Person of Interest: Wolf and Cub
November 27, 2024 5:06 AM - Season 1, Episode 14 - Subscribe

The Machine identifies Darren, a teenager whose brother was just murdered, as the next POI. Meanwhile, Finch is growing concerned that the son of his former business partner is dangerously close to finding out about The Machine.

Fourteen-year-old Darren McGrady calls 911 to report that his brother Travis McGrady has been shot.

Finch tells Reese to check on their next number, Darren, while he rebuilds the hardware and electronics that had to be dismantled and/or destroyed to thwart Root's hack. Reese calls Carter about the case and she informs him that Travis was shot by three gang members, but the first responders didn't arrive until a half-hour after Darren called 911. The two boys were orphans, and Darren left the precinct house rather than wait around for Child Services. When Carter asks him how he and Finch find the people who need help, Reese just smiles. Carter tells Reese to check with Detective Hill.

However, Detective Hill tells Reese that Travis was protecting a fellow waitress, Lisa, against the gang members at the restaurant where they worked. Travis tossed one of them out, and the detective figures that that they shot Travis afterward. No one in the neighborhood will admit to seeing anything, and Hill doesn't see any point in trying to find Darren.

Reese manages to track one of the killers, Brick, to a local comic book shop. Darren draws a gun on Brick and demands the return of his brother's hat. Reese disarms Darren ,and Carter arrests Brick, but not before he threatens Darren with further retaliation. Reese takes Brick's cellphone.

Darren and Reese talk and Reese assures Darren he can take care of the people who killed his brother. He arranges with Fusco to drop Darren off at a youth group home. Reese uses drawings from Darren's sketchpad to track down the basketball court. Reese calls Finch do a background check on some of the gang members, but Harold is at his cover job. Will Ingram shows up to talk to Harold about a champagne cork he found with a reference to the Machine. Finch claims that he has no idea what it means, and Will says that he’s going to talk to Alicia Corwin about it. Finc force pairs his phone to Will's.

Darren escapes the group home and John, consulting Darren's sketchbook, identifies a bar and goes there. Darren is there trying to get the location of the other gang members who killed his brother. Reese arrives in time to save Darren from being attacked and takes him to a diner. Darren refuses to give up his quest for revenge, instead offering to pay Reese everything he has so that he’ll take on the job. Reese takes a single quarter from him and stipulates that there won’t be any killing.

Reese manages to finally get the location of the murder weapon out of one of the gang members by blow torching his money.

Will sets up a meeting with Alicia, unaware that Finch is watching them. When he asks her about the note and the $1 government contract, Alicia asks if he really wants to know the truth about his father. When Will says that he does, Alicia lies and says that Nathan’s company went bankrupt and that the government did him a favor and bought it from him so he wouldn’t have to cover the debt. When Will asks her what the reference to the Machine means, Alicia dismisses it as Nathan’s depression and tells Will to let it go.

Reese and Darren go to the tenement building and probe the chimney for the gun. When Darren says that he wants to go after Andre, the head of the gang, Reese points out that Andre wasn't the one who pulled the trigger. He warns the boy that if he keeps going after anybody who was connected to Travis’ shooting, he’ll end up dead and Travis still won’t be alive. Once they find the gun, Reese turns away to call Carter and tell her where it is. She warns him that she had to release Brick, and Reese realizes that Brick will be able to identify Darren. When Reese turns back to warn Darren, he discovers that Darren has snuck away and taken the gun with him.

Darren sneaks into the comic book store with the gun and draws on Andre and Brick as they meet in the back room.Andre tells Darren to shoot Brick, who caused all of the problems by killing Travis. Darren considers but then finally lowers the gun, and Andre takes it from him. He warns Darren that he reads too many comic books, and that shooting someone for revenge doesn't happen in real life.

At that moment, the lights go out and Reese comes in through the door, stunning the gangsters. Andre grabs Darren as a shield and runs outside just as Carter and Fusco pull up. They exchange fire and Carter manages to graze Andre. The leader loses his grip on Darren and tries to shoot the boy, but Fusco leaps in the way and takes the shot. Reese arrives in time to shoot Andre unconscious and then slips away as the police arrive, and Darren thanks Fusco for saving his life.

Will comes to see Finch and explains that he’s taken a job in the Sudan and is leaving immediately. He admits that it’s hard to believe that the man he admired all of his life turned out to be an ordinary guy, and Finch tells him that Nathan always boasted that Will was his proudest achievement.

Reese drops off Darren at the group home and tells him that they have a lead on a good foster family. He assures the boy that if they’re not good, he’ll take care of them for him, showing him the quarter he took and saying he's still on the clock. Darren gives him a sketch of himself and Reese as partners in crime, and Reese thanks him. Reese also returns Darren's trumpet and says he made arrangements for Darren to attend music school.

Fusco arrives to make sure Darren gets into the home. Once he’s alone with Reese, he gives his report on Finch (whom he's been following). Finch has used the name “Harold Wren” since attending college at MIT, where he met Nathan. The two men graduated in the same class and were together since then. However, the Wren identity is also a fake ID, and Fusco has no idea what Finch’s real name is. Reese grudgingly admits that Fusco would have made a good cop if not for a few bad choices, and Fusco points out that Reese is the one who has him following Finch. As the two talk, the Machine classifies Reese as a potential threat to Finch and chooses to monitor him as a result.
posted by miss-lapin (4 comments total)
 
I liked Reese's explanation to the kid that you can't just go kill everyone, probably something that Reese has tried before?
posted by porpoise at 11:34 AM on November 28 [1 favorite]


I think of Reese in this case acting like Giles towards Buffy when he shields her from having to murder a villain at the end of s5. Giles says of course Buffy can't kill him because she's good, but he isn't and does so to protect her. (She has her own burdens, but this is his.) I think Reese sees himself in a similar vein-he's willing to be a killer (when necessary) to protect others from becoming like him.
posted by miss-lapin at 1:22 PM on November 28 [1 favorite]


Andre the comic-store owner being the gang boss feels like a bit of a retread of the Elias hiding-in-plain-sight thing.

Reese and Darren are a lot of fun together but GOOD GRIEF DARREN stop trying to get yourself killed.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 11:40 PM on November 30 [1 favorite]


As the two talk, the Machine classifies Reese as a potential threat to Finch and chooses to monitor him as a result.

Another WAIT THE MACHINE DID WHAT first-time-watcher moment, fwiw.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 11:42 PM on November 30 [1 favorite]


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