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



## Mike Edwards (Mar 10, 2011)

[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=75825[/img] 
*Title: Person of Interest : The Fifth and Final Season* 

*Movie:* :4stars:
*Video:* :4stars:
*Audio:* :4.5stars: 
*Extras:* :2stars: 

*HTS Overall Score:*80




[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=75833[/img]*Summary*
I feel of lump of sadness in my throat as I write this review. I always hate to see a great TV show end its run, even though they were at least given the respect they deserved and allowed to wrap up the series as they saw fit instead of just fading into oblivion with an obligatory cancellation. I originally bypassed “Person of Interest” mainly due to not thinking that Jim Caviezel could pull of an action roll. Color me a bit surprised when I started watching a few episodes of the series out of boredom and was instantly hooked. What started out as a simple police procedural with a twist of sci-fi mature and adapted into one of the best conspiracy/sci-fi shows on broadcast television. A market that has taken a hit in the series serialized drama department thanks to the advent of cable television’s adult programming. Season 5 picks up right where we left off in season 4, and even though it’s been truncated to 13 episodes instead of the 20+ it normally has, the show finishes up the war between the machine and Samaritan with the proverbial bang.

For those who haven’t seen the show at all so far, or at least haven’t seen season 4, you might want to skip down to the rest of the review as there inevitably will be some spoilers to previous seasons. 

Season 5 picks up mere minutes after the events of the thrilling conclusion to season 4. Samaritan has apparently won and in a big way. The machine is offline, but Harold (Michael Emerson) has compressed his little baby into its most basic core functions and transferred it into a computer storage briefcase. John (Jim Caviezel) is severely wounded and Root (Amy Ackerman) barely escaped with her life after the onslaught of Samaritan agents nearly overwhelmed them. Limping out of there the team slowly rebuilds their base of operations and hunkers down for what may be their final battle. With the help of Root and John, Harold is able to decompress the machine and get back up and running, but this time the shackles are off. The machine is fully interact able, but sadly is under powered when compared to the monstrosity that is Samaritan.

To make matters even more interesting, we find out that Shaw (Sarah Shahi) is still alive and kicking, but kept hidden by the malevolent and mysterious Samaritan creator, John Green (John Nolan, who happens to be the uncle to Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan). Now it’s time to take the war to Samaritan, with the machine as their biggest weapon yes. Unshackled, ready for war. The only thing is that Samaritan is entrenched and quite a bit more advanced and powerful than the machine is, which makes their end game a near impossibility.

[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=75841[/img]
The fifth season is as strong as it ever has been, and in many ways is the strongest season yet. The show has always had an episodic bent, starting out as run of the mill police/spy thriller that has John Reese running around trying to save the irrelevant numbers, but after the third season the show took a drastic turn into science fiction and the show become heavily serialized. That still doesn’t mean that the crew doesn’t save the irrelevant numbers. In fact no matter how serialized the show gets (and season 5 is easily the most serialized with one of the tightest, no filler, seasons yet), that aspect of the show remains constant. We have intersecting plot lines dealing with Shaw being held captive, Harold coming to grips with trusting the machine (something he never has fully done) as well as Lt. Fusco being pulled completely into the fold for once, and at the same time they make time to save a few innocents along the way (and a few not so innocents as well).

What makes the show so great is not just the high octane action and the science fiction twists. It's the great characters and fantastic interpersonal relationships built along the way. John Reese is absolutely fantastic as he matures from bleak killer who has nothing to live for, to a man of honor and dedication once more. The same goes for Root, a character you wanted to hate so badly when she was introduced, but has matured and changed to become someone who actually can share empathy. Kind of like Shaw, who also started out as emotionless and cold as can be, with the show allowing her relationships to slowly change her piece by piece until she becomes the character she was meant to be. Every one of the main characters changes and adapts over the course of the series, never staying stagnant and always movie forward. Which, in my opinion, happens very organically, allowing the characters to change and adapt with the show without feeling cheesy or not allowed growth. 

