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This is Reese's "excited" face. 

It's a good day to be a CBS series: Just like last year, the network has issued a mass renewal encompassing most of its schedule, ordering new seasons of 14 of its primetime series. Let's do this the easy way, shall we?

Renewed today:
2 Broke Girls
48 Hours
60 Minutes
The Amazing Race
Blue Bloods
Elementary
The Good Wife
Hawaii Five-0
The Mentalist
Mike & Molly
NCIS: Los Angeles
Person of Interest
Survivor

Renewed previously:
The Big Bang Theory
How I Met Your Mother
CSI
NCIS

No word yet:
Criminal Minds
Golden Boy
Two and a Half Men
CSI:NY
Vegas

Obviously, this news means most of CBS's roster will remain intact going into the 2013-2014 season. Most of today's renewals were givens; of the shows that are still awaiting verdicts, Two and a Half Men will almost certainly return—the network is currently in talks to bring it back, so it's a sure bet once all the necessary contracts are signed. CSI:NY is a long shot, as is the moving-to-Fridays Vegas. I'm also not liking Golden Boy's odds. Finally, Criminal Minds is on pretty solid ground; like Two and a Half Men, paperwork is probably the only reason it wasn't included in today's announcement. 

Which renewal are you most excited about? Which non-renewal are you most concerned about? 

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What to watch on Thursday, November 8...

The Burn Notice gang is back.

If you're anything like me, you're having a really hard time adjusting to this Daylight Savings time shift! It gets dark at like noon now! To combat the feeling of impending doom, do what I do: Close all your blinds and turn the brightness on your TV all the way up and it will be like a tropical vacation with all your favorite characters. Problem solved, and you'll get a sweet tan. Or is it cancer? I forget. Let's settle the difference and call it tancer. And there's plenty of great tancer-causing TV on tonight:

8pm, ABC
Last Resort
It's "Another Fine Navy Day" for Captain Marcus Chaplin and his band of merry seamen, and I'm pretty sure the show is being sarcastic with that episode title because in it, the crew gets attacked with an unknown weapon that makes everyone crazy and stabby. The last time all my friends freaked out on each other like that, it was a mediocre day at best. Let's all tune in and try and get this show a second season, okay?

8pm, NBC
The Voice
Take a hike, comedy! The Voice airs a special live Thursday episode to announce the results of this week's playoff rounds. Will it be that one person or that other person who makes it to the Top 12? Or will it be that OTHER person? Or that OTHER OTHER person? You get the idea. Maroon 5 also performs, which automatically makes this episode a must-watch (if you're into that sort of thing).

8:20pm Eastern / 5:20pm Pacific, NFL Network
NFL Football: Colts vs. Jaguars
This matchup between the upstart rebuilding Indianapolis Colts and the absolutely dismal Jacksonville Jaguars sounds boring, but that's why mankind invented gambling. Inaccuscore prediction: Colts 243, Jaguars 3.

9pm, USA
Burn Notice
Get double the burning sensation as the USA spy drama returns for the second of Season 6 with two episodes. Nate's still murdered and Card is now a two-timer, so how will Michael and his team get revenge for being set up? Lots of bullets and explosions, probably.

9pm, The CW
Beauty and the Beast
If you needed more evidence that being a "beauty" is way better than being a "beast," listen to what happens in "Saturn Returns": Vincent, the *ahem* "beast," stops a robbery at a convenience store only to have his horribly disfigured and high-cheekboned face plastered all over the newspapers. Meanwhile in Everything is Just Great Land, Catherine, the "beauty," has to postpone her birthday plans so her sister can throw her a surprise birthday party. How about a little positive energy for the beast, C-Dub?!?

9pm, CBS
Person of Interest
Those of you who've been petitioning for a Person of Interest and Suburgatory crossover, you'll almost get it in "The High Road," in which the computer sends John Reese to one of the most dangerous places in the world... THE SUBURBS! There he'll play house with Zoe as they pretend to be typical knee-shooting neighbors. This has corny fun written all over it. Bonus: Roy from The Office guest-stars!

9:30pm, NBC
Parks and Recreation
Mike from Breaking Bad (Jonathan Banks) guest-stars as Ben's dad, who will likely be awesomely terrifying. Need I say more? Oh, alright: Jean-Ralphio returns! And probably some cute Leslie-and-Ben-are-engaged-now stuff, too.

10:30pm, FX
The League
In "Judge MacArthur," Kevin tries his hand at becoming a judge, which lands him at a charity event with perennial fantasy football waiver-wire pickup Ryan Fitzpatrick of the Buffalo Bills. The guys also compare something other than their penis size and their SO's cup sizes when they take intelligence tests.

