person of interest was so cool because that show absolutely hated the american government ... it was like, cops? all corrupt. the nsa? corrupt. the cia, most corrupt. congress? filthy. they left no branch spared. the deeper the show's mythology and conspiracy gets, the more corrupt the state becomes. they kill and kill and kill anyone who isn't a willing participant in the system. an agent is literally named Control because she is representative of the empire's need to imprison and conquer. carter starts off as a straight edge cop with a moral compass but slowly becomes more vigilante as time passes because the system she believes in is broken. reese's whole deal was that the cia used him and turned him into a heartless machine. and this was all on CBS network ... you got to hand it over to jonathan nolan.