Person of Interest Recap: Honey Pot

Welcome back, again, from another hiatus from Person of Interest, the big show that despite every effort by CBS to kill it in its sleep, keeps coming back stronger. Seriously, it keeps posting its highest ratings each time it comes back. Maybe it really is the Machine and is infiltrating our Nielsen boxes and DVRs.

Machine footage shows us yet another one of its handy algorithms. This time it’s the scariest Google search ever, where it’s culling and cross-referencing such happy words as “kill,” “traitor,” “liar,” “assault,” “criminal,” “betrayed,” and most ominous of all “Washington.” Also, hilariously, “back-stabbing S.O.B.” Once all references have been gathered, it runs a semantical analysis and goes red once it finds a confirmed threat related to the word “traitor.” Well, duh.

It’s a sleepy morning over at the library as Finch makes the weakest cup of tea, ever, (You’d think someone so persnickety would understand “steeping.”) before he strolls over to his desk and languidly says “Good morning, Mr. Reese.” Smash cut to Reese getting his ass kicked five ways to Sunday by a huge bald man. Finch hears the fight and assumes it’s a bad connection because his willful ignorance leads him to believe that all the world’s a sucker for Reese’s big, glassy, blue eyes and whispery voice. He asks if Reese was able to “convince” Mr. Billick not to kill his ex-wife. Reese casually says he’s “working on it,” before slamming the Fester’s head through a French door.

Big, fat people are funny.

As Finch cranes his head with every rattle and grunt, Reese eventually gets Billick in a sleeper hold and lifts the mook’s gun expositing that it’s a parole violation before he talk to Finch. Finch is awake now and tells Reese they have a new number, he’s sending Reese the address and to call when he gets there. Aww, just like they’re dating and he wants to be sure his boyfriend got home safe.

Surveillance footage takes us out to Queens at 07:44:28 and as some generic NYC tough asks if someone is sure this is the right guy a digitized woman’s voice says “He’s perfect.” Reese is sitting in his car outside a typical outer borough single-family home, taking photos of a “salt of the earth” looking guy having breakfast with his happy family. He’s Scott Powell, 38, construction project manager for the city. Finch reads from the wife’s Facebook profile that her name is Leslie, their son’s name is Owen and their daughter’s name is Mia and I take a break to shut down my Facebook page. Except, the only thing they’d learn is that my cat’s name is Billie and she tends to lie around like a drunken whore.

Catnip’s natural.

Switch to inside the Powell house where Scott is talking to his daughter about a drawing she made. It’s all very sweet so it’s gonna suck if he turns out to be the perp. An anvil falls when Leslie asks Scott if he lost his watch and he’s all “Bluh…whuh…huh…no. It’s around here, somewhere,” then leaves for work. Reese goes completely silent, not even a dickish quip, and Finch Riff Raff’s to ask if Reese is still there.

Reese goes soft, momentarily forgetting he’s a batshit crazy, elite, killing machine, and asks Finch if he ever “craves” a coventional life, leading to a spike in emergency room visits due to exploding ovaries. Welcome to sweeps! Where the producers will shamelessly manipulate you for ratings so they can charge more in advertising fees. Finch can’t see Reese’s face, though, so he asks if Reese means a life without the numbers and admits it’s crossed his mind. Reese just keeps watching Powell, saying it looks like his life is pretty normal in a way that is just so heartbreaking. Finch brings down the room by reminding Reese that if he’s learned anything from this show their little venture, it’s that people are rarely what they seem.

All that’s missing is the single, perfect tear.

08:19:11 in Brooklyn and Reese has followed Powell to a park. Finch figures he’s meeting someone and Reese follows Powell, wearing his gorgeous, wool, driving coat in the rain. That’s impractical. With their phones synched, Reese listens in on Powell calling about an installer job he read about in the classifieds, because obviously, Powell lives in 1995. But Reese and Finch both realize he’s just unemployed and looking for work. Finch digs a little further and discovers that municipal cutbacks led to Powell getting laid off eight months earlier and Reese exposits for the viewers who were blinded by his pretty earlier, that Powell’s family probably doesn’t know.

