Person of Interest Recap: Where’s the Trust?

Two new episodes in a row? I thought CBS gave up this approach back in October. I mean, I know this show is kind of a throwback, but we don’t need to emulate the Big Three habit of running repeats every third week. Still, back from break and Nolan & Co. have found the groove they were looking for, so I won’t complain…too much. Carter is still alive, you know.

Cold open surveillance footage shows Carter hamming up the direction “walk into the Lyric Diner” as her head swivels around like a bobblehead totally not obviously looking for someone. Dear, Taraji. You’re allowed to just walk into diner like you’re walking into a diner. If every moment is a “tour de force of very important acting” then none of it has meaning. Or to use Matt Damon’s sage advice from a Farrelly “Suck less.”

She sees a man in a black suit jacket she thinks is Reese but who is clearly skinnier and blonder than Jim Caviezel. You’d think four months of staring at the back of his head, plus seeing him in person, would have told her superfly detective and “I can spot a Special Ops guy by the way he wears a Carlos the Jackal ski mask” spidey senses this guy was just some random, but she is Carter. I’m surprised she didn’t start waving her gun yelling “NYPD, NYPD.”

At least get the hair color right.

But this was just a set up for Reese to slink up behind her and whisper about her coffee getting cold, nailing his 60% sexy/40% creepy line read. They make some awkward small talk about his nice suit and he wonders why she hasn’t started waving her gun yelling “NYPD, NYPD”, as is her wont, but she just says she’s sorry she’s such a gullible, lousy detective she got him shot and didn’t know what Badger was capable of. Because it’s not like part of her job is not to trust every balding, iron-jawed weasel who shows her the flimsiest of evidence or anything.

Even Reese knows this is either bullshit or she’s dumber than he thought and asks why she contacted him, then flatters her that she managed to shake off Badger and Preppy, like that wasn’t 90% Finch’s doing and 10% bad writing. She goes in for self pity, whining that Snow isn’t her only problem and that Reese has a “whole task force” looking for him, but that’s not how I remember it. Still, it makes her feel important. Then she tells him she’s a cop and she has rules that can’t be broken, but she’s interested in learning more about what he does. Which is about 100% illegal and she should know that, but again. She is Carter.

Realizing he’s hooked another sucker with his pretty blue eyes, Reese tells Carter that once she goes down that path there’s no turning back. She wants to know where Reese is getting his information but he just obliques that they hear about people who are either in danger or causing it. Then she asks the question the audience has been wondering since the show premiered: Why her? Reese avoids saying that the network insisted she get brought into the fold sooner rather than later, and blows some smoke up her ass about her moral compass being shiny and golden, and he’s tired of her chasing him. She takes it all in with a “Yes, that’s true. I am super awesome,” head shake and asks how it works.

The face of a man who always gets his way.

He hands her a piece of paper with the name “Andrea Gutierrez” on it and tells her Gutierrez is a civil litigator with a sealed juvie record. He needs her to unseal it. She gets all snotty, reminding him about her “rules” and he’s like “Yeah, whatever,” and guilts her with “You can have your rules or you can save a life.” She scrunches up her face because she feels so many more feelings and he knows he’s got her totally hooked and hands her a cell. Good luck with those rules, Carter. Reese lives by the motto, “It’s easier to ask forgiveness than permission.”

Reese arrives at the library teasing Finch about him looking worried and wondering if his tailor left the city. But Reese’s suits aren’t schlumpy or ill-fitting so, pot meet kettle. Of course Finch is worried about Reese meeting with Carter. Reese further teases that Carter wants to know how they’re getting their information, but that’s one tease too far for Finch and he snaps that she can NEVER know about the Machine…again missing a prime moment to go all Dorothy Michaels on someone. Dear, Jonah Nolan. You have Michael Emerson and his wonderfully, soothingly quirky voice at your disposal. Utilize it, better.

Go, Finchy…GO-OOOOOO!

Reese rather aggressively tells Finch he doubts Carter would believe him about the Machine, but dude. She’s pretty dumb. Tell her about it with finger puppets and a pretty picture of some random woman, and I’m sure she’ll believe anything you tell her. Reese backs off and points out that Carter did agree to unseal Andrea’s juvie record and Finch placates Reese by pretending he doesn’t still want to take Carter out, saying “It’s a start.”

