One Percent (Person of Interest)

"'One Percent" is the 14th episode of the second season of the American television drama series Person of Interest. It is the 37th overall episode of the series and is written by Denise Thé and Melissa Scrivner Love and directed by Chris Fisher. It aired on CBS in the United States and on CTV in Canada on February 7, 2013. The episode's title refers to the richest 1% of people, who are said to have most of the money, property, and power in society.

Plot[]

Flashbacks[]

In 2001, Finch (Michael Emerson) is working on an algorithm when Ingram (Brett Cullen) interrupts him to show him the September 11 attacks, leaving them to question how to work to prevent more attacks. In 2009, Ingram laments giving away the Machine to the government, feeling they could be doing much more in saving lives. He is later shown watching over Anna Sanders, an "irrelevant" number of the Machine, taking a gun with him to try to protect her.

Present day[]

The Machine's new number is Logan Pierce (Jimmi Simpson), a MIT dropout and billionaire who created a social network called FriendCzar with his friend Justin Ogilvy (Charlie Semine). who serves as the company's Chief Engineer and Frontman.

Reese (Jim Caviezel) attends one of Pierce's charity events, posing as a hedge fund manager. He finds Pierce is having an affair with the wife of his competitor and then Pierce leaves the charity. They find that Pierce has an erratic and irresponsible behavior, earning him disdain in the company. Reese can't watch over Pierce due to his behavior and exposes himself to Pierce, revealing his life is in danger although Pierce does not seem bothered or alarmed. He invites him to his house, where Reese finds that the board of directors decided to remove Pierce as CEO of FriendCzar. Pierce suffers an allergy but Reese saves his life by putting an air horse through his throat.

Reese meets with Finch to discuss Pierce when Pierce shows up, identifying their roles. When Finch suggests relocating Pierce to a safe house, Pierce instead takes Reese and himself to Saint Petersburg, Russia. But when Reese finds that Pierce invited his lawyer Justin Campbell (Chandler Williams) and friends to party, he decides to leave as Pierce doesn't take this seriously. But Reese is notified by Finch that Pierce's number came up again. Pierce runs into Justin and his goons outside who are just about to throw him off a bridge when Reese appears and saves him. Justin is arrested, and it is revealed that Pierce has been in cahoots with Emily Morton (Brooke Bloom), who has developed a superior technology. By being removed from FriendCzar, Pierce's non-compete agreement is void, allowing him to assist Emily in a new venture which will crush FriendCzar. Pierce gives a watch to Reese as a present but Finch destroys it, revealing a GPS tracker.

Reception[]

Viewers[]

In its original American broadcast, "One Percent" was seen by an estimated 14.88 million household viewers and gained a 3.1/8 ratings share among adults aged 18–49, according to Nielsen Media Research. This means that 3.1 percent of all households with televisions watched the episode, while 8 percent of all households watching television at that time watched it.^[1] This was a 6% decrease in viewership from the previous episode, which was watched by 15.71 million viewers with a 3.2/9 in the 18-49 demographics.^[2] With these ratings, Person of Interest was the second most watched show on CBS for the night, beating Elementary and Two and a Half Men but behind The Big Bang Theory, first on its timeslot and third for the night in the 18-49 demographics, behind Two and a Half Men, and The Big Bang Theory.

With Live +7 DVR factored in, the episode was watched by 18.38 million viewers with a 4.1 in the 18-49 demographics.^[3]

Critical reviews[]

"One Percent" received mixed-to-positive from critics. Phil Dyess-Nugent of The A.V. Club gave the episode a "C+" grade and wrote, "Coming after the fireworks of last week's episode, this is a disappointing, half-assed hour of Person Of Interest, but it is, at least, half-assed with an excuse. The writers aren't trying to tell a good, self-contained thriller; they're trying to introduce a new character who might have long-term potential and give him a chance to get his foot in the door."^[4]

Tim Surette of TV.com wrote "Given the strength of the previous episodes, I'll forgive 'One Percent' for taking a week off and churning out some clunky dialogue and lazy plotting. The important thing is that Nathan Ingram was out there killing fools in '09, a new friend/foe was introduced, and Bear got a buddy."^[5]

Sean McKenna of TV Fanatic gave the episode a 4.4 star rating out of 5 and wrote "Overall, seeing Reese in action (and actually looking like he can play some basketball), with Finch up to his wonderful tech tricks and Bear finally getting a play date, made this an enjoyable hour. I wouldn't be surprised if Logan himself would have clicked a definite 'Like.'"^[6]

References[]

External links[]

• "One Percent" at IMDb