Finch lets us know that eight months is a long time to go without a paycheck and it’s suddenly 10:19:54. Powell’s at a pawn shop as Reese’s pretty reflects in the window. Powell’s trying to sell some wedding presents, but they’re engraved and have no value to the shop owner who just wants unsentimental, but universal, items like watches. Powell gets a call from his bank and tries to get anything for his items, but when the shop owner tells him to “take his junk” Powell threatens him. Reese goes on high alert but the shop owner diffuses the situation by threatening to call the police. Powell backs down in fear of doing a scene with Oscar-Nominated© Taraji P. Henson and her ham and cheese style.

As Powell walks out of the pawn shop, Caviezel manages to find his outdoor voice which is higher-pitched than I would have thought. Maybe that’s why he whispers so much. Anyway, he informs Finch that Powell looks like he’s about to bottom out and Finch says he’s maxed out all his cards except for the one he shares with his wife. Finch wonders if Powell is a threat and Reese exposits the scene we just saw in case you missed it 20 seconds ago.

Universal sign for “Woe is me.”

Reese tells Finch to have Carter run a background check and Finch, since he’s the audience manqué in the eternal struggle between Carter and Fusco, wants to know why not the angry, little fireplug. Reese blows off the question with a curt “He’s handling another matter right now,” and segues to saying he’ll keep an eye on Powell until they know what they’re dealing with.

Finch lets it go because he has good news! He needs to get a look at Powell’s home computer and will be joining Reese on a stakeout. Never one to miss an opportunity to fuck around with Finch, Reese gets a glint in his eye and asks if Finch has ever been on a stakeout. Finch, still excited to get out of the library chirps “No,” and asks if he should bring anything. Reese lets him know he should have warm clothes, something to read…and an empty water bottle. I cringed as soon as he said that but Finch is slower on the uptake and asks “Empty?” Reese glibs that “There are no bathrooms on a stakeout.” HAHAHAHAHA.

I’m not comfortable with this, Mr. Reese.

That night on the stakeout, Finch and Reese are just passing the time in the car, and they’re so not Michael Westen and Sam Axe…until Finch pulls out the can of not-Pringles. Reese asks about the chips, but Finch isn’t hungry, he’s Michael Westening a “Cantenna” to capture WiFi radio waves. He doesn’t explain it in a charmingly blunt and nasal Boston accent so Reese just gets a “Smell you,” face as Finch tells him to point the can at Powell’s house.

What Burn Notice lacks in depth, it makes up for in jaunty subtitles.

They both get all whispery about how Powell’s network is password protected. Finch doesn’t snot anything about Powell’s password being his birth date and they’re in. Finch pulls up his browser history, but there’s no porn. Just a lot of articles about a Congressman Delancey. Powell’s a crazy commenter who doesn’t like the congressman. There’s also a very large file on his computer that’s taking a while to download.

While they wait, Powell gets a call from the “Worktime Temp Agency.” They have a two-day event position if he’s interested. Powell anxiously accepts whatever the position is, and he has to be there at 12:30. Reese goes Mary Sue and thinks Powell’s fortunes might be changing. Finch says he hopes so, but they still don’t know why the Machine tagged him.

12:25:41 the next day and they’re still staking out Powell. Finch managed to go…somewhere…and change out of his parka but Reese is still dressed like Reese. Does he just have that one suit and gorgeous coat, or does his closet look like a uniform store full of the same suit and gorgeous coat? This is vital information for the no-longer-nascent slash writers.

They even look like a married couple.

Finch gets a call from Carter expositing about Powell’s background check. Clean except for a couple of tickets and an application for a firearms license for a rifle (DUN…DUNNN). Carter asks if she should be worried about Powell and rather than tell her to worry about the 14 active and 37 open cases she has that Reese can’t solve for her, Finch tells her that’s what they’re trying to figure out.

