PERSON OF INTEREST RECAP: Aletheia

POI 3.12: Aletheia

The action took up right where it left off last week – “Control” had Finch and Arthur at gunpoint and was demanding to know about both Samaritan and the Machine. She tells Finch that she’s worried that the Machine will stop providing intel and demands to know where it is; he tells her that the Machine moved itself. She orders Hersh to interrogate Finch and Arthur and kill Shaw. Seeing as Reese is still out of state, there’s only one person to rescue them just in the nick of time – Root. She shows up, two guns blazing, and helps Shaw, Arthur and Finch escape. Root gets shot and captured but the others escape.

While all this is going down, Reese and Fusco are in jail and Reese is still in a rather foul mood. Fusco continues to try to convince him to go back to Finch. Reese thinks they were just delaying the inevitable, not actually helping people. Reese says a lot of pretty nasty things, and then Fusco leaves, after telling him that Finch didn’t check in the night before and probably needs their help.

Control interrogates Root but she won’t give up the Machine, so they move into enhanced interrogation. Root holds out really well, but eventually asks the Machine for help. Control wants her username and password, which of course don’t exist. Root tells her that the Machine is basically her God. Control then threatens to destroy her hearing by surgically removing one of the ear bones without anesthesia so she can’t communicate with the Machine. One ear down doesn’t seem to phase Root and she soon manages to get the scalpel and free herself and attacks Control.

Arthur made copies of Samaritan’s code before it was dismantled and put them in a safe deposit box. Unfortunately, Vigilance is right behind them and stages a robbery of the bank. Even worse, Hersh arrives with the first responders. Shaw warns Finch but she’s too late. Vigilance shoots a bank employee and Finch has to lock them in the vault for protection. They retrieve the drives and eventually Arthur remembers that he actually fixed  Samaritan so it was functional – he taught it to evolve and solve it’s own coding issues. It worked, then it died, then the government shut it down before he could troubleshoot.

In flashbacks, we see teenage Finch working on an early version of the Machine, and hacking into the government’s primitive internet, ARPANET. He eventually drew the attention of the feds, who accused him of treason.

Finch tries to convince Arthur to destroy the drives, but he is reluctant to destroy so much work. Finch tells him that he used his ideas and made the Machine and that it hasn’t been as positive an invention as he hopes. Finch asks him again to destroy Samaritan and he does. Meanwhile, Vigilance is blowing the vault door with explosives. Shaw manages to take out the guys who enter the vault but then they are cornered by Collier. Gunfire erupts as two figures in black tactical gear enter – Reese and Fusco to the rescue! Shaw sets off another makeshift bomb underneath the bank to provide them an escape hatch of sorts into the sewer.

Root now has Control tied to a chair and now it’s the Machine’s turn to ask the questions. Through Root, the Machine tells Control not to question its judgement or pursue it and it is always watching and knows where the people she loves are. It just wants to save her.

Root calls Finch and tells him that the Samaritan drives have fallen into the wrong hands – the ones that they destroyed were fakes – they were replaced by an imposter at the bank before they arrived.

Reese tells Finch that he came back only to protect him but he’s not staying because he doesn’t trust the Machine and its choices. Finch asks him not to go, but he leaves.

The drives are turned over to the leader of Decima. dun dun dun

My Thoughts:

The two Machine concept is certainly not a twist that I would have predicted and I’m curious to see what they do with it. I’m having a bit harder time believing that Samaritan is anywhere near an equal to the Machine – how could anything  that powerful fit on two small drives when the Machine needs to be transported by multiple train cars and fills an entire warehouse?

Root is pretty awesome, even if she’s a psychopath. Her connection with the Machine remains unexplained, but perhaps it has something to do with Samaritan.

I’m getting tired of mopey Reese. While I can appreciate that Carter’s death rocked the foundation of their work and made them all think about what it is that they are doing and the repercussions, it bothers me that Reese so easily dropped back into his heavy-drinking and depression and is being so nasty to Fusco, who really seems to have turned his life around. I’m ready for an attitude adjustment, at least. Apparently I’m not the only one – judging by the previews for next week’s episode, it looks like the Machine has something to say about Reese’s current status as well.

Memorable Quotes:

Harold doesn’t need to chase, he has a certain gravitational pull with the female population – Arthur

You should know better than to hit me. You’re lucky to be alive – Reese

I’ve always said banks were meant to be robbed! – Shaw

Think what Mr. Reese would do. You’re a hammer, Mr Reese is a scalpel. This requires more finesse. – Finch
I have finesse coming out of my ass! – Shaw

This plan feels rather reckless! -Finch
There’s time for a scalpel and time for a hammer. It’s hammer time.  – Shaw

Watch Person of Interest on Tuesdays at 10/9c on CBS!