Minicap: Person of Interest

The glasses make him totally blend in.

On the procedural end, since this is CBS, after a quickie job saving a cheating husband from a murderous wife, Reese and Finch look into why there’s chatter about a dead teenager.  Reese, adapting nicely to his fancy new threads and fetching haircut has decided to add some Burn Notice sunglasses to his “covert” apparel because they work so well for Michael Westen.  Reese may want to add “Boston mook” and “Russian” accents to his disguises, too.  Finch gets to do some field work and visit the girl’s aunt posing as an insurance adjuster, and somehow doesn’t pique her suspicion, even though via the transitive power of absolute gray hair in the cast Reese has become more dashing and sexy with grayer hair while Finch, to balance it out, has become weaselier with hair he seems to have dyed with cordovan-colored shoe polish.

The serialized storyline finds Reese getting nosier with Finch than Finch is comfortable with when he draws way too much attention to himself and his fancy suit during a surprise visit to Finch’s work.  Although Finch wants Reese to believe he’s miffed because Reese is breaching their trust, he’s probably more pissed because Reese discovers Finch’s secret shame:  his name, at least the one he’s using now, is…Harold?  Wow.  That is just sad.  Even if the point is to actually blend in and not be all hot man of mystery that everyone who’s ever passed within a fifty foot radius of him would be able to pick out of a line up, Reese.  We also get glimpses into Finch’s earlier life and learn that the possible person he lost was Ingraham aka Brett Cullen aka Goodwin from Lost.  On an related note, it looks like JJ Abrams may have separation anxiety.

Meanwhile on the totally “WTF, why is she here again?” tip, Oscar-Nominated© Taraji P. Henson makes the most out of this week’s three minutes of screen time by deploying her best Edward G. Robinson impersonation of a tough-nosed cop and sporting some equestrienne realness in her work wardrobe.  She also manages to overact such difficult notes as “look intensely at redacted file,” “mean business,” and ” nod and confirm location of all the officers in place in case Reese missed one.”  She may have also used a couple of Joey Tribbiani’s acting tricks.

So, why did the girl show up on the list?  Will Reese ever learn the meaning of covert?  Is there a reason Michael Emerson grew those unfortunate sideburns and dyed his hair that color?  Why is Oscar-Nominated© Taraji P. Henson on this show, again?  Come back for the full recap when one of these questions gets answered.  The others will forever remain a mystery.

And for those drinking at home:  Reese shot only one person in the knee this week.