Season 1, Episode 12:
Legacy
Reese: You're not the only person who believes in second chances.
Detective Carter finally has her face-to-face with Reese when he enlists her help in protecting a young attorney, Andrea Gutierrez (April Hernandez Castillo), who's representing a man who was wrongfully convicted, Terrence King (Curtiss Cook).
Together, Reese, Finch and Carter unravel a conspiracy to collect money from the foster system by taking in the children — real and fictional — of paroled cons who are reimprisoned while trying to keep Andrea safe from the people sent to kill her, first Alonso Garcia (Jay Hieron) and then Wendell Lentz.
Reese attends a court hearing before Judge Peterson (Brian O'Neill), in which Andrea argues mostly unsuccessfully for Terrence. As he's hauled back to detention, Terrence notices Parole Officer Dominic Galuska (Vito D'Ambrosio) standing around and confronts him: Galuska set Terrence up, Terrence claims.
Andrea is also working on "nuisance suits" for a few other convicts, most of whom can't pay Andrea's fees. Andrea has student loan debt and her credit cards are maxed out. She also needs new shoes, she barely manages to keep her shoes looking presentable with a Sharpie marker.
Galuska shakes down some of his parolees for money, with the threat of sending them back to prison if they can't pay the protection. Galuska gets convicts like Terrence sent back by planting evidence in their residences.
While Terrence is in detention pending transfer to a prison, his young son Jacob (Eric Ruffin) is placed in foster care with Paul (Tuck Milligan) and Mary Kinsey (Barbara Pitts), who supposedly have five other foster kids in their one-bedroom apartment.
Finch discovers the connection between Terrence and the other parolees Galuska has sent back to prison: they're all single fathers. The children are sent to live with people like the Kinseys, who then get a stipend for each child regardless of what happens to the children.
It's a very profitable scam, one that has netted Galuska thousands of dollars. Galuska's bank account shows a balance of more than half a million dollars, and occasional withdrawals in the amount of precisely $9,900. Andrea's inquiries threaten to put a stop to the gravy train.
But of course Galuska's not working alone. Someone at the Department of Family Services (DFS) must be in on it, and suspicion quickly falls on Gloria Copeland (Starla Bernford), who signed the foster care paperwork for Jacob and other parolees' children, and who gives off the vibe of an Obstructive Bureaucrat.
But the actual culprit at DFS turns out to be Chris Scollard (Alex Cranmer), seemingly a nice guy whom Andrea often turned to for help with her cases.
Early on in the episode, Finch gets a call and leaves Reese to work the case alone. Finch goes to a local police precinct to bail out Will Ingram (Michael Stahl-David), the son of Finch's late business partner Nathan Ingram.
Will has returned to New York to pick up a few items from his late father's loft before selling the place, but decides to stay and investigate his father's death after running across cryptic references to the Machine and the $1 deal with the government among Nathan's notes. It was either priceless or worthless, is all Will can determine at this point.
Unbeknownst to the Finch and Will, Reese has been shadowing Finch and witnesses his meetings with Will. Reese enlists Fusco to tail Finch and learn more about his eccentric boss.
Tropes present in this episode include:
- Action Survivor: Andrea acquits herself reasonably well with the telescoping baton Reese gave her and creatively uses the drawers in the room she's in to stall the man who tries to kill her.
- Batman Gambit: Finch knows the corrupt DFS officer will shred the incriminating files, while finding those files is like looking for a Needle in a Stack of Needles. So he installs a scanner in the office shredder, so every time someone feeds in a file it will scan to his phone. Both problems solved!
- Brilliant, but Lazy: Will Ingram shows some slight signs of this.
- Clear Their Name: Andrea is determined to prove that Terrence King is actually innocent.
- Continuity Nod: Reese is still feeling the effects of the gunshot wounds he received in "Number Crunch".
- Crusading Lawyer: Andrea, of course.
- Cute Clumsy Girl: Andrea has some of these traits.
- Exact Words: Reese utilises this to justify his repeated law breaking activities when he and Carter get to work together officially for the first time. She can't do things like frame Asshole Victim parole officers for drunk driving or break into their houses but there was nothing said about Reese not being able to.
- The Dog Was the Mastermind: Chris was the brains behind the DFS scam.
- Frame-Up: Terrence and other convicts were framed for parole violations.
- Framing the Guilty Party: Reese knocks Dominic out, puts him behind the wheel of a car with a gun in his hand, dumps liquor over him, and calls 911.Reese: Hello. My name is Dominic Galuska and I may be a danger to myself or others.
- Good Cop/Bad Cop: And Carter is the bad cop!
- Headphones Equal Isolation: With the blaring music in her ears, Andrea doesn't notice a hitman walking up behind her and pointing a pistol at her head, nor the noisy hand-to-hand combat when Reese intervenes.
- He's Back!: Reese returns to the field for the first time following the events in "Number Crunch," and proceeds to annoy Carter by leaving a trail of mayhem in his wake.
- Improvised Weapon: Reese uses a book about criminal law as a weapon against the knife-wielding Wendell Lentz in the university law library.
- Look Both Ways: Alonso Garcia failed to do this before running in front of a fast-moving garbage truck.
- Oh, Crap!: Finch realises Will has stumbled on evidence of the Machine, and is likely to keep digging.
- Properly Paranoid: "You're being paranoid, Carter. That's a step in the right direction."
- Sharp-Dressed Man: In case we hadn't noticed that Finch wears nice suits, Reese lampshades it for us.Reese: You look worried, Finch. Did your tailor move out of the city?
- Snark-to-Snark Combat: While posing as an employee trying to sue his boss, Reese cheerfully slanders Finch, who finds it Actually Pretty Funny. Finch gets in his own snark while infiltrating into the DFS.
- That Was Objectionable: The prosecutor thinks Andrea's case is baseless and a waste of time. She thinks he's wearing an ugly tie.
- Throw the Book at Them: Reese beats down a mook using a criminal law textbook. The look on his face when he realizes what book he just used states he finds it quite ironic.
- TV Telephone Etiquette: As in most movies and TV shows, no one in this episode ever says "bye" to end a phone call. At one point, Reese puts Carter on hold so he can talk to Fusco. Then, when Reese puts Carter back on, he asks if she's still on the line. When the conversation does end, Carter would have probably have had no clue as to that other than the words "call ended" on her phone's screen.
- The Worf Effect: A steroid-enhanced hitman gets the better of Reese thanks to his still-healing injury. Reese is more prepared the next time.