While the show has a few hiccups along the way, season 5 manages to wrap up everything quite nicely. I was really worried that they were going to pull a “Eureka” on us and just fizzle out due to the shortened season length, but instead they just got rid of all the filler episodes and left us with a streamlined season that feels natural and exhilarating. I’ll be sad to see the show go, but am insanely happy that they allowed it to go out with style instead of cancelling it like so many other shows have had happen. 




The episode rundown is as follows

*
1. B.S.O.D.
2. SNAFU
3. Truth Be Told
4. 6,741
5. ShotSpotter
6. A More Perfect Union
7. QSO
8. Reassortment
9. Sotto Voce
10. The Day the World Went Away
11. Synechdoche
12. .exe
13. return 0
*




*Rating:* 

Not Rated by the MPAA



*Video* :4stars:
[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=75849[/img]"Person of Interest” has a simply fabulous 1.78:1 AVC encode for us to enjoy, rivaling the previous 4 seasons great looking images with ease. The show is bathed in darkness as Reese and company skulk through the night time and shadows of New York City to protect their “irrelevant” victims. Colors are rather natural and show the vibrancy of the city, with lots of blues, reds and dark navy colors of the NYPD uniforms. Reese is, always, the stoical man in his blue suit, while Root and Shaw tend to be a bit more variable in their displayed color choices. Skin tones and contrasts are spot on, the only thing to mar the presentation is some signs of softness when the and live action bits meet (which is pretty standard if you've seen any of the other seasons of "Person of Interest". The Black levels are deep and inky, with little to no imperfections to mar the beautiful image. Black crush and digital noises tends to stay away, leaving a very crisp and clean image no matter what level is shown. There's some of the standard banding that we've come to expect from Warner TV encodes, but nothing too egregious or distracting. Overall a very nice looking picture.








*Audio* :4.5stars:
[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=75857[/img]“Person of Interest” has always had a very vibrant and bombastic track, but this seasons seems to be the most finely tuned and aggressive track of the bunch. Right off the bat we’re privy to some seriously hard hitting bass lines as Harold narrates the opening sequence and the rest of the show doesn’t allow that bass to fade into the background. Gunshots sound throaty and powerful, with shotgun blasts rocking the listener back into their seat. Even the sounds of fisticuffs or the rambunctious life of New York City doesn’t let up as the pulsing of the track just exudes energy. Fine details are impressive with ambient city noises and individual little noises come through with pinpoint clarity. Vocals are never compromised and the balance between the bombastic sound effects and the quieter moments is near impeccable. The show has definitely gone out with a bang and the audio track is amped up just enough from previous seasons to push it over the edge into greatness. 









*Extras* :2stars: 
[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=75865[/img]
• "Person of Interest": 2015 Comic-Con Panel 
• Revelations of "Person of Interest"
• Finale for the Fans 









*Overall:* :4stars:

I’m truly sad to see “Person of Interest” go, but extremely glad that the powers that be decided to allow the series one final season to wrap up all of the plot points, even if that season was slightly truncated in comparison to the last 4. Still, that truncating allowed for the show to go out with very little if ANY filler episodes, as each and every 42 minute period is fast, frenetic and straight to the point. Easily one of the best final seasons of a show in quite some time and one of my favorite series at that. Audio and video are firmly on point, as expected, and while the extras are a bit light, it’s nothing out of the norm for the series (which sadly hasn’t been cram packed with them in the past). Easily recommended. 


*Additional Information:*

Starring: Jim Caviezel, Amy Acker, Kevin Chapman
Created by: Jonathan Nolan
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, English
Studio: Warner Brothers
Rated: TV-14
Runtime: 565 minutes
Own Season 5 on Blu-ray™, DVD & Digital HD July 19th, 2016



*Buy Person of Interest : The Fifth and Final Season On Blu-ray at Amazon*


*Recommendation: Watch It​*







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