PERSON OF INTEREST Recap: Road to Redemption

Person of Interest 2.04: Triggerman

It’s hard to believe that it’s only the fourth episode of the new season, as so much story has been told in those few short episodes! This week, we went back to some themes from last season – moral ambiguity, Reese reconciling his past, and conflict between Carter and our favorite vigilante crime fighters.

We first see Reese staking out a restaurant where a two-bit mobster, George Massey, his son, Eddie, and his enforcer/hitman, Riley Cavanaugh, are having lunch. Cavanaugh is the number of the week. Reese goes in and seats himself next to their table and bluejacks his phone. The owner of the restaurant stops by Massey’s table and is told in no uncertain terms that he needs to pay on his debts or Cavanaugh and his gun will come visit him. Next, the hostess, Annie Delaney, walks by and Massey calls her over. Apparently her husband used to work for Massey and was killed. She tells him off, which doesn’t sit well with him.

Massey and company head to a pub that Massey owns where they ditch their cell phones at the bar and go into a back room. Reese poses as a drunk to plant a bug on Massey. It works, but he gets thrown out of the bar. Finch and Reese listen in as Massey tells Cavanaugh to kill Annie.  Cavanaugh tries half-heartedly to talk Massey out of it, but he’s not budging.  Reese and Finch assume that Cavanaugh is to be the perpetrator, not the victim.

Eddie Massey and Cavanaugh drive out to Annie’s place to kill her, with Reese following. Eddie is driving and his father calls, telling him to kill Cavanaugh and then kill Annie. Cavanaugh asks him about the call, but Eddie tells him that Massey was just checking in. Before Reese can intervene, Cavanaugh shoots Eddie, causing the car to crash. He escapes the car and calls Annie to warn her. He clearly loves her and is trying to protect her.

Reese tails Cavanaugh on foot just after dawn. Finch suggests that Reese concentrate on protecting Annie, not Cavanaugh because he’s a killer, but Reese feels like Cavanaugh also deserves protection. He calls in Fusco and Carter to help out.  Cavanaugh heads to his apartment, but Massey’s goons are already there. Finch agrees to go to Annie’s place to make sure she’s not there. He manages to overcome his fear of going out alone and goes to her apartment. She’s already gone, but Finch looks around and snatches her laptop.

Carter arrives on the scene of Eddie’s death. Detective Szymanski is already there (he was shot in a previous episode, but has now recovered). Fusco is hanging out at the Massey Pub and reports that Massey is there, so Carter and Syzmanski go to talk with Massey. Not surprisingly, he tells them that he knows Eddie is dead and is otherwise unhelpful. They find prints in the Eddie’s car and identify Cavanaugh as the killer.

Finch guesses where Annie and Cavanaugh’s secret meetup spot is by realizing that her laptop wallpaper is a picture of the city that she took. He is able to figure out the location where the picture was taken using some technical “voodoo”. The address is where Cavanaugh grew up. Finch tells Reese, who is already nearby.

Annie and Cavanaugh are on the roof. He’s trying to convince her to run and leave him, but she’s not willing. He goes to retrieve his stash of money that he hid on the roof but all he finds is a phone. It rings and Massey is on the line. He tells him that he knows that him and Annie are an item. Just then, a bunch of Massey’s goons burst onto the roof shooting. Reese manages to take them all out and follows Annie and Cavanaugh down the stairwell. Cavanaugh shoots him in the chest and the bullet lodges in his vest. By the time Reese gets to the street, he’s lost them.

Reese goes back to the library to talk with Finch and regroup. Finch asks him if he regrets his decision to protect Cavanaugh but Reese isn’t holding being shot against him. Fusco calls – Massey is back at the pub and he’s put out a $1 million bounty on both Annie and Cavanaugh.  They figure Massey would need help to spread the word of the bounty, and who else would he ask but Elias? Finch offers to look into the situation. Reese assumes that Annie and Cavanaugh will go to her boss at the restaurant for money to escape, so he heads there.

Carter calls, she’s [understandably] pissed that Reese is protecting Cavanaugh and didn’t tell her. Reese tells her that he’s protecting Cavanaugh because he is Annie’s best chance. She tells him that Syzmanski is hot on the trail of Cavanaugh and Reese tells her to stall him, which of course doesn’t make her very happy, and then hangs up on her.

At the restaurant, Annie’s boss gives her some money. A bunch of goons with guns come in the front before they can leave. They run out the back doors, followed by the thugs, who are intercepted by Reese in a pretty cool hand-to-hand fight scene.

Finch is at Riker’s Island, meeting with Elias. Elias is interested to meet Reese’s boss and admits that he owes him for saving his life. Elias is controlling his criminal enterprise from jail as he has nothing much else to do, especially since no one is any good at chess. Finch tells him that they are protecting Cavanaugh and wants Elias to shutdown the bounty. Elias agrees as he owes Finch one. It won’t be without a cost, however.