But no time to hash out their feelings about Carter, it’s expo time. While showing us a photo of a rather lovely young woman, Finch tells us that Gutierrez is another ethnic stereotype from Queens, got her GED then went to community college before working her way through a SUNY and finally Queens College Law. At least they’re delving into the positive stereotypes. Progress! Reese dreamily talks about how she’s a scrapper just trying to make a better life but before he can consider his newly acquired taste for dulce de leche ice cream, Finch brings down the room saying she has $50K in student debt, which is unlikely for a NYC resident who attended public institutions but why Google and find out it’s more likely $25K, and an additional $20K on credit cards.

Who can turn Reese on with her smile?

The scene keeps shifting between the library and Reese “following” Andrea from a distance of about 10 feet. Covert! Reese thinks maybe she borrowed money from the wrong people and Finch indulges Reese saying “It’s possible.” As Finch continues to polish Andrea’s halo saying she specializes in representing inmates and ex-cons who are suing the state, we see Andrea rush into the courthouse, dropping a purple, sparkly flash drive and accidentally tear a bow off her shoe. Reese is still following so close behind that I’m surprised she can’t smell his pomade, but she’s too preoccupied. Reese asks Finch how she’s doing and Finch tells us she’s 0-6. Ah, yes. A righteous minnow in a sea of corrupt sharks. This won’t tweak Reese’s hero complex.

Andrea’s in court and objecting because she believes the state’s case against her client is invalid since the drugs found in his apartment were old and from before he was clean. Still a crime, but go with it. Reese is sitting in the second row, by the way, totally blending in by playing with his lips. The DA says Gutierrez’s case is baseless, like all her cases, but Gutierrez takes offense to that and insults the DA’s tie. To be fair, though, it was rust, beige and hunter green. The judge adjourns for the day to allow both attorneys to get a good nap and a juice box before returning to court.

I’m sure this means something to body language analysts.

Andrea walks her client, Terrence King, out of court promising to bring his son to visit and warning him not to cause a scene when he sees his parole officer. King  just wants to talk but Andrea reminds him that in court he’s a witness. King still asks “Galuska” why he didn’t believe him since he took a drug test and it came back clean. Galuska tells him that he was just doing his job, and since the drugs were in his apartment, that makes them King’s. He aims for sympathetic but lands on skeevy as he tells King he should have been more careful.

12:19:04 and Reese is following Andrea into the Department of Family Services, synching their phones. While he loiters at a counter within her peripheral vision, Andrea goes to a bureaucrat, bribing him with fatty, pastrami and fries goodness from Zabar’s. She’s following up on the drug test results that King mentioned and is trying to grease the wheels because the request she put in weeks ago still hasn’t been fulfilled. The bureaucrat, Chris, promises to see what he can do and their friendly meeting is broken up by a rather stern-looking woman in a stern-looking wig wondering why Chris is “entertaining visitors” when he was supposed to be working through lunch and reminding Andrea about going through the proper channels. You gotta love a Vogon. If only she’d start reciting her poetry. Andrea leaves Chris’ office walking right past Reese and you’d think she’d notice someone that tall, that handsome and wearing that expensive coat, but I guess the righteous don’t notice the obvious.

Can I read you some of my poetry?

21:49:24 and Reese is still following Andrea, this time to a local bar to have drinks with friends while he stands out on the sidewalk cold and hungry, but looking good. Even though it’s nearly 10 at night, and both Fusco and Carter have minor children, they’re both still at the station. She calls Reese to give him the information from Gutierrez’s juvie record, which is mostly minor, troublemaking stuff, and Fusco’s getting concerned about her acting like him and taking calls on her cell in private. Fusco, because he may be dirty but he is loyal, calls Reese to tell him to watch his ass, but that’s just to get us all thinking about Caviezel’s ass. Nolan knows what the show’s bread and butter is. Finch is listening in as Reese tells Fusco he can handle Carter. Then he goes back to Carter. She wonders what they do next and he says “Watch and wait,” before smurfing out a thank you, just to make sure she’s still on the hook.

Finch, the most likely voice of reason, brings up his concerns about leaving both detectives in the dark about the other’s involvement. Reese says they’re assets and they’re safer not knowing about each other, which allows Finch to segue us back into the main story about Andrea. Reese points out that “someone’s tailing [their] girl,” and Finch obviouses about someone other than Reese, but Reese doesn’t have time to snot back.

Andrea’s walking down the street, alone, and listening to some reggaeton, because she’s ethnic like that, when the musclehead following her pulls out a gun…right before a giant, well-dressed man flies into view, knocking the musclehead down. Reese manages to disarm the musclehead, but the fight is way more evenly matched than Reese expects and the musclehead gets in a few, solid punches, head butts and kicks before running off. Finch is worried about his still-healing killing machine but Reese tries to blow it off, and blame the gunshot wound for why he got his ass kicked before finding the musclehead’s wallet and convenient vial of steroids, and Reese’s ego is back to full size. Finch doesn’t really care about Reese’s ego, though, and asks after Andrea. She’s safely walking up to the train platform as Reese exposits that he doesn’t know for how much longer.

