What if the government tracking your every move could be a good thing?

The new CBS series “Person of Interest” poses that intriguing question with mostly satisfying results.

To “the machine,” you’re just a number – a Social Security number. The machine was created to ferret out and identify potential terrorist threats to America. However, being a machine that gathers information without discernment, it identifies all lethal threats to everyone everywhere. Naturally, law enforcement can’t keep up with being the entire population’s personal bodyguards. So the machine received a tweak: divide the list into two – relevant and irrelevant, with the individual persons of interest identified by only their social security numbers. While federal agencies focus on the relevant list dealing with national security emergencies, the irrelevant list, with the information about threats to individuals, gets tossed.

Until now. Finch (Michael Emerson), the designer who created the machine and its software, decides to salvage the irrelevant list and save as many people as he can. The problem is, Finch is handicapped and ill-equipped to handle the physical demands of rescuing victims and disabling assailants. Finch recruits John Reese (Jim Caviezel), a former Army Ranger presumed dead. Every week, the two of them receive a new number from the machine, either a potential victim or potential criminal, and work to thwart the attack.

Meanwhile, Detective Carter (Taraji P. Henson) of the NYPD Homicide Department has discovered Reese at each of her crime scenes. She’s sure he’s not the killer since, thanks to Reese, they catch the murderer or attempted murderer every week. However, she knows he’s involved somehow and is doing her best to find out who he is and how he knows what he knows.

Both Reese and Finch are understated characters. So far, not much has been revealed about their back stories. There was a point in time in which Finch was able to turn his neck. Reese used to be in a serious relationship with a woman. Beyond that, “Person of Interest” keeps its cards close to the vest. More information will come as the show goes on, of course, but for now, we’re satisfied to watch them thwart criminals every week without knowing their entire lives’ history. (more…)