Person of Interest: The Fifth and Final Season Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Person of Interest: The Fifth and Final Season Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman July 25, 2016

To use the word in the title -- interest -- to describe the show would be to sell it way short of its greatness. It's not interesting. It's fascinating. Fabulous. Frightening. Person of Interest may as well be a documentary, mixed with a bit of dramatization for effect. It's not prescient. It's here. It's an eerily relevant, timely, and unforgettable saga of high technology and its place in the world, and largely its intrusive place in the world. Now in its fifth season, and, sadly, its final go in the story of The Machine, Reese, Finch, Fusco, Root, Shaw and others playing the dangerous game of making use of the best of man and tech to save the world from the worst of both, the show is as good as it's always been. Even as what is arguably network TV's best drama comes to an end, it's a fitting end, a surprising end, sorrowful to see it go, happy in the memories, and hopeful that its themes can awaken those asleep to the dangerous world that's not creeping into everyday life, but that's already making its mark. Deep. Ingrained. And seemingly indestructible and unstoppable. Newcomers should certainly begin at season one. Click through the links below as starting points to reach this end.

• Season One.
• Season Two.
• Season Three.
• Season Four.

Official Synopsis: Ex-CIA agent John Reese (Jim Caviezel) and billionaire tech genius Harold Finch (Michael Emerson) [are] on the run with only a briefcase of source code. But The Machine's reboot brings up software glitches that put Reese and Finch, along with Detective Lionel Fusco (Kevin Chapman), ex-operative Sam Shaw (Sarah Shahi) and cyber-hacker Root (Amy Acker), on the front lines of the nation's surveillance battlefield. With Samaritan online and the full power of the U.S. government behind it, the team is in constant danger of being discovered and undermined, while innocent citizens are being targeted and assassinated.

The fifth, and final, season is as strong as ever. It's frenetic, the intensity evident even in the moments where the kinetic, forward-motion energy gives way to the contemplative side of things, where characters face crisis with the mind, not the gun or the feet. No matter its positioning, the show feels fast-paced and urgent. The threat is always tangible, the danger real, and character responses shaped by their individual and collective experiences through their time spent together but also their more base, foundational human understandings and emotions, both of which are swayed and pulled and blurred but always there, whether with gun in hand and life in danger or otherwise engaged in saving the world. The season's full pacing is relentless. Stakes are higher than ever, and the team will be lucky to walk away from it all unscathed, physically and emotionally alike. The season builds towards a difficult, but honest and authentic, ending. Season five effortlessly brings arcs full circle, themes as well, in a fitting final run that does right for the Person of Interest world, no matter how hard "right" can be.

More broadly, the fifth season flows organically from the show's past, expectedly capturing the same spirt but advancing its purpose and developing its characters through the intensity and rigor of the season's brisk 13-episode run. Themes aren't much different from previous seasons, but story progression develops those themes, as well as the way the audience and the characters see them in the world, the good, bad, and the terribly murky area in the middle that defines it. The season goes full-steam into the tangibly frightening and Sci-Fi inspired, but easily relatable and chillingly so, story arcs. Indeed, its success stems from its reality, the truth in its scope and the reach of technology that reveals the true nightmare behind the feel-good catch words like "ease" and "safety" that so often disingenuously come with it. Beyond that, however, is the further development, and final destinations, for the primary cast, a handful of fantastically fleshed-out characters who, over five seasons, have grown substantially, individually and collectively alike, as their actions and camaraderie further shape what they know of the world, each other, and themselves. It's sad to see them go, but season five does right by them, controversially so, perhaps, but leading to a fitting, well-scripted and realized conclusion to one of TV's best shows.

The following episodes comprise season five. Summaries are courtesy of an insert included in the Blu-ray package. spoilers follow.

Disc One:

• B.S.O.D.: Reese and Finch attempt to rescue what is left of The Machine, while Root fights for her life and Fusco is questioned by the NYPD.
• SNAFU: The Machine experiences a glitch upon rebooting and labels Finch and Root as threats based upon their past violent behavior.
• Truth Be Told: Reese's cover could be blown when he realizes that the latest POI has a connection to his old collegues in the CIA.
• 6,741: Shaw escapes her captors, but the team is unsure of her mental state when she begins to act paranoid and reckless.
• Shotseeker: Reese protects an NYPD analyst who has drawn the attention of Samartian. Fusco is threatened by an ally of Elias out for revenge.

