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Friday, April 27, 2012
11:15 am
59 Comments
Welcome back to another episode of Burn Notice. Oh wait, the ex-elite military burned spy, current superhero isn’t smoldering in his doll clothes while his BFF gets drunk. Welcome back to another episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Oh no, the “chosen one” super hero isn’t quipping but at least his watcher is in a library. No, welcome back to another episode of Person of Interest, where the writers no longer care about internal logic and continuity. But at least they changed the opening credits.
The show starts with Reese and Carter having drinks so she can whine about not knowing who she can trust, even though, at this point, she’s the one who keeps putting other people in danger while Reese and Fusco have to save her and her son’s asses on a regular basis. Thankfully this is cut short when we learn that they were staking out the latest number who’s just cheating on his wife which has no series logic, let alone real life logic, to explain why a heretofore non-violent woman would suddenly premeditate and plot killing her husband enough to make him a number but not enough to realize it’s stupid to kill him in a crowded bar.
With that bit of nonsense out of the way, Reese heads down to the library because there’s a new number. But first, it’s Finch’s turn to forget that Fusco just saved his own damn life while he was tripping and dancing to the fancy lights in the microwave and question when Reese started “protecting Fusco.” Reese says he’s protecting an asset and wants to acknowledge and move on. The number is yet another working-class, outer-borough family man who works for an armored truck service. They assume because he seems like the good guy that he is the good guy and Reese gets shot, again, but has minimal adverse effects from it because, again, no internal logic. Then more heretofore non-criminals become criminal masterminds and get the drop on Reese. What?
Really, though, the number is superfluous to this episode. It’s all about what happened in Ordos. After Reese takes a personal call and chit chats with Jessica while on assignment in Morocco, Snow orders Reese and Stanton to head to China because they need to retrieve a sensitive laptop. Alicia slinks out of the shadows to tell them it has the Stuxnet source code on it which they need to retrieve before it gets into the wrong hands, skipping over the fact that once something like that is unleashed it’s kind of freely available online. (Google it.) Reese mistakenly thinks he works for Initech and tells Snow he can’t do this job because he has to take some leave, due to a “family emergency,” even though he’s not supposed to be in contact with anyone from his past. But why bother with internal logic when you have a story to tell. Snow’s all “Bitch, please…you have no family,” then whispers that Reese is to kill Stanton because she’s been compromised.
So they go to Ordos and learn that they were being shined on the whole time. The laptop doesn’t have a Google search for Stuxnet on it, it has the Machine’s source code and they weren’t supposed to retrieve the laptop, they were supposed to find it and give the extraction team their location, ostensibly so they could be removed, but really so they and the laptop could be blowed up real good. Which, makes sense except…why add the layer of having Reese and Stanton kill each other first if they’ll just be killed waiting for the extraction team? Wouldn’t it have made more Snow sense to just send them in and let them wait to be blown up? Oh right, no internal logic.
Luckily, there was a fireplug shaped bright spot to this episode. While Carter whines about not being able to trust him, Finch acts like a right dick about protecting him, and Reese laughs in his face that he doesn’t give a shit how Lionel gets out of trouble with HR, Lionel still manages to save himself, the day, and Reese, once again. And then has some really sweet bonding time with his kid.
Then there’s a cliffhanger right out of Soapdish.
Full recap in a few days. Until then, you can catch up on the last recap here.
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59 Comments
It’s too bad they have someone who hates the show – or at best, completely disrespects it, doing the recaps. I get finding flaws and poking fun, but your critiques are malicious.
Your Carter jabs even more so.
Remember when Rush called the law student a slut and then said it was a joke? Your recaps are like that.
Fusco is awesome. He took care of business like a boss.
I am glad I am not the only one who feels this way. Just thought I’d check out the recap this week because I thoght it was such a great show! I miss this reviews tongue in cheek reviews that made me smile. Now the make me grit my teeth. Don’t think I’ll bother checking back any further…..nothing has changed in the tone of the writing. And going to miss this reviews snarks but not the meaness.
“Remember when Rush called the law student a slut and then said it was a joke? Your recaps are like that.”
