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[Keyser Soze]

I'm in the same boat. Watched the first eight episodes so far but it's not quite clicking yet. Characters are great but I wish there was more going on then simply new cases every episode. The only serialized elements is the detective looking into their work.

When does this show really take off? Is the entire thing just cases of the week or does a larger story begin to unfold?

There is not an exact point where it "takes of," but you will notice things tying together more and more as it goes. It's an escalation, and when you notice it going up it never really goes down from there. Amy Acker (the actress) gets introduced late in season 1, and she is core to the story going forward, but that is not the point there it takes of either. She helps add another layer to the show. It not one soul episode that makes the show however, its layers and layers added to the characters that make them better and better.

 

[DOWN]

Premium TV production values make these 20+ episode big network shows pretty bland. They spread their budget and ideas over too many episodes.

The Good Wife and Person of Interest are good, but they aren’t as shiny as other shorter options

 

[Blade30]

Premium TV production values make these 20+ episode big network shows pretty bland. They spread their budget and ideas over too many episodes.

The Good Wife and Person of Interest are good, but they aren't as shiny as other shorter options

I strongly disagree, regarding POI . I can't say anything about the good wife though.

 

[DOWN]

I strongly disagree, regarding POI . I can't say anything about the good wife though.

Disagree that it is good or that it isn’t as appealing these?

 

[Keyser Soze]

Disagree that it is good or that it isn't as appealing these?

S2 and S3 are an ideal length for me. They fit everything they needed to into the 44 episode the make the show spectacular. S1 has the slow start laying groundwork. Looking at this thread, I kinda wish they laid the groundwork faster (as the show would be an easier sell to some people ). So, maybe that season would have been cut a bit. S4 has a slight lull, but also boasts most of the best episodes of the whole show, so that works for me too. S5 arguably could have been longer, but the show goes out on a high, so you cant ask for more than that.

The show had a 103 episode run, with 10% of them 5-7 rated episodes (on my personal nonsense sale), but with almost everything else a 8+. I think it made longer seasons work for it, mostly. I think the show would be wholly different (not better or worse) with a 10-13 episode run per season.

 

[Chris1]

highest rated ep of The Wire is 9.1

IMDB is invalid

The wire does suck so it makes sense

Spoiler

sorry gaf

I've seen the first three seasons, and it's a pretty good show, but there's definitely some hyperbole around it. Or will the final two seasons blow me away?

Did you like mid S3 storyline? If the answer is yes keep watching.

 

[Blade30]

Disagree that it is good or that it isn’t as appealing these?

Disagree that it can't hold up with the premium tv shows with 10-13 episodes as you said. For example I like this show much more than Breaking Bad or even Game of Thrones at this point because POI is pretty much consistent until the end (when it starts gearing up in last first season/beginning of second season).

 

[Chris1]

They still had episodes that were mostly case of the week tho. There's a stretch of episodes in season 4 between Cntrl Alt Delete and Terra Incognita that is hard to get through because it's mostly dull case of the week episodes.

That's because something happened to one of the characters irl at short notice and they had to scrap their originals plans. It wasn't supposed to go down like that in S4. I think they can be excused for that. It's a lot easier to rush a case of the week episode and get it right than to continue a storyline

S4 spoilers

Spoiler

Sarah shahi fell pregnant and didn't tell the writers room until it was too late so they had to scrap their plans and write her out

 

[paperboywriter]

The wire does suck so it makes sense

Spoiler

sorry gaf

Did you like mid S3 storyline? If the answer is yes keep watching.

Quality opinions, the thread.

 

[AoM]

Did you like mid S3 storyline? If the answer is yes keep watching.

Oh, don't get me wrong; I'm liking the show and will watch the rest.

But I'm not understanding the "amazing!", "one of the best shows on TV" praise (sure, opinions). I think for me it comes down to the characters. I enjoy their chemistry and interactions, but every single one of them (Lionel aside) is a combination of the following: dour, dreary, somber, sarcastic. It just feels like none of the actors actually gets to act because they have to deliver their lines with a monotonous tone and a heavy layer of dry wit. The story itself is engaging enough, but I don't know.

