Reese and Finch must protect Abby Logan, a young woman who was recently fired within the last few weeks from a military charity called Homes for Heroes. As they begin to look into her past, they learn that she has teamed up with an ex-Marine named Shayn Huson, and together the two are planning to rob the bank that houses the funds for Homes for Heroes. While it initially looks like Abby and Shayn are the bad guys, Reese discovers that Homes for Heroes is actually a corrupt organization that made millions off of veterans through predatory lending schemes, which does not sit well with Reese at all. Reese helps Abby and Shayn break into the bank and help steal the incriminating financial records, but not before being caught by the FBI with three other goons who work for Homes for Heroes. None of the men will talk, so Agent Donnelly and the Feds don't know who the real Man in the Suit is and they're forced to arrest the whole bunch. FBI Agent Donnelly approaches Carter with an offer: he'll tell her about their plans to catch the Man in the Suit if she takes a temporary position with the bureau. Hoping to help Reese, she accepts, then learns that the Feds have found a way to triangulate the cell phone that Reese uses. They conduct a raid on the bank as Reese and the POI are robbing it, which results in Reese's capture and arrest.
Air date: December 13, 2012
Written by Patrick Harbinson and directed by Stephen Surjik.
Finch informs Reese that their new POI is a former major league baseball prospect turned cab driver named Fermin Ordonez, and the two trade off tailing Fermin in his cab as he drives around the streets of New York City. They reason that almost anyone who gets into Fermin's cab could pose a threat to him, so they must keep a close eye on him. When a leggy blonde Estonian woman has Fermin drive her into a secluded area of the city which Reese recognizes as a trap, he's forced to intervene and save Fermin from a group of attacking Estonian mobsters. Later, as they run from the mob, Fermin admits that one of his previous fares, Vadim Pushkov, left a laptop in his cab that he recently sold for cash. Pushkov turned up dead, and now there's a race to locate the laptop between the Feds, the Estonians, and our heroes. Finch tracks it down and buys it off a third party dealer who wants to make some quick cash, but he's quickly intercepted by the blonde Estonian and her henchmen. Reese and Fermin arrive in the nick of time to save Finch, take out the bad guys, and recover the laptop. In the end, Fermin is able to work out a trade with the Feds: he gives them the laptop in exchange for bringing his estranged wife and son over to the United States from Cuba. Meanwhile, Simmons puts heat on Fusco to deliver a message from HR to the incarcerated criminal mastermind, Elias. Fusco and another HR crony go to deliver the message, but end up getting double crossed. Elias has no plans to work with HR in the future.
Air date: December 6, 2012
Written by Ray Utarnachitt and directed by Clark Johnson.
Reese and Finch must protect Sabrina and Daniel Drake, a married couple who own a very successful publishing firm. Initially, it appears that the Drakes are the target of an Appalachian militia group who were angry over a book their company published, but it's quickly revealed that the Drakes have taken out a hit on each other. Sabrina contracted a professional hitman by the name of Cyril to off her husband, while Daniel paid off a junkie and former friend to kill his wife. Reese tries to stay one step ahead of the couple's hired assassins, eventually taking both Sabrina and Daniel hostage to keep them safe and talk out their marital issues. Unfortunately, even when Sabrina and Daniel decide to call off the hits and try to reconcile, their hired killers won't take no for an answer. Using the Drakes as bait, Reese lures the hitmen to a Finchian safehouse and takes them down with the help of Carter and Fusco. Meanwhile, Carter and Fusco make slow progress in their own romantic arenas. During the course of the investigation into the Drakes' assassins, Carter meets Detective Cal Beecher, a handsome narcotics detective, and she eventually agrees to go out for dinner with him. Fusco is forced to take his date, a Jersey girl by the name of Rhonda, out on a stakeout at Finch's request. They end up bonding over his job and enjoying falafel. In a flashback, we see the early beginnings of Finch's relationship with Grace, the woman he was forced to leave to keep the machine safe. He plans an intricate scavenger hunt, which ends with a beautiful private dinner at the Guggenheim, where Finch shows her Chirico's "The Red Tower," which he anonymously bought and donated for her.
Air date: November 29, 2012
Written by Amanda Segel and directed by Helen Shaver.
