'Person of Interest' Review/Recap: "Point of Origin"

Joe Carter ’18 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer

A young woman training at the NYPD Academy is Sylva, the new number for the group to protect in this week’s episode. At first she looks like she could run into trouble with other classmates, but as Shaw (Sarah Shahi) and Lionel (Kevin Chapman) follow her activities, they begin to think she’s a mole in the academy looking to dig up some dirt on her classmates. It is only when a gang drive-by almost kills her that the team discovers she’s an undercover cop looking to root out a Brotherhood mole in the academy.
While this is going on, Samaritan is trying to identify Shaw using the blurry incomplete video footage of her from the previous episode. It’s close to finding her, and Greer (John Nolan) sends the evil blonde lady (whose real name is Martine) to hunt her down. The evil blonde lady declares that the number one mistake people in hiding make is their relationships and she intends to look into Shaw’s to “root” her out. Pun intended. Samaritan leads her to the incarcerated member of Thomas’ team and then to Romeo, who is tracing with incredible speed everything Shaw has done since the beginning of the season.

This episode had that rare combination of two important plot lines overlapping each other, but never stealing attention. The Brotherhood plotline was better fleshed out this time around and it was nice to see them outside of Elias (Enrico Colantoni). The fact that they did something beyond botched drug trades and loud gunfights was very refreshing and it makes them feel like a genuine threat to the team as well as other recurring characters.
The plot was based around them placing a mole in the academy to steal files pertaining to Elias in some way and Dominic executed it very well. He didn’t go straight for the precinct but rather a place that would garner less attention, the training academy. It really showcased his abilities as a villain and his several execution orders throughout the episode amped-up his authority. His perspective that “we all die in the end” is just twisted enough to make him unpredictable and everyone around him, including himself, expendable. A final confrontation with the Brotherhood will definitely come with a price for the POI team.

As for the evil blonde lady, her skills were quite frightening even though they’ve always been. Watching her work with Samaritan in her ear but essentially solo was scarier than when she went up against Root (Amy Acker) with a team of “assets” behind her. She intimidates Thomas’ thieves member without skipping a beat, takes out Romeo and one of his crew in seconds, and does it all with a song in her heart. She’s probably going to win the prize as “most dangerous enemy of the season” especially since (SPOILER) she actually finds Shaw in her crappy make-up counter cover job—so much for a safe cover.
This episode wasn’t fantastic overall, but it did a wonderful job setting up next week’s episode which is bound to be anxiety inducing. Things with the Brotherhood and Samaritan appear to be coming to a head. Shaw is definitely in danger and the battle over New York’s streets with Elias will be messy at best. Maybe the team will finally use that missile…please use the missile.

Heart Palpitating Moments:

Elias reclaiming his role as the next “person of interest;” he’s probably the victim and perpetrator.
The evil blonde lady, Martine, locking eyes with Shaw and pulling a gun out of her purse; Martine had “come at me bro” eyes.
Overall Episode Grade: B