Person of Interest: Firewall
November 30, 2024 6:04 PM - Season 1, Episode 23 - Subscribe
When a psychologist's number comes up, Reese must protect her from the corrupt cop crime organization HR while eluding capture by the FBI.
Finch introduces the newest number, a psychologist, Caroline Turing, who works with famous and rich clients. As she arrives at work, Reese is contacted by Fusco who informs him that he has a meeting with HR. Reese asked Fusco to get info about Turing.
Fusco, accompanied by Officer Simmons, arrives at a meeting with HR brass. Fusco and Simmons are told that they are to participate in the murder and cover-up for hire. When Fusco sees the picture of the victim, he realizes that it is the same psychologist that Reese had asked him to investigate. He contacts Reese with this information.
That evening, Simmons advises the murderers on the best way to dispatch Turing without being detected. Reese saves Turing from the attack, but he is caught on surveillance cameras displayed at the New York Police Real Time Crime Center. FBI Agent Donnelly is contacted.
Finch contacts Carter for help and by observing the hotel surveillance, she is able to help Reese and Turing avoid both HR and the FBI.
Meanwhile, Corwin has broken into the Library and sees the computer system and the list of numbers. Zoe, who was brought in by Finch to help, is investigating the client who was threatening Turing and discovers that he is an imposter. She proceeds to Turing's office, where she discovers that Turing is also an imposter.
Carter observes Fusco texting someone and confronts him with the information that she believes that he is working for HR. Fusco is forced at gunpoint to reveal that he has been working for Reese and Finch. They realize they both work with the same people and have been intentionally kept in the dark about the other. Finch contacts the two and advises them to go downtown to help Reese.
Reese tells Turing to leave the water treatment plant where they are holed up and meet Finch. Fusco and Carter arrive and confront Reese about the fact that they were both helping him but unknown to the other.
Finch is waiting for Turing at the water treatment plant when Corwin suddenly gets into the car and at gunpoint, confronts him about the Machine. Corwin is then shot in the head by Turing, who gets into the car and introduces herself to Finch as Root.
Zoe contacts Reese and informs him that Turing had put the contract on herself to lure him out. Reese suddenly realizes that the real target was Finch. He goes to the rendezvous point near the water treatment plant and finds the murdered Alicia Corwin and that Finch is gone.
Reese goes back to the surveillance camera on the corner of 49th and 6th and looking directly up at the surveillance camera speaks aloud, "He's in danger now because he was working for you. And now you're going to help me get him back." As Reese is looking into the camera the image changes into the camera's point of view and shows an apparent readout screen in a box next to Reese, which identifies him as "Monitoring Asset: Reese, John." When Reese speaks to the camera, his voice is digitally identified/recorded and after he stops speaking the readout screen immediately changes to "ERROR: Continuity of Operations Compromised" followed by the flashing words in red "Evaluating Options". Instantly a nearby pay phone rings, Reese walks over to the phone and answers it
Points of Interest
Fusco and Carter now know they both work Reese and Finch. Up until this point, Reese has insisted keeping both of them in the dark. Both have been suspicious of the other throughout the season as a result.
Root first "appeared" in s1 e13 Root Cause, but her identity was concealed. She promised, however, that she and Finch would "meet again soon." She makes good on her promise in this episode. Agent Donnelly is also introduced in that episode.
This is the first time The Machine and Reese directly interact.
The box around Caroline Turing is yellow, the same as Reese and Finch. This indicates her awareness of the existence of the Machine.
With Reese in the backseat, Carter and Fusco drive by a huge billboard for the movie "Think Like A Man" which had Taraji P. Henson in a starring role.
Roots uses Alan Turing's last name for this alias. Turing is widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science. The Turing Test is a method for evaluating a machine's ability to think like a human.
To celebrate Person of Interest airing on Netflix starting September 1, 2015, IGN.com asked Jonathan Nolan and Greg Plageman to pick a few of their favorite episodes. Nolan picked "Firewall" because it was one of the greatest experiences he ever had working on anything, especially since Root is one of his favorite characters to write for.
Both this episode and pilot end with Reese looking into a security camera. Moreover, the camera used by Reese to contact the Machine in this episode is in the same location as that used at the end of the pilot.
In addition, in both this episode and the pilot, the POI is a woman thought to be the victim. It turned out, both women are actually the perpetrator.