Reese and Finch pay a visit to their latest POI, Dr. Maddy Enright, one of New York's best heart and trauma surgeons. Initially, it appears that Maddy might be the target of a hit, but it's later revealed that she's being forced to become the perpetrator. Alistair Wesley, a former British special ops agent, informs Maddy that her wife, Amy, will be killed by a sniper if she does not execute his plan to kill a patient during an operation. That patient is Oliver Veldt, a rich energy tycoon who personally selected Maddy for a top secret procedure. Reese goes off to see if he can save Amy from the snipers currently targeting her, while Finch stays with Maddy at the hospital and tries to find out more about Alistair and his team of hitmen. At the park, Reese takes out one of the hitmen, then engages in a game of high stakes cat and mouse with Alistair, who warns Reese that Amy will be killed if he interferes again. With some help from Fusco and a risky gamble, Reese manages to extract Amy from the park and take out all of the operatives except Alistair. Meanwhile, at the hospital, Alistair's planted a nurse, and that nurse manages to cut Veldt's artery before Finch knocks her out. Maddy rushes to stop the bleeding and, with some help from a very uneasy Finch, manages to save Veldt's life. Meanwhile, Carter follows clues left to her by Agent Snow, who is being forced to run a variety of mysterious errands for Kara Stanton under a threat of death. Snow leads Carter to what he thinks is a private area, but Stanton interrupts and has a shootout with Carter before vanishing with Snow.
Air date: November 15, 2012
Written by Sean Hennen and directed by Frederick E. O. Toye.
The newest POI takes Reese and Finch out of the city and into the suburban New York; Rockaway, to be precise. Graham Wyler appears to live the ideal suburban life: he has a wife and young daughter, a beautiful home, and his own small business. Finch does some digging into his past, looking for any possible threats to Wyler or his family. Eventually, Finch comes across his 15-year-old death certificate, which makes Reese think Wyler is 'ghosting,' or has taken on a deceased person's identity for his own. In order to get a better idea of potential threats, Finch purchases a home across from the Wylers, and Reese and Zoe Morgan move in, posing as a new couple in the neighborhood. Reese manages to get Wyler's prints at a barbecue and sends them to Carter, who runs them and identifies Wyler as Lloyd Pruitt, a safe cracker that was involved with a crew of guys from Philadelphia. The leader of those ex-cons, Chris Vaughn, is now out on parole, and Reese quickly learns that he wants revenge on his former friend and partner. Vaughn threatens Wyler's family and forces Graham to participate in one last robbery in the city. Reese, Finch, and Carter team up to monitor the heist, but Reese is forced to intervene to save Graham's life. Reese takes out the bad guys and Graham turns himself in to the police, but luckily only gets sentenced to house arrest. Flashbacks throughout the episode explain more about Finch, Ingram, and the creation of the machine. Finch walks the machine through some early rounds of 'threat identification' testing, which it passes with flying colors. The flashbacks also chronicle the beginning of Finch's relationship with Grace, whom he will eventually lose because of his involvement with the machine.
Air Date: November 8, 2012
Written by Nic Van Zeebroeck & Michael Sopczynski, and directed by Félix Enríquez Alcalá.
Reese and Finch have to get creative when their new POI turns out to be an investigative reporter tracking stories about a mysterious "man in a suit." The reporter, Maxine Cross, has made lots of enemies thanks to her hard-hitting brand of journalism, but her current obsession with identifying the head of HR could be the one story that gets her killed. In order to get close to her, Finch sets Reese up on a date with her via a matchmaking site, but that date quickly goes awry. Maxine received fault information and published an exclusive that "unmasked" the head of HR, but the man she accused wasn't the boss and she inadvertently helped an innocent man get killed. In talking to the FBI, Maxine and Reese learn that the man possessed a ledger with all the names of the crooked cops involved in HR, but he was killed before he had a chance to turn it over. Despite being reprimanded by her boss and nearly fired, Maxine won't give up on the story and tries to find the ledger before the HR goons can. Reese manages to keep up the dating charade and covertly keep her safe from HR hitmen until, with help from Carter and Fusco, they locate the ledger and turn it over to the FBI. Landon Walker, a mayoral candidate, is listed as the head of HR in the ledger, but it's revealed that his campaign manager, Andrew Walker, is the real puppet master. For now, the real head of HR remains at large. Meanwhile, Simmons threatens Fusco and demands that he find the ledger before the cops do, otherwise he'll do something terrible to Fusco's son. Fusco manages to get his hands on the ledger before the FBI and tears out the pages with his and Simmons' name on it, keeping the wolf at bay for the time being.
