PERSON OF INTEREST Recap: Love story

Person of Interest 2.08 ‘Til Death

I had to keep reminding myself that it’s December and not February as this week’s episode was all about L-O-V-E (and murder). Here’s what happened:

2006 – Finch and Grace are at an expresso shop. She tells him about spending her junior year in Italy and about a specific painting that convinced her that she wanted to be an artist. She tells him she loves that life has a new mystery around every corner, which is pretty awesome seeing as she is dating Mr. Mystery himself. Finch tells her about his trip to Italy, after college. It’s clear that they are quite charmed with each other. 

2012 – Finch is walking Bear in a park. He sees Grace come out of her house and walk down the street. Just then the payphone near him rings – it’s the Machine with a new number. By the time he looks up, Grace is gone.

Later, in the library, Reese arrives with a snack for Bear. Finch is looking into their new numbers – a married couple, Daniel and Sabrina Drake (the husband is played by Mark Pellegrino who played Jacob on [easyazon-link asin=”B0036EH3WU”]LOST[/easyazon-link]).  The Drakes run a publishing company and are worth over $100 million.  Finch has found some a potential suspect who might want to kill the couple – the off-kilter leader of militia who was the target of a scathing book published by their company. He’s threatened the couple, but so far hasn’t acted on the threats. Reese goes to check out the couple at work while Finch goes to search their place.

Reese finds out that the Drakes’ publishing company has gotten an offer for a buy out and their adviser is encouraging them to sell, but they are reluctant to lose control of their business. They suggest waiting to see what the board decides the next day when they meet. The Drakes split up and Finch takes Daniel while Reese takes Sabrina. He tries to call Fusco for some help, but Fusco sees that it is him and sends the call to voicemail. Reese calls Carter to see if she knows what is up with him. She thinks that he is acting rather off as well, taking lots of clandestine phone calls and acting jumpy. Reese promises to look into the situation.

Reese asks Carter to look into the militia leader and she agrees. As he hangs up, he sees a man by Sabrina’s car. He manages to get to the car before Sabrina does and finds a bomb. He nonchalantly grabs it from the wheel well and carries it down the street out of her sight. It’s a crude, homemade bomb, triggered by a cell phone detonator. With a knife from his pocket, he’s able to disable it..mere seconds before the phone begins ringing – serious close call and Reese didn’t even break a sweat. (Is there a more badass character on TV right now?) He gives Reese the phone number.

Finch is on the street near Daniel and observes him answer his cell phone. It’s not the phone that Reese already bluejacked, though, which is rather suspicious, but not as suspicious as the fact that the caller is the bomber. Apparently it’s not the militia that they need to worry about – Daniel is trying to kill his wife.

The Drakes share a car back to their office, fighting all the way. Daniel wants to sell the company, but Sabrina doesn’t agree. Finch does some digging on the bomb Reese found and traces it back to directions the militia gave its followers. Reese suspects that the bomb was used to draw suspicion away from Daniel. Finch investigates a man name Santiago, who was a friend of Daniel’s, who seems to be involved in the bombing attempt. Carter asks a friend of hers, Beecher, on the force about Santiago. He agrees to look into the situation for her.

The Drakes head to a book-signing outdoors in a courtyard. Reese follows, on high alert for an attempt on Sabrina’s life. Reese sees a sniper in the window of a building overlooking the square. Finch is back at the library monitoring Sabrina’s cell phone. Just as Reese detects the sniper, she texts the word “NOW”. Reese jumps towards the husband and the shot hits a book on a stand nearby, missing both men. Daniel seems oblivious and ticked at Reese for slamming into him. Sabrina is also surprised – she texts “??!!” as the sniper  runs out of the building, jumps into a car, and drives off quickly.

Reese realizes that the Machine gave them both numbers because they have both taken out hits on each other. He and Finch discuss whether they should actually protect the Drakes or let them do each other in. Reese is on the side of saving them, but Finch wonders about the ethics. They don’t have another number, though, so saving the Drakes it is.

2006 – Finch and Nathan meet at a restaurant. Finch is nervous and Nathan picks up on it immediately and jokes with him about having a hot date. He quickly realizes that he hit the nail on the head. Finch won’t share anymore, though. He asks about whether Nathan saw his ex-wife at the recent wedding of a friend. It seems that his ex, Olivia, wasn’t as keen on the mysteries of life as Grace told Finch that she was. He tells Finch that he didn’t really get to talk to her. He regrets all the lies that he told her over the years.

Fusco is having a late dinner in a fancy restaurant with a pretty woman. They are talking when the server approaches and tells Finch that he has a call. Of course the call is from Finch. He tells his help, pronto. Fusco apologizes to his date and tells her that duty calls. She seems okay with it and suggests that she come on the stakeout with him – they can grab takeout from her favorite place along the way.

Reese and Carter are staking out the Daniel at the couple’s home. The two chat comfortably about ponder how people can go from in love to murder. Carter tells him that people change, obviously referring to her situation. He asks her if she dates, but she scoffs that she’s way too busy. She asks him the same question, but before he can answer, Carter’s friend Beecher calls and says that he has heard through his sources that Santiago told people he had a gig that night at a publishing place. Carter realizes that Santiago is going after Sabrina.