Finch introduces the newest number, a psychologist, Caroline Turing, who works with famous and rich clients. As she arrives at work, Reese is contacted by Fusco who informs him that he has a meeting with HR. Reese asked Fusco to get info about Turing.
Fusco, accompanied by Officer Simmons, arrives at a meeting with HR brass. Fusco and Simmons are told that they are to participate in the murder and cover-up for hire. When Fusco sees the picture of the victim, he realizes that it is the same psychologist that Reese had asked him to investigate. He contacts Reese with this information.
That evening, Simmons advises the murderers on the best way to dispatch Turing without being detected. Reese saves Turing from the attack, but he is caught on surveillance cameras displayed at the New York Police Real Time Crime Center. FBI Agent Donnelly is contacted.
Finch contacts Carter for help and by observing the hotel surveillance, she is able to help Reese and Turing avoid both HR and the FBI.
Meanwhile, Corwin has broken into the Library and sees the computer system and the list of numbers. Zoe, who was brought in by Finch to help, is investigating the client who was threatening Turing and discovers that he is an imposter. She proceeds to Turing's office, where she discovers that Turing is also an imposter.
Carter observes Fusco texting someone and confronts him with the information that she believes that he is working for HR. Fusco is forced at gunpoint to reveal that he has been working for Reese and Finch. They realize they both work with the same people and have been intentionally kept in the dark about the other. Finch contacts the two and advises them to go downtown to help Reese.
Reese tells Turing to leave the water treatment plant where they are holed up and meet Finch. Fusco and Carter arrive and confront Reese about the fact that they were both helping him but unknown to the other.
Finch is waiting for Turing at the water treatment plant when Corwin suddenly gets into the car and at gunpoint, confronts him about the Machine. Corwin is then shot in the head by Turing, who gets into the car and introduces herself to Finch as Root.
Zoe contacts Reese and informs him that Turing had put the contract on herself to lure him out. Reese suddenly realizes that the real target was Finch. He goes to the rendezvous point near the water treatment plant and finds the murdered Alicia Corwin and that Finch is gone.
Reese goes back to the surveillance camera on the corner of 49th and 6th and looking directly up at the surveillance camera speaks aloud, "He's in danger now because he was working for you. And now you're going to help me get him back." As Reese is looking into the camera the image changes into the camera's point of view and shows an apparent readout screen in a box next to Reese, which identifies him as "Monitoring Asset: Reese, John." When Reese speaks to the camera, his voice is digitally identified/recorded and after he stops speaking the readout screen immediately changes to "ERROR: Continuity of Operations Compromised" followed by the flashing words in red "Evaluating Options". Instantly a nearby pay phone rings, Reese walks over to the phone and answers it
Points of Interest
Fusco and Carter now know they both work Reese and Finch. Up until this point, Reese has insisted keeping both of them in the dark. Both have been suspicious of the other throughout the season as a result.
Root first "appeared" in s1 e13 Root Cause, but her identity was concealed. She promised, however, that she and Finch would "meet again soon." She makes good on her promise in this episode. Agent Donnelly is also introduced in that episode.
This is the first time The Machine and Reese directly interact.
The box around Caroline Turing is yellow, the same as Reese and Finch. This indicates her awareness of the existence of the Machine.
With Reese in the backseat, Carter and Fusco drive by a huge billboard for the movie "Think Like A Man" which had Taraji P. Henson in a starring role.
Roots uses Alan Turing's last name for this alias. Turing is widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science. The Turing Test is a method for evaluating a machine's ability to think like a human.
To celebrate Person of Interest airing on Netflix starting September 1, 2015, IGN.com asked Jonathan Nolan and Greg Plageman to pick a few of their favorite episodes. Nolan picked "Firewall" because it was one of the greatest experiences he ever had working on anything, especially since Root is one of his favorite characters to write for.
Both this episode and pilot end with Reese looking into a security camera. Moreover, the camera used by Reese to contact the Machine in this episode is in the same location as that used at the end of the pilot.
In addition, in both this episode and the pilot, the POI is a woman thought to be the victim. It turned out, both women are actually the perpetrator.
I love how the first season neatly and gradually evolved The Machine from a MacGuffin that feeds the team cases to a storytelling device, and finally to a character in the story.