 

[Keyser Soze]

I might have posted too much here tonight. Sorry.

The point of this thread was to recommend the show to people, never to force them to watch it. I am not a fanatic about the show, i just really liked it, and felt many were avoiding it for the wrong reason. CSB, adverts with a bad tone, misinformation, ect. I just wanted to make sure it was on people's radar. I guess this thread achieved that.

I will point to Rick and Morty as an example. The forcefulness some people have when recommending that show made me almost dislike it before going it. I dont want to come across like that, and make you hate the show. I might have approached that with some reason posts. Sorry.

POI is a good show IMO. If you have the time in your life give it a try. You might like it more than you think. Yes, it has a slow start, but no one is perfect. I am sure you became a better person as you grew, and so does this show. It can be serious, but also fun, and lovely cheesy at time. but most importantly it has well written characters worth caring about, and that is hard to do,

It also has two kinds of bear. Here is one:

PS: The above is an random image from a random episode, dont let its weirdness influence you about the tone of the overall show. It is funny though.

 

[GreenMonkey]

I watched this late last year and loved it.

On my top 5 list which is something like

Babylon 5
Breaking Bad
Fringe
Person of Interest
Angel

Yes it is sort of a crime procedural (which I hate).

Yes it is a little cheesy at times, especially early on (so are the other shows on my list, except maybe Breaking Bad).

Great show about artificial intelligence and the possible consequences of everyone being surveilled. And redemption (I love me a character driven show).

It is a procedural in the same way that X-files or Fringe are...sorta but not really.

 

[HigXx]

It can be serious, but also fun, and lovely cheesy at time. but most importantly it has well written characters worth caring about, and that is hard to do

I think this is the main point, at the end of the Series it was not just the story I cared about, it was the characters. And the Series finale embraces that and really hits you

 

[Shadowhelper]

It's just far far too slow. 22 episodes each season with tons of filler episodes. It's kinda boring. The lead is also a bit boring. Far too time consuming.

 

[Night Hunter]

Wait, Arrow's Lian Yu has a 9.8 on imdb and is in the top 25 episodes ever? I mean don't get me wrong, it was a great season finale, but imdb is just broken ...

 

[Chris1]

Wait, Arrow's Lian Yu has a 9.8 on imdb and is in the top 25 episodes ever? I mean don't get me wrong, it was a great season finale, but imdb is just broken ...

Thing is with IMDB, it's *should* only be counting people that actually watched the episode, so people who don't like Arrow probably didn't vote for it. 9.8 for Lian Yu is in comparison to the rest of Arrow's episodes, which is hard to argue because it was damn good. If you think most other Arrow eps are an 8 or 9 like IMDB says, then 9.8 for Lian Yu isn't exactly questionable

It's flawed sure, but I think it's a decent judgement for how episodes of the show goes. And I think for POI it's accurate because it does get much better, like the IMDB ratings show.

However it's not very accurate for old shows like The Wire as mentioned before for specific ratings, because people typically won't go back and rate shows per episode that they watched 10 years ago so a lot of votes for shows like The Wire will be from people LTTP and the show probably hasn't aged as well (as in other TV shows have improved dramatically compared to the competition at the time of TW airing, so the bar for a 10/10 episode is higher).

Spoiler

also that The Wire isn't very good

 

[HighResTomato]

Wow. This is rare. It's the exact wrong opinion!

Exactly the right one. This show went downhill for me when they decided to turn her into fucking Neo.

 

[blame space]

she was always neo she was just locked up for a while.

 

[Cosmic Schwung]

Some of the gunfights later on got really silly. Crazy stuff that none of them should have walked away from. The

Spoiler

minigun popping out the SUV

had me rolling my eyes.

 

[HarryKS]

Jim Caviezel is up there with Billy Crudup in terms of being the most boring actor in history.

 

[blame space]

yeah he's not good. but he's consistent.

 

[Blade30]

Jim Caviezel is up there with Billy Crudup in terms of being the most boring actor in history.

yeah he's not good. but he's consistent.

I'm not really a fan or sth. of Caviezel, I barely saw movies/tv series he was in but he's good in this, well at least the role he is playing.