More expo time as Finch tells the statue of Reese sitting next to him (seriously, he doesn’t move or blink) that the large file was an encrypted, anonymous email account that sent angry emails to Congressman Delancey, the same Congressman who pushed through the cutbacks that cost Powell his job. Curious. Reese thinks so, too, and wonders why Powell would want to work a fundraiser for Delancey. Then, in case we forgot what Carter just told us, Reese wonders if Powell owns any weapons. Finch confirms what Carter just told us then reads the most recent email from Powell saying “This will be your last day in office…” and he and Reese complete each other’s thought (awww) by saying Powell’s not there for a job, he’s there to kill Delancey.

A minute later and Reese is gliding into the congressman’s fundraiser while Powell sneaks in back with the rest of the staff. Reese tries to sneak in back, too, but FINALLY, someone in New York City actually sees the rather tall, rather handsome, rather well-dressed, but not at all covert man slinking around and tells Reese he has to go through the security line. Reese does as he’s told, dumping his gun in the trash and telling Finch that Powell’s already inside…as he sidles up next to Finch? Reese isn’t the only one who’s a cat.

I can see you, Mr. Handsome.

They walk into the fundraiser and Reese tells Finch that he should stay close to the congressman and be ready to move if something happens. Finch, used to giving orders, asks what he’s supposed to do if someone starts shooting but Reese snots back he’ll figure out something and walks off. Bitch.

As Finch wanders through the fundraiser behind a “Senator” who glad-hands a generically posh but evil looking guy named “Matheson” and Delancey, Reese fancy pageant walks his way to a stairwell, assuming Powell’s downstairs with the staff and confirms that Finch is with Delancey. The Senator takes Delancey aside and asks him to “lay off the rhetoric” because calling out large donors may make a great stump speech but it makes more important people nervous. So, Delancey is really more of a zealot than evil.

Finch isn’t eavesdropping, though, because something odd has occurred. Powell’s emails have been flagged by the system. Before he can figure out why he’s directed to his seat because the fundraiser is starting. Matheson gives his introductory speech, establishing that Delancey isn’t a career politician, while Reese walks through the labyrinthine service kitchen and Finch wonks about how the IP addresses match but there are discrepancies and…Reese has to herd Finch back to non-geek land.

Proving that sometimes, show business is show business for ugly people.

The emails didn’t originate with Powell, they were copied onto his computer. Reese acts uncharacteristically stupid because, duh, that’s OBVIOUSLY a set up, and says he’s more interested in the guy with the gun and not how to fix his computer. As Matheson introduces Delancey, Finch figures out that Powell’s system’s been hacked but Reese doesn’t hear him because he’s too busy tackling Powell, stopping him from shooting…confetti. Derr. The real shooter gets off his shot about 20 feet from Reese and Powell. Pandemonium ensues as Reese chases after the shooter and Powell stands up to make himself the obvious suspect.

Even though he’s managed, in the past, to keep pace with a fit high-schooler and a juiced-up MMA fighter, Reese can’t keep up with a middle-aged shooter and loses him on the street. Finch comes out to exposit that they don’t know how severe Delancey’s injuries are and Reese recaps what we just saw about losing the shooter and how Powell’s being set up…as two bystanders Tootsie (Nolan’s term, so I know he’s familiar with the movie.) the scene by watching the camera as they pass behind Caviezel and Emerson. The levity is broken, though, as poor Scott Powell is getting bum-rushed into the backseat of a squad car, frantic and begging the police to believe him.

Ignore them, Finch.

14:25:24 and Powell’s being taken to the ONLY police station in all of Manhattan, Carter’s, and we jump cut to 15:04:00 at Finch’s library. The guys are watching a news report as the Senator foreshadows/drops a giant anvil that everyone’s praying for the Congressman’s recovery. Finch tells Reese that whoever organized the plot went to a lot of trouble and then recaps, again, everything we already know about the plot. Reese gets a rather smug look on his face as he says they fooled him and Finch…and the Machine…but Finch takes that as an affront and says the Machine never gets fooled. If Powell’s number came up, he’s still in danger.

Reese suddenly remembers his elite killing machine training and figures that Powell was the patsy and wasn’t supposed to survive the shooting, either. Finch innocently asks if Reese got a good look at the shooter, but Reese’s peacockish tendencies kick in as he admits he didn’t but the shooter was a pro. Finch spots the parallels to him and Reese immediately but lets the peacock figure out for himself that it was at least a two-person team. Finch sets out to decipher how the hacker got into Powell’s computer and Reese calls Carter to find how Powell is doing.