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Person of Interest S02E05: "Bury the Lede"

Last night gave us a pretty nifty episode of Person of Interest in "Bury the Lede," which asked an intriguing question: How can we reverse engineer an episode's story in order to end up with a shootout on a merry-go-round? The answer was a complex case involving a headstrong (and sexy!) investigative journalist, a mayoral race, a bunch of dirty cops, and an awkward first date. "Bury the Lede" hit a lot of vintage Person of Interest sweet spots, combining humor, an ever-expanding mythology, and some incredibly ridiculous circumstances. Whenever an episode does all this, the show is damn near unstoppable.

This week's persona de interesante was Maxine (White Collar's Gloria Votsis), a get-the-story-at-any-costs-even-if-it-means-posing-as-a-prostitute-and-blackmailing-a-public-figure kind of gal who collected scoops like your cousin collects Pokemon cards. She was a bit abrasive at first, but by the end of the episode I warmed up to her mostly because Reese softened her up and helped her seem more tolerable, much like the Brazilian diplomat's daughter in "Masquerade." Hey, at least these damsels who Reese saves from distress aren't completely helpless and have some moxie.

Maxine had been digging up dirt on one of the city's mayoral candidates, and had previously written exposés (well, exposés after the fact) on many cases that Reese and Finch busted wide open, including Elias and the network of dirty policemen known as HR. Naturally, we were led to believe her articles had made her the target, and because she kept sticking her nose in an ongoing investigation to find out who the head of HR was, it was up to Reese to step in and save both the investigation and her. But this is Person of Interest, so obviously the obvious wasn't so obvious.

In a first for the series, the person of interest turned out to be the perpetrator by indirectly causing harm to someone else. When Maxine wrote an article incriminating a mobster's son named Zambrano as the head of HR (which was later proved false), it led other rival factions to take him out and leave Maxine with one giant "oopsie!" on her hands. Turns out he was a good guy who was actually a lead witness in an investigation that would have blown up a whole criminal underground. And in another first for the series, this all went down while Reese couldn't let her know he was protecting her, because she was also tracking leads on "the mystery man in the suit!" So how did Reese and Finch find a workaround to get close and protect her? Match-Heart.com.

I'll never get tired of this show thrusting the cyborg-ish Reese-inator into regular awkward human situations, no matter how ridiculous the means of putting him in there are. Last night, Reese was set up on a date with Maxine through an online dating website after Finch sorted through the algorithms and made Reese a perfect match for Maxine by sharing interests and posting pictures of Bear. Finch did all the legwork with flirty texts and instant messages, and the kicker was that all of this was done without Reese's knowledge. The fact that Finch thought it would work shows how detached these two socially defunct clowns are from the rest of society, and Reese was a glorious disaster on the first date, saying all the wrong things and not knowing any details about Maxine because he wasn't involved in the get-to-know-you virtual conversations. Men, amirite ladies? I just have one question: What would Finch have done if the person of interest wasn't a lovely female investigative journalist? I would pay big bucks to see an episode where Reese gets set up with a hulking, hairy gay man. Hey, he's already fond of bears.

After Reese proved himself to be a worthy gentleman, their subsequent dates involved digging up the truth, dodging bullets, and pancake breakfasts. This all eventually led to the cool carousel shootout, where Zambrano's ledger—which had incriminating evidence on all sorts of crooked cops—was hidden.

While all this was going down, dear old Fusco had his own HR problems. Sensing the truth was ready to come out, Simmons—the dirty cop who looks like Nazi Frankenstein—tasked Fusco with cutting off the FBI investigation at the pass and getting the ledger before others did. We've come a long way with Fusco, and it's always painful to see him dragged back into HR's business after so much redemption, but that's the curse of his character and I don't expect it to end anytime soon. However, it was imperative that Fusco get the ledger, because his name was in that book, too.

Eventually the ledger (nothing makes for a more exciting key to a case than a business ledger) got into the right hands and then into Fusco's hands, and the real culprit was outed: the young handsome mayoral candidate! When will you ever learn, handsome politicians? But that too turned out to be a misdirection, because there was another puppet behind the scenes. Young handsome candidate's opponent's campaign manager Quinn, played by The Wire's Clarke Peters. He's the actual head of HR, a man who makes a living planting powerful people in powerful positions while he stands in the background with his fingers in everything.

Can I just say how much I love the way Person of Interest has layered its bad factions? Root was cleverly disguised for half a season, Elias's true identity was hidden well after we knew he existed, and now Quinn has emerged as the head of HR long after we first tangled with HR's many lieutenants. There have been plenty of Batman comparisons with Reese, but the hierarchy and tangled web of villains and factions is just as Batman-y. This really is a superhero comic come to life, minus the tights and silly names.

"Bury the Lede" was another fantastic episode of Person of Interest, which effortlessly mashed up humor, an intriguing case, and a big reveal in the overall mythology. I hope this how goes a million seasons.

