History Recap / PersonOfInterestS03E16

* OneDegreeOfSeparation: It turns out Finch had met Reese [[spoiler: and Shaw]] long before he received their numbers from the Machine. While he may not have known their name at the time, this is apparently his first brush with [[spoiler: Decima]] before the main timeline.

** Dillinger quits his job using the same words as Reese in "[[Recap/PersonOfInterestS03E12 Alethia]]."

-->'''Finch:''' "I think all you ever wanted to do was help people." ("[[Recap/PersonOfInterestS01E01 Pilot]]")

** Who was Root referring to as the man who worked for Finch before Reese? That's cleared up, see [[ContrastingSequelMainCharacter Contrasting Prequel Main Character]] below.
** The Stuff that happened in [[PersonOfInterestS01E20 Ordos]] in the first season? Decima was in the mix the whole time. Reese, Stanton, Shaw, Control and Special Counsel also played a role in how that laptop got to Ordos in the first place.
** When we are brought back to the present day at the end of the episode, Root has found the Number from the flashback. She informs him that he is to work with that [[PersonOfInterestS03E06 Greenfield]] fellow and how to find him.
** This also explains Finch's BatmanGambit from Season 2: he learned that Northern Lights was trying to hack the Machine, so he prepared Casey's laptop with the vaccine for the Machine.
** In "God Mode", Finch was able to tell Root where the Machine's physical location after her lead, Szilard, is killed. While the same episode has Reese and Shaw uncovering a map that Ingram used to narrow the Machine's location to three restricted nuclear facilities in the US, they don't know which one to pick until they find an old ticket from Oregon in Szilard's possession. In this episode, Casey tells Finch that he was brought to the Pacific Northwest to test breaking into the system, showing how Finch ended up knowing where the Machine was ultimately shipped to.

** Reese's comment about looking into the eyes of traitors is this to his [[Recap/PersonOfInterestS03E10 interview with a military officer who was selling information to the Chinese]].
** Casey tells Finch that he unsuccessfully tried to hack the Machine for days before he made some progress by discovering a backdoor. This was Nathan Ingram's "CONTINGENCY" backdoor, which Finch had argued against using Nathan's own aphorism: "[[Recap/PersonOfInterestS01E22 Any exploit is a total exploit.]]"

** Reese's comment about looking into the eyes of traitors is this to his [[Recap/PersonOfInterestS03E10 interview]].
** Casey tells Finch that he unsuccessfully tried to hack the Machine for days before he made some progress by discovering a backdoor. This was Nathan Ingram's "contingency", which also supported Finch's argument against Nathan's suggestion to create a backdoor for access after the Machine is handed over to the government (that any exploit can become a total exploit).

** Control warns the Special Counsel that Nathan Ingram outlived his usefulness and was disposed of. Explains the Special Counsel's quiet acceptance [[Recap/PersonOfInterestS02E22 later on]].

** In "God Mode", Finch was able to tell Root where the Machine's physical location after her lead, Szilard, is killed. While the same episode has Reese and Shaw uncovering a map that Ingram used to narrow the Machine's location to three restricted nuclear facilities in the US, they don't know which one to pick until they find an old ticket from Oregon in Szilard's possession. In this episode, Casey tells Finch that he was brought to Oregon to test breaking into the system, showing how Finch ended up knowing where the Machine was ultimately shipped to.

** Control warns the Special Counsel that Nathan Ingram outlived his usefulness and was disposed of. Explains the Special Counse's quiet acceptance [[Recap/PersonOfInterestS02E22 later on]].

* [[ContrastingSequelMainCharacter Contrasting Prequel Main Character]]: Dillinger is much rougher (literally and figuratively), more brash, and less sympathetic than Reese has ever been even at his darkest moments.

* YouHaveFailedMe: Control orders this done to Reese and Stanton for not getting the laptop from Casey (Hence the cruise missile in Ordos), despite that never being part of their official mission objectives. Greer tells one of his subordinates that he's one more screwup from getting this himself.

* CallBack: Reese's comment about looking into the eyes of traitors is this to his [[Recap/PersonOfInterestS03E10 interview]].

* ObviouslyEvil: Dillinger mentions early on that he's former Blackwater. So it's no surprise at all when he turns out to not be all that noble and is in fact...

** This also explains Finch's BatmanGambit from Season 2: he learned that Northern Lights was trying to hack the Machine, so he prepared Casey's laptop with the vaccine for the Machine.

* [[ContrastingSequelMainCharacter Contrasting Prequel Main Character]]: Dillinger is much rougher (literally and figuratively), more brash, and less sympathetic than Reese has ever been even at his darkest moments.
* FreezeFrameBonus[=/=]ShoutOut: The names of the horses on Strickland's racing form include "[[{{Exalted}} Power Chord]]", "[[{{Spartacus}} I Am Spartacus]]", and [[Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory Veruca's Golden Egg]]."

** Dillinger quits his job using the same words as Reese in "[[Recap/PersonOfInterestS03E13 4C]]."

* FreezeFrameBonus[=/=]ShoutOut: The names of the horses on Strickland's racing form include "[[TabletopGame/Exalted Power Chord]]", "[[Film/Spartacus I Am Spartacus]]", and [[Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory Veruca's Golden Egg]]."

* [[spoiler:DeathFakedForYou: Reese realizes that Casey isn't really a traitor, and helps him get away after faking his death. Finch saw him do this, which might have contributed to his decision to recruit him a year later.]]

* SpecialEditionTitle: This episode begins with the [[OpeningNarration opening narration]] from Season 1. It gets about halfway through, stops, and [[IdiosyncraticWipe rewinds itself]] all the way back to 2010.

** Who was Root referring to as the man who worked for Finch before Reese? That's cleared up.

** When we are brought back to the present day at the end of the episode, Root has found the Number from the flashback. She informs him that he is to work with that [[PersonOfInterestS03E06 Greenfield]] and how to find him.

* SpecialEditionTitle: This episode begins with the [[OpeningNarration opening narration]] from Season 1. It gets about halfway through, stops, and [[IdiosyncraticWipe rewinds itself]] all the way back to 2010.

** The Stuff that happened in [[PersonOfInterestS01E20 Ordos]] in the first season? Decima was in the mix the whole time. Reese, Stanton, Shaw, Control and the Special Counsel also played a role in how that laptop got to Ordos in the first place.
** That [[PersonOfInterestS03E06 Greenfield]] fellow is to work with the Number from the flashback, as reveled at the end in the present day.

* CallBack: more like "call forward," since they are references to things that happen later in the series' timeline

** The Stuff that happend in [[PersonOfInterestS01E20 Ordos]] in the first season? Decima was in the mix the whole time.

* OpeningNarration: This episode begins with the opening narration from Season 1. It gets about halfway through, stops, and [[IdiosyncraticWipe rewinds itself]] all the way back to 2010.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Finch, when he realizes that [[spoiler: his refusal to share any information with Dillinger has turned Dillinger against him]]. This is almost certainly why he [[spoiler: tells Reese about the Machine very early in their partnership]].

** Who was Root referring to as the man who worked for Finch before Reese? That's cleared up.

The year is 2010. Harold Finch and his current partner, a mercenary by the name of Dillinger, are trying to protect a network security specialist by the name of Casey, who had been hired by the government to try to hack a computer system capable of adapting to protect itself, in the process drawing the negative attention of Northern Lights and Decima Technologies.