Reese and Carter see a man approach the Drake’s house and follow him to the backyard, where he tries to kill Daniel. They thwart him but are unable to catch the guy. Reese grabs Daniel, knocks him out with a well-aimed punch, and tosses him in the trunk of his town car while Carter protests.

Fusco and the woman, Ronda, chat in his car outside the Drake’s company until Finch calls him to tell him that Santiago is headed for the office. Fusco heads up to the offices adn confronts Santiago. They shoot at each other but Santiago escapes. Fusco finds Sabrina, badges her, and ushers her out of the building. As they get to the street, Reese and Carter pull up and Reese throws a hood on Sabrina and chucks her in the trunk as she screams and kicks. (Apparently no one in NYC thinks it is odd for someone to be hooded and thrown in a trunk on a main street).  Carter and Fusco are less than amused to be involved in a double kidnapping, but they let Reese do his thing.

Before they can drive off, Fusco’s date approaches with a bag of food. Sabrina is kicking and screaming in the trunk and Reese jumps into the car. Carter introduces herself and then jumps in the car before Ronda realizes they have a person in the trunk.

Finch and Reese lock the two Drakes up in a rather elegant surveillance loft. Even now, the couple can’t stop fighting. Reese tries to get info from them but they are too busy fighting, so he leaves them to work it out (while each is tied to a nice chair with a flexi cuff). Carter, Finch and Reese watch them through a two-way mirror, hoping they will work things out and decide not to kill each other. Finch has another idea – he has them blindfolded, then serves them some wine and high end food, put a picture of them together, looking very happy, on the table.

This approach seems to work as they eventually start reminiscing. We find out that their relationship went sour after Sabrina had a miscarriage. They both admit that they have no way to call off the hits. Reese unties them and takes them to their place. If they can’t call off the hits, they can set a trap for the hit men.

2006 – Grace is sitting alone in a coffee shop when a messenger brings her a message from Finch – it’s a birthday scavenger hunt. The first stop is the ice cream truck that Finch frequents, then a flower shop, then the Guggenheim. She meets Finch at the museum. She’s thrilled by her surprise and asks him how he got access to the museum. He tells her that he works as a docent and the job has perks. He shows her to a new painting on the wall – the one she fell in love with in Italy -that was recently donated by an anonymous donor. They stand hand-in-hand, staring at the painting.

Fusco walks his date home and she asks him if she can see some action “next time”.  They share a quick kiss and say goodbye.

At the Drake’s house, they make sure that anyone watching knows both Drakes are home and then Reese locks them in a pantry so he, Carter, and Fusco can take care of business.  Sabrina and Daniel start talking, and realize that their whole relationship fell apart because of a misunderstanding after Sabrina’s miscarriage. They decide to reconcile.

All the baddies show up at the same time and Carter and Fusco get in an intense firefight. Fusco is hit in the chest, but he’s wearing a vest and recovers in enough time to help Carter. Reese is in the other room, locked in hand-to-hand combat (with the addition of some conveniently available construction tools) with an additional man, who has figured out that the couple is in the closet.

The police arrive and arrest the Drakes (who are kissing each other with their hands cuffed behind their back) and cart away the dead and injured thugs. Carter’s friend, who helped her out with a lead on Santiago, shows up to congratulate her. Carter tells him that she owes him, and he asks her to go to dinner with him and she agrees.

2006 – Grace and Finch leave the museum and sit on the wall outside. He tells her that there is stuff that she needs to know about what he does. She assures him that he should tell her whatever it is when he’s ready. Having a little mystery doesn’t bother her (she is seriously perfect for Finch!). She stares into his eyes and they kiss.

My Thoughts: 

Yet another enjoyable episode of POI! My only complaint is that I wish the writers could have resisted the urge to have all the characters (except for Reese) in some sort of relationship as it felt a bit overdone. It would have been fine to just contrast the Drakes with Finch and Grace and have Carter and Reese talk about relationships. Speaking of, Carter and Reese as partners continues to be a joy to watch – the two characters have fabulous chemistry and the way they interact with each other offers additional insight into their characters who are otherwise pretty private.  It’s great that they are partners, not love interests, and this episode suggests that isn’t going to change anytime soon, thank goodness.

The creators are also doing a fabulous job giving us tiny bits of the Finch back story, while still leaving plenty to reveal in the future. If Carrie Preston wasn’t Michael Emerson’s real-life wife, I’d have to commend her for her ability to so clearly convey how madly in love with Finch Grace is. I wonder how long it will be before we find out how he was injured and why Grace believes him dead.

Memorable Quotes:

I’m proud of you, Finch, you’ve really gotten comfortable with your breaking and entering duties – Reese
Thank you for appreciating my descent into deviant behavior – Finch

I guess murder is one way to break up a marriage, but wouldn’t divorce have been simpler? – Reese

Well that’s pretty mercenary of you, Finch, I kinda like it – Reese

According to the waiter, you’re at the end of something. You really need to work on your conversational skills – Finch

Sometimes you have to break a few eggs to save lives – Reese
Yeah, pretty sure that’s not the saying – Carter

Unlike other couples, you opted for murder instead of divorce. I guess I should commend you for being so goal-oriented. – Finch

I’m so sorry I tried to kill you, honey! – Daniel
Me, too!  – Sabrina

What did you think of the episode? Tell us in the comments!

Watch Person of Interest on Thursdays at 9/8c on CBS!