Just another Saturday night in the outer boroughs.

07:16:49 the next morning and Reese is arriving at the library, but Finch isn’t there. This piques Reese’s interest and he does some fancy pageant walking over to Finch’s computer. He’s trying to break Finch’s password, but good luck with that Reese. Don’t you remember how much he likes a woman with good security habits?

Finch slinks into the shadows and asks Reese if he has any idea who’d want to kill Andrea. Reese says the guy who was following her looked like he’d done time. Maybe it’s an angry former client.  As Finch comes into the room Reese jumps out of his seat like he’s a cat and Finch has a spray bottle. Who knew Reese was scared of Finch? As Finch sits down he glares at Reese but only says “Excuse me.” Reese tries to distract from his snooping by saying they need to get Andrea’s files to find out who the assailant is and narrow down the list of suspects. Finch doesn’t have time to oblique a warning. He gets a call on his cell and rushes out. Reese makes a mild joke about it being a half day, but Finch is too preoccupied and tells Reese to keep following Andrea.

Finch is waiting on a street corner across from a police station when a hipster with Brett Cullen’s dye job comes strolling out. I’m sure that’s a coincidence. They exchange warm, sincere smiles and joke about Finch getting new glasses, finally, while the hipster got his hair cut, finally. They share a hug and Finch sweetly tells him he’ll let him get some rest before Finch lectures him on the perils of underground gambling and tells the hipster, Will, that it’s good to have him back, even if he had to bail him out of jail, which doesn’t seem like it’s a one-off.

Carter comes into her office and learns the meaning of the phrase “Familiarity breeds contempt,” as she sees an interoffice envelope on her keyboard and gets a call from Reese. He really is a cat, and once he’s established his dominance, you just become his pawn. She foolishly asks him how he got in without detection and he snots that it’s a “trade secret” before getting into how he needs her to track the steroid. She tries to flirt with him, asking if he’s looking to beef up, but those days are gone, Carter. You’re an asset, now. You flirt on his schedule and when he needs something. Just ask Fusco. Reese tells her he had a run in with some guy who uses it and needs to know the gym where he juices up. Carter takes a moment to share a wary glance with Fusco, leading Reese to wonder if she’s having second thoughts. She just says there are a lot of prying eyes and Reese compliments her on her growing paranoia.

8:13:46 and Andrea’s getting flustered as she’s talking to a potential client with a familiarly attractive back of his head. She asks him what he does, and it’s Reese, twinkling his eyes and saying “It’s complicated.” Andrea’s still flustered by this handsome, well-dressed man and wonders how he heard about her. Reese says a bailiff told him she was the right attorney for ex-cons with grudges against the state. Andrea makes a frowny face and puts down the imaginary pen she was using to write “Mrs. Handsome and Possibly Rich Potential Client,” leading Reese to ask if he got bad information. She says, no she was just hoping he was a straightforward civil case, the “unicorn she was looking for”…the perfect man. I’m sure she meant to say client.

The face of a woman who found out Reese isn’t her unicorn.

Reese “accidentally” spills his coffee on her desk and as Andrea gets up to clean his spill he trades out her purple, sparkly flash drive for a bugged one. I wish we could have seen him going to Staples to buy a purple, sparkly flash drive. Finch compliments Reese on being so smooth and that he has a signal…and Finch has what looks like Reese’s passport photo up on a monitor. What? Is that his version of a desk photo? At least there weren’t hearts around his face. Reese asks how Finch’s appointment went and Finch just blows him off with a “Quite productive, thank you.”

As Andrea comes back to clean up the spill Reese smiles at her sincere eagerness. She asks why he wants to sue his boss and Reese says his working conditions are unsafe as he holds up his bandaged hand and says he slipped and hurt his back the night before. We see the photo Finch has up and it says John…Friel? What? What does this mean? It’s also a mug shot that appears to be American, not foreign, and lists such interesting facts about him as he weighs 170 pounds (not likely), he has short, straight hair and clear complexion. That was from a casting for Pro-Activ, right? (Actually, it took me two and half viewing to realize Finch was falsifying Reese’s arrest record for Andrea to find. Herp derp.)

I bet his match.com page looks just like this.