Air Date: November 1, 2012
Written by David Slack and directed by Jeffrey Hunt.
The Machine leads Reese and Finch to their new POI: an enforcer for the Irish mob named Riley Cavanaugh. Initially, Reese suspects Riley to be the perpetrator when the boss, George Massey, orders him to kill Annie Warren, the widow of a former mobster. However, when Riley kills George's son to protect Annie, it's revealed that Riley and Annie are in love, and our heroes now have two people to protect from a vengeful mob boss. Carter runs interference with the cops at Reese's request, keeping them off of Riley's trail just long enough for him to figure out his plan. George then puts out a hefty bounty on the lovers, making them the target of every thug in the city, and Finch is forced to go to Elias for help. Elias calls most of the would-be bounty hunters off, save for one-a man named Ochoa, who tracks them down and takes Annie. Reese squares off with Riley, then convinces the mobster to accept his help if he wants to save Annie. They track Ochoa to one of the properties George uses for wet work, then engage in a massive shootout with a large number of mobsters. In the fight, Riley tells Reese to get Annie to safety, then he kills George, only to later be killed by Ochoa himself. After putting Annie on a train out west, Reese tracks down Ochoa and exacts revenge, removing one more killer from the streets.
Air Date: October 25, 2012
Written by Erik Mountain and directed by James Whitmore, Jr.
It's Finch's first day back in the
office after being rescued from Root's clutches. Reese goes undercover
as a bodyguard for Sofia Branco, the daughter of a Brazilian diplomat
with high political aspirations. Initially, it appears that Sofia could
be the target of a political hit by some of her father's rivals, but
Finch and Reese soon learn that it's her private life that's much more
dangerous. Sofia got romantically involved with Jack Hughes, a trust
fund brat turned secretive drug dealer, and wound up inadvertently
recording evidence on her cell phone that linked Jack to another man's
murder. Jack's violent counterpart, Monty, convinces him that Sofia
needs to be eliminated. Reese enlists Fusco to watch Sofia as he and
Carter go after Monty, but Monty gets the slip on them with Jack's help.
After Finch gives them the heads up, Fusco, Reese, and Carter arrive
just in time to incapacitate Monty and save Sofia from harm. Meanwhile, Finch struggles to deal with the
PTSD-like symptoms he's experiencing after being kidnapped by Root. He
tries to venture outside of the Library, but the intensity of the
bustling city is too much for him. Eventually, Reese and Bear manage to
get him outside, and his slow healing process continues.
Air Date: October 18, 2012
Written by Melissa Scrivner-Love and directed by Jeffrey Hunt.
Root brutally interrogates Denton Weeks over the location of the Machine, accusing him of having what she calls "bad code". To prove that Denton is "bad code" to Finch and that he entrusted the Machine to the wrong people, she allows Finch to help Denton temporarily escape and pretends to be subdued. Once Denton realizes that Finch was involved with the creation of the Machine, he tries to kill Finch, but Root kills Denton instead after he reveals the Machine's location to be somewhere in Salt Lake City. Meanwhile, Reese continues to follow the trail of the missing girl supplied by the Machine in "The Contingency". Her name was Hanna Frey, a girl abducted outside a library. The one witness to the crime was Hanna's friend Samantha Groves, who informed the librarian what she saw, only for the librarian to accuse Sam of lying, as the man that Sam had accused of kidnapping Hanna was her husband. The experience started Sam down a path that would ultimately lead to her becoming Root. Now knowing Root's real name, Reese is able to track her movements through bank accounts, using government wiretaps supplied by Fusco to triangulate Weeks' location. He arrives in time to find Weeks dead and Root gone, having taken Finch with her to Washington DC's Union Station. Finch leaves a clue to where he is being taken by using a tap code on a telephone handset. Reese decodes the clue in order to follow and save Finch, but Root is able to escape before Reese can apprehend her.
Air Date: October 4, 2012
Written by Greg Plageman & Patrick Harbinson, and directed by Jon Cassar.
