“Pretenders” is a letdown after the brilliance of last week’s episode. Person Of Interest is especially adept at exploring conflicting ideologies, such as the ones maintained by advocates and critics of national security measures or artificial intelligence. The debates between Finch and Root regarding faith and science are some of the highlights of the series. “Pretenders” hints at promising conflicts to come, but only skims the surface in favor of familiar territory.
Marvel must have known that “Pretenders” was going to air today, as it chose this date to announce its upcoming slate of superhero movies. The case of the week does involve an interesting dichotomy—the one between superhero and fan, actor and reactor—but this is a familiar one in the age of superhero media dominance, and “Pretenders” doesn’t expound on these ideas in a compelling way. The number of the week is an insurance salesman cooped up in an office, seeking excitement and companionship by playing detective at night. Unlike the well-trained members of Team Machine, his skills don’t translate to crime-fighting; Walter seeks purpose and attention by posing as a police officer anyways in order to solve a fishy suicide case involving his attractive officemate’s brother.
Subtext becomes text in this meta episode, where a fanboy gets to interact with his superhero, Reese a.k.a. the Man in the Suit. One of Person Of Interest’s strengths is its ability to dabble in several different genres, but this episode lays on the superhero trope references and self-awareness too thickly. Person Of Interest already alludes to superhero tropes regularly in order to explore the relatively fresh subject matter—like artificial intelligence and national security—that set it apart in the current television landscape. Here, the idea of an average person finding empowerment by emulating a superhero is not new, and this episode doesn’t find a way to reanimate this tired plot. Person Of Interest fans don’t need a new character to remind them that Reese and his team are badasses. Parallels are drawn to the team members’ superhero-like lifestyles, which are more about necessity than thrill-seeking, but they seem shallow without more insight into the psychology of Walter or the subjects of his admiration.
Heavy-handed, redundant references to the superhero genre and spoon feedings of fan service don’t give viewers enough credit. The name that Walter chooses for his alter ego—Detective Jack Forge—is hilarious, but this episode’s humor is too broad. Series have to exercise caution when incorporating meta humor and plots into their narratives, because it’s easy to shatter the illusion the writers have expended so much effort into crafting for the sake of self-indulgence. Used sparingly or cleverly, a meta approach can enrich a series, but “Pretenders” doesn’t justify its application.