As Andrea takes notes, Finch lets Reese know he has sound from both mics and has hacked into her hard drive by sending her a virus in an email promising 40% off at Bloomingdales and she couldn’t resist. Nor can the writers resist ethnic and gender stereotypes, I see. She asks what Reese’s boss is like, and Reese says, manipulative, secretive and that they’ve had personality conflicts. Finch gets scrunchy-faced as Andrea assumes Reese’s boss has money, and Reese continues that he’s a rich, loner type that people would call strange without the money, but is eccentric because he’s stinking rich. This actually amuses Finch because his killing machine knows him so well. Andrea assumes the case will rack up a lot of billable hours so Reese tells her he can pay up front. Andrea likes the sound of that and says she’ll start as soon as she finishes her next appointment and she’ll call him. Reese flatteringly says he’s looking forward to that, because it never hurts to leave them starry-eyed.

12:03:57 and an adorable little moppet sees his daddy in the visitation room at the jail. He’s King’s son, Jacob. Father and son share a hug, just so we know King’s a good guy, and Andrea tells King that Chris picked up Jacob from the foster family’s home, reminding us that Chris exists for a reason. Jacob wants to know when King is coming home because he doesn’t like his room but King says he’ll be out soon because Andrea’s taking care of it. Then Andrea and King continue to talk about the drug test King took when he was arrested and how Chris is working on getting the results, as Reese listens in, and in case he wasn’t getting a little starry-eyed himself about the beautiful, do-gooding attorney with her own moral compass pointed in the right direction, she tells King that “everyone deserves a second chance,” and over-identification status is complete.

The healing power of an adorable little moppet.

His reverie at finding an attractively kindred spirit is broken by Carter calling him with information on the steroid. She tells him some mumbo jumbo but he just wants to know where to go. Carter is new at this and thinks she still has some control over the situation and tells him she’ll only give him that information if he promises she won’t get called to a crime scene. Reese promises, but the smirk on his face says otherwise.

13:33:36 and Finch asks after the assailant. Reese is standing across the street from a place called La Boxing, but it’s an MMA facility so that may be L.A. Which isn’t really any butcher. Finch guesses that maybe musclehead took the day off when Reese spots him walking down the street with a bald guy who has a head tattoo. Seriously? Reese runs across the street and just picks a fight because he can handle gun shots, but wound his pride and his manhood and this becomes personal. Even though the musclehead probably has ten years, and roid rage, on Reese, they box like the gentlemen they are until Reese gets in one too many punches and musclehead runs. And 43 or not, Jim Caviezel still runs like the jock he’s always been which is a nice change of pace from expecting us to believe Tim Robbins is a 19-year-old whiz kid pitcher with his floppy wrist, soft and pasty abs, and noodle arm. Reese almost catches up to the musclehead when musclehead inconveniently runs in front of a sanitation truck. Oops, there goes his promise to Carter.

Run, Reese…RUUUUUUN!

Back at the library, Reese is rifling through musclehead’s wallet as Finch tells us that he’s Alonso Garcia and he is an ex-con but Andrea never represented him. The connection is King as they both shared a parole officer, Dominic Galuska. Reese figures it’s time to pay Galuska a visit.

Carter’s at the scene, but it wasn’t a homicide.  It was an accident. Never mind, the point is she’s angry that Reese didn’t live up to his end of the bargain of no one getting dead from her lead, but he just purrs that in his defense, Garcia didn’t look both ways. This leads her to wondering how he knew the dead guy’s name but Reese has moved on to photographing Galuska and tells her his name was on his driver’s license. Carter, still trying to believe she’s leading this rather than following Reese, snots about him stealing a dead man’s wallet, but it’s expo time again so he reminds Carter that Garcia tried to kill Andrea and would try again since he was carrying just under $10K which looks like a pay off. She asks who’d want to kill Gutierrez and we hear Galuska shake down some poor fry cook for 30% of his pay.

Avenging angel Reese yells (yes, he actually can yell) from off screen asking Galuska where his money is. Galuska thinks he can out-butch Reese and asks who Reese thinks he’s talking to so Reese knocks him out with a sweep of the leg. That’s just embarrassing. Reese hands the parolee a bill and asks him to buy some booze and sets it up to look like a mock-suicide attempt by putting Galuska’s gun in his hand and pouring the booze all over his lap but not his face (ponder that for a moment) and then calls 911 saying he’s Dominic Galuska and he may be a danger to himself and others. Hee. Reese is a bitch.

Ummmm….

