JJ Abrams | With Christian Eyes

Person of Interest, Ep 21, a demand — The Machine gives in to a demand made by its proxy. Similarly, God cares for each one of us and hears our fervent prayers. “Samaritan” only values its agents for what they can do for it and is only concerned with unquestioning humans (others are killed, not saved).

Part 1 of “Person of Interest’s God/Anti-God Allegory in Season 4” covers some show background, a description of the series, and an overview of the God and Anti-God allegory found in this latest season (and developed in season 3). Please see that part for those topics. This part includes an answer to the questionable name given to the antagonist, “Samaritan.” It also includes a section on the biblical verses related to the show’s allegory.

Why “Samaritan”?

It seems really odd that the metaphor for God is “The Machine” and the anti-God is “Samaritan.” We normally think of “the machine,” when the expression is used, as something cold, mechanical, and all that is opposite of human concern and empathy; as such, the result of its machinations tend to be against our best interests. I don’t fully know why the creator of this series chose name The Machine for this role, but there are two considerations I can immediately think of. One, the AI’s creator, Finch, has doubts about his creation and chooses not to give it any other name. Two, since the metaphor grows to allegory in seasons 3 and 4, perhaps the show’s creator and writers didn’t have the it all fully conceived earlier on. The first two seasons were much more about solving crimes before they happened, and corruption in law enforcement and government, than about massive dueling AIs.

Continue reading Person of Interest’s God/Anti-God Allegory in Season 4 (Part 2 of 2) →

As usual–for anyone that reads my media reviews, that is–I’m writing about something that is not new. We don’t have cable or satellite, but in the case of the show Person of Interest, we couldn’t even get the channel in on our TV that ran it (CBS). So, I finally was able to watch the latest season, the 4th, on DVD (it’s now available on Netflix, too), and will share my “God is working in the world” observations with you.

After not expecting much, really, from a show in its 4th season (the writing tends to go south in aging shows), I was pleasantly surprised by this season’s quality and freshness. That basic laud can be considered a recommendation, if you will, but I’m not here to write a review.^[1] I’m here to discuss the show’s underlying God/Anti-God story, which seems more obvious than ever this 4th season. I’m just happy to see that there are still stories being presented in the US that don’t altogether ignore the Judeo-Christian God. Of course, the concepts brought up in Person of Interest (PoL)may be too subtle or esoteric for most of the population to understand in any other sense than a generalized “good vs evil.”

Continue reading Person of Interest’s God/Anti-God Allegory in Season 4 (Part 1 of 2) →