Person of Interest: Number Crunch
November 19, 2024 8:17 AM - Season 1, Episode 10 - Subscribe
As Detective Carter deals with the fallout from her recent encounter with Reese, The Machine ups the ante for the duo by giving them four Social Security numbers instead of one.
Finch explains that The Machine has done this before, but that usually the numbers are linked in some way, but he can find no link between these four at that time. Reese races to find the first POI only to discover she's already been murdered.
Detective Carter is given desk duty and meets Agent Mark Snow (played by Michael Kelly) and his partner Agent Tyrell Evans (played by Darien Sills-Evans) who explain they are tracking Reese. They reveal Reese killed his previous partner Kara Stanton after years of working together successfully, and they are concerned that Carter has a similar dynamic with Reese.
In a brief conversation with Fusco about if she's conflicted about whether she should thank or arrest her mysterious protector, Carter definitively answers she would arrest him.
Meanwhile, a second POI is murdered, this time with a bomb in front of Finch. Reese manages to find the remaining surviving POIs, two foster sisters who stole money (along with the 2 dead POIs) from a car crash. Reese contacts Carter. He offers to make her look good by telling her she can catch the people who killed the first two POIs and trying to kill the remaining 2. Reese tells her to meet him in a parking garage for the hand off the killers. Carter thanks him for saving her life before he hangs up. She then calls Snow and tells him where Reese will be.
Luckily, Finch taps into Fusco's desk camera and hears Carter rat Reese out to Snow.
At the parking garage, Reese is surprised to see Snow with Carter. Snow tells Reese that the "slate is clean" and it's "time to come home." When Reese refuses, Tyrell shoots Reese. As Reese flees down a stairwell. he calls Finch who is racing to him. He thanks Finch for giving him a second chance and tells him not to risk rescuing him.
Carter follows the trail of blood Reese leaves in the stairwell. Finch arrives at the parking garage and goes to help Reese. Carter comes out and orders them to stop, and recognizes Finch. She realizes that Finch is Reese's partner. After a moment of hesitation, she holsters her gun and helps Finch get Reese into the car. Finch drives away and Carter watches them leave.
Points of Interest:
This is the first episode with the Machine putting out multiple numbers.
While Carter says she wouldn't hesitate to arrest Reese over thanking him, when it comes down to it, she helps him escape.
Carter now knows that Finch and Reese are working together.
The book that Reese picks up early in the episode is the Ghost in the Machine by Arthur Koestler.
Finch explains that The Machine has done this before, but that usually the numbers are linked in some way, but he can find no link between these four at that time. Reese races to find the first POI only to discover she's already been murdered.
Detective Carter is given desk duty and meets Agent Mark Snow (played by Michael Kelly) and his partner Agent Tyrell Evans (played by Darien Sills-Evans) who explain they are tracking Reese. They reveal Reese killed his previous partner Kara Stanton after years of working together successfully, and they are concerned that Carter has a similar dynamic with Reese.
In a brief conversation with Fusco about if she's conflicted about whether she should thank or arrest her mysterious protector, Carter definitively answers she would arrest him.
Meanwhile, a second POI is murdered, this time with a bomb in front of Finch. Reese manages to find the remaining surviving POIs, two foster sisters who stole money (along with the 2 dead POIs) from a car crash. Reese contacts Carter. He offers to make her look good by telling her she can catch the people who killed the first two POIs and trying to kill the remaining 2. Reese tells her to meet him in a parking garage for the hand off the killers. Carter thanks him for saving her life before he hangs up. She then calls Snow and tells him where Reese will be.
Luckily, Finch taps into Fusco's desk camera and hears Carter rat Reese out to Snow.
At the parking garage, Reese is surprised to see Snow with Carter. Snow tells Reese that the "slate is clean" and it's "time to come home." When Reese refuses, Tyrell shoots Reese. As Reese flees down a stairwell. he calls Finch who is racing to him. He thanks Finch for giving him a second chance and tells him not to risk rescuing him.
Carter follows the trail of blood Reese leaves in the stairwell. Finch arrives at the parking garage and goes to help Reese. Carter comes out and orders them to stop, and recognizes Finch. She realizes that Finch is Reese's partner. After a moment of hesitation, she holsters her gun and helps Finch get Reese into the car. Finch drives away and Carter watches them leave.
Points of Interest:
This is the first episode with the Machine putting out multiple numbers.
