I like when shows deviate from their norm.  It’s rare a show does it in its second season, and so dramatically, but “Relevance” succeeds, and proves again that PoI is fearless.  While I missed Reese and Finch, Shaw and Cole’s interactions made up for it; they were a mixture of Reese and Finch as well as Reese and Stanton and even Finch and Ingram.   The action scenes were well-crafted as well as well-timed.  Jonathan Nolan directed this episode and his skill with this format was evident.

When I first read that Sarah Shahi was cast as this cross between Catwoman and Jason Bourne, I thought perhaps PoI had made its first massive misstep in casting.  Only ever exposed to Ms. Shahi in Fairly Legal, which did not impress, I said uh oh and settled in for the worst.  However, Ms. Shahi impressed greatly; I look forward to her return.  

In the past PoI has introduced such characters as Elias and Root more subtly, Elias was a slow progression before the character even appeared on screen.  The latter appeared once in the shadows and then revealed herself dramatically in Firewall and was the impetus behind the first two episodes of Season 2.   Shaw, however, erupts onto the scenes and stands PoI on its head. We see things from the perspective of the weekly person of interest while Reese and Finch only appear when they are in direct contact with Shaw.  

Booked Solid covered a lot of ground, all while almost entirely contained to one location.

First, kudos to all involved in the decision to not credit Amy Acker for this episode; it paid off magnificently.  Also, kudos to everyone in the fandom who ‘called it’ that Root was Special Counsel’s secretary.  That moment had me absolutely cheering!

This episode was not only contained to a hotel, mostly, it was also contained to a single ‘day in the life’ and what a day it was!
Carter had her hopes dashed both personally and professionally.  And none of it had anything to do with working with Reese and Finch.

Well, well Ollie.  That plan backfired, didn’t it? 

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I saw the previews for “The Odyssey,” fearing that it would be a whole hour devoted to handwringing over Oliver’s critical state with a few flashbacks thrown in for entertainment value.  But no, it ended up being a flashback heavy episode, with minimal tension back at the homebase.  Since the flashbacks have been the real strengths of this series lately, this episode ended up being a big winner and one of the season’s best.

“Moira Queen, you have failed this city!”  Well duh. 

So, the cat’s out of the bag.  With a title like “Betrayal” I didn’t think it applied to Oliver and Diggle, even though it was Digg that finally convinced Oliver that something was rotten in Maison Queen.  Serves Oliver right for showing Digg all the high tech listening devices he had.  Laurel got a chance to be both the betrayer and the betrayee, just to add some duality to her personality.  It mostly worked, even if there is no amount of convincing that will get her over that dewy eyed obsession with the green one.  The heart wants what the heart wants. 

Jimmi Simpson and Jim Caviezel share the screen; high energy, high octane versus cool, calm and seriously collected.  
There are three stand outs about this episode:  Jimmi Simpson, Jimmi Simpson and Jim Caviezel and the parallels between Ingram and Finch, and Finch and Reese.

I enjoyed this episode.  I absolutely loved Jimmi Simpson’s portrayal of Logan Pierce; a man with too many resources for Reese to keep track of in the usual way.  As a bit of an inside joke on the series Reese actually tells Logan what he does…“Normally I’d follow you around, help out behind the scenes.”  For those who dip in and out of the series, there’s the refresher course.  Jimmi’s response…“Sounds like fun…see, I knew you were interesting.”  In that moment we’re reminded of the twists and turns of Person of Interest, part procedural, part longer format, with shorter chapters and longer over-arching themes.

Jimmi Simpson held my attention every moment he was on camera.  I enjoyed his brash and bratty character because just when I thought I had him pegged, he changed.  We’re told he bullies potential competitors out of business, actually it was his partner.  Given the opportunity, he confesses the wrongdoing and offers to help the little company get back on its feet.  He appears to be having a breakdown of one kind or another, actually he is orchestrating his removal from his company in such a way that he can start anew with people he believes are more upright.  

There, that’s better!  After a string of some lackluster episodes, “Vertigo” managed to raise the salmon ladder bar back to the place we expected.  It had everything, family drama, action, an over the top villain that wasn’t a pansy, bromance...all the boxes were checked.  

What I liked best about this week’s “Arrow” was all the scattered pieces of this very busy story actually worked well together.  It’s the lack of flow between the scenes and various plots that have exactly been dragging the recent episodes down.  Here, I don’t remember shouting out “WTF?” at all.  Okay, maybe once, but it was in a good way.

“Dead Reckoning,” the stunning conclusion to the latest ‘continuing’ episodes of Person of Interest.  These latest four episodes covered the spectrum: ‘run of the mill’ PoI (“Shadow Box”), all members of the team working the job ; “2 pi R,” Finch and Fusco doing the legwork while Carter breaks laws to free Reese (who was sidelined) ; “Prisoner’s Dilemma” with its cast of old enemies and new and some of the most intense character moments in the series to date and then that stunning ending that sent us to our collective ‘happy places’ for three weeks; and “Dead Reckoning” that was heavy on the mytharc, but if you looked, you saw the weekly PoI as well.

“Dead Reckoning,” like “Bad Code,” had a PoI.  Finch got a new number right at the beginning as he was talking to Carter.  Whereas “Bad Code” allowed Root to escape, I’m convinced Stanton is dead.  Why, you ask?  Notice the ending, the time is rewound and we see the Machine’s perspective as Stanton gets into her car and it explodes.  Yeah, Stanton and Snow are goners…but more questions and deeper mysteries are birthed.

We have the setup for one of the major stories for the ending of Season 2, just what did Stanton upload, what does it do, and who is her mysterious ‘benefactor’ and how does he come by his information that Harold Finch sold the laptop to the Chinese?  Misdirection?  Perhaps.  Remember, Snow told us (through Carter) that Reese had killed his partner (“Number Crunch”); it was ten episodes later that we learned the truth. 

I do wonder if there is a deeper meaning behind Finch’s comment to Reese:  “I’d prefer later as I’m responsible for you being here.”  Is that because he recruited John?  Is that because he did have something to do with John being sent to Ordos?  What does that mean for John,  after all, it was that mission that prevented John from coming to Jessica…we all know how that ended.  Is there more to Finch’s heartfelt and sorrowful “I’m so sorry” at the end of “Many Happy Returns?”  So many questions.

Trust.  There isn't much of it between the characters in this latest Arrow installment, but the test of trust ends up strengthening bonds in some ways and majorly failing in others. 

This week, the bromance continues with yet another twist.  The bastard of the week, who is resorting to knocking over armored cars and killing the innocent drivers, happens to be Diggle’s old commanding officer, Ted Gaynor, played by sci-fi fav Ben Browder (Farscape, Stargate SG-1).   While I’m really impressed that Arrow is bringing in some wonderful and well reputable actors to play these guest roles, it’s a shame when the characters written for these people are saddled with some really lame stories.  Mr. Browder really got the short end of the straw in this one. 

As I was gathering my thoughts for this review, I couldn’t get past a title.  The first thing that came to my head was weird puns like, “Intersection:  Let Me Give You a Hand.”  Then someone on Twitter came up with something better (thanks @ckonnect!),  “Intersection : A Handful of Surprises.”  Suddenly, I’m spending too much time on clever catch phrases than actually constructing a review.