Person of Interest (TV Series) Death Benefit (2014) User Reviews

Trolley Problem

[claudio_carvalho · 9/10 · 4 March 2024]

The media is discussing the Northern Lights budget and privacy issues. Root calls Shaw to travel with her to Alaska while Finch calls Reese to meet him in Washington DC. The Machine has delivered to Finch the number of Illinois Congressman Roger McCourt and he is not sure whether the politician is a victim or a perpetrator. He is responsible for a commission that may approve legislations or not, and Reese poses of Secret Service Agent Abbott, who is supposed to protect McCourt. Meanwhile Greer meets Garrison and proposes to use Samaritan for twenty-four hours to prove how important Decima's device is. They save McCourt from Decima's agents, but Finch discovers Decima does not want to kill the politician but protect him. He also checks McCourt financial records and learns that the politician is corrupt and has received inside information as bribe. There is an Ethics discussion of Reese, Shaw and Finch that maybe the intention of The Machine is to kill McCourt to save other lives, but Finch does not agree.

"Death Benefit" is another excellent episode of "Person of Interest", with the dilemma of Reese, Shaw and Finch to kill the corrupt politician Roger McCourt aiming a greater good. This polemic ethical discussion exists for many decades and is called Trolley Problem. Now Samaritan is running and Greer's first question is about Harold Finch. Looking forward to seeing the sequel. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Death Benefit"

One of the most dark & intense episodes!!

[angad81 · 16 April 2014]

If you have not watched this episode, then I recommend that you stop here and go watch this episode to experience one of the best hours on Television. POI has always ended it's seasons on a high and I think this episode was a buildup to what I expect is to be a great end to the 3rd season. The tone was set from the start as the world becomes aware of the existence of a massive surveillance system.

The team encounters the number of a Congressman who may be in danger as he is in the way of Decima bringing Samaritan online. But then, we discover that he was being protected by the Decima as he will help them (WHAT?) instead and this is where we see a new side to The Machine. It wants the team to kill the Congressman and proves that The Machine doesn't care about the means to achieve its end. This was the most worried that I have ever seen Finch ( and he has every reason to be) which also induces some of that worry into the viewer.

This episode just hammers the danger of the upcoming apocalypse and sets up the final stretch of episodes perfectly. Kudos to the writers for such a magnificent story telling.

I'm not sure about you but I can't wait 2 weeks for the next episode.

Out of character

[nemesis-88 · 7/10 · 13 February 2024]

Harold's biography has evolved over the years as the writers dug deeper into his past. And there are quite a few discrepancies. At one point he says that he learned to swim after his brothers threw him in the water. However later when he is shown at his home with his father, there are no brothers in sight, nor are they ever mentioned again.

And this episode shows another discrepancy. Harold is always shown as some sophisticated person. He collects first edition books, likes "top shelf" drinks, haute cuisine, fine arts and opera. He also uses some very rich vocabulary and buys Italian suits with hand-sewn lapel buttons.

Those things cannot be an acquired taste, at least not to the point that a person casually listens to Verdi in his car. Those tastes form as the person grows up, sometimes even involuntarily as a young boy is dragged to an opera by his parents.

However Harold is of very humble origin. He grew up on a farm in Iowa. How many Iowa farmers did you see at the season opening at La Scala? How many of them know that books even HAVE first editions that are collectable? With all overdue respect for the hard working farmers, Harold should be favoring square dancing and Garth Brooks, and his proudest collection should be that of Johnny Cash's guitars.

Nonsense

[abortamir · 1/10 · 9 November 2021]

They should have kill him, risking one life and save billions, that's a pretty good deal , unfortunately tv shows will always remain unrealistic. Worst episode I watched on Tv.

Time To Decide

[alpersapan · 20 July 2020]

This episode is epic for me. The machine decides to kill for the first time. Our team does not seem to apply it to the machine's order.