Reese follows Annie and Cavanaugh to the train station. There’s a goon there trying to carry out the hit that definitely didn’t get the message that the bounty is off. He lights a fire in a trash can and causes such a distraction that he is able to snatch Annie under both Cavanaugh and Reese’s noses. Reese follows Cavanaugh and Finch is exasperated that he’s not looking for Annie as Cavanaugh is unredeemable in his eyes (“bad code”).  Reese explains that he will lead him to Annie as the bounty hunter will have to take her to Massey and he will try to save her. Reese accosts Cavenaugh and they fight.

Reese tells him that he knows everything, including that Cavanaugh killed Annie’s husband. He admits it, but says that Massey made him do it. He keep tabs on Annie for Massey but soon fell in love with her. He tells Reese that she’s the best thing that ever happened to him and he’ll do anything to protect her.  Reese tells him that if he goes to Massey’s hideout by himself, he’ll be killed, so they team up.

Before they can get far, they get cornered in a dead end by a police cruiser. Reese calls Carter and she tells him that there’s a dragnet out for Cavanaugh and she warns him away. Reese explains that its too late for that and pleads for her help to save Annie. After considering her options, Carter tells Syzmanski that she got a tip from one of her informants that they saw Cavanaugh on the other side of the city.

When the police back off, Cavanaugh and Reese head to the Pearl, a defunct nightclub that Massey owns. At the Pearl, the bounty hunter has arrived with Annie and wants his money, but he’s only brought one of them, and Massey wants both. Massey tells Annie that her husband Sean was a thief and is about to tell her that Cavanaugh killed her husband when he and Reese show up (they got by security by pretending that Reese was bringing him in for the bounty). A gunfight erupts and Reese tells him to take Annie to the kitchen. Cavanaugh insists that Reese do it instead. Annie doesn’t want to go, but Cavanaugh promises her that he’ll be right behind her. It’s not going to happen, though, as Massey shots him in the chest. Before he dies, he manages to shoot Massey as well.

Finch arrives and Reese puts Annie in his car and sends them off before returning to the club. Everyone is dead except for the bounty hunter than brought Annie in, who is missing. Reese checks Cavanaugh’s pulse and pulls an envelope from his pocket. Finch and Reese take Annie to the train station and Reese gives her the envelope and tells her that Cavanaugh told him that she was the best thing that ever happened to him. They bid her farewell  and she boards a train.

Finch comments that people aren’t like machines that are stuck with their “bad code” – they can evolve, even killers. Reese asks what Elias’ price was for calling off the hit. We see Finch at Rikers, playing chess with Elias. Elsewhere, we see the bounty hunter packing up his bags with a lot of money. He goes to leave his place and meets Reese at the door. He offers Reese the money but Reese tells him that he’s not there for the money, while smiling that slight, scary smile of his… (and I suspect a Mexican prison just gained another inmate).

My Thoughts:

This week’s episode was an interesting change of pace. The moral ambiguity of Finch and Reese’s actions has been minimal in recent episodes; this was the first time in a while that they were protecting someone who definitely wasn’t innocent. This issue allowed both for Carter to step back into her role as their conscience and also allowed a comparison to be made between Riley and Reese. As Reese pointed out, they aren’t all that different, but clearly it is important to him that working with Finch is offering him a path towards redemption and he is hesitant to not give others the same chance if they seem to desire it.

Although Carter ended up helping them in the end and the resolution was reasonably good this time (innocent saved, no good guys injured, bad guys all die), the experience has potentially altered the reasonably comfortable partnership she and Reese seemed to have settled into in the past two few episodes as it reminded Carter of the differences in their morality.

Did anyone else notice that there was not a single flashback in this episode? We got a little insight into Reese’s mind, but no backstory at all, after some rather revealing, mythology-heavy episodes to end last season and start this one. All in all, it as a solid episode, but not one of my favorites.

Memorable Quotes:

Are you reconsidering your decision to protect Riley? – Finch
No, I’m just thinking I should grab a new shirt. – Reese
He shot you, John.! – Finch
It wasn’t personal. – Reese

Your partner, Mr. Tall, Dark, and Fearsome, really got Massey steamed! – Fusco

Great, now does any of that voodoo produce an address? – Reese

Don’t tell me you’re with him! – Carter
OK, I won’t, but I still need your help! – Reese

You’ve got a detective in your pocket? – Cavanaugh
More like on my back. – Reese

What did you think of the episode? Should Reese have protected Riley, or just focused on Annie? Tell me in the comments.

Watch all new episodes of Person Of Interest on Thursdays at 9/8c on CBS.