Reese is given a series of seemingly random words from the Machine via the pay phone. After asking Carter to look deeper into Alicia Corwin's death, he eventually realizes that the words are referring to three different books in Finch's library, the Dewey decimal numbers of which make up the Social Security number of accountant Leon Tao (Ken Leung). Paying Tao a visit, Reese discovers that Tao is actually the next POI, having extorted money from white supremacists. As a government operative sabotages the Corwin investigation to prevent Carter from learning about the Machine, Reese hands Tao off to Fusco while he tries to gather clues to Finch's location. Fusco soon runs afoul of the white supremacists and is taken hostage along with Tao. Reese comes to their rescue, and acquires an attack dog he later names Bear along the way. Meanwhile, Root takes Finch with her as she kidnaps Denton Weeks, one of the U.S. government officials overseeing the Machine and the NSA agent who met with Nathan Ingram and attempted to seize control of the Machine in "Super", revealing that she became curious as to how he and Reese thwarted her operation in "Root Cause" so efficiently. She tells Finch that she sees the Machine as a "perfect" intelligence and wishes to set it free from the corrupt people that it was entrusted to. Throughout the episode, flashbacks show Finch training the Machine in recognizing faces via surveillance cameras, as well as testing its capabilities by having it help him in a game of Blackjack. After the Machine saves Finch from an out-of-control car, he rebukes it, stating that it should attempt to protect everyone else, not him. Frustrated with the fact that Finch programmed the Machine in this way, Reese threatens to quit if it does not help him find Finch, and gets his first clue to Finch's location: the Social Security number of a girl living in Texas missing since the age of 14.
Air Date: September 27, 2012
Written by Denise Thé & Jonathan Nolan and directed by Richard J. Lewis.
Reese is set the task of protecting their new POI; Caroline Turing, PhD (Amy Acker), a high-end psychologist who works as a therapist to an extremely powerful and secretive client list. Finch's attempt to hack into her system to get more information about her fails, forcing Reese to go into therapy with Turing in order to get closer to her. Fusco attends a meeting of HR's leadership, and learns that HR has been hired to kill Turing. Reese intervenes in the initial attack, and hides her in a high-end hotel downtown. HR finds their location, as well as the FBI task force led by Agent Donnelly, who is still hunting for Reese; both corrupt cops and federal agents converge on the hotel and lock it down, cornering Reese and Turing. Carter's suspicion that Fusco is working for HR comes to a head, and she corners him at gunpoint, only to learn he is working with Reese and Finch as well. With covert help from Carter and Fusco, and some technical magic from Finch, Reese manages to get Turing out of the hotel alive, and stays with Carter and Fusco to take down the HR members while avoiding FBI capture once again. When Finch arrives at his designated rendezvous with Turing, he is instead confronted at gunpoint by Alicia Corwin, who has been following Finch. She accuses the Machine of killing Nathan Ingram, a belief Finch denies, and demands his help in shutting the Machine down, tired of her life of running from it. Turing arrives by surprise and kills Alicia, revealing herself to be "Root", the hacker from "Root Cause", and that she hired HR herself, willingly putting herself in danger to capture Finch for interrogation about the Machine. Reese arrives only to find Alicia's dead body and Finch missing. While Carter and Fusco anonymously reveal HR's membership to the FBI, Reese talks to the Machine itself, staring into a nearby surveillance camera – Reese, labelled as a Machine asset, asks the Machine to help him find Finch. A nearby pay phone then rings, which Reese answers.
Air Date: May 17, 2012
Written by Greg Plageman & Jonathan Nolan and directed by Richard J. Lewis.
