PERSON OF INTEREST RECAP: THE NOT SO FRIENDLY SKIES

Sullen Reese is trying to escape by taking a one-way flight to Istanbul. When his flight is oversold, he gets bumped and then placed on another flight and upgraded to first class.  He throws out his phone on the way into the plane, but takes one off of an obnoxious passenger sitting across from him to shut him up. It beeps and displays a seat number – 4C, where a man is sitting between 2 US marshals.

One of the marshals gets up to use the bathroom and doesn’t return. Reese finds him unconscious in the lavatory, his gun missing and calls Finch using the plane’s wifi. He chews Finch out for booking him on a mission without his permission. But, of course Finch had nothing to do with it – the Machine is trying to prevent a “mass casualty event”.  Reese doesn’t want to be the hero, or even involved, so he tips the other marshal off and then returns to his seat.

Within seconds, the other marshal slumps over unconscious – drugged – and another man tries to inject the prisoner with a drug. Reese knocks the guy out, moves the marshal and takes over his seat next to the prisoner, Owen Matthews, who works as a programmer for a site implicated as a black market narcotics site on the “darknet”.

Finch meets with Shaw – he  that the number on the plane may be “relevant” and wants her to get some info from her old employer. Finch calls Reese and Reese “persuades” Matthews into admitting that he built the black market bizarre site for its owner. He thinks he and the man are friends and doesn’t initially believe that the man would want to kill him. Turns out *many* people want to kill him and Finch finds out that the first would-be assassin works for a drug cartel.

Reese enlists the help of a nervous flight attendant by telling her he’s in international law enforcement. She’s worried that both of the marshals are out of commission and glad to have an “authority” to help. Two Israelis attack Matthews next and Reese thwarts them, knocking them out and stowing them in the lavatory with a growing pile of unconscious bodies.

Shaw confronts her previous dispatcher at the travel agency he uses as a front. At gunpoint, he tells her that he knows that an operative was sent, but doesn’t know anything else. Shaw calls Reese to let him know that her replacement is also on the plane and was sent to kill Matthews.

On the plane, Reese takes him out, as well, with a cane. While he’s stowing him away, Matthews escapes his shock belt and leaves his seat. Reese finds him hiding in a coat closet and drags him down to the cargo hold.

Shaw drugs Hersh’s coffee by pretending to be a waitress. He was her mentor. She asks him about Matthews and he tells her that Matthews is the brain behind the entire black market bizarre. The ISA was involved in the dark market (“collecting taxes”) and is trying to hide its involvement under the guise of keeping the country safe.

Matthews finally admits that the site is all his own and tries to pay Reese to get him off the plane safe. He has this idea that his website, besides making money, is actually a good thing. It will take out the middle man in narcotic transactions and avoid all the killing associated with the drug trade. Shaw’s ex-colleague joins them again for a nice down and dirty fight with all available items.

Finch continues digging and finds out that the cartel is willing to do anything to kill Matthews, including bringing the plane down. The other operative on the plan is undercover as a flight attendant. He puts on a parachute, shoots one of the pilots, and knocks out the other.  He then disables the autopilot, and sets the plane into a dive, planning to have it crash near the airport in Rome.

Reese manages to break through the cabin door with a beverage cart and some well-placed kicks (um, yeah, right!) and he and the flight attendant/assassin fight it out in the cabin while the plane heads towards the airport runway, too low, and too fast. He calls Finch who is unable to tap into the plane’s system to return it to autopilot and must resort to pulling out his flight controls (conveniently within reach), plugging them in, and landing the plane himself from a distance.

Reese sneaks Matthews out through customs in a suitcase and tells him to hide and wait for Finch to contact him.

In the final scene,  a day or two later, Reese says goodbye to the flight attendant, who he has met for a drink. He sees Finch sitting nearby at a cafe. He’s flown to Rome in a private jet to help Matthews create a new identity. Reese is initially annoyed to see Finch, but Finch tells him that he purposely made the Machine rather opaque so that human input would be needed. He misses Carter, too. He is going to leave after he goes to see a museum exhibit – a favorite of Grace’s. He invites Reese to join him and Reese asks him if he can fly home with him and the team and their friendship are back together.

My Thoughts:

What this episode lacked in credibility/believability it made up in crackling dialogue and entertainment value. It creatively brought in current events (the darknet internet sites), an intriguing set-up and a chance for Reese to showcase his badassery, plus a way to convince him of the value of rejoining the team. Shaw is starting to grow on me, too. Her scenes and lines were well written and intriguing.

It’s funny – I can suspect my disbelief at the Machine’s power and Reese taking out half a dozen people in a plane with his body and various objects, but things like him breaking into the cabin door, the fact that none of the passengers appear any bit the wiser, the fact that the flight attendant went along with Reese, and Finch landing the plane bugged me. It seems like these plot points could have been made more believable, but the rest of the episode was plenty of fun if one doesn’t get too hung up on these points.

I was struck by the similarities between this episode and the Chuck episode “Chuck vs First Class”. Both featured an agent on a transatlantic flight, unknowingly on an important mission to thwart an assassin. Both were set in first class, involved lots of alcohol, a cargo hold fight using sports equipment stolen from luggage, and a climax where the plane was landed remotely by a sort-of trained pilot who just happened to have a full set of flight controls and a powerful computer conveniently available. Both also involved the agent finding a potential romance and a plot that heavily focused on a computer nerd…

I guess it’s true that there are no new ideas in Hollywood, but that said, this episode remained enjoyable upon a second viewing.

Memorable Quotes:

I bet he could use a blanket. – Reese

Believe me when I tell you, I did not put you in your current predicament! – Finch

Guess your machine didn’t get my letter of resignation – Reese

What’s with the conspiracy stories, Mr Dark and Stormy? – Reese

Would it be too much to ask you to snap a twig? – Finch

I assure you that I had nothing to do with his claustrophobic circumstance, Ms Shaw – Finch

There are plenty of interesting people on this plane – Reese

Dude, your hair looks fine, that salt and pepper thing is like catnip to soccer moms, go au natural – Matthews

Are your new employers treating you okay? – Hersh
They haven’t tried to kill me yet – Shaw

I didn’t program the Machine to prevent national embarrassment, I designed it to prevent a national tragedy – Finch

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