Finch and Will are at a truly swank NYC loft that has an indoor swimming pool. Nice. Finch is lost in memories and says he hoped Will would come back to it someday. Willtells him he’s there to pack up stuff for storage and that Finch should take whatever he wants. Finch hopefully asks Will if he’s planning to stay but Will says no, he’s planning to sell the loft since it’s where his father moved after the divorce and doesn’t hold the best of memories for him.

Will continues that it just seemed so big and empty. Finch gets soft on the younger man and offers that his father worked a lot so he can see how it would feel that way, but clearly Finch has fonder memories of the loft. Will then absently asks Finch about the insurance business, which makes sense that the kid would only know about a Finch cover since Ingram already joked with him about leading a double-life in an earlier flashback, but it’s still a little sad to see that he’s only ever had a fully open and honest relationship with Nathan.

I’m sure his happiness will last through the end of the episode.

And he’s not establishing an open or honest relationship with Reese, who’s outside the building taking photos of Finch and Will while he listens in on their conversation. Bad, Reese. Although, he does have his concerned face on. Finch asks if Will plans on finishing his residency but Will says there’s plenty to do around the world with MSF (Doctors without Borders for us Americans) and the Red Cross and he likes helping people. Finch doesn’t follow the logic since Will’s a doctor, but he says as a doctor (without a border?) he only treats the symptoms or the underlying disease but never gets to the root cause and he wants to really help people and effect change. Finch looks at a photo of Nathan and says sweetly how Will sounds like his father. Reese continues to snap photos as Finch kindly asks if he can convince Will to stay, but Will says no and they hug.

Carter calls in, still thinking she can bend Reese to her will by yelling about him setting up Galuska for threatening one of the parolees. Reese snots that he’d be happy to interrogate Galuska for her, but again…why is she there when THERE WAS NO HOMICIDE? Whatever, Galuska’s in the interrogation room. Reese tells her they need to find out if he’s working with anyone and she says she knows how to do her job. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Not with 37 open cases.

She does have some useful information about Galuska, though and tells Reese that several of his parolees claim he set them up to go back to prison. Reese wants to know if she’s worked out what Galuska’s angle is but she says no and asks him not to break any more laws. That’s like asking him not to breathe, or wear expensive suits, or fancy pageant walk around the library. Not going to happen.

Doesn’t matter, it’s time for Fusco to call in. Reese asks if Fusco missed him and Fusco says “Yeah, like I miss a hangover” but sounds like he’s saying “Yes…you don’t call anymore.” Reese perks up and tells Fusco he has a job for him. Fusco hopes it’s about Carter because she’s still, acting, in his words, “hinky.” Reese says he’s not concerned about Carter at the moment, since he’s fully compromised her ethics but that goes unsaid, and that it’s someone else.

Lionel Fusco: Unlikely source of sunshine and happiness.

16:35:14 and Andrea’s enjoying a delicious afternoon snack checking her online dating profile when Reese moseys on in. She’s surprised to see him and asks if they had an appointment. He says no, but he has a new PO, Galuska. Andrea isn’t fond of him and Reese says he keeps coming by and searching his apartment. Andrea tells him to call her the next time he comes by, any time, day or night. Reese’s eyes get extra twinkly thinking about how best to use it to his advantage, and Andrea gets flustered, saying “On the clock, of course.”

So he asks her how the dating site is working out for her. Andrea gets embarrassed and pulls up her file list, but the healing power of the Caviezel is back and she tells him that it’s hard to meet a good guy in her line of work. Reese whispers that he finds that hard to believe since she’s attractive and smart and Andrea catches herself being flattered by tall, dark and handsome and tells him to stop. She doesn’t date clients or ex-cons because she’s learned from experience, and besides, she needs his money. And she likes her men less pretty than her.

Way prettier than Reese.

Reese moves on, asking why she stayed so close to home, and not make a fresh start somewhere else. He may be manipulating her to trust him but he seems genuinely taken with her when she says she’s not running away from who she was and that it’s okay to make mistakes. That everyone deserves a second chance.

Reese’s eyes start to go glassy but the scene quickly shifts to the interrogation room. Carter comes in and for once her snottiness works in her favor as she mocks Galuska for being so stupid as to threaten a parolee’s life. Galuska says it was a misunderstanding but she continues snotting at him that maybe he got a little depressed because he has a tough job that he sucks at because he has the worst recidivism rate in his office and he kicked more guys back in prison last month than she did. As I’m liking Carter in this scene, I will refrain from pointing out how few guys she sends to jail in a year let alone a month. Oops. Old habits die hard.

