Line #29 Recap/PersonOfInterestS02E13


1	'''Season 2, Episode 13''':
2	!Dead Reckoning
3	->'''Reese:''' So what's this really about?\
4	'''Stanton:''' This is about three dead little spies in a brave new world. It's about the afterlife, John, and us negotiating our places in it.
5
6	Following the events in "Prisoner's Dilemma," Finch, Carter, and Fusco race to save Reese, who has been kidnapped by Kara Stanton and is being forced to assist her in carrying out an act of cyber-warfare.
7
8	-----
9	!!Tropes present in this episode include:
10	* BatmanGambit:
11	** Reese wipes the system so Stanton can't steal the cyberwarfare viruses. Turns out she was counting on Reese doing that, to make it easier to load her own program.
12	** Finch knew Reese would go onto the roof (anywhere else in the building would confine the blast, causing more damage) so goes up there to intercept him.
13	* BurnBabyBurn: The final shot is of the notebook page on which Stanton wrote the name of the person who sold the laptop to the Chinese.
14	* BusFullOfInnocents: When it looks like Reese will attack her on waking up with an explosive vest, Stanton tells him to take a look around. He's on a bus with women and kids.
15	* CallBack:
16	** Reese says that if Snow goes back to the CIA he'll end up in a black hood. From Snow's expression, he remembers doing this to L.O.S. all too well.
17	** We find out what Snow was forced to steal in "Critical".
18	** As in "Matsya Nyaya" a mission ostensibly involving the theft of a cyberwarfare virus turns out to be something else.
19	* ChekhovsGunman: Greer shows up in the flashbacks with Kara, and gives her Harold's name to help her in her quest try and find out who it was who sold the laptop to the Chinese.
20	* DangerTakesABackseat
21	* ADeathInTheLimelight: For Kara Stanton and Mark Snow.
22	* DeadpanSnarker: Even the [[CasualDangerDialogue prospect of their imminent death]] can't stop these two.
23	-->'''Reese:''' Have you ever defused a bomb vest before?\
24	'''Finch:''' Can't say I have. But I believe I grasp the basic principles.\
25	'''Reese:''' Well, that's encouraging.
26	** Kara gets into the spirit of things, too.
27	-->'''Stanton:''' So [[NoKillLikeOverkill why the cruise missile]]?\
28	'''Snow:''' Had to be sure.\
29	'''Stanton:''' ''[smirks at the man she has strapped to a bomb vest]'' And how's that working out for you?
30	* DeathSeeker
31	-->'''Reese:''' This is my past catching up with me; it doesn't concern you.
32	* DeceasedFallGuyGambit: Invoked accidentally. When the FBI realize that the recently blown up Mark Snow is an ex-CIA agent who meets the vague description Carter had for the Man in the Suit, they decide that he is the Man in the Suit, pin Donnelly's death on him, declare the case closed with the death of the suspect, and go home.
33	* DisproportionateRetribution:
34	** Reese has to stop Snow from putting a bullet in a mook's head after the mook punches him in the face.
35	** Kara Stanton's plot; even though she knows Reese wasn't responsible for putting her on the suicide mission to Ordos, she still drags him along for the ride.
36	* DyingMomentOfAwesome: Say what you will about Mark Snow, but choosing to wait in Stanton's car to [[TakingYouWithMe take her down with him]], [[LaserGuidedKarma with the same bomb vest she's been threatening him with for months no less]], is one hell of a way to go.
37	* ExactWords: Finch apologises for getting Reese into this mess, Reese assumes he means Finch recruiting him back in the pilot episode.
38	* ExplainExplainOhCrap: Finch is listing possible targets for the cybervirus when he suddenly falls silent, having realises the target must be the Machine.
39	* ExplosiveLeash: For both Mark ''and'' John.
40	* {{Foil}}: Snow is only interested in saving himself, whereas Reese is willing to sacrifice himself to save others. Stanton is 'damaged goods' like Reese, but isn't willing to put the past behind her.
41	* {{Foreshadowing}}[=/=]FreezeFrameBonus:
42	** A few minutes into the episode, one of the Machine's-eye-view cuts shows a skyscraper with the top couple floors marked in red as an exclusion zone, and labeled 'NSA DSF'. Presumably this is the same building Kara sends them to infiltrate later in the episode.
43	** There's a momentary glitch in the security cam view of Stanton's car exploding. [[NoOneCouldSurviveThat Did she somehow escape in that interval?]] If this was the intention, Stanton never turns up again, so presumably she was KilledOffForReal.
44	* GottaKillThemAll: Kara Stanton is out to eliminate anyone she blames for the Agency betraying her. Including John, despite knowing that he had nothing to do with it.
45	* HeldGaze: Carter and Reese, before she leaves him to potentially die.
46	* HeroicSacrifice: Reese was prepared to make one, but it was thankfully averted with a little help from Finch.
47	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Kara Stanton. Doubles as LaserGuidedKarma and DeathByIrony.
48	* ImNotHungry: DiscussedTrope by Stanton.
49	* ImpersonatingAnOfficer[=/=]MuggedForDisguise: Reese and Snow knock out two ATF agents, then pretend to be responding to a bomb threat.
50	* IronicEcho:
51	** Mark telling Kara that she was right; he's going to be great at being dead.