Please don’t tell. I won’t be invited back to Killing Machine’s Old Timer’s Day.

Determined to undo whatever good will she’s built in the last few weeks, Carter snarls at Reese that she “thought she could trust him.” The “to do what I tell you” goes unspoken. He just pulls the phone away from his ear like she’s a nagging, soon-to-be-ex-wife, and she continues on, high up on a very shaky pedestal, that Reese’s “partner promised she didn’t have to worry about Powell [not true, he said they were determining if she had anything to worry about] and he goes and shoots a Congressman.” Reese explains that he was there and Powell wasn’t the shooter, but why would Carter listen to Reese, when she’s got a good head of annoyingly “righteous” steam and no facts to support her bitchery?

He literally rolls his eyes while she’s squawking and is probably rethinking that whole “There are some people this world can’t live without,” BS he spewed a few weeks back. Carter lets him get a word in edgewise and Reese just says that Powell was set up and that he needs her help to find out who did it. True to her deluded but bureaucratic nature, she falls back on “there’s nothing I can do, the feds are running this investigation,” and have Powell in the interrogation room, but Reese wants her to find out what’s being said and throws down the trump card that she can fall back on her “rules” or she can help save an innocent man.

Because I’m Oscar-Nominated© Taraji P. Henson, that’s why! Hello?

Trump card works and Carter walks into the room with her cell line open so Reese and Finch can eavesdrop that the guy who shot the Congressman was the same guy who hired Powell and took him to the balcony to set up the confetti cannon. The Feds are being all Jack Webb about the interrogation, but Powell’s story sounds really shaky because there’s no security footage of “this guy” Powell claims is the shooter. Powell is getting terrified and sounding even sketchier when he brings up “Worktime Temp Agency” and the Fed says it doesn’t exist and can’t explain why his gloves tested positive for gunshot residue, because he got them from “the guy.”

The interrogation is stopped when the hospital contacts all the FBI agents…and Carter(?)…that the Congressman died. She steps out to tell Reese and Finch. Reese figures out Powell’s facing 1st degree murder charges as Powell calls home to learn that the FBI is searching their home. Leslie’s scared so Scott tries to calm her by telling her to take the children next door and to be cooperative with the FBI, assuming it will clear him. Except, at that moment, Leslie sees an agent pull down a separate computer from the top of their dresser and realizes it’s worse than she thought. They exchanges “I love yous” as Carter looks on, either concerned, peeved or gassy. I can’t tell.

This isn’t going to lead to a recurring role, is it?

Reese has a frowny face that worries Finch and he explains that Powell’s likely still in danger because in frame jobs the decoy never survives. He either dies at the scene or is quickly eliminated by either a staged suicide or accident. Finch wonders if Reese knows this from personal experience but Reese non-answer answers that it doesn’t matter (Because DUH, the guy who knew how much lye it took to dissolve a body and already exposited about how HE would stage an accident has, you know, staged a few.) the point is it ties up loose ends.

Finch moves on because he found how the hacker got in. A Trojan horse embedded in an email for a job fair. Finch gets his geek on that he’s running the virus but Reese isn’t nearly as geeky so he Shermans about Finch infecting his own computer so Finch can Mr. Peabody about creating a virtual system so they can track the Trojan to see where it leads. Reese thinks it leads back to the hacker. Finch is lost in a geek-reverie as he dreamily talks about how complex the coding is until he manages to establish a connection to the hacker. Reese hopes that will give them a location, but it doesn’t.

I feel all…tingly.

It does let them see what the hacker’s looking at and it’s a floor plan for a federal courthouse and Finch reminds Reese that Carter said the FBI is running the investigation as Reese calls the nag Carter so she can confirm that they’re taking him to the courthouse. She asks Reese what he’s thinking but he just says thanks and hangs up. Heh. Reese realizes that the FBI isn’t dirty, they’re just following procedure but that they’re delivering Powell to his would-be killers. Reese walks off as he has Finch send him the most direct route from the precinct to the courthouse.