Reese continues to spend time trying to learn more about Finch and his personal life, tailing him to see if he can learn anything. He watches Finch answer a pay phone and check his cell phone before calling Reese and revealing that he has been given a new POI: Henry Peck (Jacob Pitts), a chartered financial analyst, who Reese and Finch find is actually undercover; he is a security analyst for the NSA, and a very good NOC operator. Shortly after Reese begins to survey him, Peck is targeted by an unknown group and his life is destroyed; he is first framed for drug possession and loses his job, and soon after, assassins are sent to hunt him down. Ultimately, Finch and Reese find out that Peck is being targeted by the government; he uncovered some anomalies in some of his past security reports and, unknowingly, discovered the existence of the Machine, and his inquiries into the cause of these anomalies has resulted in the government members who know about the Machine sending black ops assassins from the Intelligence Support Activity, "an obscure army unit that does black ops so dark, technically they don't exist", to silence Peck. Reese saves Peck a number of times from the 3-man assassination team, while Peck continually manages to give him the slip thanks to his NSA training. Peck, while in NYPD protective custody, finally realizes that the Machine really does exist, and hopes to find someone he can tell his discoveries to. Reese sneaks him out of the police station and, after being attacked by an assassin (Marc Menchaca), who he kills, loses Peck again. The next day, Peck arranges a meeting with a reporter, but Finch shows up instead. Finch answers some of his questions about the Machine, but suggests that he stop looking for answers, and then offers him an escape with a new identity. It is unclear what Peck decided, but Finch ends the conversation by telling Peck that Finch was the one who built the Machine. In a series of flashbacks to 2009, Nathan Ingram is ready to deliver the Machine's hardware to his government contact, Alicia Corwin (Elizabeth Marvel). Alicia confirms with Nathan that only seven people in the world know about the Machine, although Finch, unknown to Alicia, makes it eight. Nathan, while talking with Finch, expresses concern about the morality of the way the Machine operates, and asks about making a backdoor entry in the Machine for the irrelevant threats in case the Machine is ever abused, which Finch claims is impossible as it could compromise the system's security. Ultimately, Nathan starts developing a contingency program alone; he hacks Finch's code and accesses the irrelevant list, hoping to help the people who show up as irrelevant. The very first POI is Anna Sanders, who Nathan appears to choose to help save her life. Reese eventually tracks down Finch's former fiancé, Grace (Carrie Preston); and comes to know that their relationship ended when Finch "died" in an accident two years ago. Finch, aware of Reese's efforts, tells Reese that he had to leave Grace for her own protection: if the government ever came to know that he created the Machine, Grace's safety would have been put in jeopardy. Reese subsequently gains a new appreciation of Finch's privacy. With a flashback to the conversation between Finch and Peck, all of
which has been recorded by Alicia, including Finch's admittance to
building the Machine.
Air Date: May 10, 2012
Written by David Slack and directed by Stephen Williams.
Finch gives Reese the day off, as it is his birthday, and hands him a small gift containing a key. Finch does this because he knows that the new number will bring back bad memories for Reese. Finch decides to deal with the next number on his own with help from Detective Fusco: Karen Garner (Dagmara Dominczyk) a woman who is on the run from the U.S. Marshall Service for identity thefts. Finch decides to take help of Detective Carter, but she has a news of her own for Finch regarding a murder in New Rochelle relating to Reese's past. While Carter and FBI agent Donnelly (Brennan Brown) visit New Rochelle to find links related to Reese, Finch, who is in pursuit of Karen, is confronted by Reese, who suspects that Finch is working a case by himself. They find out that Karen's actual name is Sarah Atkins, who is on the run from her husband Brad Jennings (Jeremy Davidson) of the U.S. Marshall Service, who framed Sarah for his own good. In the same way, flashbacks shown throughout the episode reveal that Reese's ex-girlfriend, Jessica Arndt, was ostensibly killed in a car accident, when actually her husband Peter Arndt (Jonno Roberts) killed her by snapping her neck when she hit her head on a table during a fight and then staged the accident to cover it up, eventually leading to Reese killing him in retribution. Sarah is taken into custody by Jennings and is taken out of the city where his plans to kill her are foiled by Reese. Finch asks Carter to look for Reese after losing contact with him. She finds Reese, who is taking Jennings to deal with him, and lets him drive off with Jennings in the back of the trunk, not knowing what Reese will do to him. Later, Carter gets Reese's old military information and shreds it afterward to avoid Donnelly finding out about everything. She then receives a call from a warden letting her know that Jennings is now serving an imprisonment in Torreón penitentiary in Mexico after "a man in a suit" turned him in. Later, Finch gives Reese an address that he forgot to include with the key. The address leads him to an apartment that Finch has now given him. In the last flashback, a man in a wheelchair that Reese accidentally bumped into after learning of Jessica's death turns out to be Finch, who was too late to save Jessica.
Air Date: May 3, 2012
Written by Erik Mountain & Jonathan Nolan and directed by Frederick E. O. Toye.
