kindkit | Person of Interest 3x03 and 3x04

halotolerant and I are doing a watchalong of POI season 3. We're alternating hosting the discussion, taking two episodes each. Most of the conversation will be on LJ, though I'll post my summaries (not my comments) here on DW.

Anyone's welcome to join, but as Halo hasn't seen the rest of S3 yet, please be careful to avoid spoilers.

3x03, "Lady Killer," written by Amanda Segel

This episode's number, Ian Murphy, is a womanizer who appears to be a stalker and even a killer. He has files on many women he's dated, as well as having a printout at his apartment about the death of Dana Wellington, daughter of real estate billionaire Bruce Wellington.

To investigate Murphy, Carter, Shaw, and Zoe Morgan agree to act as bait. Carter ends up accepting a date with Murphy, but he actually seems nice. At the end of the date Carter and Murphy kiss while she waits for a taxi, and two men with guns approach Murphy to kill him. They're shot by Carter and Shaw, and it turns out that they were hired by Bruce Wellington's security chief.

It turns out that Murphy dated Dana Wellington in college. He loved her, but her father hated him for his working-class background. When Dana became pregnant, she stopped contacting Murphy and he was told she'd had an abortion. Wellington gave him $100,000 and ordered him to stay away from her. In fact, Dana had a son, Alex, who was raised by her older sister, and Bruce Wellington's sudden interest in killing Murphy is because Murphy went to Dana's funeral and Wellington thought that meant he wanted to claim the child as his own.

Carter manages to obtain the birth certificate naming Murphy as the father, but not before Murphy, posing as a chauffeur, has semi-kidnapped Alex to have a talk with him. Carter takes Alex home, but with the birth certificate Murphy will be able to win custody.

Meanwhile, Hersh has located the mental hospital Root is in. The machine warns her and helps successfully escape.

3x04, "Reasonable Doubt," written by Melissa Scrivner-Love

The number is Vanessa Watkins, a prosecutor married to a defense attorney, Jeremy Watkins, who is famous/notorious for getting bad guys exonerated on technicalities. Jeremy disappeared off their yacht and Vanessa called the Coast Guard reporting she saw his body float away, but shortly afterwards she's arrested for his murder.

I'm not interested enough in this episode to go into much detail, so: although Vanessa flees and does some things that make her look guilty, it begins to seem like she's innocent. Watkins apparently faked his own death to escape from a huge debt owed to the mob and to make a new start with Nicole, Vanessa's best friend, whom he's been having an affair with. Finally convinced of Vanessa's innocence, Finch, Reese, and Carter decide to help her escape. Reese takes her to the bus station and gives her a gun for self-protection. However, they soon learn that Vanessa helped Jeremy fake his death; they were planning to run away together but Jeremy double-crossed her because of his affair. Reese tracks them down to the yacht and finds Vanessa confronting Jeremy with a gun. Reese leaves a second gun in Jeremy's reach and leaves, implying that whichever of them kills the other, it will be deserved. He unties the yacht, asks Finch to call the Coast Guard, and as he walks away, we hear two gunshots.

In a short scene, it's also revealed that Carter's newbie partner is HR and has been planted to earn Carter's trust. Worryingly, he earlier saw her meet with John.

My comments and our discussion will be here on LJ.