While Carter says she wouldn't hesitate to arrest Reese over thanking him, when it comes down to it, she helps him escape.
Carter now knows that Finch and Reese are working together.
The book that Reese picks up early in the episode is the Ghost in the Machine by Arthur Koestler.
"Finch, are you OK? .. Harold!?"
Awww.
I disliked the salon thing - in my headcannon, Reese is a polymath that includes being a super-talented self-hairdresser and that he's flummoxed because, "wtf is wrong with the job that I already did?."
Reese in the stairwell, that's... laconic in the extreme - the etymology is from Laconia - Sparta. Spartans were pieces of shit. [brettdevereaux]
Also, how he talks with villains/ new people. On the original viewing, I thought that he was on the spectrum, but this time around, I think that he just might just be an asshole?
posted by porpoise at 10:42 PM on November 19, 2024 [1 favorite]
Awww.
I disliked the salon thing - in my headcannon, Reese is a polymath that includes being a super-talented self-hairdresser and that he's flummoxed because, "wtf is wrong with the job that I already did?."
Reese in the stairwell, that's... laconic in the extreme - the etymology is from Laconia - Sparta. Spartans were pieces of shit. [brettdevereaux]
Also, how he talks with villains/ new people. On the original viewing, I thought that he was on the spectrum, but this time around, I think that he just might just be an asshole?
posted by porpoise at 10:42 PM on November 19, 2024 [1 favorite]
I think Agent Snow is such an asshole that Carter partially decided to switch sides just to spite him...
They did a good job of keeping me guessing (at least on first watch) whether Carter would help John or shoot him.
Also this episode expanded The Machine's POV as a storytelling device: It revealed the aftermath of the car crash gradually throughout the episode.
Fusco gradually realizing how much Harold knows is endlessly entertaining. "You can hear me ALL THE TIME?"
posted by mmoncur at 12:14 AM on November 22, 2024 [3 favorites]
They did a good job of keeping me guessing (at least on first watch) whether Carter would help John or shoot him.
Also this episode expanded The Machine's POV as a storytelling device: It revealed the aftermath of the car crash gradually throughout the episode.
Fusco gradually realizing how much Harold knows is endlessly entertaining. "You can hear me ALL THE TIME?"
posted by mmoncur at 12:14 AM on November 22, 2024 [3 favorites]
This is an episode where the person of interest drama is more of a backdrop to what's happening with the main characters.
Oh yes; the Murder on the Orient Express they-all-stole-the-money plot is all rather silly and all rather unconvincing. The introduction of Snow as another antagonist, on the other hand; what great casting.
"Finch, are you OK? .. Harold!?"
The gradual shift from formal to first-name in this season is really sweet. Reese has called him Harold a few times in the previous episodes, but always in a more pointed and point-scoring I-know-something-about-you way; is this the first maybe-I-care-about-you usage?
Also this episode expanded The Machine's POV as a storytelling device
Yep yep yep and first-watcher viewpoint here: it feels like this is an ongoing expansion throughout this season. There are Machine-eye interstitials right from the start, but initially they just feel like nothing more than visual fluff; we're gradually getting more significant stuff shown in those. (I've reached the end of S1 but I'm trying to keep comments here nominally first-watch, so I'll probably have more to say on this later.)
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 10:55 PM on November 30, 2024 [3 favorites]
Oh yes; the Murder on the Orient Express they-all-stole-the-money plot is all rather silly and all rather unconvincing. The introduction of Snow as another antagonist, on the other hand; what great casting.
"Finch, are you OK? .. Harold!?"
The gradual shift from formal to first-name in this season is really sweet. Reese has called him Harold a few times in the previous episodes, but always in a more pointed and point-scoring I-know-something-about-you way; is this the first maybe-I-care-about-you usage?
Also this episode expanded The Machine's POV as a storytelling device
Yep yep yep and first-watcher viewpoint here: it feels like this is an ongoing expansion throughout this season. There are Machine-eye interstitials right from the start, but initially they just feel like nothing more than visual fluff; we're gradually getting more significant stuff shown in those. (I've reached the end of S1 but I'm trying to keep comments here nominally first-watch, so I'll probably have more to say on this later.)
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 10:55 PM on November 30, 2024 [3 favorites]
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posted by miss-lapin at 8:25 AM on November 19, 2024 [3 favorites]