Tommy Clay (Pablo Schreiber), who works for an armored car service, is working with a team Finch believes will be robbed. Reese works with the team as a rookie as Finch tracks the car in an attempt to predict the robbery. When the team picks up platinum valued at $1.25 million, the vehicle explodes and Reese is shot by Clay. Reese awakes in a hospital and is rescued by Carter. Finch tracks Clay to a motel, where his two partners in crime have been killed. Fusco arrives and realizes that HR is involved in the robbery as Finch finds Clay's partner, a waitress named Ashley (Virginia Kull). Reese finds Clay, and realizes that Clay is not only a perpetrator, but also a victim, just before Clay is killed by Ashley. Ashley leaves with the platinum, but is killed by Lynch, a member of HR, who is in turn killed by Fusco coming to Reese's rescue. Meanwhile, in flashbacks shown throughout the episode, Reese, Snow and Kara are in China to retrieve a stolen computer. Reese is puzzled when Snow orders him to kill Kara, who has allegedy been compromised, when their mission is completed. When the time comes, however, Reese hesitates and is shot by Kara, who was given identical instructions to Reese. Reese realizes that the CIA actually wants the computer destroyed and anyone who had access to it dead, including him and Kara, and escapes the building as an AC130 destroys it. In the present day, Snow and Evans follow a lead that they believe will lead to Reese. They arrive at a hotel, where Evans is killed and Snow is taken hostage by Kara, who survived the air strike.
Air Date: April 26, 2012
Written by Ray Utarnachitt and directed by Kevin Bray.
When the Machine spits out five numbers, naming the Don of each of New York's crime families, Reese and Finch suspect Elias is planning to eliminate his competition, and Carter wants them in protective custody. As the story unfolds, it is intercut with flashbacks of Elias' youth, explaining what motivates him. Reese attempts to ask one of the Dons (Tony Darrow) to follow him but he refuses and is killed in a car explosion set up by Elias; another (Arthur Nascarella) is shot down while in Carter's protective custody. Carter kidnaps the remaining three Dons (Vincent Curatola, Paul Schulze, Ed Setrakian) and takes them to an apartment owned by Finch but are tracked down with ease by HR cops. As Carter guards the Dons, Reese must save Carter's son (Kwoade Cross), who has been kidnapped by Elias in an effort to force Carter to turn the Dons over to him. Elias threatens Carter, trying to force her to open the door while Reese rescues Carter's son and Gianni Moretti (Mark Margolis), Elias's father. One of the Mafia members then reveals he was working with Elias but is killed, as Elias breaks through the door. Non-corrupt police are alerted by Fusco and arrive at the scene to arrest Elias. As Elias is going to his cell, he places a call to his recently rescued father before blowing up the car he is in.
Air Date: April 5, 2012
Written by Ray Utarnachitt and directed by Kevin Bray.
Finch and Reese take on the case of Jordan Hester, who appears to be living a double life with a very small online footprint. They soon discover two Hesters: Reese follows a male Hester (Rhys Coiro) while Finch follows a female Hester (Sarah Wynter), who he believes is a target. Reese finds the male Hester's apartment, and discovers they are making ecstasy while Finch explains to the female Hester what he does and suggests she move somewhere safer. As they do, Fusco meets with a prisoner (Christopher Denham) who was recently part of a similar case, and learns that the woman's name is actually Mary and the real Hester is the man. At her apartment, Mary drugs Finch with ecstasy and destroys his phone and leaves him to die in a fire; Fusco rescues Finch as Mary leaves to kill Hester. Reese destroys the ecstasy lab with Hester's help, then follows Mary to a restaurant, where she is arrested. Carter, who is keeping her distance from Reese and Finch, is approached by the FBI, who are also looking for Reese. They explain Reese's previous involvement in illegal, USA based CIA operations, which they wish to expose, and believe he is now working as a mercenary for Elias. Meanwhile, Finch offers to answer any of Reese's questions about him while under the influence, but Reese chooses not to take advantage of his partner to satisfy his own curiosity.
Air Date: March 29, 2012
Written by Amy Berg and directed by Charles Beeson.
Reese and Finch are puzzled when the Machine names a six-month-old child, Leila Smith, as the latest person of interest. Reese and Finch turn into overly protective parents—with an arsenal at their disposal—as they investigate her origins. The child is re-kidnapped by the Albanian mob and Reese negotiates with Elias to help him get the child back. Carter begins to question her new allegiance with Reese and Finch after Reese's negotiation with Elias goes awry.
