History Recap / PersonOfInterestS01E02

* WouldntHurtAChild: The man hired to kill Teresa's family refused to murder a child.
* YourCheatingHeart: The POI in the BatmanColdOpen. Rather than go for the straight divorce, the man's wife hired hitmen.

<<|Recap/PersonOfInterest|>>

!Ghost

-> ''"The police only see what they choose to look for. The Machine sees almost everything."''
-->-- ''Finch.''

* ActorAllusion: [[Series/{{Lost}} Brett Cullen]] is once again a colleague of MichaelEmerson, and again is a PosthumousCharacter.
* ArbitrarilyLargeBankAccount: Reese uses Finch's credit card to book the entire floor of a hotel. And order a $50 cheeseburger.

* FreezeFrameBonus / {{Foreshadowing}}: While Finch and Nathan are discussing the irrelevant list in the flashback to 2007, one of the names and faces to appear is [[Recap/PersonOfInterestS01E01 Jessica Ardnt, Reese's ex-girlfriend]].
* NeverFoundTheBody / NotQuiteDead: Teresa Whitacker, obviously.
* OurFounder: The final shot of the episode is a bust of [[spoiler:Nathan Ingram]], confirming his identity as the founder of IFT. [[spoiler:It also says that he died in 2010.]]

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Reese t-bones the murder's car with a ''dump truck'', and then calmly climbs out of the cab and orders the murderer (who is fortunately still alive) to call off the hitman.

* EvenEvilHasStandards / HitmanWithAHeart: The man hired to kill Teresa's family refused to murder a child.
** Slightly {{subverted}} though, because he apparently had no qualms about murdering her 18 year old brother.

* PosthumousCharacter: Nathan Ingram, as revealed in TheStinger.

* CurbStompBattle: Reese beats up a bar full of thugs to get the name of the hitman who murdered Teresa's family. Sadly, [[GoryDiscretionShot we don't get to see exactly how he does it.]]

* CurbStompBattle: Reese beats up a bar full of thugs to get the name of hitman who murdered Teresa's family. Sadly, [[GoryDiscretionShot we don't get to see exactly how he does it.]]

-> "The police only see what they choose to look for. The Machine sees almost everything."

* ArbitrarilyLargeBankAccount: Reese uses Finch's credit card to book the entire hotel floor. And order a $50 cheeseburger.

* CurbStompBattle: Reese beats up a bar full of thugs to get the name of hitman who murdered Teresa's family. Unfortunately, [[GoryDiscretionShot we don't get to see exactly how he does it.]]

* FreezeFrameBonus / {{Foreshadowing}}: When Finch and Nathan are discussing the irrelevant list, one of the names and faces to appear is [[Recap/PersonOfInterestS01E01 Jessica Ardnt, Reese's ex-girlfriend]].

* EvenEvilHasStandards

* HitmanWithAHeart: The man hired to kill Teresa's family refused to murder a child.
** Slightly {{subverted}} though, because he apparently had no qualms about murdering her 18 year old brother.

** Slightly {{averted}} though, because he apparently had no qualms about murdering her 18 year old brother.

In a flashback to 2002, Finch works on building the Machine in absolute secrecy while his business partner, Nathan Ingram, acts as the public face of the company and deals with the government, who believe Nathan built the Machine and don't know that Finch exists. In 2007, after the Machine has been taught to track people and spot terrorists, Nathan discovers the existance of the "irrelevant" list and is horrified that so many people in danger have been ignored; Finch defends his decision to delete the irrelevant list because the Machine wasn't built to save "somebody", [[TheNeedsOfTheMany but rather to save "everybody"]].

* ActorAllusion: [[Series/{{Lost}} Brett Cullen]] is once again a colleage of MichaelEmerson, and again is a PosthumousCharacter.

In a flashback to 2002, Finch works on building the Machine in absolutely secret while his business partner, Nathan Ingram, acts as the public face of the company and deals with the government, who believe Nathan built the Machine and don't know that Finch exists. In 2007, after the Machine has been taught to track people and spot terrorists, Nathan discovers the existance of the "irrelevant" list and is horrified that so many people in danger have been ignored; Finch defends his decision to delete the irrelevant list because the Machine wasn't built to save "somebody", [[TheNeedsOfTheMany but rather to save "everybody"]].

* FreezeFrameBonus / Foreshadowing: When Finch and Nathan are discussing the irrelevant list, one of the names and faces to appear is [[Recap/PersonOfInterestS01E01 Jessica Ardnt, Reese's ex-girlfriend]].

In a flashback to 2002, Finch works on building the Machine in absolutely secret while his business partner, Nathan Ingram, acts as the public face of the company and deals with the government, who believe Nathan built the Machine and don't know that Finch exists. In 2007, after the Machine has been taught to track people and spot terrorists, Nathan discovers the existance of the "irrelevant" list and is horrified that so many people in danger have been ignored; Finch defends his decision to delete the "irrelevant" names because the Machine wasn't built to save "somebody", [[TheNeedsOfTheMany but rather to save "everybody"]].

'''Season 1, Episode 1''':

In flashbacks to 2006, Finch works on building the Machine in absolutely secret while his business partner, Nathan Ingram, acts as the public face of the company and deals with the government, who believe Nathan built the Machine and don't know that Finch exists. As Finch teaches the Machine how to find and track people, Nathan discovers the existance of the "irrelevant" list and is horrified that so many people in danger have been ignored; Finch defends his decision to delete the "irrelevant" names for [[TheNeedsOfTheMany the greater good]].

The newest number corresponds to Teresa Whitaker, a teenage girl who has supposedly been dead for two years, the victim of a massacre when her father went crazy on a houseboat and killed the entire family. Digging deeper reveals that the murders were carried out by a hitman who refused to kill a child, and now the people who hired him are determined to finish the job.

Meanwhile, Detective Carter keeps tracking the appearances of the BadassInANiceSuit, determined to arrest him.

The newest number corresponds to a teenage girl who has supposedly been dead for two years, the victim of a massacre when her father went crazy on a houseboat and killed the entire family. Digging deeper reveals that the murders were carried out by a hitman who refused to kill a child, and now the people who hired him are determined to finish the job.