fbpx

Tag Archive for Person of Interest

The Djinni and the Bottle

April 17, 2014 Uncategorized, Writing Comments Off on The Djinni and the Bottle
Person of Interest Logo S02

Person of Interest Logo S02

 

When the shows creators were quizzed about the reveal of PRISM (IRL) they mentioned that they were surprised by the relative non-reaction of the general populace here in the US.  The idea that citizens might not actually care all that much about the Govt. being able to play the ultimate peeping tom was not what they had expected.  Within the show, however, they finally seem to have found their new footing.

See, there is this psychological barrier, this “djinni in a bottle” effect that we have with regards to technology and scientific effort.  You often have several groups all pushing towards the same goal, be it the splitting of the atom, the development of wearable technologies, the creation of a shampoo that doesn’t sting when it gets in your eyes, and they can often run neck and neck when it comes to approaching the finish line.  Oftentimes everyone hits a wall and the research just spins its wheels for a few years (or decades).

But eventually someone breaks through.  Sometimes it’s a newcomer with deep pockets backing a new team (like Google with Glass) sometimes it’s a team that’s been working on solving the problem for years and a piece of new research or tech kicks them over into the winner’s circle. But in almost all cases, once that barrier has been broken, once one person or team has made the discovery, more follow, and usually swiftly.

But the tragic thing is that oftentimes, the group that makes the discovery, who breaks the barrier first is not the group that survives.  They are not the ones who figure out how to use the technology, or turn it into a viable product.  Sometimes they get crushed and bought up by a company that played it safer, or a group that came late to the party, sometimes the discovery sits idle for years.

In POI, that djinni is now well and truly out of the bottle.  Rather than trying to recruit Finch and his team, the Desima group has simply gone around, acquiring a parallel technology and preparing to crush (in a very literal fashion) any and all competitors.  We are looking at the difference in mindset between Finch (who proposed the Machine as a Shield, as a defensive tool) and Desima (who is interested only in the business of running the world).  Historically, IRL, the groups who are more business minded generally come out the winners.  I’m looking forward (perhaps apprehensively) to seeing how POI’s creators resolve this conflict in their own (already eerily predictive) created universe.

********

A last note, y’all may have noticed that I keep the comments closed on this blog.  I am, however, always willing to talk about any of these posts, so come find me on G+ if you like.  The blog is perpetually fighting SPAM posts (even with CAPTCHA and other safeguards in place) so I keep the comments closed.

Step Aside Hero!

January 13, 2014 Videogames, Writing Comments Off on Step Aside Hero!

There’s been this trend recently.  I’ll go so far as to blame JMS (Babylon 5) for starting it, but I suspect it has it’s roots even deeper.

There’s been a long history in media (games, movies and TV) where the secondary characters are there simply to provide comedic relief.  Even in a show with an ensemble cast, you usually have two main characters.  They might start out as one set of characters, then shift as the fan favorites become clear, but generally you have just a few leads that are the bad*sses of every episode.  Even if they are in a story with a “specialist” (say, the bomb-squad guy) one or both of those heroes magically (sometimes by random chance, sometimes because they are just that bad*ss) can do the exact thing that will save the day.

But over the past, say, five years, the shows I’ve been keeping an eye on have been making EXCELLENT use of their secondary characters.  When someone is good at something, the writers are less protective of their heros.  The guy on the team who is a professional sniper gets to take the shot, the “hero” gets tasked with something else.  The background character who spent seven years hunting down child slavers in the Sudan knows what she is talking about when twenty-five kids show up half-dead in a cargo container.  The The “B-Team” is kicking some serious *ss, and the writers are letting them do it.

As a recent example, we have Fusco from Person of Interest.  Somewhat pudgy, seriously jaded, reasonably good a physical comedy, he was a dead-ringer for the “funny” guy.  And he does a fair pass at comedic relief every so often.  But most recently, with the more serious turn in the show, when Fusco does show up, there’s some seriousness involved.   Rather than devolving into a doughnut eating punchline, they’ve exposed a very hardcore cop over the course of multiple storylines.

It makes the show as a whole more interesting, not only because we have more characters that are worth our time, but it really strikes the core point of having an “ensemble” cast.  Every character has strengths and weaknesses, and as we learn what those are, it give the writer a new tool to work with.