– There was some funny Cyrano de Bergerac stuff going on as Finch did all the flirting and developed a crush on Maxine (she quoted Orwell? Swoooon!) while Reese played the handsome exterior. And Reese wearing glasses to look smarter? Too funny. Jim Caviezel played that date perfectly.

– More laughs as Finch hid in Reese's closet, which doubled as an arsenal any supporter of the Second Amendment would be proud of.

– Carter continues to descend into redundancy. Girl needs something to do other than be gofer and show up in time badly.

– Maxine on the man in the suit: "He shoots a lot of kneecaps..." Reese: "Sounds like a great guy." So nice to see this show is very self-aware.

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Person of Interest S02E15: "Booked Solid"

Last night's episode of Person of Interest was exactly the type of hyper-accelerated action television the show excels at. Pick a setting (a hotel), add a number of the week (an Albanian woman posing as a maid in the hotel), add a threat (Serbian hit squad), add some more threats (a grumpy assassin with no regard for anything), bring back a familiar face (Zoe!), add a twist (Root!), and then wind up John Reese and let him loose. The Person of Interest writers' room must have a blast crafting these episodes, and it shows on screen. "Booked Solid" was just plain fun.

This week's number in danger was attached to Mira Dobrica (Alias's Mia Maestro), a hotel maid with dirt on some war crimes committed during the Kosovo War by some Serbian bigwigs. She was under deep cover, so rather than spend her days playing FarmVille or having fun, she worked 60 hours a week in a fancy hotel. Reese and Finch deduced that her schedule meant whatever horrible atrocity was bound for her would happen on the job, so Finch gets them gigs at the hotel. I love how Person of Interest has carved out a little groove between specifics and just getting on with it; it knows what we want, so this episode opened with Reese and Finch walking to their first day of work rather than wasting precious minutes getting them the job. Who has time to watch Reese go through an interview process when there are Serbian hitmen to kill?

Finch took the open concierge position and hacked the hotel computers for his own Central Command, and Reese played grunt on the ground as New York's most ruggedly handsome bellhop. Immediately Person of Interest kicked into gear, throwing so much information at us that we enjoyed some tasty sensory overload: The hotel manager had a mystery "side business" going on, Zoe just so happened to be working at the hotel, we got details on Mira's refugee past, and Pennsylvania Two sent his incredibly determined goon Hersh (he was finally called by name!) on the trail of Reese. And this was only eight minutes into the episode, people! This show is efficient at setting the table fast, then narrowing the details as things progress.

It wasn't long before we learned why Mira was in trubbs. She was about to leak info on some WAR CRIMES to a journalist, meaning bad times for a guy named Petrovic. Naturally, Petrovic sent a SERBIAN HIT SQUAD after Mira, and the goons were crawling all over the hotel and operating like whatever the Serbian equivalent of a well-oiled machine is. Eastern-European hit squads! War crimes! Man I love this show.

There were some quick bursts of action as Reese took out members of the hit squad (Reese's aim must be off, he shot someone in the shoulder) while escorting Mira to safety. Good old Fusco even put some notches on his kill stick, taking out a pair of baddies while they were hauling the pieces of the murdered journalist into a van. Fusco loved it too. Now no one can tell him he's never killed two highly trained Eurotrash assassins.

But these were all undercards to the main event: Reese vs. Hersh in the battle of grumpy killers. Hersh is essentially a living Grand Theft Auto character, showing so much disdain for law enforcement that he stole a cop car right in front of a police station without a second thought. How badass is that? He needed a car, he just so happened to be in front of a police station, so he jimmied it and drive it around town. I love this guy as Reese's nemesis. And does anyone else think he looks like grumpy cat?

After Reese whisked Mira away to safety, Hersh bumbled in to find out who Reese works for, and the two had an epic fight in the hotel kitchen involving chef's knives held at cool-guy angles, stove burners nearly melting Reese's face, and more pots and pans flying around than there would be if Gordon Ramsay collapsed a soufflé. It was a great hand-to-hand fight scene (almost as good as the time Reese was fighting on crutches), and Reese stuck Hersh with the pointy end, but not so far that he fatally cut an artery, as he noted. No hard feelings, Hersh, there's honor among emotionless Terminators and Reese let you live. That won't come back to haunt Reese or anything. But let's all give Hersh a round of applause for putting up a good fight. Of course, later we saw Hersh in a hospital bed yanking off all the tubes he was hooked up to and going back into "KILL REESE" mode. Are we sure this guy isn't a robot?

