History Recap / PersonOfInterestS01E11

A month later, Finch brings a wheelchair-bound Reese to an apartment building in Manhattan to investigate the latest person of interest: Trask, the building's landlord. With Reese out of commission, Finch is forced to do the fieldwork and break into Trask's apartment. They learn that Trask is obsessed with one of the female tenants and theorize that he's likely the perpetrator, with either the woman or her boyfriend who lives in the penthouse as his intended victim. Reese narrowly stops Trask from killing the boyfriend by activating the fire alarm, while the Machine intercepts phone calls from the woman where she talks about being terrified by a stalker who's broken into her apartment. Reese decides to intervene and threatens Trask at gunpoint, only to discover he's not the stalker: the supposed "boyfriend" is the one threatening the woman, and Trask is trying to stop him. With Reese and Finch's help, he saves the woman and the "boyfriend" is tossed out a window.

Meanwhile, Carter is being trailed by Snow and a CIA field team who are still determined to find Reese; Snow wants to interrogate him and find out "what happened in Ordos", but is happy to kill Reese if it comes to that. She gives the CIA the slip and follows her only lead -- [[Recap/PersonOfInterestS01E04 Harold Burdett's contact information]] -- to track down Finch, so she can find out exactly what he and Reese do. Finch tells Carter that one of the people in the bar, a man named Derek, will soon be involved in a violent crime. Trailing Derek, she intervenes in time to stop him killing the banker who foreclosed his house, and Finch calls to answer her earlier question that "''this'' is what we do". And Reese gives Fusco an empty bottle of painkillers with his fingerprints on them, and Fusco drives to the next state to plant the bottle in a vet's office. When the bottle is found by local police and the CIA find out, they call off the hunt for Reese in New York and leave Carter alone.

In flashbacks to 2005, Nathan Ingram continues the ruse of pretending he's the sole creator of the Machine, keeping Finch's identity a secret from the government. When asked to demonstrate the Machine's capabilities, Nathan delivers a single social security number to Alicia Corwin, the government liaison. Alicia returns with Denton Weeks, the Deputy Director of the NSA, and news that the social security number lead them to a traitor. Weeks demands to know how the Machine spotted a traitor, but Nathan says it's a BlackBox system that no one can access, meaning [[LoopholeAbuse no one's rights are being violated]] and it can't be aimed at particular targets (it already watches all potential targets). Weeks threatens to cut the government funding if Nathan doesn't comply, and Alicia informs him that in exchange for building the Machine, Nathan is being paid exactly $1 USD. Finch watches this exchange via the Machine's feeds, and it flags Weeks as a threat to the system. Later, Nathan congratulates Finch for the Machine's performance and asks him to briefly "pop the hood": Finch walks Nathan through how the Machine spotted patterns and made connections to pick out the number as a person of interest. Nathan finds the whole thing terrifying, which is why Finch plans to encrypt the operating system so heavily that no one will ever be able to crack it. He doesn't mind his role in the Machine's creation being a total secret because it's the only way to ensure it won't be misused by Weeks and others like him. As Finch comments on the Machine's "instinct for self-preservation", Nathan points out that Finch acts like the Machine is alive. Then the audience sees the Machine flagging Nathan as a threat to the system.

!Super

-->[[AC:Possible Threat Detected. [[TVTropesWillRuinYourLife Website: TV Tropes]].]]

* FishOutOfWater: With Reese out of action, Finch is forced to do the legwork.

-->'''Nathan:''' You talk about that thing like it's alive.
-->'''Finch:''' [[SarcasmMode Shh. It can hear you.]]
-->'''Machine:''': [[AC:[[WhamLine Possible threat detected. Subject: Ingram, Nathan C.]]]]

* HeroStoleMyBike: Carter requisitions a longcoat to dodge the CIA agents, much to the bemusement of the man who owns it.

* TheManBehindTheMan: Finch, to Nathan.

* PosthumousCharacter: Nathan, again.

* ProphecyTwist: As is usually the case, when it appears that Trask is the perpatrator it turns out that while he was going to kill someone it was to save an innocent woman.

In flashbacks to 2005, Nathan Ingram continues the ruse of pretending he's the sole creator of the Machine, keeping Finch's identity a secret from the government. When asked to demonstrate the Machine's capabilities, Nathan delivers a single social security number to Alicia Corwin, the government liaison. Alicia returns with Denton Weeks, the Deputy Director of the NSA, and news that the social security number lead them to a traitor. Weeks demands to know how the Machine spotted a traitor, but Nathan says it's a BlackBox system that no one can access, meaning [[LoopholeAbuse no one's rights are being violated]] and it can't be aimed at particular targets (it already watches all potential targets). Weeks threatens to cut the government funding if Nathan doesn't comply, and Alicia informs him that in exchange for building the Machine, Nathan is being paid exactly $1 USD. Finch watches this exchange via the Machine's feeds, and it flags Weeks as a threat to the system. Later, Nathan congratulates Finch for the Machine's performance and asks him to briefly "pop the hood": Finch walks Nathan through how the Machine spotted patterns and made connections to pick out the number as a person of interest. Nathan finds the whole thing terrifying, which is why Finch plans to encrypt the operating system so heavily that no one will ever be able to crack it. He doesn't mind his role in the Machine's creation being a total secret because it's the only way to ensure it won't be misused by Weeks and others like him. As Finch comments on the Machine's "instinct for self-preservation", the audience sees the Machine flagging Nathan as a threat to the system.

