Sunday, May 11, 2014

Person of Interest 3.22: "A House Divided"

“The Machine, it started developing abilities I never expected. Things I hadn’t yet programmed it to do. And there wasn’t an algorithm in the world that could control its exponential growth. And by the time I figured one out, it would have been too late.”
- Finch

We start back in time in 2010 with a pair of brothers sharing breakfast at home. Things seem to be going well. One of them is in law school and the other is three weeks shy of being two years sober. Then the government has to bust in and claim national security and arrest the sober brother (who is an airline mechanic). We jump back to the present to find Reese and Shaw chasing another Decima goon. Instead of talking, he jumps off a building. According to Root, they get hefty life insurance policies for their families if they die. Creepy. And with Finch MIA, Root is taking over being the brains of the operation. As much as I love Amy Acker, I’m tired of Root being the one to call the shots. I miss Finch, damn it. While he and the head of Decima verbally spar over the rightness or wrongness of bringing Samaritan online, Root introduces our heroes to her trio of hackers. We’ve seen a couple of them before which is kind of cool. Root sends Shaw off to a hotel while she and Reese bring the hackers to a safer location. Pretty quickly they get a series of five numbers since the Machine can’t quite see what’s coming. And one of those numbers happens to be Control (aka Shaw’s old boss. The one who shut down Northern Lights a few episodes back).

While our team grapples with what to do, the head of Decima tells his Senator contact that he should convince the President to buy Samaritan. But the thing is Decima will retain control over the system and they’ll just sell the info to the government. I wouldn’t trust that either and the Senator is skeptical. But the head of Decima insists that it gives the government plausible deniability. I’m guessing he’s thinking about Vigilance. I have to say, based on what we saw at the start, I think Collier (the main guy from Vigilance) is the son of the man who the FBI arrested. We’ll see if I’m right.

Shaw slips into the hotel and ends up taking out two secret service guys. So now she’s got eyes on a meeting between the head of Decima’s Senator buddy and Control. Root and Reese are chilling in a nearby coffee shop and Reese is rather grumpy about it. Root tells him to be patient. And I guess in a way the patience pays off. First the Senator convinces Control to buy into the idea of Samaritan being owned by a third party (she was rather pissed that he was working with Decima who stole it from her in the first place). Then they have to convince the President’s right hand man in Congress. So that takes care of the third number. Their fourth number is the head of the NSA and the fifth number is still a mystery. It seems at least that the guy they really need to convince isn’t that interested. He’s still cleaning up the Northern Lights mess. But Control entices him with info on Vigilance and claims that they will strike within twenty-four hours. Well shit that’s not good at all. All the while, Shaw is crabby that she can’t kill Control yet. Back at the coffee shop, Root figures out their fifth number and she and Reese intercept him. He’s a Vigilance lackey and they take him out without too much damage (at least I don’t think anyone else was shot). And speaking of, Vigilance shows up at the hotel. I’d say Reese and Root need to get to the hotel ASAP.

Back in the creepy undisclosed location, Finch and the head of Decima resume their conversation. Finch explains that the Machine started doing things he never expected and if he’d tried to find a way to stop it, it would be too late. And he’s rather horrified that Samaritan won’t be controlled. Oh and apparently, as soon as Samaritan is live, Finch is dead. I really don’t like the head of Decima. He’s annoying and just plain evil. I want Reese to show up and put a bullet through his head.

We jump back to 2010 and we see the lawyer brother trying to find out information about his brother. The government tells him that his brother could be linked to a terrorist and shows him pictures of his brother meeting with Muslim extremists. I was wrong. It seems that the head of Vigilance is actually the brother. My bad. His brother killed himself after a while in lockup and at the funeral, we see the man he was seen meeting with. It turns out the brother was the guy’s sponsor. I can understand why Collier hates the government. He confront the people who locked up his brother but they aren’t interested in the fact they got it wrong. So that is what sets him on the warpath.

Back in the present, Root’s hacker boys find out that the virus they pulled off the Vigilance lackey is targeting the power grid. Whoops. Shaw has enough time to bust in and tell Control she’s there to save them all when all the lights go off. Reese is on his way but he’s got to move fast if they’re going to stop Vigilance. And apparently Root’s hacker team is working on a way to slow down the startup of Samaritan. She and her boys head off to Jersey while Reese and Shaw try to fend off Vigilance. Unfortunately, they get hold of Control and the other guy they were trying to convince to buy into Samaritan. And Finch is now in big trouble because it turns out the real fifth number is the head of Decima. I may have mentioned I dislike him. But we do learn that he was a kid during the Blitz and he joined the military and MI-6. He wants a better leader. He’s dangerous! Reese and Shaw encounter an old enemy at the hotel and after some posturing agree to work together to get Finch and Control. They’re too late though because Vigilance nabs the head of Decima and Finch.

Root arrives just outside of Samaritan and sends her boys on their way. It’s safer for them if they don’t go with her. Reese and Shaw get to where Finch was being held and find everyone gone. But Collier has a plan and it’s not in motion. He’s going to try the five people he’s kidnapped and I’m guessing it will all be guilty verdicts. I have to say this is going to be probably the biggest finale the show has done so far.

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