch’s cover (or one of, anyway). This is the happiest he’s been so far in the show outside of the flashbacks with Jess. We also get a hint of a smile later, when he’s about to basically show off for Fusco how bad-ass he is. Basically, this job and these people are helping John finally pull himself out of his grief spiral, and that’s really nice to see begin to happen. And this is already starting to happen even with him blackmailing Lionel and having a not-yet-smooth relationship with Harold. What Harold did for him, in reaching out to him to give him this job, it’s already profoundly changed John for the better, and it’s only the second episode. And given what I was talking about earlier regarding Harold, it’s clear that this partnership is doing both men a world of good.
But, then, holy shit, the second flashback! That’s Jessica’s picture on the last monitor that Finch turns off? I’m pretty sure it was. I mean, it makes total dramatic sense to put it there, to underscore the point that Nathan is making (that Harold later realizes is true), but I flinched when I saw her picture and then Harold turning off the screen. “How are we supposed to live with this, knowing that someone out there needs our help?” Harold’s response is that he makes it so that he can’t respond, that he runs away from it, basically. And that doesn’t change until what happens to Nathan, until Harold is forced to personally face what it means to have someone you love deemed ‘irrelevant’ and not worth saving.
And then Harold’s response to that loss re-defines him. Again, we go back to that theme of the show; the second episode makes it very clear how strongly that theme underlies the premise of the show.
But what Harold says to Teresa – “Sooner or later, you’re going to have to trust someone,” – is part of the theme, too, hope running in counterpoint to the grief. Even the limited amount of trust that has developed between Harold and John is already helping them heal from their grief. Many episodes involves coaxing the numbers to trust them, so that John and Harold can help and protect them.
And we see its effect even in the short time Teresa and Harold spend together too – she sees how hard he’s fighting to help her, he apologizes when he realizes her idea to leave earlier would have been better, so she trusts him – and, because of that, she refuses to leave without him. He’s earned her trust. And, of course, because of that, she refuses to give up any information after Harold and John tell her to go meet with Carter. Thus, Harold’s anonymity is protected because of Teresa trusts them enough to keep them a secret.
But we’re still not there yet with Harold and John (and, as I mentioned earlier, this is good! Slow development over time = awesomeness), so Harold abandons the cover that John breached because he’s not ready for that kind of emotional closeness. But at the end of the episode, John is still smiling because he’s not giving up on building that bond and that trust.
Really good second episode. Built upon the pilot’s foundation and developed two key themes further, while introducing a vital part of Harold’s past.Original Post: ghosts