Um. No. No, they really aren’t. Making fun of a TV show’s inconsistent characterization and plotting is actually not the same thing as misogynistic slurs. Have some perspective, for Christ’s sake.
I guess I never took this show as seriously as you did, vallegirl. I thought it was pretty silly from the beginning but I got to like it anyway. I thought this episode was fine.
And I’m thinking more than ever that the mystery laptop woman is Reese’s old partner. Unless I missed something about that from the CarterSonKidnap episode which I never did bring myself to watch.
I’ve been watching and reading vallegirl’s recaps since day one. I have been on the same downward trajectory about my feelings for PoI since they took that ridiculous turn to comic book story telling, where Reese is the equivalent to the “Terminator for Good,” at least now. Carter is the ” Lady” in distress, who for such an awesome cop, needs helping ALOT. And poor Finch is the “Girl Friday”, left to man the phones. The only one who has had consistent character development is Fusco, and thank God for him.
From the beginning vallegirl has not been discriminatory about her feelings for many of the stars. Anyone who can read, and has read her recaps knows that. So sure Carter was the first, but I can’t stand to watch her either. It’s partly Tariji’s fault for her acting style, and partly how they have written her. Daring to say Carter whines, and puts people in danger, including herself and her son, is the equivalent of speaking the truth. At least that’s what Iv’ e seen on more then a few episodes. That she does it with hysterical panache is a testament to her writing abilities. Not to mention the name of the site is TVgasm, where even when you love a character highlighting the ridiculous is your mission.
That some would equate valid criticism of a character on a TV show to the hateful language of a misogynist bully pig, tells me that they are more similar to the bully pig, then anything vallegirl has written about Carter. When Rush uses that kind of language it’s a weapon, to try at least try to shut down Fluke, or whom ever his target de jour is, with fear. When you use Rush as a compassion you do the same thing.
After the last ep – which was rank, I feared what this one would bring. It was pretty good, so I am going to hope that the downward, steep spiral was just a hiccup.
I’ll forgive Finch’s “Girl Friday” role for an ep, because they gave us Snow, in his awful awesomeness, an unexpected Corwin to pop up with the CIA in Morocco and seeming to be the one calling the shots, Stanton finally gets interesting by kneecapping Snow, and some Fusco to the rescue (and love!). The brief bits on Jessica were tantalizing as well.
Plus we got a shot of JC’s razor like cheekbones shown while half his face was shadowed. If they opened every show with that, I would watch the ep no matter how bad it was (possibly muted).
FRita wrote such a great rebuttal that I can only squeak a pathetic “yay” in support.
Like many of us, VGirl is expressing her disappointment at what has become of a fun, rather campy series. Go back and read the early recaps when she could have fun with it.
How would either of you write a tongue-in-cheek recap? Bring it on!
Rush! Pfffffffbt.
Man, I’m sick of hearing about the Fluke thing. Everyone seems to have missed the point that she never should have been testifying in the first place. The libs were trying to push her in front of the cameras to change the focus of the discussion. The panel which was in front of Congress was speaking aobut religious institutions being forced by the government to violate their beliefs…being made to give out birth control when it is against the religious body’s tenets.
Fluke wanted to testify about the need for birth control…a completely different discussion. She was used by the Dems, and filleted by the conservatives.
And Rush helped wreck the conversation by making a stupid, insulting, and unnecessary remark…one that is beneath the kind of discussion he normally presents ( of his 3 hour show, 2 hours and 56 minutes are usually pretty intelligent. But that last 4 minutes is usually pretty offensive and is what gets all the attention.)
NONE of which is equivilent to a discussion about a fictional TV show…a show whose writing style has morphed into a less interesting program. Unless there is some way we can blame the politicians for forcing the writers to violate their creative impulses…
I just don’t think Vgirl is really joking any more. It’s more than snark. Her general distaste for Charter’s character has turned a corner.
It feels like bullying. And sure it scatters blame on the writers and others responsible for her character. But Taraji/Carter isn’t all bad. Not every moment is deserving of the full frontal assault it has gotten. It has been consistently, and exponentially worse. It’s just shy of a petition to eliminate her from the show.
