Person of Interest: Proteus
December 23, 2024 9:07 AM - Season 2, Episode 17 - Subscribe

After the Machine gives Reese and Finch six numbers at once, their search for clues leads them to a coastal town where they are forced to ride out a storm with a group of locals in a police station. However, as the weather rages outside, a sinister situation arises inside when they realize there is an unidentified killer hiding among them.

The Machine tracks a pattern of anomalies from San Francisco to New York and Owen Island off the coast. The island is currently under storm warning from a strong approaching nor'easter.

As Reese and Finch exit a movie theater, the two discuss having gone three days without a number from The Machine. A nearby phone rings, and Finch answers it. They go back to the Library and discover that The Machine has sent them six Numbers. There is no apparent connection between the six and five of them are either reported missing or simply gone. The sixth man, Jack Rollins, is an antique dealer in Brooklyn. There's no indication that he's disappeared and Reese goes to check on him while Finch asks Carter to check on the other five men.

When Reese enters Rollins' apartment, he discovers the place ransacked, but there's no sign of Rollins. Reese does find a bill for a rental property on Owen Island. Finch checks Rollins' credit card account and confirms that he left New York suddenly. Reese heads for Owen Island even though it's in the middle of the storm.

At the precinct house, Carter calls SAIC Agent Moss in with the files on the missing men. The first one was a French exchange student, Henri Musset, who disappeared seven years ago. Special Agent Alan Fahey has apparently filed all five reports, and Moss explains that Fahey handles identity theft cases. Carter tells Moss that she'll handle the follow-up and then asks Moss what he knows about Cal Beecher. When it's clear Carter won't back down, Moss tells her that he hasn't seen the IAB files, but warns her that from the red flags raised, her boyfriend is bad news.

Carter calls Fahey, who is in a parked car in New York City, and asks him about the files. She points out that there's a pattern of missing photos at each crime scene, but Fahey notes that the NYPD wasn't interested in the information he put together. When he wonders why Carter is interested, she tells him that she has a confidential informant who has turned up new information. Fahey refuses to discuss it with her if she won't give the informant's name.

Reese arrives on Owen Island and checks on Rollins' rental house. Meanwhile, Finch has gone to Rollins' house. He tells Reese what Carter discovered and finds empty photo frames in the basement, matching the M.O. in the other five cases. They lose their signal and Bear starts sniffing at the furnace door. When Finch opens it, he finds human teeth and ashes inside.

Reese hears someone moving and goes to investigate. He finds himself face-to-face with Fahey and identifies himself as Marshall Jennings. Fahey explains that he just got there and is also looking for Rollins. His superiors weren't interested in Rollins' disappearance or its relationship to the other cases, so he came to Owen Island himself to investigate. The two look around and confirm that Rollins was there recently, and Fahey suggests that they go to the local police station and requisition manpower to conduct a search.

While discussing the situation with Carter, Finch figures that the man who killed Rollins also killed the other five missing men and that the killer may be incorporating their personalities into his own. He's still unable to contact Reese because of the storm and tells Carter that he's going to fly to Owen Island to warn his partner about the kind of violent man they're dealing with.

Reese and Fahey meet with Deputy Erica Schmidt, who explains that the chief is on the mainland supervising that end of the island evacuation. She doesn't have the time or interest to help them and figures that if Rollins was on the island, he was evacuated with the other renters.

While Reese asks Fahey for more information on the case, several other people arrive at the police station seeking shelter. Among them are a newly married couple, two locals, a businessman who recently bought property on the island. One of the locals say they saw someone on the docks. Reese and Fahey go to investigate and find two other men, who they take back to the station.

Returning to the station, they find Finch who landed on the island claiming to be a stormchaser. Reese and Finch manage to privately chat about the six numbers. They figure that The Machine sent them the numbers of the six dead men that the killer "borrowed" his identities from. Once the killer gets bored with his new life, he moves on, kills another man, and takes their life. Finch figures that he might be able to pinpoint who the killer is by comparing him to his six victims and seeing what identity traits carry over.

When Reese goes to the generator shack, Fahey shows him a pile of burned identity papers belonging to Rollins. They realize that the killer destroyed the evidence of his new Rollins I.D. and could be any of the people inside.