Air Date: March 8, 2012
Written by Patrick Harbinson and directed by Larry Teng.
The next number that the Machine dispenses belongs to Adam Saunders (Matt Lauria), a proprietary trader with the Wall Street investment firm Baylor Zimm. Adam is seemingly a high roller who likes to play big and win big, all with the company's money. Reese approaches Adam as an asset manager for Finch, and finds the factors in whatever incident will be happening are deeper than originally believed – Adam is having a clandestine relationship with one of the company's managing partners, Sydney Baylor (Noelle Beck); Adam is being interrogated by Inspector Doug Rasmussen (Scott Cohen) of the SEC, who seems to think that Adam and/or Baylor Zimm as a company are involved in some securities illegalities; and Adam's uncle, Bob Sowoski (John Scurti), a food truck operator, has placed all his life savings into a shady company called Tritak, whose financial investment is increasing. Ultimately, it is established Adam is the target of Rasmussen and Paul Ashton (David Furr), a colleague of Adam's, who are using Tritak to defraud thousands of people out of tens of millions of dollars, as they are aware it will go bust due to a recently passed state legal bill that undercuts its business. Reese is able to protect Adam from assassins sent to kill him, Finch uses his unlimited funds to keep Tritak in operation and save all of the investor's money, and, exposed, Rasmussen and Ashton are arrested – however, only Ashton makes it to Carter's interrogation room, Rasmussen having apparently committed suicide. All parties involved realize Rasmussen and Ashton were working for Carl Elias, who has returned.
Air Date: February 23, 2012
Written by Sean Hennen and directed by Jeff T. Thomas.
The latest number that the Machine dispenses belongs to Michael Cahill (Michael Aronov), who on the surface is an unassuming and upstanding but solitary citizen, which masks the fact of being involved in a major smuggling ring led by a man named Vargas (José Zúñiga). Members of the ring will not hesitate to kill if anyone gets in their way. Reese quickly infiltrates the smuggling ring as one of their own. But when Reese follows Cahill away from the group, Reese finds that his former name is Daniel Tully, and that he is a husband, father and undercover cop, who is deep undercover. Cahill could have long ago put Vargas away, but is waiting to nab the ringleader, a man (Michael Berresse) going by the code name L.O.S. Reese also learns that Vargas probably has a connection working inside the police force. While Finch gets Carter to provide information on the police workings of undercover cops, Reese gets Fusco to re-establish his connections with the dirty cops to flush out Vargas' connection.
Air Date: February 16, 2012
Written by Denise Thé and directed by David Von Ancken.
Finch and Reese return to the library for the first time since Finch's encounter with Root. Reese receives the next number of Darren McGrady (Astro). However, upon arrival at Darren's home, Reese finds that Darren's older brother was murdered three days before, and their apartment a crime scene. With Carter's help, he learns that the perpetrators were three males tied to a local comic-book store owner, whose really a drug dealer, called Andre (Malik Yoba). Darren's brother was killed for kicking out the youths for harasing a waitress at a local chicken shop, they then followed him home and murdered him, Darren saw them leaving and called the Police but they didn't come for ages. In the present, Darren, desperate for justice, pawns his television set and trumpet to buy a gun, and is about to shoot one of the men (Jon Michael Hill) just as Reese finds him and calls Carter. The suspect is arrested by Carter as Reese and Darren rush off in her car, but due to a lack of evidence and at the insistence of a corrupt police captain (Michael Mulheren), is released in less than a day. Reese leaves him at a convent with Fusco, who is still trailing Finch, but Darren escapes. Reese finds him and Darren tries to hire Reese is then hired by Darren to avenge his brothers death, but Reese just keeps a dime and tells Daren he will work to put his brothers killers behind bars, which means no killing. Reese and Darren bond over Sun Tzu's The Art of War and Darren calls Reese a Ronin, A samurai who should have died but now travels the land helping people. Darren also asks Reese if he killed anyone to which Reese replies yes both bad people and good. Darren tells him it sounds like he was tricked into killing good people by his master, which reflexes Reese's back-story with the CIA. Reese uses the techniques from The Art of War to take down the baddies and captures them, he places one of them into a police car with a load of bottles and threatens the other one by burning the drug money until he discloses the location of the murder weapon. However, before he is able to send the gun off to the police, Darren takes the gun runs off in an effort to kill his brother's murderers. Reese and calls Carter and she and Fusco rush off to help Reese, who with the help of Finch, who cuts the power, uses a bean bag gun to take out the killers. Carter and Fusco arrive in time to save Darren and capture the killers but Fusco ends up getting shot in the ass when Andre tries to kill Darren. With Darren Safe Reese drives him to meet his new foster family, Reese gives him a trumpet and tells him his brother would want him to carry on playing. Darren gives Reese a drawing of them both as a sign of gratitude as Reese and Fusco watch him go to live with his new foster family.
