History Recap / PersonOfInterestS01E03

** Detective Molina is introduced as a reasonable, competent man who quickly allies with Carter, but the fact that Latimer is taking orders from someone (not to mention robbing a police evidence locker) might make him a bit suspicious. [[spoiler: But in fact, Latimer's boss is an ArcVillain who won't actually be seen for several episodes while Molina is the honest cop he appears to be.]]

* CoolGuns: Latimer's crew pack Heckler and Koch [=MP5K=] PDW submachineguns, which he sabotages. Reese also gets in on the act bringing along a fully automatic Glock 18 machine pistol which becomes critical in the climax of the episode.

* UnwittingPawn: Teddy Dalloway to Carter. His physical profile (being left-handed) and his radio's tracking number wind up being used to foil two of the gang's heists during the episode.

** Detective Molina is introduced as a reasonable, competent man who quickly allies with Carter, but the fact that Latimer is taking orders from someone (not to mention robbing a police evidence locker) might make him a bit suspicious. But in fact, Latimer's boss is an ArcVillain who won't actually be seen for several episodes while Molina is the honest cop he appears to be.
** Reese himself. In the opening robbery he silently tells a guard to not fire his gun so he won't be killed. That makes Carter believe that he's an inside man.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Straub is the sleaziest of the crew besides Lattimer himself, but he has a mother whose property he put up for gambling collateral, and which he wants to save from being seized by the gamblers.

* FramingTheGuiltyParty: Finch has Willis arrested, to create an opening in the gang for Reese to fill, by dumping a bag of stolen guns in his taxi. Ironically, this saved him from getting killed by Lattimer.

* LaserGuidedKarma: Lattimer finding out that he isn't immune to YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness.

** Detective Molina is introduced as a reasonable, competent man who quickly allies with Carter, but the fact that Lattimer is taking orders from someone (not to mention robbing a police evidence locker) might make him a bit suspicious. But in fact, Lattimer's boss is an ArcVillain who won't actually be seen for several episodes while Molina is the honest cop he appears to be.

* TwoShotsBehindTheBar: Not actually shown, but Reese mentions that Latimer has a shotgun behind the counter that Reese boasts he can get to before Latimer can.

* WhamLine: Detective Molina talking about how Manny and Danny, two of his suspects in the robberies, turned up dead, men Lattimer claimed had retired with their proceeds of the money) and revealing that they were murdered casts a very different light upon the heist crew and why Joey's number came up.

* FramingTheGuiltyParty: Finch has Willis arrested, to create an opening in the gang for Reese to fill, by dumping a bag of stolen guns in his taxi.

Reese and Finch try to figure out how to help Joey Durban (Creator/JamesCarpinello), a veteran of the Iraq War who has fallen in with a group of ex-military bank robbers. Their middleman, Sam Latimer (Creator/RubenSantiagoHudson), enlists Joey's gang to steal a single item from a police lock-up: a box of evidence from the murder of "Elias, M."

Reese infiltrates the gang for the heist and Finch tries to intervene, getting caught as one of the hostages. When they return with the evidence, Latimer tries to kill the gang but Reese manages to save Joey and convinces him to leave town.

Reese and Finch try to figure out how to help Joey, an Iraqi war vet that's fallen in with a group of ex-military bank robbers. Their middleman, Latimer, enlists Joey's gang to steal a single item from a police lock-up: a box of evidence from the murder of "Elias, M." Reese infiltrates the gang for the heist and Finch tries to intervene, getting caught as one of the hostages. When they return with the evidence, Latimer tries to kill the gang but Reese manages to save Joey and convinces him to leave town.

In flashbacks to 2006, Reese is on his way through an airport when he runs across Jessica, his former lover; she's currently engaged to someone else, while Reese is on his way to some top-secret deployment. Jessica is still in love with Reese and offers to stay if he asks her too, but he can't, not until she's already gone.

* InnocuouslyImportantEpisode: While "Mission Creep" isn't the most stellar offering in season 1, the case files of the "Elias, M." murder [[MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot kick off one of the major arcs of the first season]].
** [[spoiler: It also comes back in season 5, when Joey saves Reese as part of a new Team Machine]].

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Latimer to the gang of robbers, and then Elias to Latimer.

* FramingTheGuiltyParty: How Finch creates an opening in the gang for Reese to fill.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Straub is the sleaziest of the crew besides Lattimer himself, but he has a mother whose property he put up for gambling collateral, and which he wants to save from being seized by the gamblers,

* SheepInSheepsClothing: Detective Molina is introduced as a reasonable, competent man who quickly allies with Carter, but the fact that Lattimer is taking orders from someone (not to mention robbing a police evidence locker) might make him a bit suspicious. But in fact, Lattimer's boss is an ArcVillain who won't actually be seen for several episodes while Molina is the honest cop he appears to be.

* WhamLine: Detective Molina talking about how Manny and Danny, tow of his suspects in the robberies, turned up dead, men Lattimer claimed had retired with their proceeds of the money) and revealing that they were murdered casts a very different light upon the heist crew and why Joey's number came up.

** One that doesn't come due until almost the end of the series. [[spoiler:Joey does in fact meet a reclusive billionaire similar to Finch, and the two establish their own version of Team Machine operating out of Washington D.C.]]