Back at the police station, Carter was up for a spot in the FBI but had to take a polygraph for background. She was worried about getting busted lying about working with Reese and Finch, but it turned out she should have been worried about her dealings with handsome Cal Beecher, who was under investigation by Internal Affairs. Her involvement with Beecher got her job-blocked and vagina-blocked by the FBI, as she had to cut ties with Beecher both professionally and romantically. Bummer, Carter, but that guy is dirty!

And somehow there was STILL another surprise waiting for us. In the final moments of the episode, we met Pennsylvania Two's new secretary: ROOT! She's, err, taken root in the Office of the Special Counsel and will no doubt use those ins to get closer to The Machine. Nice twist, and a great way to add more heft to these government bad guys.

"Booked Solid" hit Person of Interest's preferred tone square on the noggin with its mix of action, suspense, and humor, and it also managed to include a twist in its caboose that signals fun times down the road. Does the return of Root and more details on Pennsylvania Two mean we're done with standalone episodes and gearing up for a lengthy serialized finish? Or are we in for more self-contained stories with mythology peppered in? Either way, it's good times ahead.

– That was one of the best "fuck you I quit!" moments ever, when Reese took off his tie and popped that wormy hotel manager in the face.

– But the real move was Finch defying the manager's orders to recommend the hotel restaurant when he told some guests about the best rib-eye in town at another grubbery. Fun fact: The restaurant he recommended was the place the waitress worked at in the episode "Triggerman."

– When we first saw Hersh through The Machine's eye, he didn't have a red square (threat) around him. Why not? You slippin', Computer?

– As soon as Mira showed knowledge of the hotel's inner workings, we all knew she would be given the hotel manager position by the end of the episode right?

– Finch ended up buying the hotel. Dude is spending CA$H this season! He'll own half of New York soon.

– Zoe and Reese were SMOLDERING! Fan that flame and let's get this heated romance going. So nice to see Reese loosen up a bit and proposition Zoe for a romp in the penthouse.

View the original article here

What to watch on Thursday, January 31...

SERIES FINALE, 8pm, NBC
30 Rock
It's hard to imagine a world without new episodes of 30 Rock—almost as hard as it was to imagine, back in 2006, that we'd get seven (7) seasons of it—but that will be the case after tonight. The hour-long finale, comprised of the episodes "Hogcock!" and "Last Lunch," bids goodbye to Liz, Jack, Tracy, and the whole madcap TGS crew, and I'm not crying shut up you're crying.

8pm, CBS
The Big Bang Theory
"The Cooper/Kripke Inversion" finds Sheldon's confidence rattled when he collaborates with Barry, although that probably only downgrades him to a Category-4 ego storm. Elsewhere, Howard and Raj procure pricey action figures of themselves, raising the question: If a woman pulls the cord on a Raj action figure, will it still talk?

8pm, The CW
The Vampire Diaries
Look, Vampire Diaries. If you're going to bust out the title "A View to a Kill," I expect two things and two things only: 1) Elena in a pulse-pounding ski chase, and 2) Damon sporting full-on Simon Le Bon hair. Let's be honest, it would be pretty easy to incorporate both into an episode where Kol's running wild and alliances in the Great Race for the Cure shift in response.

9pm, CBS
Person of Interest
A figure from Reese's past emerges with a nefarious plan in "Dead Reckoning." Step one is kidnapping Reese. Step two is a colossal cyber-attack that could kill him. Step three is... profit? World domination? The obliteration of all websites that automatically play Flash animation or really loud video as soon as they load? Actually, that last one might be worth the sacrifice...

SERIES PREMIERE, 10pm, NBC
Do No Harm
You've scoffed. You've mocked. You've read the incredulous dispatches from critics who've seen what is, by most accounts, an impenetrably ludicrous pilot. Now the time has come to tune in for yourself and find out whether Do No Harm can do for Jekyll-and-Hyde adaptations what The Cape did for capes. Steven Pasquale stars as a neurosurgeon with a fiendish alter ego whose emergence he can no longer control.

10pm, ABC
Scandal
Secrets aplenty come out in "Truth or Consequences." The team is nonplussed to learn the sordid details about the rigged presidential election, as well as Olivia's past... which for all we know could include fixing a series of city council races, the 2003 World Series, the last seven People's Choice Awards, and every vote that's ever been held on So You Think You Can Dance.

10pm, USA
Suits
"Zane vs. Zane" pits Harvey against Rachel's father in a gender discrimination suit. I know the cases on this show typically tend to go Pearson Hardman's way, but since the elder Zane is played by guest-star Wendell Pierce—The Bunk himself—all bets are off.