In New York, Cal comes back to see Carter, who is going over video footage of Rollins seemingly leaving and then returning to his former shop in Chicago. Cal immediately picks up on the same thing that Carter did: the man coming back is taller than the first and has an opposite dominant hand.

Using his storm equipment Finch rigs a lie detector and Reese and Fahey proceed to interview the others to determine who the killer is. Carter attempts to call the sheriff's office on the emergency frequency, and asks to speak to Reese. Before Reese can answer, the power goes out. Reese discovers that someone unplugged the generator and restores the power. When the lights come back on, Finch finds Erica murdered, stabbed in the chest.

Finch checks on the radio equipment and discovers that the killer has damaged it.When she realizes she can't get through on the radio, Carter prepares to head out to Owen island, and Cal insists on going with her.

When the fisherman goes missing, Reese tells Fahey to get the others off the island while he goes to get the fisherman.

As Cal drives Carter to the island, he tries to get her to open up about her cold shoulder toward him. She finally tells Cal that Moss warned her about his IAB record, and Cal points out that since he's in Narcotics, he gets a half-dozen false accusations a year. As they argue, Cal speeds up, demanding to know what Moss specifically told her about him. He finally slams on the brakes when he notices he's lost control, and realizes that Carter is ready to draw her gun. When he wonders if she thinks he could hurt her, Carter says that she doesn't know but that she's sure she doesn't want to hurt him.

At the docks, Reese checks the nets that Ethan was at earlier and discovers that they contain marijuana. Ethan fires a harpoon gun at Reese but misses, and Reese walks over and knocks him out. Meanwhile, Finch goes over his readings from the interrogations and realizes that something is wrong.

Reese prepares to throw Ethan in the trunk of Fahey's car, but discovers that there's a corpse inside with an FBI jacket. As he stares in surprise, Ethan manages to knock him out from behind.

Finch goes to the interrogation room and discovers Fahey's I.D. on the floor. "Fahey" appears, puts a gun to Finch's neck and asks what gave him away.

Finch explains that his equipment spiked when Fahey was leaning on the table. The killer, Declan, realizes that Finch isn't what he appears and orders him out to the shack, threatening to shoot the others if Finch puts up a fight. Once they enter the shack, Finch warns Declan that time is running out for him. Declan tells him that Fahey showed up looking for Rollins, unaware that Declan had taken his place. He killed Fahey and burned Rollins' body, then traveled to the island to take over Rollins' rental property. When Reese showed up, he had to improvise. When Erica overheard the radio conversation, Declan killed her in case she heard something that would give him away. The killer takes out some colored contact lenses and asks Finch if he's also an imposter, and then takes his glasses and puts them on. Finch dismissively tells Declan that, compared to him, he's an amateur.

Meanwhile Reese knocks out the fisherman/smuggler.

When Finch warns Declan that the FBI will come looking for the real Fahey, Declan tells him that they'll find the real Fahey's corpse. As for getting off the island, he plans to have Finch fly him in the plane. When the killer says that he plans to become Finch next, Finch tells him that he could never be him because he saves people. Declan insists that he only kills people that waste their lives, and that he'll stop when he finds the person he meant to be. Finch doesn't believe him, explaining that people like Declan never stop and that he hurts people because he likes to. Angry, Declan changes his mind and says that he'll find another way off of Owen Island and prepares to shoot Finch. Carter comes up behind him and shoots him in the back. Finch picks up his glasses and thanks her, and Carter explains that the Coast Guard gave her a lift. As they talk, Finch remembers that Declan put on body armor earlier. The killer gets up and prepares to shoot them when Cal arrives and kills the man for good.

The next day, the storm moves out to sea and the police and FBI clean up. Carter finds Cal in the sheriff's office with a bottle of whiskey. As they share a drink, Cal asks what will happen between them. Carter admits that she doesn't know but she tells Cal that she's glad he was there.

Finch and Reese go back to Rollins' rental. They compare notes and Reese points out that The Machine did warn them. However, Finch says that while the six simultaneous numbers were not a glitch, the previous three days of silence were. Finch is worried about the fact that The Machine did not give them Fahey's number in time to save him from Declan, and realizes that the virus is impeding its function. Reese looks at the departing storm and says that it's passing, but Finch warns that the real storm is just beginning.