I felt bad for Alicia Corwin, she could have had an episode or two where she confronted Finch with what she knew but she just got instantly sidelined by Root.
This is the second time they've introduced a bad guy without showing their face, then had an "innocent victim" POI turn out to be that bad guy (Elias and then Root) and somehow they got away with it...
Note: As of December 1st Person of Interest isn't on Freevee any more. Fortunately I still have it on iTunes from when I first watched years ago so I'll keep going with Season 2...
posted by mmoncur at 7:14 PM on December 1, 2024 [2 favorites]
I felt bad for Alicia Corwin, she could have had an episode or two where she confronted Finch with what she knew but she just got instantly sidelined by Root.
This is the second time they've introduced a bad guy without showing their face, then had an "innocent victim" POI turn out to be that bad guy (Elias and then Root) and somehow they got away with it...
Note: As of December 1st Person of Interest isn't on Freevee any more. Fortunately I still have it on iTunes from when I first watched years ago so I'll keep going with Season 2...
posted by mmoncur at 7:14 PM on December 1, 2024 [2 favorites]
Yeah mmoncur; in the original run I rooted (heh, er..) for Corwin to be part of the team moreso than the coppers.
posted by porpoise at 8:57 PM on December 1, 2024 [1 favorite]
posted by porpoise at 8:57 PM on December 1, 2024 [1 favorite]
As of December 1st Person of Interest isn't on Freevee any more.
YES I KNOW. I did at least get to this episode before it disappeared; I assume it'll move to one of the other ad-supported streamers, I'll rejoin then.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 4:45 PM on December 3, 2024 [1 favorite]
YES I KNOW. I did at least get to this episode before it disappeared; I assume it'll move to one of the other ad-supported streamers, I'll rejoin then.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 4:45 PM on December 3, 2024 [1 favorite]
"Turing" totally jangled my "oh-ho, right, I see what you did there" receptors too.
Love that Carter and Fusco finally realized they're both on the same team.
The ending, with the Machine seemingly telephoning Reese; oh, such a good reveal and such a good cliffhanger for this first-watcher. WAIT WHAT REESE AND THE MACHINE ARE GONNA TALK TO EACH OTHER?!
And it so nicely pays off the bit of contingency business at the start of the previous episode: "it's time I knew how the machine communicates with you" and "wouldn't you want me to keep doing this if something ever happened to you?"
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 5:00 PM on December 3, 2024 [3 favorites]
Love that Carter and Fusco finally realized they're both on the same team.
The ending, with the Machine seemingly telephoning Reese; oh, such a good reveal and such a good cliffhanger for this first-watcher. WAIT WHAT REESE AND THE MACHINE ARE GONNA TALK TO EACH OTHER?!
And it so nicely pays off the bit of contingency business at the start of the previous episode: "it's time I knew how the machine communicates with you" and "wouldn't you want me to keep doing this if something ever happened to you?"
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 5:00 PM on December 3, 2024 [3 favorites]
As of December 1st Person of Interest isn't on Freevee any more.
YES I KNOW. I did at least get to this episode before it disappeared; I assume it'll move to one of the other ad-supported streamers, I'll rejoin then.
It also just stopped being free on Amazon Prime. Annoying, as I'm really getting into my rewatch.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 7:36 PM on December 3, 2024 [2 favorites]
YES I KNOW. I did at least get to this episode before it disappeared; I assume it'll move to one of the other ad-supported streamers, I'll rejoin then.
It also just stopped being free on Amazon Prime. Annoying, as I'm really getting into my rewatch.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 7:36 PM on December 3, 2024 [2 favorites]
It's back on Amazon Prime again, as of today.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 1:47 PM on December 6, 2024 [3 favorites]
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 1:47 PM on December 6, 2024 [3 favorites]
Thanks for the heads up!
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 6:06 PM on December 6, 2024
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 6:06 PM on December 6, 2024
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Fusco: "Can't trust us, how are we supposed to trust you?"
Reese: "Trust is complicated, Lionel. For example, I'm sitting in a police car with one cop who tried to murder me, and another who spent six months trying to lock me up."
Carter has The Best facial expressions.
The first season, all in all, was a tidy piece of writing.
posted by porpoise at 5:39 PM on December 1, 2024 [3 favorites]