Disc Two:

• A More Perfect Union: The Machine sends Reese and Finch to a wedding to protect a pair of POIs. Also, Fusco takes it upon himself to investigate a string of missing-person reports.
• QSO: Root goes undercover at a radio station to protect the host of a conspiracy-theory show who may have stumbled upon information that someone wants to keep secret - even if it means murder.
• Reassortment: Reese and Finch become trapped in a hospital that becomes ground zero for a deadly viral outbreak. Also, Samaritian's newest recruit has second thoughts, and Shaw continues to struggle with reality.
• Sotto Voice: The mysterious criminal mastermind known as The Voice returns, immoblizing Reese and Fusco in their own precinct with several armed gang members and the latest POI.
• The Day the World Went Away: Finch's numer comes up when a fatal error blows his cover identity and sets off a series of escalating incidents with Samaritian's operatives.

Disc Three:

• Synecdoche: The team must unravel a conspiracy and stay ahead of the Secret Service when the President of the United States becomes their newest member.
• .EXE: As Reese and Shaw race to catch up with him, Finch infiltrates the NSA in a desperate mission that could mean the end not only for Samaritian but for him and The Machine as well.
• Return 0: Finch successfully cripples Samaritian but when the AI activates a fail-safe to restore its systems, each member of the team - including The Machine - agrees to a final suicide mission to free humanity from its grasp once and for all in the mind-blowing series finale.

Person of Interest: The Fifth and Final Season Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Person of Interest: The Complete Fifth and Final Season features another winner of a transfer from Warner Brothers. It's largely in-line with previous seasons, boasting tremendous detailing both near-camera and far afield, whether intimate skin detailing or looking down complex and diversely presented city streets. Raw concrete and city locations are beautifully tactile and textural, fully defined and representative of the format at its best. Image clarity is terrific around every inch; no smeary corners here. Colors are faithful and lifelike, rich and vibrant with no over-saturation or absence of depth. Black levels are tight and deep, holding shadow detailing and realism with ease. Flesh tones are impervious to unnatural pushes to red. Very light noise and trace banding are evident, but no other source or compression issues are apparent. Another wonderful presentation for Person of Interest on Blu-ray.

Person of Interest: The Fifth and Final Season Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Person of Interest: The Complete Fifth and Final Season's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack is fantastic. From the pulsing, bass-y beats of the series open and on through every bit of music and score, the track never fails to go wide, play clearly, engage the low end, and fold into the rears. Gunfire pops with plenty of punch and authority, and bullet impacts into various surfaces ping and clank all over the stage. Shotgun blasts are particularly notable, exploding with unmatched concussive force and lifelike authenticity. Surrounds swirl with information during video surveillance footage shots. City atmospherics are many, complex, detailed, and immersive. Dialogue is clear, well prioritized, lifelike, and naturally planted in the front-center channel. This is an excellent listen from Warner Brothers.

Person of Interest: The Fifth and Final Season Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Person of Interest: The Complete Fifth and Final Season contains all of its supplemental content on disc three. A UV digital copy voucher is included with purchase.

• Person of Interest: 2015 Comic-Con Panel (1080p, 32:59): Matt Fowler hosts Creator/Executive Producer Jonah Nolan, Showrunner/Executive Producer Greg Plageman, Executive Producer/Writer Denise Thé, Actor Jim Caviezel, Actor Michael Emerson, Actor Kevin Chapman, and Actress Amy Acker who answer social and in-room questions about the series.
• Revelations of Person of Interest (1080p, 17:50): Creator/Executive Producer Jonah Nolan, Showrunner/Executive Producer Greg Plageman, Executive Producer/Writer Denise Thé, Actor Michael Emerson, and TV Critic Eric Goldman discuss the ultimate fate of characters, finding The Machine's voice, some of the heavier character and story themes explored, the writing process, the series' strengths, core details, and more.
• Finale for the Fans (1080p, 16:30): Creator/Executive Producer Jonah Nolan, Showrunner/Executive Producer Greg Plageman, Executive Producer/Writer Denise Thé, Actor Michael Emerson, and TV Critic Eric Goldman discuss the series' larger history, fan response, the broader vision for the show from the beginning, characters, shooting in New York, the show's visual effects, talk of a Person of Interest movie, and more.

Person of Interest: The Fifth and Final Season Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Season five delivers 13 frantic, fast-paced, well-scripted, smartly acted, exciting...everything most anyone could want from a show. It's terrific stuff, a shame to see it leave but it's wrapped up very well, even if it's not without some heartbreak. Person of Interest: The Complete Fifth and Final Season's Blu-ray release is, much like previous seasons, very good. Supplements are a bit skimpy, but video and audio are fantastic. Highly recommended. Note that newcomers to the show can also buy the series box set, released alongside this release.