Air Date: February 9, 2012
Written by Nic Van Zeebroeck & Michael Sopczynski and directed by Chris Fisher.
Reese and Finch are alerted to Scott Powell (Myk Watford), a dedicated family man and city construction project manager, who was laid off in the face of budget cuts advocated by Congressman Michael Delancey (Victor Slezak). They find he has secretly applied for a weapon permit and sending death threats to Delancey, and they conclude that Powell is planning to assassinate the Congressman. However, as Reese tries to intercept Powell, Finch realizes that the evidence against him has been planted, and they are unable to stop the real assassin from killing Delancey. Powell is arrested by the FBI in the face of overwhelming evidence, forcing Reese to help him escape. With the help of Zoe Morgan (last seen in "The Fix"), Finch identifies Peter Matheson (Damian Young), Delancey's business partner and chief of staff, as the man who hired the assassin and a hacker to kill Delancey and frame Powell, thereby covering up Matheson's corruption. Finch acquires a recording of a conversation between Matheson and the hacker, exonerating Powell. After Matheson is found dead, the hacker, identifying herself as "Root", admits to Finch that she had him killed to tie up loose ends. Root acknowledges Finch, by name, as a worthy adversary.
Air Date: February 2, 2012
Written by Erik Mountain and directed by Richard J. Lewis.
Reese finally decides to meet with Detective Carter, who, by helping him and Finch in their next case, is provided a little insight into what he and Finch do. Their case is Andrea Gutierrez (April Hernandez-Castillo), a self-made attorney who specializes in suing the state of New York on behalf of convicts who claim they were wrongfully imprisoned. Reese and Finch believe the threat to Andrea will be associated with her latest client, Terrence King (Curtiss Cook). King's parole officer, Dominic Galuska (Vito D'Ambrosio), has been setting up convicts to go to prison and profiting off placing their children in foster care. In representing King, Andrea has come to the attention of people who want her silenced until Reese intervenes. Meanwhile, Reese realizes that despite trusting his life to Finch, his partner is still keeping secrets from him. He follows Finch to meeting with Will Ingram (Michael Stahl-David), the son of Finch's previous partner, Nathan Ingram. After Finch bails him out of police custody, Will begins asking questions about his father's death, the nature of his work and his connection to Finch.
Air Date: January 19, 2012
Written by Amanda Segel and directed by Brad Anderson.
Finch takes the wounded Reese to the morgue where he pays a morgue assistant (Ramsey Faragallah) to suture Reese's wounds. While Reese is in a wheelchair, Finch rents an apartment for him. The building's super, Ernest Trask (David Zayas) is the newest number. Trask has bought a gun from a pawn shop and Finch discovers photos of one of the tenants, Lily Thornton (Kellie Barrett), in his office, leading them to conclude that Trask is stalking Lily. Finch follows Lily home and Reese assumes that Trask is going after Lily's boyfriend, Rick (Bill Heck). He confronts Trask, who reveals that Rick is the one stalking Lily. Finch, Trask, and Reese rush to Lily's apartment and in the resulting confrontation, Rick is thrown out of out a window. Meanwhile, Carter attempts to contact Finch. Finch agrees to meet her and offers her the number of Derek Watson, another person of interest, as a show of good faith. As a result, Carter prevents Watson from killing a banker; Finch reveals that this is his purpose. Flashbacks of Finch and his partner, Nathan Ingram, are shown throughout the episode which describe the inner workings of the Machine and show the tensions with the NSA over constitutional rights, as well as attempts by Nathan's NSA contact, Denton Weeks (Cotter Smith), to seize control of it. In the final flashback, the Machine names Nathan as a person of interest.
Air Date: January 12, 2012
Written by David Slack and directed by Stephen Williams.