18:33:12 and Reese is sitting in his car, waiting, until he sees the FBI SUV barreling down the street. He puts the car in gear and floors it in reverse, slamming into SUV. While everyone’s still reeling and groggy from the nutjob who rammed their vehicle, Reese puts on a gas mask, shoots open the SUV’s hood and smoke bombs the cabin, extricating Powell in the process. That’s one way to do it.

Nine would know what to do. (h/t Silly Knight)

18:36:55 and through hacking up a lung, Powell figures out that Reese was the guy who tackled him back at the fundraiser and wants to know who he is. Reese says he’s one of the few people who knows Powell’s innocent and wants to get him somewhere safe, but Powell points out that he just kidnapped him from the FBI, which is kind of the opposite of “safe.”

Reese develops some self-awareness and realizes he sounds like a crazy man, so he moves on to asking Finch if he’s made any progress. Hacker’s IP is still masked but he’s found a vulnerability in the firewall. He sees the system accept the password and gets a happy that they’re in. Reese patronizes Finch that he never doubted him but Finch picks up on something. He fell for a honey pot which opened a worm that’s infecting any device linked into their network. Finch freaks the fuck out which freaks out Reese but Finch tells Reese to destroy his phone and he knows how to find him.

Oh….fuuuuuuuuuuuck!

Reese is all “Mommy?” but disassembles his phone and we get a cyber cat-and-mouse game as we see the Machine zero in on the hacker as Finch disconnects his various devices. Hacker is a woman with a nice manicure and pretty hair, but before she can find out who Finch is, he shuts down the generator powering the library and the connection is lost. Phew, that was tense considering it really was just a scene of a middle-aged man turning out the lights while a woman tapped away on a keyboard.

19:02:27 and having narrowly escaped being found, Finch is walking down the street. He buys a pre-paid cell off a street vendor and makes a call, leaving an NYC phone number as a message. Reese took Powell to some low-rent hotel and hands him a change of clothes since he’s the “most wanted man in New York” and makes a call on the hotel room phone.

He retrieves Finch’s message and calls the number. It’s the cell and Finch is working in a….public library. While Reese wants to know what happened and Finch recaps the library scene, some library nerd shushes Finch for talking on his cell. Wondering how he can rain hell down on that little asshole, Finch exposits to Reese that he thought they were going to need a little help with the political end of their problem and called in a specialist, but he can’t talk because “she’s” there. Reese put’s two-and-two together but Finch hangs up on him before Reese can ask him if she’s wearing her pretty red coat.

A breach in the space/time continuum allowed Finch to see himself at 20. It wasn’t pretty.

Of course she is, because she’s Zoe Morgan, and she believes in blending in as much as Reese does. Finch takes her to a study room where some jackhole’s making out with a girl who is probably regretting it while it’s happening. Jackhole tells Finch he “reserved the room” but Finch waves a $20 (cheap!) and tells them to take a study break. Jackhole checks out Zoe and approves, so he and his unfortunate date skedaddle.

Finch and Zoe get down to work, Finch thanking her for meeting on such short notice and she saying she goes where she’s needed Mr…Finch says “Call me Harold,” and she wonders how he got her number. Rather than just say “I work with John,” he obliques about the plot from “The Fix,” so Zoe can asks how “John” is. Finch exposits that he’s “on the run, as usual,” and recaps the first half of the episode before asking if she couldn’t help them the way they helped her back when the show was struggling to increase its 18-49 demos.

I’m here to boost your demos.

Leslie’s being interrogated by the FBI and even she thinks the whole “one guy took us down” story is pathetic but the FBI agent sloughs it off that they think he was “part of an armed group, possibly terrorists,” because “Yeah, we suck,” doesn’t fly in this situation. Then he asks if Powell was radicalized and Leslie refuses to believe it, telling the agent to ask Scott’s friends and co-workers. The agent uses this opening to tell Leslie that Scott lost his job but she says it’s not true, he goes to work every day. The agent is doing a good job convincing her she doesn’t know Scott as well as she thinks and Carter’s just watching the interrogation because it’s not like she has 14 open cases to solve.