Points of Interest

The episode is set on the fictional "Owen Island" near the North Fork of Suffolk County.

"Owen Island" draws its name from the absentee host and hostess, Mr. and Mrs. U.N. Owen in the Agatha Christie novel And Then There Were None, commonly also known as "Ten Little Indians", which provides the story structure as well. In the novel, eight people are trapped on a remote island and serve as prey to a killer lying in wait.

Once Reese reaches the island, the episode's plot becomes a classic "locked room mystery" as favored by Agatha Christie. The episode uses Christie devices such as a dark and stormy night, a murder as the lights go out, and the killer hiding in plain sight among the guests.

The films Finch and Reese see are Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon, and Frances Ford Coppola's The Rain People. Rashomon is famously the story of four people each telling their version of one event, while the lesser known The Rain People is a thoughtful story of one woman's cross-country journey of self-discovery, starring Shirley Knight, James Caan and Robert Duvall. In it, Knight's character meets a man named Killer, who has a past he's reluctant to discuss.

As they leave the theater, Reese jokes that they should have seen Once Upon a Time in the West because it has fewer subtitles. Once Upon a Time in the West was made by Italian producer-director Sergio Leone, known for his so-called "spaghetti westerns" starring Clint Eastwood as the "Man With No Name."

The plane Finch flies through heavy rain to Owen Island and lands in the town square is described as a De Havilland Beaver. This is a legendary bush plane design which can be fixed with skis, floats, or wheels, for landing on snow, water, or tarmac. It is a STOL (short take-off and landing) aircraft.

Embedded codes in the glitches:

The first code is an excerpt from Chapter 2 of "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea" by Jules Verne.

The second code is an excerpt from "The CIA's Instructions For Breaking a Detainee's Will",
depicting the same or a similar version of the Palestinian Hanging technique used earlier by Root.

The third code is an excerpt from "The Wasteland" by T.S.Eliot.

The fourth code is an excerpt from "Project Trinity, 1945-1946" by Carl Maag and Steve Rohre.
posted by miss-lapin (5 comments total)
 
This is another "comedown" episode after the intensity of Relevance. The Agatha Christie plot kinda drags as it's pretty obvious that Fahey is the most likely culprit very early on. It's an episode that I wish worked better than it actually does.
posted by miss-lapin at 9:13 AM on December 23, 2024


I wonder if weather effects episodes cost more or less than an average episode? Other than the weather, this one is kind of a bottle episode.
posted by porpoise at 1:24 PM on December 23, 2024


Heh, I remarked to partner about 20m in "this is an Agatha Christie plot, isn't it?" and with a little bit of The Thing's "nobody trusts anybody" sprinkled in, although to be honest The Thing itself is probably also a locked-room mystery...

the Agatha Christie novel And Then There Were None, commonly also known as "Ten Little Indians"

..and previously in the UK under a startlingly racist title with a shockingly long shelf-life: "UK editions continued to use the original title until 1985."

Otherwise yeah, this one did drag a bit for me too.

Harold and John go to the movies together; that's nice? Kind of a social thing for them in a way we don't often see; we do often see them eating together at diners but that's usually more for plot-advancing information transfer than for simple socialization.

Harold being a pilot feels useful.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 9:12 AM on December 24, 2024


I forget which episode it was, possibly this one? there's a point partway through the virus arc at which the effect on the Machine-eye view became much more obvious to me -- as well as the glitch frames, many of the Machine's camera feeds are blanked out blue-screens.

Also, possible that I'm imagining it, but suspecting maybe not as the Machine-eye view seems very deliberately designed: does the audio of the glitches make them progressively more prominent over time? Feels like the glitch noise is short and subtle at the start of the arc, almost a record scratch at the end.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 9:21 AM on December 24, 2024


I liked this one a lot. It was a satisfying change of pace from the usual Manhattan-based number of the week, and the combo of the locked-room structure, the storm that cut off communication with the outside world, and the serial killer plot worked for me.

This time around, I remembered that Fahey was the culprit immediately, but IIRC, when I first saw it, it took me a while to work it out.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 3:03 PM on December 26, 2024


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