Worlds Enough and Time

From: redbrunja Joss Carter's Death: HORRIBLE WRITING DECISION or well executed/meaningful. Talk about the two sides of the issue and what's your call?

This is a thorny issue, with, I think no easy answer.

Full disclosure: I was among one of the vocal people who was against Carter dying and I've even considered quitting the show if not my love for Sarah Shahi's Shaw. But looking at the story from start to what we have now, in the grand scale of the story and leading up to and the effects of Carter's death I think it worked in the long run.

BUT since the show doesn't exist in a vaccum there are many things to consider, I'm also kind of still a new-ish fan of Person of Interest since I started watching in Season 2 then re-watched the whole series immediately after that.

As best I can this is what I was able to piece together about the Behind the Scenes things that contributed to the differing perspectives on Joss's death.

Joss Carter, played by Taraji P. Henson, is a beloved character in the show but it wasn't always the case. Especially in season 1 where almost every where I went people were spewing hate on Carter for getting in the way of the main characters: John Reese and Harold Finch, and the ship itself Reese/Finch.

I wasn't happy about that and it played a large part why I stayed out of the show until very recently.

Thankfully, I'm glad I gave the show another try, and its all thanks to Sarah Shahi's Shaw that made me give the show a second look and realize there are a lot of other fantastic women on the show.

And one of them is Joss Carter.

Joss Carter is a paragon. She's no saint but she's a cop's cop. She believed in what she did and she wasn't willing to compromise for anything or anyone.

Unfortunately, she was also a player in a show where death can happen to anyone and she's also in a game she doesn't know she's in: a battleground for the next wave of the future: Artificial Intelligence.

The world where an AI can work behind the scenes heralded a more gray world, and for someone like Joss, who refused to compromise its a difficult world to live in.

I liked that Joss brought down a whole institution of corrupt cops her way, I liked that Joss's death was never forgotten, its the ghost that hangs over the characters, that it affected every character from her friends to her former enemies, to her partner who will never again stumble.

In the world of killers and bad cops she was the truly honest cop, and her loss affects everyone.

I think the reason why people say its a fantastic way to go for such a character, and her effect on the show is because most saw it marathon style, and seen in one sitting, and seeing the story unfold in one coherent story Joss's death was a heartbreaking but effective story.

But watching the arc happen in real time is kind of a whole different ballgame. There's a lot of drama happening at that time, some has to do with the show, some don't the midseason hiatus didn't help the people's perception any, and honestly the Powers that Be didn't help when they were trying to put out the flames. In fact they fed more fuel to the fire.

Supposedly, Carter was: "never meant to last forever" but in the season when a lot of prominent female characters died (Allison Argent, Teen Wolf and Beverly Katz from Hannibal) it wasn't a balm.

Then, the brilliant people in CBS and the showrunner went and said something to the effect that they killed Carter because they're bringing in a Catwoman like character in Shaw.

So, the showrunners and the CBS President did two things wrong at once: The way they said it made it seem like they can't have too many women in the main cast, and second, this only made people who hated Shaw hate her even more.

And, Shaw, at that time (and even now I'd argue) is not a popular character people hated her, absolutely hated her introduction and then Nolan and Nina Tassler had to go and say what they said... So... on that front, on the behind the scenes front? It's a disaster PR-wise.

Now, in story, I think in the long run it worked because the writing is brilliant and every action and loss has a consequence. Carter casts a long shadow and it showed, and they keep on showing it. Although I am giving the showrunners the side eye because they said the show was going 'International' and yet they stuck John Reese (the main character) back in the Police precinct and they're playing the Mob arc in its fourth incarnation again, when I feel they should be focusing on the larger AI Cold War arc.

Also, as a fan, I just gotta say, Shaw is not Selina Kyle. I can see her as maybe the Huntress or Cass!Batgirl but not Catwoman even if her cover is that she's a thief.

**The main characters are forced to live under the radar under assumed cover identities to protect themselves.