M1ll1e Reviews

Person of Interest (2011–2016)

Later Seasons are Better

[6/10 · 16 August 2022]

Person of Interest is atypical in that it actually improves as you progress through the seasons.

Initially, it's a procedural action. Most of the stories are self-contained and largely involve John pulling big guns out of thin air and shooting people. The actual detective work is minimal and overly convenient. The guy we're looking for spends time in this neighbourhood? Of course he'll be heading into his brownstone just as John walks by.

I thought about giving up as my interest in the premise centres on the ethical ramifications of such substantial surveillance. I have zero interest in watching people going around shooting each other, bad guys or not.

I persevered, though, using it as something easy to have on in the background while I got on with chores. Surprise, surprise - it got better. We got broad story arcs. The episodes were no longer self contained but dealt with big topics over entire seasons, sometimes several seasons - e.g. Corruption within the police force. We gained additional secondary characters who added a lot of personality, not least a Dutch-"speaking" dog, Bear. And we looked at the difficulties of trying to build compassionate AI and the potential horrors of an AI without limits. Still plenty of action, should that be your thing.

I would have liked to explore the ethics further, as rarely do the main characters consider that the Machine might not be a positive entity. I'd also like to have seen more problems solved without guns... but still, if you've already started and aren't sure whether to continue, it's worth sticking it out.

Cold Case Files (1999– )

Real-life Tragedy into Cheesy Melodrama

[4/10 · 12 January 2020]

I've watched the first season on Netflix so this review is based on that.

I'm glad each of these crimes was solved, but it is painfully clear that the producers had minimal footage for some of them as the same clips are featured several times in short succession, not even always cut all that differently. I found myself getting irritated, like we KNOW. He ALREADY SAID THAT. It doesn't make for gripping viewing. Better to feature, say, three crimes in an episode than two, repeating the same footage to pad them out.

Even worse, rather than presenting the material in the serious, perhaps contemplative way that the victims deserved, it is painfully sensationalised. Instead of allowing the interviews with family, detectives and the like to speak for themselves, the interviews and photos are cut to force dun dun DUUUUN moments.

Apart from that this just makes for terrible TV, I feel like it is disrespectful to the victims and the people they left behind. It's vastly inappropriate to melodramatise tragedies.

Salvation (2017–2018)

American Nationalism and Abysmal Plotting

[3/10 · 12 December 2019]

Salvation is, in a nutshell, an excuse to scream AMERICA IS GREAT over and over again. No subliminal messages here; it's painfully overt. Apparently, the Cold War isn't over, Russians are still the bad guys, and the American government is - and I quote - the world's "last hope for democracy". After all, why should the other nearly 200 countries have anything to say about the fate of human kind? Why should we see the world work together to tackle an extinction event when we could have tangential political intrigue, romance and some truly farfetched career trajectories?

Dollhouse (2009–2010)

Dollhouse

[6/10 · 14 January 2018]

Watching Orphan Black first spoiled Dollhouse for me. Eliza Dushku doesn't make a bad job of portraying lots of different people in one body and getting you to root for all of them, but there was no hope of her doing a better job of it than Tatiana Maslany. She is the gold standard and everyone else just falls a bit short. In fact, I think Enver Gjokaj as Victor did a better job than Dushku - his portrayal of Victor as Topher was rather good.

Dollhouse wasn't bad. There are some bits of humour, mostly from Fran Kranz as Topher and the Victor/Sierra romance was charming in a somewhat thought provoking way - of people that fall in love regardless of who they ostensibly are. There are some shock reveals - exciting! But most of these aren't examined in any great depth. Some of the missions seemed a little contradictory - where did the academic who wanted a pupil to fall for him get the money from? And unfortunately, the most interesting parts of the story were mere cameos - the consequences of the technology condensed, for the most part, into a mere two episodes, one per season. And Bennett Halverson, who had the potential to be a really interesting character, barely featured in just five episodes.

Dollhouse had the potential to be great, but it needed MORE. More insight. More looking at difficult questions. More consequences. Sturdier characterisation. More more and more.

Stitchers (2015–2017)

Expect humour and quirk, not great detective work.

[6/10 · 2 January 2018]

I think of Stitchers as another Warehouse 13 (yes, Allison Scagliotti, I'm looking at you). Its believability is pretty much zero, but that's not its appeal. It's not great detective work, but it is entertaining and I love love love the characterisation.