Or did I see her involved in one of those?
I’ve read Vgirl’s PoI articles from the start. They’ve taken a malicious turn. That’s my opinion.
I see what the writers want Carter to be, so I don’t mind how her character is written. She is the other side of the Reese coin. She also has a purity of purpose and wants to save the world, and she is struggling to stay on the right side of the law, whereas Reese, with the same “save the world” impulses has embraced being outside the law. Carter, therefore, both admires and despises what Reese is doing, and is struggling with whether or not to join him.
Reese, meanwhile, openly admires Carter’s heroic tendencies, and her fight to stay “pure,” but also thinks staying pure is futile in the face of evil.
The writers just need to better define what drives each character.
I agree with Bisbane and Savho. Vallegirl occasionally makes a funny, but the overall tone of her writing regarding Carter/Tarji in particular is one of pure hatred. It’s fine if she thinks the show is bad or don’t enjoy watching Taraji, but one has to ask what is with all the personal animosity towards Taraji. It’s really offensive.
Vallegir’s attitude appears to be how dare Taraji Henson think that she can be one of the main characters on POI. Vallegirl, my question is why shouldn’t she be? While you hate the character, I (and apparently others) enjoy the character tremendously.
I’ve seen much of Taraji’s body of work and she is a very good actress as many critics attest to.
I simply don’t understand Vallegirl’s never-ending assault on Carter/Taraji.
Criticism is good when it’s objective, but Vallegirl has demonstrated time and again that she simply can’t be objective where Carter/Taraji is concerned.
If you have ever wondered what Hitler thinks of Sandra Fluke, then here is your answer:
Sorry, I DID NOT intend to embed that video. I thought I was just posting its URL. Again, very sorry. My bad.
Actually, the whole “telling each agent that the other one is corrupt” thing made perfect sense to me. The CIA didn’t want them to REALLY be working together on the mission so they wouldn’t figure out that it was all a setup meant to take them both out. Like when the dying man was speaking in Chinese to Stanton and she lied to Reese about what he was saying because she didn’t trust him. The CIA thought that if Reese and Stanton completely trusted each other, like normal partners do, they may put two and two together and why risk that?
We can embed videos? Weeeeeee! Can we embed GIFs, too? Sometimes all I need to say can be summed up in a GIF.
Am I reading this right? You are accusing a recapper of bullying a character on a television show?
I expect that embedded videos would be frowned upon. That’s why I had an “Oh, Shit!” moment when I saw it go up.
I know! I almost choked laughing!!!
BTW–hope nobody here starts that whole overuse of the term “bullying” thing.
Pee ess. the comment about laughing was responding to crank’s musing about Brisbane’s accusation that VGirl was bullying a television character. Pretty funny stuff.
I’d love to see your GIFs, Sarcasatire. You have a GIF for gab?
I guess we can!! WordPress changes how they do things every week and I can no longer keep up. Post away! If your GIF won’t work, upload it as a vid to youtube. hahah. I suggest it not make fun of this Carter person, though, or you’ll get burned at the stake!
If the recapper is purposely trying to sway public opinion against a character and the actor that portrays it, then yes.
I don’t know what is in V-girls’ heart, but from how things were presented originally to now, it feels vindictive. Personal, even.
If the recapper is purposely trying to sway public opinion against a character and the actor that portrays it, then yes.
I don’t know what is in V-girls’ heart, but from how things were presented originally to now, it feels vindictive. Personal, even.
Sorry, I was trying to reply to Crankguy’s question about bullying.
I guess Vallegirl’s Carter!hate is a little more excessive than most I’ve seen, but I also think calling it “bullying” is silly. Carter’s fictional. Taraji doesn’t know about it, and if she did, she wouldn’t care because she’s an Oscar-Nominated actress and we’re just assholes on the internet. Nobody’s getting hurt here.