LATE-NITE:
– Fan-based material is featured in "Occupy Conan" on Conan, 11pm, TBS
– Kristen Bell on Chelsea Lately, 11pm, E!
– Jason Bateman on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, 11pm, Comedy Central
– Music critic Matthew Guerrieri on The Colbert Report, 11:30pm, Comedy Central
– Piers Morgan, Quvenzhané Wallis and Benh Zeitlin, and Lisa Loeb on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, 11:35pm, NBC
– Al Pacino and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis on Late Show with David Letterman, 11:35pm, CBS
– Jennifer Lawrence, Katie Couric, and Tegan and Sara on Jimmy Kimmel Live, 11:35pm, ABC
– Channing Tatum, Megan Hilty, Tim Ferriss, and Graham Parker on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, 12:37am, NBC
– Rashida Jones and Julie Gonzalo on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, 12:37am, CBS

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Person of Interest S02E13: "Dead Reckoning"

Excuse me, but have you seen my jaw? Last time I saw it, which was right around the ending of last night's episode of Person of Interest, it was dropping to the floor and burrowing into the Earth's core. Anyway, if you see it let me know. Reward: a hug!

"Dead Reckoning" played out like the second half of a two-parter (technically a three-parter if you include the episode John spent in prison) continuing the arc from the wonderfully tense and fun "Prisoner's Dilemma." At the end of that installment, Kara Stanton (editor's note: hubba hubba) took John Reese prisoner for whatever game she had planned, and in "Dead Reckoning," we saw it in action. Remind me never to play games with Kara because her games suck. If I were strapped to a bomb vest and forced to choose between the two episodes, I'd take "Prisoner's Dilemma" over "Dead Reckoning" by two lengths because that's the Person of Interest I love, with tension occasionally broken by bouts of pure comedy, but "Dead Reckoning" was a gem that accomplished some major heavy lifting. However, it was not without its problems.

But before we get to those, I'd just like to praise the show for knowing how to tell stories in this day and age of television dragging things out and viewers' suffering ADD and what was I saying? I really don't want to compare this show to Homeland, but Person of Interest's pacing, particularly in the last two episodes, can move just as fast as that of Showtime's hit. And that's because the writers have created a universe that they're not afraid to tear down a few times a season.

We've discussed the constant construction of a League of Supervillains to battle Reese and Finch's Justice League as a bonus to the series—it really establishes the show as living in its own universe. But in the last two episodes, Person of Interest killed off Agent Donnelly (you buffoon, I miss you already), Agent Mark Snow (now appearing on Netflix's House of Cards), and probably* Reese's former partner Kara Stanton (now appearing on The Following). Given their importance to the central story, that's a huge chunk to bury in the ground so quickly.

That would cripple other shows, but this series knows its bad guys have half-lives and to get the most out of them, it's best to have them stick around awhile before killing them off. It's satisfying because we know there's still so much left in Person of Interest to explore—Elias, Root, Quinn, to name a few—and the show can jump to the next story immediately. Or it can breathe deeply and run off a few standalone episodes and let us catch our breath. This thing is versatile.

I've made the comic-book comparisons before—I mean come on, the dude IS Batman—and Person of Interest continues to argue that analogy for me. This show LOVES its mini-arcs, two or three episodes strung together that tell a story that opens and closes, and dammit, I love them too. They really feel like issues of a comic, operating within the universe but telling completely satisfying tales with major stakes. The show has really proven that a series can feature standalone episodes, small arcs, and long, drawn-out serialized stories without losing its identity. And given that Person of Interest operates on 22-or-23-episode seasons, that goes a long way.

"Dead Reckoning" showed us what happened to Kara on her last mission with Reese—you know, the one with a thousand tons of explosive pink slips. After surviving the attack, she was taken under the wing of a nice old British man who just wanted to cyber-terrorize the planet. In true Person of Interest fashion we don't know his name, we don't know who he works for, and we don't know his plan, but we do know that he's fond of classic literature and thinks of himself as allied with the young gods to Kara's old god bosses. I'm not sure how literal we're supposed to take the Titan analogy (the old gods, fearing the young gods, ate their young... but were eventually killed off after choking), but it sounds like Old British Guy might be part of a group that splintered off from the CIA and is now a threat to them. Whatever the case is, it creates ANOTHER layer of bad guys for Person of Interest to play around with.

Working for answers about the people who tried to kill her, Kara captured Reese in the present day and strapped a bomb to his chest to form a two-man death squad with Snow, who was already Kara's bitch and had quit complaining about his own bomb a long time ago. We didn't know what Kara's plan was, but it was still fun to see Snow and Reese working together by beating up ATF agents in broad daylight in the parking lot of a busy diner and waltzing past security with a few stern words, all while Reese showed us how far he's come since being a CIA goon whenever Snow tried to kill someone. Our little Tin Man is really developing a heart! It turned out that Kara wasn't trying to download some government-grade super computer virus to wreak havoc, as Finch thought, she had the 2.0 version already and wanted to upload it to the government's mainframe! And after five months, the virus or whatever it was would do its thing and presumably take the global network hostage or 404 the government's operations.

