By Person of Interest has grown from just another crime procedural to multi-layered sci-fi thriller over its first three seasons, and its latest premiere did not disappoint.
'Panopticon' followed on from the epic season three finale, which saw Greer (John Nolan) launch Samaritan into the streets of Manhattan, taking down many of his foes and sending our heroes into the dark.
The opening episode of the season was all about establishing the new era of the main characters, so much so that it felt like a full reboot. Finch (Michael Emerson) is now a teacher, Shaw (Sarah Shahi) is selling perfume, John (Jim Caviezel) is somehow a narcotics cop, and Root (Amy Acker) is... just being Root, really.
While John may enjoy cracking some skulls here and there, it's clear the team are not exactly loving their new secret lives in hiding from Samaritan. Thankfully, John and Shaw are excited when Root and The Machine give them their first number in seemingly months.
The main plot of this week's episode saw The Wire's Jamie Hector taking on Homeland's Navid Negahban. The story itself wasn't integral to the main plot, but the results of it absolutely were, which is always a welcome surprise in POI.
It turns out that The Machine has chosen Ali Hasan for a reason, as he has created a private network using old-school systems for John and the team to use without being detected.
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The episode also threw up new future plot paths, as John teamed up with criminal Elias (Enrico Colantoni), while a mysterious female British agent was on their tail.
At first, Finch doesn't seem interested in saving people full-time, until he discovers a hidden code from The Machine in a fake dissertation written for him. It leads him to a Batcave-style area which will likely become the team's new base of operations.
By the end of the episode, John has become a homicide detective, and is now Fusco's (Kevin Chapman) partner, which is beyond awesome. Suddenly out of nowhere, John and Fusco are to team up in a buddy-cop style, which I can't wait to see.
Plus, Caviezel was at his deadpan, ass-kicking best, and it was hilarious to see the show's classic 'shot from outside a building, baddie chucked out the window' technique once again.
Shows like Person of Interest often struggle to keep things interesting as each new season arrives. Thankfully, 'Panopticon' has kept the show fresh, thrown up completely new dynamics and partnerships, and remains exciting.