I will say, however, that I think the reason Carter is so divisive as a character is because she’s not overtly terrible. At first glance, she seems pretty standard. If you’re not bothered by the type of writing this character represents, then most of the hate is going to look undeserved and disproportionate. I wouldn’t say I *hate* Carter, but I would say that I have significant difficulty caring about whether this character lives or dies, and that’s down to some subtly but pervasively terrible writing.
No one incident with her is particularly terrible, but within Carter’s character, every way in which the writing for this show is lazy and plot-driven is represented. And once you see it, it really starts to grate. If you’re me. And probably some other people.
Then I wonder how you stomach political campaigns. Must be tough on you.
That was supposed to be to Brisbane. I guess I’m gonna have to quote the posts I’m responding to since replies show up in random places.
What I find really curious, and revealing is how the criticism of vallegirl’s comments of Carter’s (a fictional character) whine, and as written by the writers, ability to get her, and many others asses in danger, has been personal and hateful. I believe it was Lukas Hart III who said, “accuse your enemies of your won worst sin’s.”
I don’t think vallegirl is doing more then calling it as she sees it, in a funny and entertaining way. If more is taken away from her comments, a look back on history has shown us how some handle disagreement.
Uhm, I think that Vgirls recaps are good. She always pointed out that Carter was a crappy character and the flaws in the show. I don’t see any real changes to her recaps. That being said I don’t think it’s wrong to say you don’t like the recap or whatever, I’ve done it before (well just once) and then I stopped reading that recapper. I realized I just didn’t have the same sense of humor that they did but others liked the recaps, each to their own. IMO, I do think bullying may be stretching it a bit, I’m sure as a professional actors they are used to crappy reviews and people telling them they suck, goes with the job, just like reality tv personalities.
Sway public opinion against a CHARACTER???? You know Person of Interest isn’t a documentary or a reality show, right?
Who ARE these people? It’s like I’m reading a Fringe comment thread!
This comment and the one below are responding to the haters NOT crankyguy or clares.
I understand Vallegirl’s hatred for Carter. That character has come to embody the cheesiness toward which this show always dangerously veers. The character is lazily conceived and written. My only disagreement with V is that I don’t see how any actress could say Carter’s lines and do a good job, so I’m willing to give Taraji the benefit of the doubt and blame the writers, not her.
I’m glad to see the haters on here. It means people are taking this recap seriously! Go Vallegirl!
You know TVGASM is not a politically correct website, right?
Although I enjoy Vallegirl’s recaps, she is unable to sway even my feeble little mind so her quest for world domination (or a Carter-free world) is all for naught.
Haha. What a colossal waste of time.
It’s an undisputable fact that the more harsh a recap is, the more hits/comments it gets. Just 2 episodes ago, the recap about the episode with stoned Finch was more positive and there were only, like, 5 comments. Which is typical of the entire season. But if you look at the negative minicaps/recaps, they get 20-30 comments, way above the average.
It’s clear that the recapper has taken that into consideration and writes her recaps accordingly. I find that disappointing but understandable.
Okay, snowshowcat…here goes:
see more Gifs
Why come I’m being all moderated and ish? *snaps bubble gum*
A person is not a hater if she or he disagrees with Vallegirl’s review. If Vallegirl can dish it, she should be able to take it.
Sure, “Person of Interest” has some holes in its plots, and some of the dialogue is overly simple; however, when all is said and done, it is still one ,of the best and entertaining shows on t.v. (including cable) in my opinion.
I can’t ask for more than that of “free” t.v. Go Person of Interest!
10Q! Sarcassy
Perhaps, if you like plot driven story lines, with comic book dialogue, where the less functioning brain cells one has, the better. I’ll continue to watch PoI, just for vallegirl recaps, because she has pretty always articulated what I’ve thought about every epiosde. However my most looked forward to network show is now Awake, where brain cells are a prerequisite. Sadly, TVgasm isn’t recapping it, YET!
“Yet”? I hope you’re aware Awake will most definitely be getting cancelled, right? And for the record I find it to be yet another Lost rip-off. And I think that, while it has a cooler concept and it should be a smarter show, the execution is sloppy; it has completely failed in combining its procedural nature with its overarching arc, something which Person of Interest has succeeded in.
