Recap / Person of Interest S02 E19

Season 2, Episode 19:

Trojan Horse

The Machine produces the number of an executive at a computer company who is beginning to suspect that a recently deceased employee of hers might have been involved in industrial espionage. In the meantime, Cal Beecher starts looking into the source of the information that caused him to accuse the late Detective Szymanski of being a Dirty Cop.

---

Tropes present in this episode include:

• Angry Guard Dog: Averted when Bear doesn't warn Finch that Shaw was in the Library. Played straight later when he chases the company security guards.
• Bait-and-Switch:
  Beecher: Did you give money to Szymanski?
  Elias: Absolutely. (Beat) And he threw it in our faces. He was clean, and you got played by HR.
• Bait-and-Switch Comparison: Shaw gives us this gem -
  "You think I should have a hobby. Now, what would that be? Hanging around a derelict library with you, your poorly-socialized guard dog... and Bear here?"
• Big Friendly Dog: Bear with Shaw.
  Finch: Traitor!
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Monica's assistant Jerome really isn't as nice as she thought.
• Bullet Proof Human Shield: Reese uses a Chinese Spy as one.
• Call-Back:
  • Reese tells Shaw that a "friend" once told him that in their line of work, they walk in the dark. He then adds that it doesn't mean they have to walk alone.
  • Also Monica remarks that she has a job offer from IFT, the company where Finch was working as a low level clerk in "Ghosts"—and which he and Nathan Ingram owned.
  • Like Christopher Zambrano in "Bury the Lede," Beecher looked to be one of the bad guys, and we only learned otherwise after he was murdered.
  • As in "Get Carter", a detective is set up to be murdered through one of their informants.
• Chair Reveal: Haskell, only he's been shot dead.
• Chess Motifs: Elias uses his chess set to explain the situation to both Finch and Cal.
• *Click* Hello:
  Reese: Hello, Shaw.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Martin Baxter. Subverted with Ross Haskell.
• Cover Identity Anomaly: It all started when Monica tried to send flowers to dead colleague's parents—only to learn that there were no such people.
• Deadly Euphemism: Quinn ordering Beecher's death:
  Quinn: I always told Cal to be careful. Being a cop is a dangerous job.
• Due to the Dead: Northern Lights has spread media disinformation that Shaw's partner Cole was a domestic terrorist. Finch uses his hacking skills to feed the media a story that Cole was a CIA agent. Although Shaw never says so, Finch helping to clear Cole's name is clearly the reason she's considering joining his Ragtag Bunch of Misfits.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Simmons was the closest we've seen him get to being shocked when Quinn decided to have his godson killed for learning too much. This trope is consistent with his decision to withdraw support for Elias in "Flesh and Blood", once Finch points out that Simmons's family - and that of everyone in HR - is being watched by Elias's people.
• Everybody Did It: Monica is one of the few people in the company that isn't a spy.
• Explosive Instrumentation: The spies back-hack Finch's laptop and blow it up.
• Flock of Wolves: Around half of the company management are Chinese spies.
• Frame-Up: Monica is framed for being a spy.
• Geeky Turn-On: Monica and Finch bond over hacking. Reese asks if they'd rather he left them alone.
• Gory Discretion Shot: Thankfully, we don't actually see Martin shoot himself in the head.
• Have You Told Anyone Else?: Subverted. After a classic setup, turns out that the man Monica told wasn't a spy—everyone else in the company was.
• Hey, Wait!: Monica appears to have noticed Finch force-pairing her phone, but she actually saw his notebook with the latest processor.
• Hidden in Plain Sight: At the end, Finch has a discussion with Reese about the nature of Rylatech and Greer is talking over the phone about the same subject. The two parties are discussing about their findings about each other when their paths literally cross, but both ignore one other as they have no idea exactly whom they just encountered.
• Ironic Echo: Greer promises to track down Finch and render him 'irrelevant'.
• Kicked Upstairs: Simmons suggests this to Quinn as a way of dealing with Cal Beecher, and is shocked when his boss decides that Murder Is the Best Solution.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Baxter intends to kill Monica and make it look like she killed herself after murdering Haskell, only to end up shooting himself.
• Leave Behind a Pistol: Greer does this over the phone with the victim using his own gun. Evil, but impressive.
• The Man Behind the Man: Greer notes that the Chinese intelligence services will take the blame for the scandal, while Decima's involvement is unknown.
• Mole in Charge: Detective Terney is revealed to be in charge of Szymanski's murder investigation.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Finch when Shaw shows up in the library.
    Shaw: It's not nice when someone hunts you down, now is it?
  • The Rylatech corporate security Mooks when faced with Bear.
  • Baxter when Greer calls him.
• Percussive Pickpocket: Reese casually shoulder-checking the R&D boss to grab the USB stick for Finch. (Note: Finch was about to contrive a rather complicated plan to get the data on the stick until Reese announced he had a simpler way.)
• Pet the Dog: A literal example where Shaw pets Bear just as she leaves the library. Another example in that Finch apparently casually hacked the CIA, faked an employee profile, and leaked documents about Cole's death so that his reputation would be cleared, if posthumously.
• Revenge: Shaw sees Root's picture on The Big Board, so decides tracking down the woman who tried to torture her sounds like a good job.
• Secret Test of Character: Subverted. Shaw assumes that Finch giving her a number to call if she wants a job meant he wanted her to find him. Finch figured she'd just call the number.
• Sexy Secretary: Monica's assistant Jerome isn't bad looking at all.
• Shout-Out: Two of the characters are named Monica and Ross.
• Slave to PR: Martin, the founder of Rylatech. His explanation of why he made his company a subsidiary of Decima and other Chinese intelligence agencies, and is now going to murder Monica, is a New Era Speech couched in the language of a corporate press release.
• That's What I Would Do: How Reese knows Shaw was planning to tell her dead partner's parents how their son really died.
• Unwitting Pawn: Monica, Haskell, and Cal.
• We Are Everywhere: When Reese roughs up Jerome, he just smirks. "You're wasting your time. There are too many of us."
• We Need a Distraction: Bear is sent in with Monica's ID card around the dog's neck.
• Wham Line: Lee wasn't spying for a company, he was spying for his country! We just picked a fight with the People's Republic of China!
• Who Are You?: "Right now, an easy target."
• You Are Not Alone: Reese to Shaw. She doesn't bite.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness / He Knows Too Much: All over the place in this episode, including Jerome, Baxter, Beecher and the CI who sets him up to be murdered. The most chilling example is when Greer has Baxter commit suicide after telling him that his family would be provided for.