Carter continues on, deriding what a paragon of virtue Galuska is, doing such a tough job for lousy pay, then wonders how he can afford such a fancy SUV. He lies that his aunt left him some money and what’s it to her, but she says she cares when people get hurt, like Alonso Garcia, one of his parolees. Tells him Garcia got hit by a truck earlier that day and wonders what kind of grudge he could have against Andrea…but she shouldn’t actually know about the hit since it never went down. Doesn’t matter though since she’s dealing with a scumbag who just asks for his lawyer.

Dude, I can feel my IQ drop the more you talk.

17:16:43 and Reese is leaving some building carrying what looks like a MacBook. Carter apologizes that she couldn’t get anything out of Galuska but Reese tells her she did great. Oh, and while she was running interference for him he sneaked into Galuska’s apartment and stole his computer. She gets pissed but he sing-songs that she said she couldn’t do anything illegal (which isn’t even true at this point) but she never said anything about him. Except she did ask him not to commit any more crimes but…HAHAHAHAHAHA, anyway. He really is an asshole some times.

Back at the library and Finch manages to quickly break into Galuska’s computer. He’s disgusted that Galuska used his birth-DATE as his password. Reese brings it back around to the important issue that Galuska’s too stupid to sprinkle his ill-gotten gains around and has over half a million dollars in one account and wonders how a mook like that has so much money on less than $50K a year. Then they give us a paranoid capitalism lesson that prisons are big business and that he’s likely getting kickbacks for putting more people back into the system. Finch further exposits that he withdrew just under $10K, because that’s the IRS trigger, for the hit on Andrea but notices that there was a second withdrawal the night before which means he hired someone else and Reese runs off.

FDIC won’t insure all of that.

Andrea’s alone in the stacks at a library when she thinks she hears something. It’s an extra plodding up with a gun. Before he can even take aim, Reese bounds into frame and knocks the gun out of his hand. They fight, and the extra is spotted a knife to make it a little more even, but Reese knocks him out with a leather bound copy of The Principles of Criminal Law. Andrea asks Reese what’s going on and he clunkily exposits that he won’t be needing her services anymore…well, not that way…but she’ll be needing his. Maybe that way.

Finch is asking/expositing if Reese is at the safe house, yet, as he hurriedly drags Andrea inside. He whispers that she’s in danger, but Andrea’s not nearly as excited about ninja-fighting Reese as most of the audience is and just wants to know who he is and what’s up since he didn’t look like he had a bad back. He says that he’s like her, super pretty, he gives people second chances but she wants to clarify that he’s never been to prison because maybe she was as excited about ninja-fighting Reese as the rest of us. He says “Not in this country,” because he can’t recognize a sure thing anymore

You’d tell me if the popped collar was a deal breaker, right?

The moment is further broken by Finch’s impeccably bad timing, telling Reese that he has a name for the extra that tried to kill Andrea – Wendell Lentz, one of Galuska’s parolees. Reese tries to regain the danger sex momentum by pointedly telling Finch to see if there are any other parolees looking to kill her. She’s at a loss over what she did, and Reese exposits for people who were getting ice cream and missed the first time it was exposited, that Galuska’s getting kickbacks to send his parolees back to prison and that King’s case is threatening that.

He further tells Andrea that he thinks Galuska planted the drugs in King’s home and she exposits that means Terrence is innocent. Reese, who’s killed however many people all over the world and never assumes anyone is ever telling the truth, is surprised that Andrea had doubts. Not the brains of the operation. But it was really for her to exposit about the missing drug test that Terrence swears will clear him but seems to have gone missing before she ever got a copy of it.

Andrea wants to warn Terrence but Reese tells her she’s to stay in the safe house until he knows if there are any other parolees looking to kill her and who Galuska’s working for. Then he pulls a collapsible baton out of her purse and says he assumes she knows how to use it, and I’d like to think it’s a call back to Out of Sight when Jennifer Lopez beat the shit out of Isaiah Washington with one, but Andrea doesn’t say anything about tussling. She does say that growing up where she did you learn how to handle yourself and Reese looks a little lost in thought at that prospect before he leaves.

Remember when JLo was this pretty and likable?  Yeah, me neither.

07:04:19 the next morning and Reese meets up with Carter at the Lyric Diner, again. He points out how good she’s getting at committing crimes but she just wants to pass off the information about Galuska. All the parolees he sends back to prison have been single parents and their kids go into foster care when they get arrested. Since each kid comes with a monthly stipend of $800, they think that’s the scam Galuska’s been working but for it to pay off the way it does, he has to be working with someone from DFS. She says she’s going to talk to the Kinseys, Jacob’s foster parents, and Reese patronizes her that she’s good at this. She’s still as delusional as ever and says it’s her job and she didn’t have to shoot anyone to do it. As she sips her coffee, Reese contemplates whether or not he can shoot her. At least that’s how I interpreted his expression.

