Person Of Interest S01E01 - Pilot

In a way it's 'The Dark Knight' for television but in the same way it's really not.
Jonathan Nolan has a powerful name and it demands the expectations of a kind of quality that very few filmmakers can provide. Person Of Interest delivers on some aspects and definitely leaves you wanting more. But it also feels incomplete and far less intriguing than the previously named film.

There's a certain edge to the show that, thankfully, becomes more and more common on network television. You can find it on Southland and the dearly departured The Chicago Code. It's the gritty and realistic tone of the crime world that is far more interesting than the point-and-case work of other CBS shows. Person Of Interest, only, adds some kind of surrealism to it. For instance, a scene in which the protagonist tries to protect someone while listening in on his conversations carries heavy on the tension and music even though the victim is far removed from our hero. (He was in prison.) Yeah, that doesn't feel logical. At all.
A different aspect of the show also requires viewers to buy into certain story lines that aren't very in place in the aforementioned genre. 9/11 seems to be playing a key role in the motives and history of our main characters and with ten years and the global fear of terrorism, passing I can't help but think that concept is too little, too late. The memorial this month brought up some memories but it's hardly enough to justify a season long arc on a crime show. That same aspect also sees phone tapping, constant video capturing and a well integrated network that somehow can conclude minor crimes, before they happen.
There are only so many hoops people will jump through to get a story and I for one am not fond of jumping. I don't know if it's the shady background of Caviezel's character, the disappointment in Emerson's work which feels too similar to his most renowned character or the global idea of it all that just feels off, but I'm not sold.
The pilot had some very nice twists and managed to demand such respect that I paused the episode in between naps opposed to letting it run freely. But I'm also weary of hero's with great fighting skills who don't want their allies to hurt anyone hours after shooting a group of wannabe gangsters in their limbs. I think there's lot's of progress to be made but the weekly stories will be too thick and story heavy to not be fully devoted to. So I'm leaving this one for either mid-season or just for the sweep episodes.
Either way, the show was only a slightly less brilliant than I thought it would be.