Work done, Kara said, "Peace I'm out, but you stay here it's gonna be the bomb LOL!" and left Snow and Reese to go boom. The two managed to escape, with Reese sneaking up to the roof and moping about his explosive fashion accessory. That's no way for Batman to act, John! Scrotum up! Somehow, Finch was on the roof waiting for him and in a pretty contrived sequence dug up the universal unlock codes for the phone that was operating the bomb (there were five codes but only three chances to enter them before the bomb exploded, which sounds like a terribly designed app if you ask me). There was some genuine bro time, and believe me when I say I always enjoy the bro time between Reese and Finch, and on the third try, Finch guessed right and saved the series.

Snow, however, decided to go out like a pimp. As Kara got into her car to grab a celebratory Fanta, who should be in the back seat but Snow and his ticking bomb vest? KA-BOOM! Both of them dead, rather suddenly. I don't know how Snow beat Kara down to her car (maybe she took the stairs or stopped for a cigarette?) but given the results I'll let that slide. I had expected Snow to fall (haha) this episode, but I figured Kara would stick around for a while because she's such a unique nemesis for Reese. It just goes to show that Person of Interest does not mind killing off bad guys, or letting bad guys kill bad guys. Person of Interest has a whole closet full of bad guys, and more of them keep showing up at the door every week. Still, I was shocked—and, I admit, a little sad. I liked Kara (and Snow, too). At least she'll always live on in my Kara-Reese fanfic where they buy a house in the suburbs and become the adoptive parents of Finch.

But the real jaw dislocator came at the end, when the mystery of who sold the laptop that forced the Ordos mission that almost killed Reese and Kara was revealed. In the wreckage of Snow's bomb explosion, a piece of paper with the name of the perp gently fell to the ground and it read... HAROLD FINCH. DUN DUN!!!! The implication here is that Finch is partially responsible for the assassination attempt on Reese, but we're talking indirectly here, right? That laptop could have been sold to protect The Machine or under Nathan's orders. It was one of those things that was so shocking when you first see it, but after thinking about it for two nanoseconds, you realize that's more of Person of Interest trying to lead you down the wrong path. Worst case scenario, it's one of those misunderstandings that Reese and Finch can laugh off later.

If there's one thing that's not easy to swallow, it's how easily the FBI pursuit of Reese came to an end with the FBI figuring that Snow was The Man in the Suit. Two birds, meet killer stone! But with Donnelly out of the picture, that storyline had to be put to bed somehow. It wasn't entirely satisfying, but now we can move forward with other threats. Like, oh, I don't know, a cyber-terrorist attack that should go off right around the Season 2 finale?

– I really could have spent 3,000 words talking about Reese and Bear's reunion because it was ADORABLE x 3,000. So great my heart nearly exploded. (I would have sued CBS if it did, so I guess I lose.) However, look at that .GIF and tell me that Bear isn't trying to make love to Jim Caviezel. That dog has good taste.

– For all the "work" that Reese and Snow did to clear the way for Kara, Kara herself did quite a lot. And what was up with the security in that place? Reese just talked his way in, and who knows how Kara and Finch got into the building. This episode had some holes in it.

– Maybe I should check out Far Cry 3 if two trained CIA hitmen think it sounds like real gunfire.

– I loved how Snow just sat there eating his hamburger while Kara explained how spineless he'd become. And John's line—"You'll know when I fight back."—was great too. The diner scene was amazing all around."

– Some folks seem to think Kara might still be alive. I think she's dead, though the security footage DID glitch out a bit. (Could The Machine be protecting her for some reason?) What do you think?

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Person of Interest S02E03: "Masquerade"

After the epic arc of losing Finch and finding Finch that spanned the incredible Season 1 finale and the solid first two installments of Season 2, Person of Interest finally settled into its well-pressed suit and newest incarnation in "Masquerade." With this most recent installment, the show returned to its case-of-the-week format (which is oddly comforting), and the new and improved formidable friendship of five: John Reese, Harold Finch, Joss Carter, Lionel Fusco, and Bear the attack dog who will eat your enemies.

Reunited and it feels so good! And we aren't the only ones who would say so. "Masquerade" almost felt like a party for Reese, who was so happy to have his friend Finch back that he just couldn't contain his joy and opened his robotic lips to set personal bests in smiles and number of jokes cracked. As compared to the dire circumstances of previous episodes, "Masquerade" was a hoot, its humor much more overt in a manner of celebratory gusto. I mean, come on! Reese's pickpocketing of his job competitors' wallets and passing them out to their owners in the waiting room was funnier than anything I've seen on Partners this season (though to be fair, someone should throw that show out a window).