Finch shows Zoe some photos of his last vacation while telling her that their “client” was at the Delancey fundraiser. She thinks as a guest but Finch says “the shooter” then corrects it to “He was framed.” Oh. Those weren’t vacation photos, they were headshots of the “list of suspects” Finch has put together so Zoe can exposit how they all interconnect.

Those are very handsome men. They must be in show business.

Prior to becoming a member of Congress, Delancey and Matheson owned a construction company that the District Attorney is investigating. Finch, showing a lack of self-awareness, asks Zoe how she knows that but a quick glare and he says “never mind.” Heh. She’s like Reese with boobs. The investigation is into corner-cutting and pay offs, which runs counter to Delancey’s anti-corruption platform but Zoe lets Finch know Delancey wasn’t the one running the company, it was Matheson.

With members of Congress being in constant campaign mode, the day-to-day operations of their business would fall on Matheson. They figure he staged the assassination so he could frame Delancey for all his wrongdoing. Finch points out that even if their theory is correct they have no proof. Zoe twinkles her own, pretty, big, brown eyes and says “Let’s go get some,” and Finch starts writing his own fan fic about Reese and Zoe and how they’re basically the same person. Only she has boobs.

Attractive, well-dressed and terrifying…but who does she reminds me of?

Powell’s watching Leslie on the news getting hounded by reporters and asks Reese why someone would do this to him. Reese tries to sound sympathetic, but telling Powell they needed a patsy and he fit the role has got to hurt. Reese gets a squirrelly look in his eye but before Reese can continue about ‘Why Powell,” they both hear someone at the door. Reese signals Powell to be quiet, puts his hand behind his back to confirm that he has, in fact, dropped a few pounds and is looking rather svelte, then opens the door to see a guy with a gun. They tussle over the gun and take it out into the open-aired hallway but Reese isn’t in the mood to fight so he just throws the guy over the railing into an awning one flight down. He hustles Powell out of the room narrowly avoiding getting shot because he’s been off his game, lately.

A make shift shrine has sprung up at the banquet hall where Delancey was shot. Matheson is telling someone to let them stay as long as they want and Zoe swans up. She starts to introduce herself but Matheson tries to brush her off. She tells him she’s not a reporter and that she helped a friend of his last year with a paternity suit. He’s all “yeah, that’s not our problem,” and she tells him she doesn’t specialize in “paternity suits” that she’s in crisis management.

Matheson takes her to the side to ask why he’d need her help, looking guiltier than sin while doing it. But that could just be his hairline which is angrier and more aggressively receding than Badger’s. He asks her why he needs her skills specifically and she leads with the investigation, but he counters that he has lawyers for that. Then she goes in for the kill (pun not necessarily intended) and brings up Delancey’s murder. She tells Matheson that Delancey was going to testify against Matheson but with him dead Matheson can lay all the blame on Delancey.

What’s wrong with my hairline?

While Matheson tries to tough it out, Zoe furthers that she gets why he’d want to take out Delancey, but “his vendor dropped the ball” since the patsy, Powell, is now missing in action. She hands Matheson her card and tells him if he’s “going to do something wrong, do it right.” Then offers to bring Powell to him for a price. He pretends he doesn’t need that kind of help and Zoe walks off. Before she’s even out of his sight, though, Matheson places a call…as he walks past Finch with his candle at the vigil recording the call on his burner phone. Ha.

There’s a…head…growing out of my shoulder.

Call goes back to the hacker who’s digitizing her voice. She’s not happy with Matheson calling her but he wants to know why Powell’s still alive. He questions her abilities and she ignores the Powell situation by pointing out she can ruin Matheson’s life by disclosing his emails, emptying his bank accounts, selling off his stocks and sending his ex-wife the exact location of his house in Bermuda. She texts him a photo of his house in Bermuda and he’s not so tough anymore. She promises to take care of “Powell and his friend,” (NOOOO) and Matheson just needs to make sure he makes her final payment.

