PERSON OF INTEREST Recap: May it Please the Court

Person of Interest 3.04: Reasonable Doubt

This week’s main POI is Vanessa Watkins, a former prosecutor. She went out with her husband in their boat and he fell overboard  and drowned while she was below deck. She made a distress call when she saw his body floating away form the boat. Vanessa is soon arrested for murdering him. The police have the gun and found gunshot residue on her hands.  She quickly escapes from custody by knocking her attorney out and stealing her clothes.

Carter and her new partner, Laskey, are sent out looking for her. Carter and Shaw are also on the case. They watch her steal a cell phone from an old man in a bus station and then approach one of the cons that she originally put away. He hugs her (?) and gives her a kilo of cocaine. The police, including Carter, show up right then and everyone scrams. Finch uses her stolen cell phone to direct Carter to Vanessa. Carter knows Vanessa and isn’t convinced that she killed her husband, but when she confronts her on the roof, Vanessa tells her that she didn’t kill her husband and jumps, landing in an open garbage truck 4 stories below.

Reese asks Carter why the detective on the case, Cameron,is so determined to put Vanessa behind bars and make her suffer. She doesn’t think he is HR, it’s personal – Vanessa’s husband made Cameron look awful on the stand during a trial and helped a murderer get off. Vanessa was the prosecutor and he blames her for the whole incident and wants to make her pay.  Carter’s partner walks up just as Reese walks off, leading to some awkward explaining. He assumes that Reese is Carter’s boyfriend and Carter doesn’t challenge this assumption.

Shaw infiltrates a book club hosted by Vanessa’s best friend, Nicole. Once in the [huge] apartment, she checks her computer and confirms that Nicole is not giving money to Vanessa. Shaw clones her phone and finds a bunch of racy text messages between her and a guy who turns out to be Vanessa’s husband, Jeremy.

Fusco looks into the case – gunshot residue was found all over Vanessa’s boat, and Vanessa’s cosmetics – which seems to suggest that she was framed. Their yacht is also financed to the hilt and her husband was deeply in debt to organized crime.

Reese  goes to check out the man who supposedly saw Vanessa dispose of the gun adn gets there right in time to see that Vanessa planted the kilo of cocaine on him, leading to his arrest . Reese intercepts her as she attempts to steal the man’s car after he is arrested. He takes her back to a safe house and she is”put on trial” in front of Carter, Reese, and Finch as judge and jury.

Meanwhile, Cameron has footage of Reese getting into the car with Vanessa and the police close in.

Vanessa tells “the court” that she found out about her husband’s debts and confronted him on the yacht, then went below deck to take a break. When she came back up he was gone and then she saw his body in the current. She didn’t stand to earn any money from his death – they had a charity fund where his life insurance would go if he died under suspicious circumstances. She admits to having an affair and knowing that her husband had also had one. They both had stopped their other relationships and were trying to reconcile. Carter breaks the news to her that her best friend Nicole was sleeping with her husband. The “jury” recesses to discuss the case. They all believe her that she didn’t kill her husband.

Fusco and Shaw find out that Jeremy is still alive and used an alias to clean out the charity account of 20 million dollars, which leads to a quick acquittal of Vanessa. Unfortunately, the police found the stolen car and have closed in on the safe house. They storm the place and find… an illegal gambling ring on the other side of town from where Reese, Finch, and Vanessa are. Turns out they were acting on a type from a “Mr. Swan”.

Reese takes Vanessa to the bus station and helps her run away to start a new life. Meanwhile, Carter and Finch realize that Vanessa lied to them – her and her husband planned on faking his death and then slipping away together with the proceeds from their charity. It all went well until he framed her for his death. Reese realizes that Vanessa did not get on the bus and guesses where she may have gone.

Sure enough, Vanessa confronts her husband on the yacht with the gun Reese gave her. He shows up and listens to them fight but decides neither of them is worth saving, so he leaves them a second gun so they are both armed and unties the boat from the marina so it drifts off. He tells Finch to call the Coast Guard and gunshots are heard from the boat.

In the last scene, Carter’s new partner reports to HR – he’s been sent to spy on her. Dun DUN DUN…

My Thoughts:

This episode was just so-so in my opinion, although I did like the twist at the end with the double crossing and a return to type of morally ambiguous resolution that was common in season 1. I’m also very intrigued to see how the team will outsmart HR now that Carter has a spy with her nearly constantly.

Memorable Quotes:

We really don’t wager on whether our numbers are victims or perpetrators – Finch to Shaw

Think I’d be standing her in uniform if the system always worked? – Carter

Up to me, I’d shoot your sorry ass, but it isn’t, so I have to protect you because your best friend might be on her way here to kill you. Now, what is this book about?  – Shaw

And I gave her a weapon. Seemed like a good idea at the time – Reese

Catch Person of Interest on Tuesday at 10/9c on CBS!