Setting up timely finale
Person of Interest is nearing the end of its second season with no signs of a sophomore slump, and Thursday’s hour — the setup for the season finale on May 9 — couldn’t be more aptly timed.
The tech-savvy drama about a shy technology expert (Michael Emerson) and a reclusive, retired covert operative (Jim Caviezel) who help people in trouble by using modern-day surveillance equipment was always going to be an easy sell with a public used to the idea that every move we make — in the big city, anyway — is monitored on CCTV cameras. That premise has been thrust into the spotlight in the real world in recent weeks, in the wake of the Boston bombings.
Tonight’s episode raises a tantalizing question, though. What happens if those who monitor the footage can no longer trust what they’re seeing? The episode, Zero Day, follows Reese (Caviezel) and Finch (Emerson) as they realize a virus has somehow got into the supercomputer Finch created to keep track of crime statistics and predict what’s going to happen next. The virus is malevolent and dangerous, and they find themselves in a race against time to find a tech billionaire so elusive no one has managed to catch him on camera. (CBS, Citytv — 10 p.m.)
Parks and Recreation’s season finale finds Leslie (Amy Poehler) celebrating her first year as a city councillor, while some of her colleagues weigh new directions in their lives. (Citytv — 9:30 p.m., NBC — 10:30 p.m.)
Community’s outing, Heroic Origins, focuses on Abed’s (Danny Pudi) efforts to prove the study group members had crossed paths in a past life. (NBC, Citytv — 9 p.m.)
Katey Sagal appears as Artie’s mother in Glee’s second-to-last episode of the season. Meanwhile, Directions salutes the music of Stevie Wonder. (Fox, Global — 10 p.m.)