Hacker calls Shooter and tells him the client’s getting nervous and to take out Reese and Powell, who just got on the subway at 23rd and 8th. Shooter heads to the subway as Reese finds the tiny transmitter planted in the sole of Powell’s heavy work boots. Powell’s disguised in a hoodie and baseball cap, but riding with the best dressed and most handsome man on the subway so, not that covert. Reese exposits that the transmitter could have been planted at any time and they’ve probably been to Powell’s house. He really needs to learn how to ease into things.

Powell’s breaking down and Reese gives his buck up speech that sounds more like a threat, and Powell’s despondent because he doubts he’ll have a family to go back to. Reese continues with his threatening attempts to bolster Powell’s resolve by saying he knows about his unemployment and the lies. Powell looks up and is sitting very close to Reese, getting an industrial dose of the healing power of the Caviezel.

No one will notice two very tall men staring into each other’s eyes on a NYC subway.

Reese tells him he knows what it’s like to live a lie for so long that you can’t see a way out. Powell admits that all he needed was a little more time to find a job and that he was going to tell Leslie but now it’s too late. Reese says it isn’t and that he’ll get them out of this. Powell’s just a working-class Joe, though, so he only sees the obvious and points out that “these people” killed a Congressman. Can Reese promise they won’t kill him, too. Reese remembers what happened the last time he promised someone no one would turn up dead so he just looks away. Powell starts to get angry and says he didn’t think so.

Powell continues to get angrier and demands to talk to Leslie, now. Reese dials his whisper to empathy but when he says that it isn’t possible and they need to keep their heads together, Powell snaps that he could die and the person he loves most in life would think that he’s nothing more than a killer. As Powell’s soft, brown, puppy eyes get glassy he asks Reese if he know what that feels like. Reese ups the ante and his pretty blue eyes get even glassier as he says he does, but in his case it’s true. Over-identification status: Complete.

Dude, I’m flattered. You’re really good-looking, but someone wants to kill me.

Reese takes Powell off the subway as Shooter continues to track them. Carter gets a call on her cell and starts hectoring Reese about taking down a prisoner transfer. He just snides back that it worked because she’s no longer on her pedestal, she’s just an asset now, and he needs a favor. Powell needs to talk to Leslie. Carter tries to argue but Reese lets her bark for a moment then tells her Powell needs this.

Carter walks over to Leslie and asks if she left the children with her neighbor. Leslie asks if anything’s wrong and Carter says no, they’re just checking in. Fed lets Leslie take the call as Reese hands the pay phone (they still exist?) to Powell. Leslie takes the call and Powell is desperately trying to apologize and promise to make things right as Leslie questions him about losing his job and not telling her and they’re both so scared and for some reason my vision gets all blurry until I see a rather ominous head sticking out in the crowd. Reese sees Shooter and tells Powell he’s going to have to tell Leslie everything else later, they need to book. I notice that Reese and Powell are the same height, which is notable since Caviezel’s a strapping fellow, and as Leslie calls out to Powell, Shooter sees a tall, broad-shouldered man skulking off in a hoodie.

Blending

Shooter keeps following the tall man in the hoodie who suddenly has much better posture. As he watches the transmitter to see where the hoodie is going a yellow box appears around hoodie guy’s head. Hrm. Shooter follows the signal first to the men’s room and then to a stall, but Reese placed it on the toilet paper dispenser…which doesn’t exactly explain where Reese was hiding because the rest room was small. He steps behind Shooter and they fight long enough for Shooter to slam Reese into the hand dryer enough times to knock it loose from the wall so Reese could pull it off and knock Shooter out cold. Ow on all counts.

As Reese walks off with Shooter’s phone, Powell walks into the station wearing Reese’s driving coat, and that is one magical coat rendering anyone wearing it dapper. Even a working-class Joe like Powell. Carter’s impressed but the Fed’s aren’t and they arrest him before he can even say his name.

It’s the coat, isn’t it?

00:17:05 and Reese gets into Finch’s car (bow-chicka-bow-wow) as a call comes in on Shooter’s phone. Reese isn’t really in a chatty mood what with the herniated disks he’s probably nursing at this point so he hands the phone to Finch. Hacker’s digitized voice asks if it’s finished and Finch says “Not quite, but [he suspects] it will be, soon.” Hacker hangs up, showing the Android logo, and Apple’s negative product placement (“Android, the phone to use when you’re up to murder and shit.”) pays off.