In flashbacks to 2005, Nathan Ingram continues the ruse of pretending he's the sole creator of the Machine, keeping Finch's identity a secret from the government. When asked to demonstrate the Machine's capabilities, Nathan delivers a single social security number to Alicia Corwin, the government liaison. Alicia returns with Denton Weeks, the Deputy Director of the NSA, and news that the social security number lead them to a traitor. Weeks demands to know how the Machine spotted a traitor, but Nathan says it's a BlackBox system that no one can access, meaning no one's rights are being violated and it can't be aimed at particular targets (it already watches all potential targets). Weeks threatens to cut the government funding if Nathan doesn't comply, and Alicia informs him that in exchange for building the Machine, Nathan is being paid exactly $1 USD. Finch watches this exchange via the Machine's feeds, and it flags Weeks as a threat to the system. Later, Nathan congratulates Finch for the Machine's performance and asks him to briefly "pop the hood": Finch walks Nathan through how the Machine spotted patterns and made connections to pick out the number as a person of interest. Nathan finds the whole thing terrifying, which is why Finch plans to encrypt the operating system so heavily that no one will ever be able to crack it. He doesn't mind his role in the Machine's creation being a total secret because it's the only way to ensure it won't be misused by Weeks and others like him. As Finch comments on the Machine's "instinct for self-preservation", the audience sees the Machine flagging Nathan as a threat to the system.

** Finch notes that most people don't change their wifi password from the one the phone company gives them, which is their phone number. Lily, however, changes her wifi password every day, using alphanumeric passwords. It would seem excessive if she didn't know she was being stalked.

* WorthlessForeignDegree: The doctor Finch takes Reese to is a very talented surgeon, who's working as a medical examiner because he isn't licensed to practice in America; he can't afford to get certified as he sends most of his paycheck back to his family. Finch's BriefcaseFullOfMoney solves that problem.

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!!Tropes present in this episode include

* {{Understatement}}: Reese's response to why he's in a wheelchair. To put this in perspective, the night he's referring to involved him being shot in the abdomen and leg by a CIA sniper, nearly bleeding out in a stairwell while trying to escape, and then being operated on by an unlicensed surgeon in a morgue because he couldn't risk going to a hospital. Rough night indeed!
--> '''Reese''': I had a rough night.
* WhamLine: [[AC:Possible threat detected. Subject: Ingram, Nathan C.]]

Meanwhile, Carter is being trailed by Snow and a CIA field team who are still determined to find Reese; Snow wants to interrogate him and find out "what happened in Ordos", but is happy to kill Reese if it comes to that. She gives the CIA the slip and follows her only lead -- [[Recap/PersonOfInterestS01E04 "Harold Burdett"'s contact information]] -- to track down Finch, so she can find out exactly what he and Reese do. Finch tells Carter that one of the people in the bar, a man named Derek, will soon be involved in a violent crime. Trailing Derek, she intervenes in time to stop him killing the banker who foreclosed his house, and Finch calls to answer her earlier question that "''this'' is what we do". And Reese gives Fusco an empty bottle of painkillers with his fingerprints on them, and Fusco drives to the next state to plant the bottle in a vet's office. When the bottle is found by local police and the CIA find out, they call off the hunt for Reese in New York and leave Carter alone.

-> ''"You talk about that thing like it's alive."''
-> ''"Ssh. It can hear you."''

--->[[Film/GlengarryGlenRoss Coffee's for closers]].

* {{Understatement}}: Reese's response to why he's in a wheelchair.

** To put this in perspective, the night he's referring to involved him being shot in the abdomen and leg by a CIA sniper, nearly bleeding out in a stairwell while trying to escape, and then being operated on by an unlicensed surgeon in a morgue because he couldn't risk going to a hospital. Rough night indeed!

* WorthlessForeignDegree: The doctor Finch takes Reese to is a very talented surgeon, who's working as a medical examiner because he isn't licensed to practice in America; he can't afford to get certified as he sends most of his paycheck back to his family. Finch's BriefcaseFullOfMoney solves that problem.
<<|Recap/PersonOfInterest|>>

* PreviouslyOn: Done via Machine-captured CCTV camera views of Reese getting shot by the CIA.

* BackAlleyDoctor

** Snow refused to give Evans coffee for failing to kill Reese last episode.

* DestinationDefenstration: The villain ends up going out the window.

* SpiesInAVan: Lampshaded when Carter hammers on the side of the bread delivery van outside her home.

* ShoutOut: To ''Film/RearWindow''.

** Trask's stories of nightclubs and tigers are quickly disproved by Finch's background check...
*** CassandraTruth: ...until they discover Trask is a former nightclub owner from Miami, now in witness protection.

* HeadTiltinglyKinky

--> "I had a rough night."

** The story Finch tells Carter about his brothers teaching him how to swim, since later flashbacks suggest he was an only child. Unless he was talking about Nathan and Arthur.

* BlatantLies: Trask's stories of nightclubs and tigers are quickly disproved by Finch's background check...
** CassandraTruth: ...until they discover Trask is a former nightclub owner from Miami, now in witness protection.

* WhamLine: "Possible threat detected. Subject: Ingram, Nathan C."

* ProphecyTwist: [[spoiler: As is usually the case, when it appears that Trask is the perpatrator it turns out that while he was going to kill someone it was to save an innocent woman]].

* SinkOrSwimMentor: Finch notes that his brothers were literally this to him, though [[spoiler:flashbacks in season 3 later reveal that he was [[ConsummateLiar an only child]].]] Also in flashbacks, to demonstrate the Machine to federal intelligence agents, he (through Nathan) gives them a Number and tells them to figure out what it means themselves. In the present, he gives Carter a little more, the Number's name and background, but still leaves her to solve the case herself.

* WhamLine - [[spoiler:"Possible threat detected. Subject: Ingram, Nathan C."]]