In the US: Thursdays, 9/8c, CBS
We’ve now reached episode three of Person of Interest, aka ‘Batman without the cape’, in which Jim Cavaziel (Batman) goes around trying to prevent crimes before they happen, with the able assistance of Michael Emerson (Bruce Wayne/Robin/Oracle).
After an almost acceptable first episode, episode two was a whole lot weaker, despite giving us William Emerson’s "origin story"; episode three gave a bit more flesh to the police officer (who I’ll call "Commissioner Gordon" for now) who’s busy chasing Cavaziel, but not enough that could actually be described as "character development", Commissioner Gordon largely just turning up at crime scenes going "I bet I know who that was" and talking to Cavaziel on the (bat) phone.
Like a whole load of CBS shows I could mention, Person of Interest is glossy, looks good, is never offensively bad, but ultimately is empty and never actually good. Its single redeeming feature, other than Michael Emerson, is that it can do ultraviolence surprisingly well. Unfortunately, they spent the budget for ultraviolence largely on episode 1, and episodes 2 and 3 have had a reduced hitting-and-shooting people count that’s largely removed the only reason for watching the show.
It doesn’t make a whole load of sense, it’s not got decent characters – you’re better off reading a comic or watching Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies.
Carusometer rating: 4
Rob’s prediction: Dead before the end of the season