Hacker switches from her tracking screen to a word processor and starts typing a note to “Dear Friends,” as we see a gun next to her. Carter gets a text to check her email and she’s received a YouTube video with a picture of Matheson and Delancey while Matheson’s call to Hacker plays on the audio. I’d have thought Finch would be a vimeo guy. More elegant.

3,607 hits. And you can subscribe to the channel.

Whatever. Feds hear the call, so Carter and a whole squad of uniformed officers head over to Matheson’s house later that morning. Matheson’s dead, with his head on his laptop, a gun in his hand, the lamest suicide note, ever, on his monitor and a glass of scotch nearby. It’s the most obviously staged suicide, but she’s Carter. She’ll take a closed case wherever she can find it.

Powell comes home and while reporters swarm around the front door as he and Leslie hug, Reese is across the street dressed like he’s headed to the tundra in his insulated nylon coat and gloves and Zoe slinks up next to him in a light wool coat and no scarf. That seems unfair. The straining tendons in her neck would agree. He thanks her for helping bust Matheson and she jokes that there’s still a matter of her payment before asking him to buy her a drink. He appears to be considering the idea.

Damn, we’re gorgeous.
I know. Oh, you said “we.” Yeah, why not.

Reese watches the reporters hounding Powell and mentions that Zoe told him a story about the fixer who said “two words” to the media and made them disappear when they were hounding her father. Zoe takes the hint and walks over to the reporters as Reese in his lovely pastel shirt and freezing ears (they’re so big and exposed to the elements) gets a call from Finch, still working from the public library.

He says he sees that Powell’s been released and Reese says that he still has a long road ahead of him. Finch says he’ll be on his way back, soon, because Finch owns a company that’s building a new facility in the city and thinks they could use someone like Powell overseeing the project. Reese says that’s “noble” of Finch, but Finch p’shaws that, because he “values good people.”

As the jackhole from earlier swings past Finch with another girl and gives Finch the thumbs up, Reese asks about the hacker. He got an address on her, but she covers her tracks as efficiently as Reese does, and sent it on to the FBI via “anonymous tip.” Hacker was using some college kid’s dorm room while she was on winter break. Finch is going back to gauge the damage to his operating system and tells Reese he’ll call when they have another number.

The look of a girl who will live to regret this very soon.

Reese rather sweetly tells Finch to “take care” and actually grins. Awww, such friendliness will make his stalking Finch hurt that. Much. More. Then Reese and Zoe share meaningfully flirty glances from across the street as she gets in her car, and he deploys the Clooney to great effect. Reese looks up to Powell’s window and sees him hugging his kids as Powell looks out to the street, but misses Reese.

Back in the library with Finch. A chat window from Hacker opens. She tells Finch the FBI paid her a visit. Finch looks around the library, but types “Who are you?” We see Hacker get a cup of coffee poured by a waitress, then see her tell Finch she’s had a few names but he can call her “Root.” He just up and asks if she killed Matheson (rude) but she responds, “Matheson was a casualty of his own weakness.”

Finch’s interest is piqued because he really loves those batshit crazy killing machines and wants to know why she contacted him. She says she wanted to acknowledge a worthy opponent, and that she’s looking forward to next time. Finch greets this with some amusement until she finishes with “…Harold.” As Finch gets squinty-eyed Root terminates the connection and Finch is finally spooked by someone creepier and weirder than himself.

Dun….DUUNNNN!

So, too much good stuff and not enough time to develop it. This could have easily been a two-parter. I wonder if this was another episode like the pilot where they had a lot of extra scenes that were cut for time. Most of the Zoe stuff seemed tacked on, but I did love seeing Turco work with both Emerson and Caviezel. And I really thought Myk Watford was wonderful as Powell. But while I can appreciate what motivates Carter to be such a pain in the ass with Reese, and her obnoxiousness is rooted in who the character is, she still hasn’t earned the right to be that much of a pain in the ass. And what happened to the closing songs? I get that they love the score because it’s a good score, but I miss the personal touch of a song that matched the tenor of the scene.

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