Person of Interest: The High Road
December 5, 2024 8:13 AM - Season 2, Episode 6 - Subscribe

Reese and Zoe pretend to be a married couples living in the suburbs to get close to this week's POI.

The episode opens to a flashback of Finch and Nathan in a park. Nathan starts by discussing his trial separation from his wife and asks how anyone knows when they've found The One. He then says work is the only thing keeping him going. Finch demonstrates how the Machine works by pointing to a young man on a bench. The Machine reveals he's a violin prodigy brought low by his alcoholism. He explains to Nathan that the Machine identifies outliers. When Nathan continues to doubt, Finch brings up information on the grad student Nathan spent the night with. He explains that the Machine is learning human nature by watching everyone all the time.

As they talk, the Machine brings up the image of a woman, Grace Hendricks, who is painting nearby. There are no anomalies that Finch can see and he figures the Machine showed it to them due to a bug.


Finch tells Reese in the library that this week's POI is Graham Wyler, who owns a hardware store in Far Rockaway. After hearing a description of Wyler's family, he conjectures that he's going to watch the most boring family in New York.

While watching Wyler give his daughter Bruce Springsteen tickets, Reese concedes to Finch that Graham is a saint. But Finch has been checking Graham's employment history and called some people in Fort Wayne while posing as a genealogist. He found a death certificate revealing that the real Graham Wyler died in 1997. A police officer comes by, points out that Reese is parked in a no-parking zone, and tickets him.

Reese goes back to the library and admits that it's hard to follow people in the suburbs. Finch has found a home for sale near the Wylers and tells Reese that he'll move in tomorrow. However, he warns Reese that there is one part of his cover he'll have to get on his own. Reese meets with Zoe and offers her a diamond ring asking her to be his wife.

The next day, Reese, Zoe, and Bear move into the house. As they go in, Finch calls to thank Zoe for offering her services. Reese plans to visit Graham at his store and introduce himself, and figures that he can manipulate him into inviting them over. The doorbell rings and Reese instinctively draws his gun. It's Graham and Connie (played by Alicia Witt), who have come by to welcome them to the neighborhood. Graham invites them over for the barbeque they're hosting and Zoe says that they'll be there. Reese is surprised by how easily they were invited over by their targets.

At the barbeque, Zoe chats with Connie and confirms that they've been living there for ten years. Connie asks how Zoe met Reese and the fixer makes up a story about Reese helping her when she was stranded in a bad part of town.

Izzy asks Graham who they know in Philadelphia and shows him a postcard from there that came in the mail. As Izzy fawns over Bear, Graham discovers that the postcard has nothing on it but his family name and address. He asks Reese to man the grill and goes inside, and Reese takes the beer bottle Graham was drinking from. He later lifts Graham's fingerprints from the bottle and sends them Carter for identification.

Graham's name is actually Lloyd Pruitt, and he is wanted for a string of robberies. Lloyd worked with a crew: Chris Vaughn and Daniel Burnside. They got caught in 1997 robbing a jewelry store and did 12 years. Lloyd missed the job and disappeared, and Vaughn was convicted of shooting a guard. Carter sends Reese photos of the men and Reese confirms that he saw Vaughn earlier that day.

Asking Reese to install a security system (Reese's cover job is home security), Finch arrives and rigs the house for surveillance. Later while Zoe and Reese watch the camera feeds, Finch explains that Graham was a manual safe cracker and expresses admiration for his ability. Reading how the robbery went down, they realize Vaughn shot and killed the guard on the robbery because Graham wasn't there to open to safe for them. His former partners likely blame him for the murder that Vaughn committed.

Finch goes out on the street and communicates with the Machine, having it look for hidden correlations between people. Grace walks by and the Machine flags her as an anomaly. Finch checks her records and confirms that she has nothing dark or sinister in her background, and he realizes that's what sets her apart. That, and her interest in Charles Dickens.

Vaughn threatens Graham's family unless Graham helps them with a new job. He agrees, returning home to write Connie a letter and then leaving again to go on the job. Reese and Carter follow and manage to stop the robbery while extricating Graham so he can return to his family. But Graham stops Reese and voluntarily turns himself in.

Later, Reese goes to Graham's house to say good-bye. Graham reveals he has turned state's evidence in return for a reduced sentence served through house arrest. As Reese walks back to the car, Zoe is waiting for him. Reese says that it was fun while it lasted, and Zoe suggests they stay one more night and play some poker.

Finch goes to the park and buys an ice cream cone from a vendor who has seen him there many times before. Finch gets a text message from the Machine with Grace's name and goes over to talk to her.

Points of Interest

Carter unofficially meets Zoe Morgan, who comically introduces herself as "John's Wife."

It is revealed that Finch met his former fiance Grace because of The Machine's direct and repeated intervention.

While the episode is set in Far Rockaway, it was shot on Long Island, in Floral Park, which is located in the western part of Nassau County.

Zoe jokingly threatens to fight for custody of Bear in the "divorce."
posted by miss-lapin (4 comments total)
 
This is one of my favorite case-of-the week episodes mostly because of the comedy and the chemistry between John and Zoe.

On rewatch, Graham had the calmest reaction to his new next-door neighbor appearing out of context disguised as a member of his criminal safecracker gang that I could possibly imagine.
posted by mmoncur at 3:59 AM on December 6, 2024 [2 favorites]


I think Graham's response is muted because he doesn't want to alarm his wife.
posted by miss-lapin at 12:25 PM on December 6, 2024


Awww;

Ingram "Hmm. Well, at least the machine is showing us it has good taste."

"Woof";
Morgan "When this is over, I might have to fight you over the custody of the dog."

I like "Lets not shoot any girlscouts on our first day, ok?" Morgan.
posted by porpoise at 8:58 PM on December 7, 2024 [2 favorites]


Yeah, this one was fun. Another one where Finch's wealth is very convenient: surveillance in the suburbs isn't so hard if you can simply buy your way in.

Graham/Lloyd is another bad-code counter-example I think.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 3:08 PM on December 8, 2024 [1 favorite]


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