I think that Person of Interest should stay in Procedurals. Although it now has Boxed Set elements, that's not how it started. Also, I think that it would be confusing to have the back and forth where we comment one place if it's a Machine thing and another if it's a procedural element.

Although it now has Boxed Set elements, that's not how it started

I'm not making an argument either way, since my opinion's already well-recorded, but I am unendingly curious about how a central premise of an AI which started showing a personality within the first season isn't sci fi on purpose. It's not like they're mutually exclusive--I just don't get how it's new. It's more, but I don't get the new bit.

You have a good point, although I think that maybe it's because in the previous seasons, the focus was on saving the numbers and the process of Reese and Finch figuring out the victim/perpetrator dynamic and saving or catching the number. The Machine was only a part of the show for the 10 seconds that we saw Finch receive the number (and many shows we didn't even see that).

Now, the Machine is acting independently and communicating with Root. It is more of a part of the show, a character almost.

The Machine was only a part of the show for the 10 seconds that we saw Finch receive the number (and many shows we didn't even see that).

Now that I have actually watched all the episodes in sequence, I can say that I predicted my own attitude correctly in that I am even more intrigued by The Machine than I was before. Was it not in the first season that we saw Harold meet Grace? The Machine seems to have set them up. She (using Root's preference for a pronoun for The Machine) certainly seems to have encouraged Harold quite a bit, at the very least. But since Daniel and I pretty much mainlined the first two seasons, the time frame got a little wibbly-wobbly.

The Machine seems to have set them up.

I don't think that the Machine set them up. As I recall, the first time Harold saw her, he was in the park with Nathan testing the machine. Although I think that you're right about the Machine encouraging Harold.

Not sure how I feel about the pronoun. Am I discounting Root's characterization because I don't like her, or because I think that Root would assign a female pronoun regardless (she does have some male issues) or do I think of the Machine as gender neutral? Hmmmm.

The machine created a false identity that was male. So who knows if there is a particular gender to which the machine would like to be referred?

I continue to be annoyed by the stupidity of the female protagonist of The Blacklist. Either the bad guys planted the box in her house or her husband is an undercover spy who has infiltrated her life. Regardless of which it is, it does her no good to keep it a secret.

Also, I still refuse to believe that the FBI isn't watching the house. If for some reason, they weren't doing it before the attack, they sure as hell should have been doing it afterward. No one should have been able to get inside to bug the house, I thought that they were FBI finally getting a freaking clue, but guess not.

Also, there is no way in hell you can just drop of a bullet and say "get me a report". There will be paperwork and requisitions. If nothing else, the lab would want a case number. It's not even like she did some bullshit "I'm friends with a tech, I need a favor."

I love James Spader, but if Keen doesn't get a fucking brain soon, I'm going to drop this show.

There's an awful lot of stupid in that show. My first thought was also that no tech would take that bullet without paperwork. It's legally worthless without a chain of custody.

Yes, my first annoyance was the "hey, tell me about this bullet". Sure, that's how it works.

My second was something I'm seeing in every cop show since the invention of the cell phone. The good guy in question is speeding across the given metropolis to save someone from being killed, frantically calling said someone to warn them the bad guys are coming but the soon-to-be victim just isn't picking up the phone!!!!!

You're the only cop in this town? Send the closest law enforcement. Make a call and send the police or the FBI or the CIA... heck, send the fire department. Send a fire truck. Get the closest someone there as soon as you can. The bad guy only has himself, you've got garbage trucks, postal workers, any government employee with a bullhorn will do at this moment.

Huh. I expected Beckett to make a decision on where she wanted to be. Or at least have the opportunity to. Whoops.