MovieChat Forums > Person of Interest (2011) Discussion > Any one else feel like Reese got gimped?

Any one else feel like Reese got gimped?

posted 8 years ago by Smeggins
22 replies | jump to latest

It seems that ever since Root and Shaw was introduced, Reese has gotten gimped. In season 1 and 2 he was a total badass but in season 3-5 he constantly is losing track of his targets, getting blidsided by petty crooks, getting beat up by people with very little fighting abilty and constantly missing when shooting. Seems odd that a guy with this much military experience and black ops esionoge is this bad all of a suddon. Was it a way to make Shaw seem more badass? I dont know. What do you think?

[–] Lucy9596 8 years ago

Let's just say you are not alone with this observation.

… sometimes one life… If it’s the right life… That’s enough. Goodbye, Harold."
John Reese

[–] Smeggins 8 years ago

It is kinda annoying

[–] a_smooth_apparatus 8 years ago

I got annoyed when I saw they were adding Shaw. I liked it better when it was just John and Harold.

[–] maxpierreburke 8 years ago

so you're one of them? someone who liked it back when it was just a procedural...

[–] Lucy9596 8 years ago

It never was 'just a procedural'

… sometimes one life… If it’s the right life… That’s enough. Goodbye, Harold."
John Reese

[–] alphabase17 8 years ago

Those 33 people he shot in the season 4 finale... Seems odd that one middle-aged guy was so good all of a sudden. Oh, wait, he was instructed by the machine. Maybe he wasn't so good to begin with. :P

[–] Smeggins 8 years ago

But he was in season 1 and 2. He was almost unstopable in those days. Then Shaw came alone and she just had to be better at everything so they gimped John hard.. Now he even needs help all the time now. He cant do most anything on his own anymore. Root and Shaw ruined everything

[–] bi-azh 8 years ago

Well he got caught by Fusco in the very first episode and he got thrown out of the window of the washing salon in the second episode.

Only because the focus of the show shifted to other characters doesn't mean that his character was changed. At least he was the one to kill Samaritan and save Finch and the world, he got a true heroes ending.

[–] alphabase17 8 years ago

Nonsense. I like John very much, but he was rarely truly unstoppable and tended to be quite slow in the fight scenes even in season 1, stretching their already stretched credibility (in RL he would have been overpowered very quickly, but I get it: a TV drama needs efficient heroes). LOL By the way, Root and Shaw weren't unstoppable, either. As to "ruining" the show, puhlease. Their introduction invigorated the already stale formula of the show. John and Shaw were a great duo and Root's scenes with Harold were easily one of the best things about PoI.

[–] bi-azh 8 years ago

Your post seems to answer to the original post and not to mine? Therefore you should pay attention to make the reply there. If not the discussion gets confusing.

And please stay polite - let people have their own opinion. I have heard what was said above many times before, so it seems to be a quite common impression.

[–] alphabase17 8 years ago

I replied to the right post - blame the display system on IMDb. As to politeness, I wasn't abusing the poster, merely reacting negatively to opinion (that a male character suddenly stopped being efficient because of the introduction of female characters) presented as fact. And just because people say things many times, it doesn't necessarily make those things true. Thanks for reading.

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] dogstar-12 8 years ago

Then Shaw came alone and she just had to be better at everything so they gimped John hard..

How was Shaw better than John at everything? She got played by Root in her very first episode. She got shot and abducted by Samaritan for months. Meanwhile, John held off a score of bad guys by himself in the Season 4 finale. So no, I just don't see it.

And it's only natural that John would need more help in the later seasons, when the team is dealing with multiple well-resourced organisations (Samaritan, The Brotherhood, etc.) than earlier when he was by and large dealing with only one or two opponents in any given case. Needing help from a couple of well-trained assassins to battle the forces of darkness does not mean he suddenly became "gimped."

[–] Smeggins 8 years ago

That is not at all what I said. I meant why are regular street thugs able to get the better of him all the time. Not when he is working with the team

[–] bi-azh 8 years ago

It would be nice to give us some examples so that we better know what we are talking about.

[–] ayf_1983 8 years ago

Also, I mentioned it in one of my posts but during the latter seasons the main characters seem to be captured a lot. Especially Reese and Finch. No matter who it is, Elias's men, Brotherhood, Vigilance, Decima, Samaritan agents, Control and her goon squad, perpetrator-of-the-week one shots, etc. it's as if Reese lost all sense of watching his back and gets easily captured (or if not captured) disarmed. That plot device got annoying after awhile.

[–] Smeggins 8 years ago

Thats what I meant. Reese is not the same as in season 1 and 2. Its as if now always some random goon can just sneak up on him and BAM knock him out

[–] outdoorcats 8 years ago

A lot of Jim Caviezel fans who don't like Shaw because she was taking up his screentime don't realize she was brought on the show to help Jim Caviezel. The injuries he sustained during the filming of The Passion of the Christ and his age made it increasingly difficult for him to film all the action scenes and stunt-work he had to do with the show. Remember movie/TV filming involves lots of takes and reshoots which can make "physical" scenes like hand-to-hand combat pretty grueling even for young healthy people. So Caviezel fans might not like Shaw but I'm sure Caviezel himself was relieved other characters got to do some of the action scenes.

Now...did Reese become less of a badass in S3 on? I didn't notice myself.  There was definitely an emphasis on Team Machine losing more and more often as the show went on, to make Samaritan and its agents seem like a creditable threat.

I do remember more hand-to-hand combat scenes where other people got the edge on Reese, but it was always with people who seemed to have a similar background/training to Reese (like the guy he fights on the dock in the S5 premiere), but younger.

Also remember that in Seasons 4 and 5 he is told he can't show off his black ops training in fights in front of cameras, or Samaritan will register an anomaly and it will blow his cover identity. So he can't keep beating up whole bars full of people.

[–] Smeggins 8 years ago

Another small thing that bugged me was the guns never had pullback in shootouts. Looked cheap

[–] writetopcat 8 years ago

You make good points and I agree with you on them.

Also I think that for the purposes of establishing Reese's character they needed to showcase his badass abilities in the beginning. But after two seasons they probably felt a need to change the storyline somewhat. They needed to create more tension, bigger dilemmas for the team.
One way to do that is by having Reese meet and battle others with similar skill sets and levels of skill. And of course, they brought in the whole Samaritan plot line and having Team Machine facing tougher opponents supported the idea that they were facing increasingly difficult circumstances.

I still saw him easily defeat groups of criminals in the later seasons, though sometimes it was only implied, as when he went into a bar to take on a group of thugs. Shaw asked if he wanted backup, Reese said no, he had it. Then we saw one body come flying out the door and shortly afterward Reese calmly walked out and we saw bodies lying around.

I didn't realize he had suffered injuries but that explains why scenes like that one only implied the azz kicking.
All in all I thought he remained a badass the whole time.

[–] WimmerFan 8 years ago

I liked him the best of all. Political agendas got in the way.

[–] maxpierreburke 8 years ago

i see this *beep* all the time from whiney fans like yourself. and no he didn't. he just was no longer the sole badass on the show anymore...