PERSON OF INTEREST RECAP: Blast from the Past

Person of Interest 3.11 – Lethe

Lethe – noun. one of the 5 rivers of Hades, also the Greek spirit of forgetfulness and oblivion

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It’s been a while since they’ve had a new number and Shaw is getting antsy. They haven’t heard from Reese since he was strong enough to leave his hospital bed. The peace isn’t to last, though, as the pay phones start ringing right after Finch and Shaw discuss the lack of numbers. Finch ignores the phones and we get the idea that this isn’t the first time.

Meanwhile, in Colorado, Reese is trying to drink himself into oblivion in a dive bar that used to be owned by his father when he notices Fusco at a table – Finch sent him and Reese isn’t pleased. Fusco tells Reese that he’s been sober for two years ever since Reese entered his life and forced him to work with him. Fusco takes Reese out in the rain and picks a fight with him. Fight Club is in full swing until the cops show up.

Finch checks on Root and she has a number – the Machine told her because Finch was ignoring it. She tells him that the Machine wants them to work together. Shaw’s spidey senses were apparently tingling as she shows up and is not happy that Finch has been holding out on her.

This week’s POI is Arthur Claypool, an IT consultant at a software company. He’s being treated at a local hosital for a brain tumor. Shaw goes undercover as a doctor to get close to him. Turns out the guy’s tumor is causing him to be confused, forget things, and spot seeming gibberish. His nonsensical rantings are obviously important, though, because he’s being guarded by Secret Service. He’s clearly not just any IT consultant.

Claypool’s  wife comes to visit and he doesn’t remember her, but he mentions a project called “Samaritan”. Shaw follows his wife to the cafe and strikes up a conversation with her. She tells Shaw that her husband worked for the NSA but she has no idea what he did for them.  Her and Finch figure that any number of foreign governments and maybe even the US government might kill him for his secrets. Shaw follows him to radiology and realizes that he’s being interrogated under the guise of having a CT scan. She interrups the interrogation, but gets caught before she can go after the interrogator.

In flashbacks to the  70s, we learn that Finch grew up in Iowa with a loving single father who developed worsening memory loss and dementia as he aged. Finch was pretty much a wunderkind – able to take apart or build complex machines from an early age. He refused to leave his father to go away to college as a teenager.

Claypool’s Secret Service detail locks Shaw in an office. Finch manages to get a phone into the office to communicate with her. Shaw tells the guy who comes to question her that Claypool was dosed with sodium pentothal. Before they can finish their “friendly” chat, the agent collapses – his takeout food was poisoned and it wasn’t Finch that did it – Eternal Vigilance is apparently very interested in his information.

Shaw grabs his gun and finds Claypool’s wife and they try to get him to leave his room, but he refuses. Shaw calls Finch for help and realizes he is right behind her. Claypool sees him, recognizes him immediately, and agrees to leave the room with him. The two of them have apparently known each other for many years – back from MIT.

Finch and Shaw take Claypool and his wife to a safe house. He tells them about his work on Samaritan, which is basically the same exact idea as the Machine – he and Finch both built basically the same thing. Samaritan was supposedly destroyed in 2005 before it became entirely operational because of the existence of the Machine. 

In a moment of lucidity, Claypool tells them that he remembers his wife – he buried her two years earlier. The woman pretending to be his wife is an imposter. Not just any imposter – she’s “Control” – Shaw’s boss, Hersh’s boss, and the woman we saw in the car at the end of last season. She’s also not alone. Her reinforcements, including Hersh, storm the place and Finch, Shaw, and Claypool are soon being held at gunpoint. 

Control wants to know about Samaritan and where they put the drives. She also wants to know about the Machine – one of them will tell her and the other will die.

My Thoughts:

Although I knew it was coming, I’m already sick of Reese’s sad sack routine. I did like that Fusco told Reese that he saved him; but the whole fighting thing I could have done without. Both Fusco and Reese were very underutilized in this episode – it would have been smoother had they not included either of them than to include such small scenes that didn’t seem to have a clear purpose.

The insights into Finch’s life were interesting but not too revealing. However, the info that there was/is another computer similar to the Machine out there is very intriguing indeed. Based on some of the Machine graphics at the end of the episode, it seems that the whole Samaritan plot may figure into the Machine’s grand plan with Root.

I’m also excited that we finally met the mystery woman pulling all the strings. Brilliant for her to be pretending to be Claypool’s wife and managing to con Shaw into believing her. It’s a good setup for the second half of the season – will Finch have to reveal more than he is willing, or will Reese get his act together and come in for the rescue?

Memorable Quotes:

I never made a convincing doctor, even when I was one – Shaw

Miss Shaw, I’m sure there are ways to get to Claypool that do not involve any kind of combustion – Finch

John’s going to be sorry that he missed that! – Shaw, after Finch and Claypool sing the MIT song

Watch a new episode of Person of Interest on Tuesday, January 7, at 10/9c on CBS.