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.