Set in New York City in current time, this crime-drama series reflects cutting-edge technological advances and their ethical / legal constraints. Several contrasting positions are explored: the value of the "irrelevant" individual versus the safety/ security of the nation, the pros and cons of widespread surveillance cameras, the pros and cons — and possible emergence — of artificial intelligence, the best and worst aspects of a police force, and the nuances of organized crime leadership.
Themes include second chances and personal redemption, trust, privacy rights, humanity versus cold computers, terrorism, control, world domination, faith / religion, etc.
With underworld gangsters and corrupt cops in a huge city, I get a feeling of the current series Gotham. Or Batman. Detective Carter could be the good cop (Detective Gordon). Finch could easily be Alfred at the computers in the bat cave, and Reese could be Batman...or as Fusco says, Boy Wonder.
My response to the series: I grew to love it. It is clear to me that the authors had a plan in mind for the overarching plot line, creating strong threads that connect the singular episodes to a coherent and culminating narrative. I am always intrigued by the differing lenses by which the authors share various opinions on surveillance, privacy rights, and artificial intelligence. There is a good mix of action, sleuthing, dialogue, and humor. I wouldn't mind a little more bonding time with the poor beleaguered team — a chance to just relax together.
I love the characters. Having said that, it took me a while to get into this series, even though I liked the premise and adore Harold Finch. At first, the character John Reese did nothing for me. His voice and his personality felt monotone. His acting skills seemed weak, too.
But as the series progressed, and as John was given recurring teammates to interact with, I saw more humor and wisdom from him. Bringing the dog Bear into the series was a stroke of insight, as it allowed for numerous delightful mood-changing scenes. The transformation of Root's character also hooked my attention, along with her evolving relationship with humanity, with the machine, and with Finch. Fusco and Carter are not boiler plate police detectives. Each one has quite an interesting story. Shaw adds a fun element to the fight scenes, and makes for a great counterpart to John's stoicism. Excellent characterization.
I also like many of the secondary characters, including Leon the goof-ball expert in computer forensics, Zoe the attractive fixer, hackers/ coders Jason, Casey, Diazo, and Caleb, etc. I even found myself caring about some of the "numbers" that popped up for the weekly murder mystery POI.
The weakest character is Greer. As a villain, I don't know enough about his back-story. Why is he so thoroughly heartless? To answer that question, we only got some flashbacks in one episode, showing his disillusionment with British MI-6. We also hear a bit about his childhood in bomb shelters in London. Not enough info. And we still don't know who he reports to. Who is his boss -- his human boss?
Themes include second chances and personal redemption, trust, privacy rights, humanity versus cold computers, terrorism, control, world domination, faith / religion, etc.
With underworld gangsters and corrupt cops in a huge city, I get a feeling of the current series Gotham. Or Batman. Detective Carter could be the good cop (Detective Gordon). Finch could easily be Alfred at the computers in the bat cave, and Reese could be Batman...or as Fusco says, Boy Wonder.
My response to the series: I grew to love it. It is clear to me that the authors had a plan in mind for the overarching plot line, creating strong threads that connect the singular episodes to a coherent and culminating narrative. I am always intrigued by the differing lenses by which the authors share various opinions on surveillance, privacy rights, and artificial intelligence. There is a good mix of action, sleuthing, dialogue, and humor. I wouldn't mind a little more bonding time with the poor beleaguered team — a chance to just relax together.
I love the characters. Having said that, it took me a while to get into this series, even though I liked the premise and adore Harold Finch. At first, the character John Reese did nothing for me. His voice and his personality felt monotone. His acting skills seemed weak, too.
But as the series progressed, and as John was given recurring teammates to interact with, I saw more humor and wisdom from him. Bringing the dog Bear into the series was a stroke of insight, as it allowed for numerous delightful mood-changing scenes. The transformation of Root's character also hooked my attention, along with her evolving relationship with humanity, with the machine, and with Finch. Fusco and Carter are not boiler plate police detectives. Each one has quite an interesting story. Shaw adds a fun element to the fight scenes, and makes for a great counterpart to John's stoicism. Excellent characterization.
I also like many of the secondary characters, including Leon the goof-ball expert in computer forensics, Zoe the attractive fixer, hackers/ coders Jason, Casey, Diazo, and Caleb, etc. I even found myself caring about some of the "numbers" that popped up for the weekly murder mystery POI.
The weakest character is Greer. As a villain, I don't know enough about his back-story. Why is he so thoroughly heartless? To answer that question, we only got some flashbacks in one episode, showing his disillusionment with British MI-6. We also hear a bit about his childhood in bomb shelters in London. Not enough info. And we still don't know who he reports to. Who is his boss -- his human boss?