This all goes back to Person of Interest's prime directive, which is to entertain. And it entertains from so many angles! Characters are never idle. By all means, Finch's scenes where he's sitting in his office in front of a computer should be as bland as unflavored paste, but the show always adds something extra to punch them up. Last night, it was his developing relationship with Bear, the cuddly throat-shredding dog, which went from cold and detached to playful and open to ball-tossing. But that wasn't enough; there was also Finch's desire to keep his fondness for Bear secret from Reese. The whole thing was arced perfectly. Finch called Bear an "it" early on and used a napkin as a germ barrier to touch the tennis ball, and by the end of the episode he was taking Bear for a walk. That kind of execution is what makes this show work so well. Not too hard, not too fast, just right. Plus Michael Emerson knows just how to underplay affection for maximum effect. The joy didn't come from seeing Finch warm up to Bear, the joy came from us being able to see the warmth peeking through Finch's cracks. It reminded me of a condensed version of Reese and Finch's friendship, which has grown to become one of the best partnerships on television because it's so adorably uncomfortable.

There was similar excellence with Fusco, particularly when he was introduced to this week's person of interest, the Brazilian super-model-quality daughter-of-a-diplomat Sofia. Fusco's eyes doubled in size when he saw who he'd be looking after, then his face went into a landslide when she started giggling at him. But that was instantly reversed when she said she was laughing because he reminded her of her uncle, who was nicknamed "Stud." It would have been so easy to play that meeting by painting Fusco as a shlub compared to Reese, but Person of Interest likes to hand out the little victories, and that's especially important for characters like Fusco who don't always get the respect they deserve. Fusco is well past his sketchy days, and has really developed into an alternate option for comic relief.

Sofia's case of the week managed to be both engaging and convoluted, but that's pretty much standard issue for Person of Interest. This week, the fake breadcrumbs led us to believe that she was the target because her dad was a political bigwig, when in reality she was the target because she partied with the wrong crowd of clubbers and small-time drug dealers and zzzzzzzzzz... As long as we're being honest, I miss the old cases where the fun was figuring out whether the person of interest was the victim or the perpetrator. Thankfully, Reese was able to carry the case as her undercover bodyguard, and Sofia's transformation from "hot spoiled bitch" to "just plain hot" kept things interesting enough. But by the time it was revealed that the bad guy was her boyfriend—who immediately fit the bill of the irredeemable sort of douchebag that Person of Interest is fond of using as villains—I just wanted to spend more time with Bear.

In other news, it appears that this Alicia Corwin case is going to be the season-long story, and maybe I was dropped as a baby or something but I'm having a hard time following along. The bad guys from Washington ripped a microchip out of her arm, Reese's old partner Kara wants information about her, and Agent Snow is being tasked as Kara's errand boy with an explosive fanny pack (which is pretty cold, btw) that keeps him in line!? I know we're not supposed to have all the details of this case, and that's part of the fun, but it all feels so distant from Reese and Finch at the moment that I'm finding it difficult to keep the details straight. However, I have no doubt that it will all pay off in a few weeks.

"Masquerade" was a perfect example of why Person of Interest is able to perform at high levels from week to week. The case was ho-hum, but the show's unique style of humor elevated it to a level of hypnotizing watchability. Jonathan Nolan and Greg Plageman have created a simple recipe that's hard to mess up, but then they add flourishes of complexity that reward those who are truly invested. Carry on, Person of Interest.

– Reese, Finch, Carter, and Fusco are really working well together as a team and they all share the same goal. And it's Reese and Finch calling the shots. This can't last forever, but let's enjoy it while it lasts.

– That was The Black Keys' "She's Long Gone" as the end song. No one can complain about the music choices on this show.

– Reese: "My hands are full at the moment." Of shopping bags! Oh Reese, you kill us. But please don't kill us.

– Looks like Carter is really picking up some of Reese's techniques! First she shot a guy in the leg (yes!) and later she crashed her car into bad-guy Monty's car, sending him skidding across the pavement. She's learning from the best. But how does she explain all that to the police department? Maybe we just shouldn't think about it.

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Person of Interest S02E02: "Bad Code"

I think it's fair to call last night's episode of Person of Interest "Bad Code" the second part of a two-hour Season 2 opener. Both carried over storylines that were only resolved last night, most noticeably the case of the missing Finch. But the two episodes couldn't have been more different in tone and crime-solving procedure, mostly because "Bad Code" was unlike any other Person of Interest episode I can recall.

In fact, things were so off from the normal routine that I never quite settled into the episode comfortably until the final act. We got this week's POI number last week, WHAT? The case was a decades-old cold case, HUH? Carter played the role of Finch by tagging along with Reese, PUZZLED EXCLAMATION? And on top of that, Reese put down his trusty guns in favor of tracking paper trails, bank account information, and old receipts. He traded his pistols and throat punches and rocket launchers and smoke-grenade-baby-pacifiers for one of those accountant's visors and some reading glasses, showing that he can brain up when he needs to. We'll let it slide this time.