 

[blame space]

why is he always whispering??

 

[Robin64]

It's on my list for after Suits.
Though I may gives up on Suits, I've hit mid-S3 and it's getting very stale.

 

[LotusHD]

Making my way through Season 3 as we speak. I enjoy the show a lot, and it has a lot of strengths such as good character development for people I actually care about (Lionel has come a loooooooong way). And yet ultimately I could never recommend it to others, at least not avidly. Takes a long time to get into, and while that normally a dealbreaker for me, I dunno, the whole procedural format it has on and off makes me not really want to push it on others.

But yea, I like it.

 

[captjohnboyd]

Making my way through Season 3 as we speak. I enjoy the show a lot, and it has a lot of strengths such as good character development for people I actually care about (Lionel has come a loooooooong way). And yet ultimately I could never recommend it to others, at least not avidly. Takes a long time to get into, and while that normally a dealbreaker for me, I dunno, the whole procedural format it has on and off makes me not really want to push it on others.

But yea, I like it.

Still pushing my way through season 1 but Jesus case of the week shows like this first season are a slog. I can sense there's something there and I'll eventually make it to the later (supposedly much better) seasons but Christ I had to actually just skip a couple episodes and look up the synopsis cause I was so bored. Not to mention I don't mind suspension of disbelief when it's in the service of fun but the level of stupidity on display by some characters and deus ex machina moments really take me out of it and kill any entertainment value for me.

With something like supernatural I don't mind because it embraces it's ridiculous so well and to such a degree but early PoI is clearly trying to be something more serious

 

[Messofanego]

Because NotTheGuyYouKill has stopped mentioning it.

Oh it's on Netflix? Now I can watch it easily.

 

[AntiFacebook]

Because after Lost,I can't stand Michael Emerson
And Jim Caviezel is annoying as well

 

[BlackGoku03]

On episode 15 of the first season. Taking it slow and watching a couple eps a day. So far I'm loving it and secretly wishing Jim will take Ben's spot if the (hopefully fake) rumors are true.


Nobodies knees are safe.

 

[Ingram]

Just finished the show today after deciding to finally check it out after seeing this thread.

It was a wild ride that I'm glad I did. I'm actually already a believer in AI existing on the scale we see in this show and I'm completely behind the idea we're all being watched (no shit).

Really gets you thinking what's really going on eh.

 

[Spanglo]

This thread got me curious, so watched to the end. Entertaining but mediocre show. I really wanted it to be amazing, but it never happened.

 

[alekth]

I think I started getting tired of it by the end of season 3 and failed getting back into swing after 3-4 episodes of season 4.

Getting more used to shows with shorter seasons and a tighter story with was probably the main reason for me.

Ultimately I also don't care to see someone being badass quite so many times. Too many obstacles, too many won the day but the next one's coming, etc.

I should probably watch a few episodes around the finale and mark it as completed, but... yeah, barely remember anything about those people.

 

[King Tubby]

This gif kinda makes me never want to watch the show.

 

[paradox121]

I watched this late last year and loved it.

On my top 5 list which is something like

Babylon 5
Breaking Bad
Fringe
Person of Interest
Angel

Yes it is sort of a crime procedural (which I hate).

Yes it is a little cheesy at times, especially early on (so are the other shows on my list, except maybe Breaking Bad).

Great show about artificial intelligence and the possible consequences of everyone being surveilled. And redemption (I love me a character driven show).

It is a procedural in the same way that X-files or Fringe are...sorta but not really.

I approve of this top 5.

Makes me realise I'm craving a new sci-fi pseudo-procedural now that Fringe and POI are done. Tried Wyonna Earp but it didnt do much for me. Binged X-Files and Buffy/Angel couple years ago. I feel bereft.

If anyone has any recommendations they'd be greatly appreciated.

 

[Keyser Soze]

This gif kinda makes me never want to watch the show.

I do think the guns should have more kick, yeah.... that part is bad. But there is a good solid reason why she is so blase about what she is doing. There is another bullet dodging gif that look even worse, from an episode close to that one, if you do know some of the reasoning behind it.