History Recap / PersonOfInterestS01E21

* GoryDiscretionShot: Whatever Reese did to Peter, it wasn't pretty.

* BlatantLies
** Finch says he respects Reese's privacy, but the apartment he buys him makes is clear he knows about his off-duty game in the park.
** Finch claims he's meeting Carter in the bar to avoid setting a pattern, but it turns out the POI is a waitress there.

* FictionalDocument: ''Stress Fractures in Titanium,'' the book Reese is reading at the beginning of the episode--which is also a ShoutOut to the 1995 film ''Heat.''

* ForgottenBirthday: Averted as Finch not only did ''not'' forget Reese's birthday, he even got him a present and gave him the day off!
** Which would have been a lot more touching if it hadn't been a ploy to keep Reese in the dark about the case he was working on...

** Donnelly makes reference to the events in "L.O.S."

* ContinuityNod: Like the pilot, this episode begins with Reese and Jessica making love then cutting to Reese sitting in public transportation.

-> ''"When I was first building the machine, I kept seeing the same numbers come up a week, a month, six months apart... Usually women. At first I thought it was a mistake; how could anyone's life be repeatedly threatened? And then I realized... they were living with the person who would eventually kill them."''

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: This episode gives us a vague idea of what happened to Peter and Tillman. Through the phone call with the Mexican Police and Carter she asks if any other Americans besides Peter is down there. He answers there are a few. Though not confirmed it suggests that Reese sent both of them down there.

* CurbStompBattle: [[spoiler:Jennings]] is on the receiving end of a very brutal, and entirely one-sided, beating from Reese. ''Twice.''

** Which would have been a lot more touching if [[spoiler:it hadn't been a ploy to keep Reese in the dark about the case he was working on...]]

* SympatheticMurderer: Reese himself, in the flashback. [[spoiler:Maybe. Peter's fate is left somewhat ambiguous (the ending implies that he ''might'' have ended up in the Mexican prison), and WordOfGod has said they don't plan to ever reveal what actually happened to him.]]

* CallBack: Like the pilot, this episode begins with Reese and Jessica making love then cutting to Reese sitting in public transportation.

* BerserkButton / UnstoppableRage:: Abusive husbands apparently take this UpToEleven for Reese. And you thought he went berserk in "Baby Blue"!

* BerserkButton: Abusive husbands apparently take this UpToEleven for Reese.

-->"GetOut." "Excuse me?" "Leave the laptop, now Harold, and get out."
* FlashbackWithinAFlashback

* SympatheticMurderer: Reese himself, in the flashback.

-> ''"When I was first building the machine, I kept seeing the same numbers come up; a week, a month, six months apart. Usually women. At first I thought it was a mistake; how could anyone's life be repeatedly threatened? And then I realized... they were living with the person who would eventually kill them."''

* CallBack - Like the pilot, this episode begins with Reese and Jessica making love then cutting to Reese sitting in public transportation.
* DeathGlare - Reese gives one to Finch.

* VerySpecialEpisode - Team Machine does not tolerate domestic violence.
* WeNeedADistraction: Reese calls the phone in Jenning's motel room moments before he bursts through the door.

However, there is a new number and Finch is deliberately keeping Reese out of the loop, using Fusco to do the legwork instead. The number is Sarah Atkins, an abused wife on the run from her husband, a US Marshal named Jennings who is using his authority to track her down. Finch and Fusco are almost caught by Jennings before Reese intervenes, angry at being lied to and angrier still once he learns that the number is the victim of domestic abuse. Meanwhile, Agent Donnelly enlists Carter's help investigating what he suspects was Reese's first murder-for-hire in January of 2011. Though Donnelly and Carter don't realise the significance, the victim is Peter Ardnt, husband of Jessica; he was brutally murdered in his home and Reese was sloppy about cleaning up evidence he was there.

Flashbacks reveal the curcimstances surrounding the crime. Following [[Recap/PersonOfInterestS01E20 the Ordos mission]], Reese returned to America to find Jessica, following up on her distraught phone call, and learns that she was killed in a car accident some months previously. Reese, however, knows better: Peter was a spousal abuser and accidentally killed Jessica in a rage, staging the car accident to cover it up. Reese breaks into the Ardnt house to watch videos of Jessica and Peter's wedding. When Peter returns, Reese makes it clear he knows what really happened before making his move.

Jennings catches up with Sarah and tries to get her out of the city, but Reese pursues, helps Sarah escape and packs Jennings into the trunk of his car. Finch calls Carter for help; her investigation, more thorough than Donnelly's, led her to learn that Jessica was abused by her husband and that Reese was her ex-lover. She tries to stop Reese from doing anything rash, offering to arrest Jennings and take him back to New York, but Reese refuses and drives off with him. Days later, Reese returns; Finch tells him the key is for an apartment, and when Reese goes there, he finds that it overlooks the park where he plays xiangqi with Mr Han. Carter gets a call from the warden of a Mexican prison and learns that Jennings was imprisoned there by Reese, who has previously delivered "one or two Americans". And after using her newfound knowledge of Reese to obtain a copy of his service record, she shreds it to prevent Donnelly from finding out any more, though she keeps a photo of Reese and Jessica in happier times.

* MeaningfulEcho: Reese's voiceover from the beginning of the pilot returns here, as something Reese says to Peter, foreshadowing the "real monster" unleashed by Jessica's murder.

-->"GetOut. Leave the laptop, now Harold, and get out."

-->'''Reece:''' That's a good question. I haven't known the answer for a long time.

* WeNeedADistraction: Reece calls the phone in Jenning's motel room moments before he bursts through the door.

-->"Leave the laptop, now Harold, and get out."

<<|Recap/PersonOfInterest|>>

-->Leave the laptop, Harold, and get out.

Jennings catches up with Sarah and tries to gether out of the city, but Reese pursues, helps Sarah escape and packs Jennings into the trunk of his car. Finch calls Carter for help; her investigation, more thorough than Donnelly's, led her to learn that Jessica was abused by her husband and that Reese was her ex-lover. She tries to stop Reese from doing anything rash, offering to arrest Jennings and take him back to New York, but Reese refuses and drives off with him. Days later, Reese returns; Finch tells him the key is for an apartment, and when Reese goes there, he finds that it overlooks the park where he plays xiangqi with Mr Han. Carter gets a call from the warden of a Mexican prison and learns that Jennings was imprisoned there by Reese, who has previously delivered "one or two Americans". And after using her newfound knowledge of Reese to obtain a copy of his service record, she shreds it to prevent Donnelly from finding out any more, though she keeps a photo of Reese and Jessica in happier times.

* GoreDiscretionShot: Whatever Reese did to Peter, it wasn't pretty.