10:10:45 at the station and Carter’s interviewing Jacob’s foster parents. They start off being really helpful and friendly until Carter asks about Galuska and Gloria Copeland, the Vogon from DFS. They exchange obviously guilty glances but pretend that they have no idea who any of these people are. Except, they allegedly have six foster kids and she’s in charge of placing children in foster care. Criminals are stupid.

Carter forges on, wondering where all six of their foster kids sleep and shows them the floor plan to their one-bedroom apartment. She tells them that they can either come clean or she’ll arrest them for interfering with a criminal investigation. Criminals also don’t have much loyalty so Mr. Kinsey spills that Jacob’s the only one living with them, and only one other is a real child, but she ran away. The others don’t exist. Carter assumes they’re getting paid but Mrs. Kinsey tells her husband not to say anything else. Carter gets a blocked call and ignores it. She further questions the Kinseys about who the DFS contact is, but she gets a second call and a text saying “Answer the phone, detective,” as Mrs. Kinsey asks for a lawyer and their phone call. Ha.

What do I get if I just sell out my wife?

Carter steps out to take the call and demands to know who it is. It’s Finch, soldering something as he tells her she knows who it is and to give the Kinseys their phone call. Delusional to the end, she says he’s interrupting an interview and Finch snots that it sounded like the end of an interview to him, and to just give them their phone call. Carter thinks she knows more than Finch and says she won’t let them have their phone call until they give up their contact but that’s not how the law works. You’d think someone with a moral compass always pointed in the right direction would know that. Remember, she has rules.

Finch says they think they know the contact is Gloria Copeland. Carter talks to Finch like he’s not the guy who just sent her running around all five boroughs last episode, and says that it would take months to put together a case against Copeland and that if the Kinseys tip her off, she’ll destroy the evidence. Finch is all “No duh, that’s WHY I want them to call her,” as we see he’s rigged up some kind of scanner and tells Carter, in a rather snide way, but that could just be Michael Emerson’s voice, that if they’re going to work together she needs to have show them a little trust.

As Copeland the Vogon surveys her domain, Finch strolls into the DFS office in a windbreaker, proving you don’t have to look like Caviezel to fool people with an official windbreaker, and beelines over to their shredder. Reese calls and tells Finch to hurry up and Finch is like “Asshole,” as he installs and even tests the scanner in about 15 seconds, asking Reese if that was fast enough for him. Reese giggles because he likes annoying Finch.

Mr. Reese. Have you always been this much of a dick, or is this a new development?

19:09:53 and Andrea gets a collect call from King. He’s being transferred to Attica in the morning and he can’t handle going to maximum security. He hasn’t even been convicted, yet, so why are they moving him to a prison? Oh, so Andrea can have a handy reason to leave the safe house, claiming she’s going to file an injunction to stop the transfer. And to show how much she cares about Terrence, because he deserves his second chance.

Reese is just strolling down the streets of Manhattan, still at that stupid Lyric Diner, making me wonder if he’s been there the whole 12 hours. But enough about continuity, Finch is expositing that Copeland is shredding documents as they speak and she’s been using her Vogon bureaucracy for evil and using the paperwork to hide the fabricated kids. They’re making it look like each parolee has more kids than he does in real life and the scam could be worth upwards of $250K a month. Reese thinks they have a problem, then, since he sees Copeland on the street looking at some flowers, so someone else is Galuska’s contact at DFS.

19:39:58 at DFS and surveillance footage shows Chris walking back to his office to find Andrea waiting for him. She wants him to get King’s case worker to petition the judge not to transfer King on the grounds that it would be harmful to the child, but Chris is all yeah, about that. Not going to happen because I’m the one who requested the transfer. But we need to stall so Reese can catch up, so Andrea exposits that he’s working with Galuska as Chris pulls out a gun, telling Andrea the shame of it all is she’s a pretty good lawyer…not that anyone will ever know. Dun…DUN!

Has nothing to do with the story, just thought I’d share.

19:40:28 and Finch is pulling up the signatures of Gloria Copeland and Chris Scollard to analyze them, and they match. Reese exposits, for those slower on the uptake, that means Chris has been forging her signature and Copeland has no idea what’s been going on. Meanwhile, Chris is taking Andrea down to storage in the basement. She tries to guilt trip him about what he’s doing, but he thinks the kids are better off with the foster parents, anyway. She keeps talking so she can pull out her baton unnoticed as Chris mocks her bleeding heart. This gives her enough time to open the baton and whack him in the knee.

