Postmortem: Person of Interest Bosses, Taraji P. Henson Break Down Shocking Twist
The brain trust behind Person of Interest promised a hero would fall — it just wasn't exactly the hero some might have expected.
Although the promos for the CBS drama's three-part "Endgame" trilogy heavily suggested that Kevin Chapman's Fusco wouldn't make it out alive, Tuesday's episode pulled a switcheroo. Although Fusco — with a little help from Shaw (Sarah Shahi) — survived the murderous threats of HR's Officer Simmons (Robert John Burke), Reese (Jim Caviezel) and Carter (Taraji P. Henson) had to evade HR and other street goons as they tried to escort HR leader Alonzo Quinn (Clarke Peters) to the FBI's downtown field office.
Person of Interest bosses: The battle with HR "will not come without loss" Reese and Carter eventually make it to the city morgue before they are trapped. It was there that the episode delivered its first (non-death related) surprise. Reese recalls his suicidal days before he met Finch (Michael Emerson), but Reese says it was meeting Carter that saved him. Then, the two share a kiss — a kiss that was not originally scripted, according to executive producer Jonathan Nolan.
"People 'ship couples, and a lot of people have 'shipped Reese and Carter, including me," Nolan tells TVGuide.com. "But the story just kept taking us to different places, and they became really good friends." However, when filming the pivotal scene, Nolan says the actors wanted to try it with a kiss. "If the actors, and the moment are telling you to go somewhere, you just have to lean in and go with it," Nolan says, noting that he didn't necessarily view the kiss as completely romantic. "It was a connection between two people, who had connected many times before, about just the f---ing fragility of all of this," he says.
Unfortunately, the happy moment was probably the kiss of death. Although Reese led HR away from the morgue and allowed Carter to get Quinn to the Feds, HR wasn't done fighting. Despite Carter rounding up 98 percent of HR's guys and being re-instated as a detective, in the closing moments of the episode, Simmons opens fire on Reese. Carter steps in front of Reese and takes a few bullets of her own before ultimately dying in Reese's arms.
Check out TV's most heartbreaking deaths
Nolan insists that Carter's death was important in closing off the HR story arc. "When you have great villains like this, they can't go on forever," he says. "It's like jumping into a pool of cold water over and over again. Eventually, you just get f---ing numb. So, we have to bring this story to a close, but when you have villains as great as Quinn and Simmons, you can't do that without taking a chunk out of somebody."
And although Nolan has always wanted viewers to know that any of the show's heroes could die at any time, Nolan promises Carter's death will not be in vain. "What it does to the rest of our heroes is complicated," he says. "The setup for next week's episode is not, 'Hoo-rah! Our team goes and kicks everyone's f---ing a-- up and down the block.' It's about grief and it's about the damage that can come out of that. ... In next week's episode, someone is planning on killing Simmons. The real mystery of the episode is who."
We also caught up with Henson to discuss how she feels about saying goodbye to Carter, how she felt about the Reese-Carter liplock and whether she will be back on the show.
Although the promos for the CBS drama's three-part "Endgame" trilogy heavily suggested that Kevin Chapman's Fusco wouldn't make it out alive, Tuesday's episode pulled a switcheroo. Although Fusco — with a little help from Shaw (Sarah Shahi) — survived the murderous threats of HR's Officer Simmons (Robert John Burke), Reese (Jim Caviezel) and Carter (Taraji P. Henson) had to evade HR and other street goons as they tried to escort HR leader Alonzo Quinn (Clarke Peters) to the FBI's downtown field office.
Person of Interest bosses: The battle with HR "will not come without loss" Reese and Carter eventually make it to the city morgue before they are trapped. It was there that the episode delivered its first (non-death related) surprise. Reese recalls his suicidal days before he met Finch (Michael Emerson), but Reese says it was meeting Carter that saved him. Then, the two share a kiss — a kiss that was not originally scripted, according to executive producer Jonathan Nolan.
"People 'ship couples, and a lot of people have 'shipped Reese and Carter, including me," Nolan tells TVGuide.com. "But the story just kept taking us to different places, and they became really good friends." However, when filming the pivotal scene, Nolan says the actors wanted to try it with a kiss. "If the actors, and the moment are telling you to go somewhere, you just have to lean in and go with it," Nolan says, noting that he didn't necessarily view the kiss as completely romantic. "It was a connection between two people, who had connected many times before, about just the f---ing fragility of all of this," he says.
Unfortunately, the happy moment was probably the kiss of death. Although Reese led HR away from the morgue and allowed Carter to get Quinn to the Feds, HR wasn't done fighting. Despite Carter rounding up 98 percent of HR's guys and being re-instated as a detective, in the closing moments of the episode, Simmons opens fire on Reese. Carter steps in front of Reese and takes a few bullets of her own before ultimately dying in Reese's arms.
Check out TV's most heartbreaking deaths
Nolan insists that Carter's death was important in closing off the HR story arc. "When you have great villains like this, they can't go on forever," he says. "It's like jumping into a pool of cold water over and over again. Eventually, you just get f---ing numb. So, we have to bring this story to a close, but when you have villains as great as Quinn and Simmons, you can't do that without taking a chunk out of somebody."
And although Nolan has always wanted viewers to know that any of the show's heroes could die at any time, Nolan promises Carter's death will not be in vain. "What it does to the rest of our heroes is complicated," he says. "The setup for next week's episode is not, 'Hoo-rah! Our team goes and kicks everyone's f---ing a-- up and down the block.' It's about grief and it's about the damage that can come out of that. ... In next week's episode, someone is planning on killing Simmons. The real mystery of the episode is who."
We also caught up with Henson to discuss how she feels about saying goodbye to Carter, how she felt about the Reese-Carter liplock and whether she will be back on the show.
0 comments:
Post a Comment