Warning: Fullfor the episode follow...

In the four season history of Person of Interest (which I think we can all agree is a great freakin' series), the season premieres have never been the strongest episodes. This show has always had killer finales and awesome arcs through the seasons, but the premieres usually take us back down to Earth, and down from the high of the ultra-serialized season ender that closed things out the previous May. Fallout, is a good term for it. Where do our heroes find themselves now?And the premieres have also usually been focused on Reese more than other members of the team. It's been a good place to give him some meat after the show burned through almost his entire backstory in the first season. Last year, Reese got a little lost in the shuffle, and then lost completely after Carter died, but the premiere - "Liberty" - was sort of his deal.And so with "Panopticon," Reese drove the story for the most part - becoming the team member who desperately needed to restart The Machine's mission to save people. Which totally fits considering the fact that before this "purpose" - the one gifted to him by Finch - Reese was a suicidal mess. So hiding out in surivial mode wasn't going to cut it for a man who had become born again under a lofty, heroic goal. And it was cool to see Reese be the one to have to try and talk Finch back into the game. Well, him and Root, right? During separate conversations. Though Root will always be an advocate for The Machine so debating Finch here wasn't as much of a surprise."Panopticon" wasn't tip-top Person of Interest, but it was the best premiere they've ever had. I liked that opening, which featured the new Samaritan assassin killing that journalist in Hungary ("Martine" is just one of her aliases), and it remains clear that our new cyber-master is more than willing to eliminate system threats. But I think I wanted to see a bit more of the evils wrought. Samaritan is watching everything and that's bad - but I need to see some more of the bad. On a larger scale perhaps. Something other than just the fact that it wants to wipe out Reese and company. But it's the first episode and so all that might be coming down the pipe.The best part of the episode - aside from all the new jobs our heroes had - was that, as a team reboot, it was very imaginative and clever with the way it set everything up. Tying the "number of the week" into a case that not only gave Reese and Finch a new hidden communications system, but also incorporated the nefarious talents of Elias and Scarface. All while giving us an awesome Batcave-style ending, with Finch being led by The Machine down underground to an old abandoned part of subterranean New York. Everything fit. Everything gelled, and moved our heroes up and out of their specific ruts. Although Reese being a cop would probably only be considered a downgrade to him, as someone who now hates responding to crimes after they've been committed.And as far as Shaw's job went - a department store cosmetics girl - yes The Machine clearly had a bit of a sense of humor. Which also shined through when you noticed how posh and free Root seemingly got to live. We don't know what she does, but you know it's not in the service industry. She mentioned an "interview," so it's possible that she's just unemployed and wealthy. And so one wonders how much Root's whims actually influence The Machine, given their connectivity. Because you know Root enjoys her little spats with Shaw. So it was almost as if The Machine was trying to serve that dynamic. Which isn't something that needs to explored outright, but it's funny to think about.There were a couple of Lost references peppered into the episode too. Finch's alternate life being that of a teacher. Jeremy Bentham being the inventor of the Panopticon prison structure. Of course, these could just be "Lost nods" because that's how I attribute them. They were also thematically relevant. Because of course Finch would be a teacher (The Machine was also able steal off with $9 million in funds and hide it inside a grant), even if Michael Emerson is a Lost alum. And the Panopticon was a structure where the prisoners, to serve their best interests, would have to assume they were behind watched by the guard and behave accordingly. But with this week being the 10-year LOSTiversary, my mind tends to go to the island.And yes, that was The Wire's Marlo Stanfield, Jamie Hector, as the gang leader trying to step in and fill HR's heroin shipment shoes. The one Reese kept punching in the face through driver side car windows. And action so effective that it got Reese a promotion up out of Narcotics and into the grumpy, waiting arms of Fusco in Homicide.