She runs off and smartly pulls out random drawers on file cabinets to thwart him, but he just shoots at her as she runs down an aisle. Reese is at the DFS offices, intuiting that Chris took her to the basement storage. Chris takes a shot at Reese who shoots out the light over Chris’ head, since he didn’t have a clear shot at his kneecap. Reese sees Andrea and encourages her to run to distract Chris while Reese has a clean shot at his shoulder and shoots. As Chris runs off, Andrea’s worried that he’s getting away, but Reese says he isn’t as we see Lone Ranger Carter FINALLY getting her chance to wave her gun yelling NYPD.

Wow. She really likes her gun.

Awkwardly, Reese and Andrea stroll out, too, holding hands, which is just rude. Carter cuffs Chris as Reese and Andrea walk past. Carter pretends not to notice but Reese stops on the stairs long enough for her to finally make eye contact. She’s over the whole “Mrs. Carter Guy in Suit,” thing, though, and tries to force a smile as Reese and Andrea leave.

It’s morning in Manhattan and we hear Terrence telling Andrea how much this means to him as we see adorable little Jacob run up and hug his daddy. Awww. Reese is also there, wearing his sexy time coat and dark shirt, to flirt with Andrea that she reached a $10 million settlement with the state, pocketing a not unsizeable chunk of it for herself. He thinks she can stop sneaking into the NYU library, but she says it has a good vibe. Reese is fishing for compliments and coys about how she almost got killed there, and she follows through by saying she had him and his complicated job to save her. She wonders if he ever considers a less dangerous job like bear wrestling and why he risks his life for people he doesn’t know, but he says she’s not the only person who believes in second chances. They hug goodbye and as he walks off she gets a dreamy, conflicted look in her eye and another person has been touched (but not that way) by the Caviezel.

Guess the ratio of shippers to garment renders

Finch is back at Ingram’s loft. Thinking he was coming by to say goodbye to Will, he wonders if Will still intends to sell it. Will says not right away and Finch hopes that means he’s going back to medicine. Will puts the kibosh on that and says he’s staying behind because he wants to learn more about his father and that he’s realizing how little he knew about him when he was alive. Finch says most sons probably think they’re fathers are mysteries, but Will says most sons don’t have unauthorized biographies to read, or box after box of journals and documents to sift through.

Will further explains that so much of it doesn’t make sense to him since he’s no good with computers, like Uncle Harold, but some inconsistencies he does understand. Finch’s interest is getting piqued by this and Will asks if Finch knew Nathan shut down IFT for seven years. Finch calls it downsizing but Will says everyone got severance packages, which doesn’t sound like downsizing. Then he says that Nathan sold something to the government for $1, which Will assumes means it was either worthless or priceless. He asks Finch if he knew anything about it, and Finch is all “Nope, not a thing…” and meaningfully stares at a file box.

WHAT’S IN THE BOOOOOO-OOOOX!?!??!?

Reese is at the library and looks at a tablet. He’s run some kind of online facial recognition program called “Fetch and Retrieve” (derr) to find matches for the shots he took of Will and learns that he’s Nathan Ingram’s son. Finch calls in and Reese asks where he’s been. Finch tells him he won’t be in and Reese should take the day off, too. Good because he needs to eat. He must be hungry. No, Reese just wants to know if Finch wants to talk about it and Finch says no. Reese says he’s worried and tries to get him to at least admit there is something to talk about and Finch gives him the same old disclaimer that some things (most things) in his life need to remain private. Finch says he hopes Reese understands and Reese kind of slithers that he understands completely, but Finch is too preoccupied to pick up tone.

Reese gets a call from Fusco griping about this new gig and how he should at least be getting cab fare. He wants to know if it’s going to end soon, and Reese says as soon as he gets some answers and we see Fusco is trailing Finch from Reese’s safe distance of about 10 feet. But he’s Fusco so he blends a lot better.

Weebles follow but they don’t get caught.

So that’s it for two weeks. CBS was just kidding with that continuous airings of new content, but with ratings picking up, maybe they’re saving up four consecutive episodes for February sweeps. Anyway, a pretty good episode where we learn that Reese will flirt with a lamppost if he thinks it will compliment him, but has a thing for sweet, pretty do-gooders (shades of Jessica?), that Ingram has a son who could pose problems for Reese and Finch down the road and that  Carter’s learning curve on exactly what she can and should expect from working with Reese is pretty steep. I’m kind of disappointed, though, that they’ve cut back on the awesome closing music in favor of the professional score they clearly paid a lot for.

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