“A person is not a hater if she or he disagrees with Vallegirl’s review. If Vallegirl can dish it, she should be able to take it.” Valid point, flo; however, we Gasmii frequently disagree with our recappers and with one another, leading to lively discussion.
But we are a pretty close-knit bunch as a result of long-time reading. When strangers (lurkers perhaps, but strangers to commenting) pop and call the recapper malicious haters (see comment 1), that is going too far. The first two comments went beyond disagreement, and the usual view among Gasmii is that if you don’t like the recaps or the recapper for whatever reason, don’t read the recaps. Please play nice.
I loved Rubicon. Talk about prescient. I thought it way more scary then The Walking Dead. Yet it was canceled, and the other got picked up. I never watched Lost, so your comparison is meaningless to me. As to your opinion on PoI, I guess I didn’t drink your cool-aid. In all my TV viewing years, and we are talking many decades, I have never seen a show go from good, with real potential for great, to ridiculous so fast. A homicide detective forcing 5 mafia dons into protective custody, and fails. I rest my case.
Wow! And this is only the mini-cap.
I find it strange how this is the only place people who no longer enjoy PoI congregate, all the other reviews and comments are positive. I suppose we’re all drinking the Kool-Aid. I happen to think PoI doesn’t suffer from unrealised potential, or at least I never saw that “great” potential to begin with.
I’ve always thought it to be a smarter-than-average CBS procedural with extra action and better-than-average actors. I still see it that way and I think it has fully realised its potential, i.e., it has succeeded in becoming what it set out to be.
Perhaps my imagination is more limited than yours, if you were expecting it to suddenly turn into The Wire or something.
“A person is not a hater if she or he disagrees with Vallegirl’s review.”
They are BULLIES. Hateful, bullying bullies. Don’t believe me? Then you aren’t up to speed on the new, pc, all-inclusive definition of bullying. See Brisbane’s comments for application examples.
herby, herby, herby! Do you not understand the concept of TVgasm? We have the most fun when we snark. Just read Toddlers and Tiaras recaps and comments.
If you want to be among those who appreciate the art of POI, its actors and writers, read a fanzine.
Word, Crank! Bullies indeed.
My GIF didn’t post. Sad horns.
*Sigh* Placement is still(?) wanky again(?). This was meant to be placed after #38.
Can someone remind me to post either “I hate Teresa” or “cock” when we get close to 100?
Comments about the unrealised potential of the show and how the show’s quality has suffered seem to be actual (serious, if you will) criticism, not snark. So I am responding to those comments with serious answers. I haven’t responded to the snark because, as you said, it’s snark. Fine by me.
And I don’t see anyone having any fun here, frankly. There’s talk of bullies and sluts and defensiveness and haters and sadness over the perceived decline of the show. Unless this is the TVGasm version of fun.
I dunno, herby. I think accusing a recapper of bullying a character and/or actor is pretty damn funny. And, you can’t have funny without “fun.”
And for more fun: COCK!
Somebody please fix the placement of comments! This was to herby, not vallegirl.
WAIT A DAMN MINUTE!!! sarcastic responses about bullies, sluts, defensiveness, haters and sadness over the perceived decline of the show AREN’T FUN! Way to go and ruin my day.
Oh jeez. Close-knit bunch? I have been reading since 2006 and it’s this “we Gasmii” crap and the need for everyone to be besties that is making commenting NOT fun for me anymore. I miss when comments were short, funny, and relevant to the recapped show. So please don’t play ambassador and speak for all of us.
It is very plain and very simple. V-girls recaps are just what they are and that’s just what they are!!! Being a bully is fun!!! It’s the Internet for Christ’s sake. Even the little guy can be a bully here!!! That’s what makes it so much fun. If someone is being a bully to you. Then you be a bully right back. Don’t nobody really know who you are. Even if they do. Fuck em’ if they can’t take a joke!!! So vallegirl you keep on a recapping and I will keep on a reading. Don’t be a letting some boo hooers be a bullying you!!! If they don’t like it, they don’t have to read it…..