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kugglaw t1_j5trfcl wrote

Reply to comment by bros402 in I want the Nolans to make a show by romanf_267

Is POI good good or like, good for a procedural good? Tempted to hunt it down and give it a try

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ed_lv t1_j5ttmbu wrote

It's only a true procedural during Season 1, and to a lesser extent Season 2.

Seasons 3-5 are just incredible, and while there is still a case of the week, most of them are directly related to a bigger plot.

It's by far my favorite network TV show ever, and it's not even close.

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kugglaw t1_j5u13kj wrote

How would you rank it against Lost, my personal favourite network tv show?

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ed_lv t1_j5u22e1 wrote

I like it better than Lost, and the ending is also very satisfactory.

BTW, Michel Emerson is absolutely incredible as Harold Finch in POI

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Petrichor02 t1_j5ve9rq wrote

Lost is my personal favorite network TV show as well, and I prefer Lost. During its first three seasons, Person of Interest definitely felt like it might be competing with one of my top spots and giving Lost a challenge, but I was less of a fan of some of the developments in the last two seasons, which dropped it down. POI is probably around my 13th favorite network TV show. If you drop animated shows and shows that didn't get a planned conclusion, it might be my 6th favorite. So it's up there for me, but I did have some issues with it as it went on.

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bros402 t1_j5tstm8 wrote

It is better than pretty the vast majority of procedurals

A bit spoilery of an idea of what you are going to deal with

>!First season is pretty much all procedural, but sets up some future stuff. Second season is similar, but leans more into overall mythos and a story arc (and has some great moments). Season 3, it starts leaning hard into overall story and after that it is "What would it be like if there were an unchained AI without any sense of ethics trying to run things?"!<

It is also sort of like a closet superhero show - Jim Caviezel is the hero, Michael Emerson is his Alfred, then he has some other people who help him out, and then there's his Rogues Gallery who pop up from time to time to fuck with him.

If you want to give some episodes a try before watching a bunch, I would recommend watching Pilot (S1E1) and The Witness (S1E7). You could also try Cura Te Ipsum (S1E4).

If you like those, you will enjoy the series - since you will have some episodes that are either pure number of the week, or NotW with some story weaved in.

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Petrichor02 t1_j5twybn wrote

Despite POI being regularly called a procedural, it's more of a serialized procedural (and only for the first two or three seasons).

In other words, most episodes in the first three seasons have an A plot, a B plot, and a C plot. The B and C plots are highly serialized and continue the ongoing storyline episode to episode. It's just the A plot that is procedural, and if you skip an episode and miss the B and C plots, you'll be lost as to the ongoing storyline. So it's not a procedural where you can duck in and out of episodes and not miss anything, and each episode only focuses on the case of the week. I think there are only two episodes in its entire run that don't have any serialized elements in them.

But regardless of the above, the show is still good good, IMO. If you like Batman, think of the beginning of the show as a realistic take on Batman but with Bruce being split between two characters where one has his looks, fighting and weapons prowess, tragic back story, and vigilante mindset while the other has his genius, charm, social graces, and money. That perspective makes the procedural parts of the episodes much more fun.

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durgertime t1_j5ulhut wrote

What about the show changes that makes the later seasons so compelling, because I only watched the first season and found it incredibly forgettable and just felt like any other procedural cop show.

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Petrichor02 t1_j5v5zzu wrote

If you watched all of the first season and felt like it was just a regular cop procedural then you missed the serialized subplots that were threaded throughout each episode that tied into the overarching narrative.

Eventually the serialized subplots become the full plot instead of subplots though, which is where a lot of people fall in love with the show. I personally liked the mix better than when it went fully serialized, but that's just me.

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durgertime t1_j5vipnc wrote

Oh I saw it, but b-plots threading through a procedural show was already quite common in various detective/legal/cop shows by that time and I didn't really see anything that was exceptionally interesting about it, while all of the crime drama was really bland and uninteresting. Is there something about the subplot that really develops and gets interesting?

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PM-ME-UR-PIZZA t1_j5vokrt wrote

Without spoiling too much, the next couple of seasons goes way deeper in the HR/corruption angles, while building up the angle of the Machine as a character on it's own, as a Super AI. If you want more spoilers I can give it, I am just on my third rewatch of the show so it's pretty fresh

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bros402 t1_j5x66ov wrote

Those B plots become A plots.

and the machine becomes a character

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Vincent_adultman98 t1_j5xbt9a wrote

So around the end of season 2/start of season 3 they close up the crime drama aspect and make it more about the A.I and originations surrounding the A.I.

In terms of plot development it's a lot like Fringe, in that seasons one and two you're not sure if it's going to become more or less serialized and then after that it leans really heavily into the sci-fi aspects.

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SnooDingos316 t1_j63whk2 wrote

That is what I tell people about the Good wife which is also often called procedural.

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theyusedthelamppost t1_j5vbhw1 wrote

>Is POI good good or like, good for a procedural good?

It's half of the best of both worlds.

If you're a boomer who likes your comfortable procedurals, the latter parts of the show might seem to "drift into the weeds" going deeper down the rabbit hole into complex hard sci-fi concepts about AI.

If you're a Severance fan who wants that deep, hard sci-fi packaged concisely, then you might feel bogged down having to sit through 103 episodes of procedurals to "get to the point".

It tries to be both and succeeds more than it fails. Some of the seemingly-one-off characters end up popping back up and joining the serialized story.

The show aired from 2011-2016, just when our appetites were changing.

All in all, I'd say that the show is a bit like eating ribs. It's too much effort for too little meat, but there's no denying that the meat you get is damn good. But if you're a nut for AI plotlines and feel the need to consume them all, then I'd say PoI is worth the effort.

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Prax150 t1_j5u6z5g wrote

It's legitimately good good. I think some of the episodes are still among the highest rated of all time on IMDB

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Regula96 t1_j5udhtw wrote

It's extremely good. Most of season one is just decent but man does it improve in season 2. Seasons 3-5 is up there with the best television I've ever seen.

The show has a phenomenal ending too.

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Ok-Concentrate2719 t1_j5wv70j wrote

Whichever season has If-Then-Else, legitimately I don't know what the writers were on but every episode was insanely good

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tagen t1_j5vhvo1 wrote

It’s fantastic

some episodes are bad guy of the week, but then it gets this big overarching conspiracy and gets much better. I really wish it had kept going

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