52	** Snow had tried to get Reese and Stanton to kill each other by telling them the other had been compromised. Reese tells Snow the same thing when he tries to run back to the CIA.
53	* KansasCityShuffle: Kara's plan. She sets it up to appear as if she is stealing a computer virus. In reality she is planting one.
54	* KickTheDog: Kara's on a roll in this episode. Along with Mark, she also takes the opportunity to make John squirm as well.
55	* KidnappersKFC: Reese is forced to wear a bomb vest under his jacket by Stanton, who takes him to a fast food restaurant because if he tries anything stupidly heroic, then innocents will die as well. Reese refuses to eat, which Stanton says is his way of keeping a sense of control by refusing to cooperate in small ways. She points out that Reese's fellow captor is eating (he's been StrappedToABomb for quite some time now), so Reese will also come to accept the hopelessness of his situation.
56	* MissingFloor: The [=21st=] floor has no button accessing it. You need to press a combination of buttons in a particular elevator.
57	* NotSoDire: Reese and Snow reach for their guns on hearing gunshots, only it's a FirstPersonShooter game.
58	* ObliviousGuiltSlinging: Reese thanking Finch and trying to pull a HeroicSacrifice.
59	* OddlyOvertrainedSecurity: The DOD facility has two Delta Force operators playing security guard in the elevator lobby. Subverted when these EliteMooks go down with synchronized gunshots from the suppressed Glocks John and Mark are using.
60	* OhCrap: Kara's face when she discovers Mark - and consequently, his bomb vest - waiting in the backseat of her car.
61	* OneDialogueTwoConversations: Reese talking to Stanton on her earpiece, while talking to the Russians.
62	* ThePowerOfFriendship: Reese is saved because Finch refuses to abandon him. Snow gives up hope because [[YouHaveFailedMe he knows his colleagues will kill him]].
63	* RaceAgainstTheClock: To motivate Reese and Snow, Stanton activates the countdown on their vests.
64	* {{Revenge}}: Stanton's employers know that money will not appeal to her, so give her a chance to avenge herself.
65	* ASharedSuffering: Averted; Reese tries appealing to Stanton (over their mutual betrayal) and Snow (over their mutual predicament) but each of them are too self-centered.
66	* ShootOutTheLock: Justified; Reese and Snow shoot the battery of the electric lock holding the door closed, then push it open.
67	* ShoutOut:
68	** Finch disarms the bomb vest with [[Film/{{Goldfinger}} 0:07]] seconds left on the timer.
69	** The game the Russians are playing is ''VideoGame/FarCry3''.
70	* SkewedPriorities: While in a state of shock, Carter initially refuses to leave the crash site because it's a crime scene.
71	* StairsAreFaster: Carter and Fusco get past the police evacuating the building and the security-locked elevator by going up the fire exit.
72	* TakingYouWithMe: Well hey, if Mark Snow has to die, he might as well make sure he's not the only one. Doubles as a DyingMomentOfAwesome.
73	* TeethClenchedTeamwork: Reese and Snow aren't very fond of one another. The dislike is justified.
74	* ThinkOfTheChildren: Carter refuses to leave Reese behind, until Fusco asks her to think of her son.
75	* ThinkNothingOfIt: Reese thanks Finch for saving his life, but Finch tells him not to mention it. [[ObliviousGuiltSlinging And it seems there may be a reason for that.]]
76	* ThirdTimesTheCharm: The third code to hack the phone bomb, not to mention if Finch had messed up the phone would have locked him out.
77	* ThouShaltNotKill: Reese refuses to kill anyone while carrying out Stanton's plan.
78	* UngratefulBitch: Stanton knows Reese refused to obey Snow's order to kill her, but sets him up to die anyway.
79	* VillainousRescue: Stanton snipes two criminals who are about to shoot Snow and Reese.
80	* VisualPun: Reese says, "Just give us a hand" to the tech who uses his palmprint to get inside the secure room.
81	* WakingUpElsewhere: Reese wakes up on a city bus after losing consciousness in a wrecked car. [[OhCrap And then he sees Kara Stanton sitting across from him...]]
82	* WhamEpisode: One of the most important episodes of both the season and the series as a whole. Mark Snow takes out Kara Stanton with his DyingMomentOfAwesome, but not before she's already activated a cyber weapon that may be a threat to the Machine. And then in the final few seconds we learn that ''Finch'' may have been the one ultimately responsible for Reese and Stanton being set up at Ordos.
83	* WhenHeSmiles: The genuine smile on Reese's face as he accepted Bear's welcome home dog-tackle. Not a smirk, or a lazy smile, but a genuine happy smile.
84	* WholePlotReference: The whole episode is one to ''Film/{{Inception}}''. They think Stanton is trying to steal a cyberweapon when she's really trying to plant a virus.
85	* WickedCultured: Greer, who uses the [[Characters/ClassicalMythologyTitans Titans]] as an analogy.
86	* WireDilemma: A variation where Finch must guess the code to unlock the phone being used as a detonator. He has three out of five possible answers before the phone locks him out.
87	* YouHaveNoIdeaWhoYoureDealingWith: When they take an NSA technician hostage, he says incredulously, "Do you guys have any idea where you are?"

Context Recap / PersonOfInterestS02E13