Person of Interest

Season 2 Episode 12

Prisoner's Dilemma

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Prisoner's Dilemma
8.7
out of 10
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282 votes
19

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Episode Summary

While Carter tries to maintain her cover as an FBI temporary agent while helping Reese, Fusco has to protect a new Number on his own while Reese ducks some old enemies from the past.

FAN RECAP

TV.com Episode Review

  • Person of Interest "Prisoner's Dilemma" Review: Past, Present, and Prison 198

    Person of Interest "Prisoner's Dilemma" Review: Past, Present, and Prison

    New friends and old friends all had a hand in getting Batman out of jail in one of the series' best episodes to date.

    By Tim Surette, Jan 11, 2013

    • Fan Episode Reviews (19)

    SUBMIT REVIEW

    • Second Best POI Episode Thus Far

      9.5
      By ARAP, Feb 10, 2013
      Okay, this was a brilliant episode all around... The writing, the acting, the directing, the producing... Everything. *SPOILERS*



      The flashbacks seemed to focus on the idea of choice. They showed Reese and Kara working together in Paris and Prague and some choices Reese has had to make. They reveal no grand revelation, but aid in Reese's character development substantially. The replaying of the Ordos flashbacks (Matsya Nyaya) was a bit tedious for us die-hard POI-ers, but I didn't mind.



      The episode itself was brilliant. Reese told us so much in what he told Detective Carter, and the story arc was excellent. And as per usual, it was brilliantly acted all across. Lots of twists and turns, great music, and the Fusco side-storyline, which served as the much needed comic relief was hilarious. Overall, excellent episode and runnerup to only Many Happy Returns... 9.5/10.moreless

    • Kudos for the small details

      10
      By BoxyP, Jan 26, 2013
      Amazing episode, simply thrilling!

      Have to say I really appreciate the funny bits in what is otherwise a very serious episode, though the funniest part for me was definitely Finch gearing up to break into a prison :)

      Very few shows can pull off multiple continuing story threads, weave them together and still have a thoroughly coherent narrative. This episode has definitely succeeded there - Elias, FBI, rogue CIA, the shadowy government group, even that idiot that was Bear's previous owner, all combined together and necessary for the development of the episode and the continuing of all the stories.

      One more thing I wanted to say is that I also very much appreciate the effort they put into making the Bosnia storyline as believable as possible. Most TV shows choose one of us small countries from across the Atlantic, stick in a few names that sound vaguely from that region, and then mess every other little detail up. I hate that, simply hate it. So, naturally, when I saw the article in Serbian, I paused to read through it, and it's definitely written by someone who knows the language well, with no grammatical mistakes. As a Serbian speaker myself, it's beyond frustrating to find these little tidbits, pause the episode to inspect it, only to discover everything written in Russian, which, while also a Slavic language, has very little in common with Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian trio. So, kudos to the makers for that.moreless

    • Irrelevant

      9.5
      By TheRealFaygoKid, Jan 25, 2013
      Special agent Donnelly already knows what "the man in the suit" looks like. He saw him in episode 23 of last season. So why does he need Carter to interrogate the 4 suspects?

    • A Hint of ....

      10
      By RunningGirl510, Jan 18, 2013
      I love this show. It makes Thursdays worth waiting for.



      I would love to see a romance begin between Carter and Reese. I saw a hint of that during the interrogation scenes and they way Carter defended Reese to Donnelly.



      It would be a nice addition to the story lines. Keeping my fingers crossed.

    • Best Ever!

      10
      By reesesblackcoat, Jan 14, 2013
      There are no words to describe how brilliant this epsode was. Congratulations to everyone involved,from the actors writers etc. It was like watching a movie.

      Jim Caviezel is just flawless as Reese.

      Sad part was when poor Bear was crying for John and did anyone notice what he was lying on? Pulled at the heartstrings.

      I thought the kiss between Cara/Reese was hot! So jealous of that woman.

      Can't wait for the next ep. 10/10moreless
    See All Fan Reviews

    Cast & Crew: STARS

    James Caviezel

    James Caviezel

    John Reese
    Taraji Henson

    Taraji Henson

    Detective Carter
    Kevin Chapman

    Kevin Chapman

    Detective Lionel Fusco
    Michael Emerson

    Michael Emerson

    Harold Finch
    See All Cast & Crew

    Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

    Terry Serpico

    Terry Serpico

    Byron

    Guest Star

    Karolina Kurkova

    Karolina Kurkova

    Herself

    Guest Star

    Creighton James

    Creighton James

    Wayne Packer

    Guest Star

    Enrico Colantoni

    Enrico Colantoni

    Carl Elias

    Recurring Role

    Boris McGiver

    Boris McGiver

    Hersh

    Recurring Role

    Brennan Brown

    Brennan Brown

    Special Agent Donnelly

    Recurring Role

    See All Cast & Crew

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    Season 2 Episodes

    See All
    Ep 22
    God Mode
    Ep 21
    Zero Day
    Ep 20
    In Extremis
    Ep 19
    Trojan Horse
    Ep 18
    All In
    Ep 17
    Proteus
    Ep 16
    Relevance
    Ep 15
    Booked Solid
    Ep 14
    One Percent
    Ep 13
    Dead Reckoning
    Ep 12
    Prisoner's Dilemma
    Ep 11
    2-Pi-R
    Ep 10
    Shadow Box
    Ep 9
    C.O.D.
    Ep 8
    'Til Death
    Ep 7
    Critical
    Ep 6
    The High Road
    Ep 5
    Bury the Lede
    Ep 4
    Triggerman
    Ep 3
    Masquerade
    Ep 2
    Bad Code
    Ep 1
    The Contingency

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