But that's what happens when you chase Root, the sexy, brainy villain that's Finch's foil. It doesn't make for the same excitement as Reese's typical modus operandi, but it does show us that she's a different game than Reese's nemesis Elias. And the backstory on Root was satisfying; her whole philosophy on people (that she painfully blabbers on about at any opportunity... we get it you think you're better than us) is that they suck, and we see why. Her childhood friend was kidnapped and murdered by a sicko that didn't follow the "if there's grass on the mound, play ball" rule, and when she tried to tell someone that she saw her friend get into the car of a dude the night she disappeared, she was told she was a brat and a liar. That's a bit of a turnoff of the human race, especially at a young age. So she found solace in computers, which she understood a lot more than the sorry flesh-and-blood sacks that used them. I really liked her revenge plot on the pedophile. Steal money from a drug dealer, put the pedophile's name on the bank account that stole it, and let that work itself out. And she gets to keep the money after. If a teenaged Root can pull that off, imagine how nefarious she is NOW.

But for all her genius, there's a bit of arrogance and sloppiness that gets in the way of her accomplishing simple tasks. Let's call it Walter White Syndrome. I know that I can get a credit card for my cat with just a few phone calls. With her computer know how, she should be able to get some untraceable funds with a totally fake identification, or she should at least know to use multiple credit cards. Or how about cash? Yeah, cash! And why leave a receipt of the book purchase in the book that she sent to the pedophile's home as a reminder of what he did (and as torture for his wife, who called her a liar)? You can debate whether leaving the knife on the table for Finch to help Denton Weeks escape was intentional, too, but a smarter person would have known to clear the phone screen when Finch tapped out that coded message that Reese would eventually find. She's Finch's biggest fan, a quick look at the numbers he punched in would be a dead giveaway that he wasn't trying to make a call. That's the problem with writing characters who are supposed to be so damn smart and invulnerable; they still live in a world of television where things have to be stupid sometimes, because 44 minutes of air time and all.

Picking of nits out of the way, I do like her as a villain. She's totally insane, like ex-girlfriend psychopath insane. And her tone in this episode was designed to separate her from Finch after making a case that she and him were a lot alike in last week's episode. Her infatuation with Finch is clinical, but the more she presses, the more she repels Finch, who said: "Please kill me now, at least I won't have to listen to you any more." Oddly, it doesn't really faze Root who doesn't care about anyone liking her anyway. She's pretty much a crazy cat lady that's substituted the Internet and keyboards for furry felines. A sad and lonely soul that's entirely unpredictable.

It would be impossible to discuss this episode without talking about the "Mr. Reese Goes to Texas" aspect of "Bad Code." Person of Interest isn't exactly know for its honest depiction of regional-specific groups, and this fell in line. The Texans in the episode were all huntin' and drinkin' types, which made for some good laughs even though the whole idea was entirely ridiculous. If Reese were on the trail of some French dudes, they'd have pencil-thin mustaches, berets on their heads, and a baguette in each hand. This isn't a complaint, it's an appreciation of hilarious stereotyping.

The other story, which I failed to touch on last week because I forgot and I also had no idea what was going on, are the big bads in the government that worked with Alicia Corwin and tried to have Henry Peck assassinated last season. We got a lot more details this week, but this story is still a long way from breaking the surface. Best I can tell, they're hot on the trail of Finch and Root and the Machine via finding Corwin dead to cover up any connection they have with her, and the head guy is one of the few people that knows about the Machine. Honestly, this might be too complicated for me!

Reese making phone calls isn't nearly as interesting as Reese shooting people in the leg, but eventually, Reese did find Finch and the two were reunited, putting us back at square one and making me stoked for the next episode. We knew they couldn't be separated for long, but keeping them apart for two whole episodes helps us stay off balance and clueless about what this show will throw at is. Moving forward, we're back to the Person of Interest of old (two oddballs solving crimes!), but we should be ready for anything.

– Carter: "Why is there a crossbow on the bed?" Obviously you've never shared a hotel room with Reese before, Carter. Also loved when Reese pointed the crossbow at the yokels and calmly told the operator on the phone, "I'm still here." That was the laugh of the night.

– Hello Margo Martindale! Not exactly a role that shows off your skills, but it's nice to see you. If you haven't seen her in Season 2 of Justified, go do that now.

– Also nice to see Loudon Wainright III as the sheriff, although I'm not sure why he was cast in that particular role. But seeing him in Person of Interest makes me forever tie his song "Clockwork Chartreuse" to Reese and Finch, two buddies causing havoc all over the city.

– Finch has a new roommate! A roommate with an appetite for expensive books, ha!

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