POI watchalong 3x19-3x20
Jul. 21st, 2014 04:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kindkitI thought I posted this days ago but apparently my connection cut out too soon.
As always, my episode summaries are under the cut in the post; my reactions will be in the comments on LJ only. Anyone's welcome to join the discussion, but please, no spoilers for later episodes.
3x19, "Most Likely To . . . " by Melissa Scrivner-Love and Denise Thé
The episode opens with Reese and Shaw trailing Leona Wainwright, a clerical assistant in the federal Office of Personnel Management whose number came up. Wainwright is taken hostage by a Vigilance operative posing as a taxi driver, who tries to get information from her and then blows up the cab, with himself and Wainwright in it, when he sees Reese approach.
Finch sends Reese and Shaw to investigate a new number, Manhattan prosecutor Matthew Reed, while he and Fusco go to Washington DC to figure out why Wainwright was targeted by Vigilance. Shaw and Reese follow Reed to his high school reunion, which is interrupted by incidents implying that Reed, whose high school girlfriend Claire Klein died of an overdose, actually murdered her. But it turns out that Reed himself organized all this to terrorize Doug Hammill, Claire's "best friend" who eventually admits that he slipped hydrocodone into Claire's drink with the intention of raping (he sees it as seducing) her but who accidentally gave her an overdose. Reed intends to kill Hammill, but he's interrupted by Reese and Shaw and then by an attack from Vigilance, who have somehow tracked Reese and Shaw and intend to kill them.
In DC, Finch learns that Wainwright handled security clearances, among other things, and so had access to the identities of everyone involved with Northern Lights. He hacks into the OPM's secure database but her files have been wiped, so he and Fusco have to sneak into the FBI evidence locker to get access to the hard copies in Wainwright's safe. Finch gets into the safe, but Vigilance intercepts him and Peter Collier acquires a black budget report for, among other projects, Northern Lights. Root rescues Finch and Fusco, but Collier escapes with the documents and orders them disseminated to the media.
Control, who was trying to keep Wainwright's information under wraps, has been hindered by Senator Ross Garrison, who was involved with Northern Lights but now wants to establish plausible deniability. He talks her into shutting down the program (by which they apparently mean their access to the numbers, since the machine itself can't be shut down).
The episode ends with Finch and Root in DC. Finch intends to stay in DC and keep close to Vigilance, while Root, to whom the machine has now started routing the relevant numbers, leaves to deal with them.
3x20, "Death Benefit," by Erik Mountain and Lucas O'Connor
Reese and Shaw prevent two drug dealers from killing each other (by having them arrested), then Root arrives on a motorcycle and lures Shaw away to deal with a relevant number that's come up in Alaska.
Finch asks Reese to come to DC, where they have a new number: Congressman Roger McCourt of Illinois. McCourt is a popular senator with a reputation as an excellent deal-maker, and as the ranking member of the House Rules Committee he has the power to advance or impede legisislation. Reese poses as a Secret Service agent to get close to McCourt, but discovers nothing except that McCourt is having an affair with his aide--but McCourt and his wife have an arrangement.
Meanwhile, John Greer of Decima meets with Senator Ross Garrison and asks for his support in introducing Samaritan, which unlike the machine is an open, controllable system.
It turns out that Decima has been tracking McCourt; a Decima agent then blows Reese's cover, and Reese semi-kidnaps McCourt to save him from what he thinks is a Decima attack. Decima tracks them, however, and they're only saved from another attack by Shaw's nick-of-time arrival. The team tries to get out of DC but a roadblock forces them to hole up in an empty house.
Finch hacks into the Decima agent's phone and discovers that he was actually assigned to protect McCourt. It's then revealed that McCourt has made a deal with Decima--he'll help the Samaritan system get through Congress in exchange for stock tips.
As SWAT teams and the FBI begin searching the neighborhood, the team tries to figure out why they got McCourt's number. Reese concludes that the machine is asking them to kill him to prevent Samaritan from coming fully online. After a passionate argument in which Finch says that he draws the line at murder, the team leave McCourt unharmed and flee. They're pursued through the woods and Shaw is shot, but they make it to New York, where Reese and Shaw dodge police while Finch disappears.
Meanwhile, Garrison agrees to help Decima after McCourt assures him that he'll help get the necessary legislation through Congress. They agree to give Samaritan a 24-hour test in New York: Samaritan will have access to all the NSA feeds for New York, and Greer promises to uncover a terrorist in that time. But when Samaritan comes online, the first person Greer asks it to find is Harold Finch.
As always, my episode summaries are under the cut in the post; my reactions will be in the comments on LJ only. Anyone's welcome to join the discussion, but please, no spoilers for later episodes.
3x19, "Most Likely To . . . " by Melissa Scrivner-Love and Denise Thé
The episode opens with Reese and Shaw trailing Leona Wainwright, a clerical assistant in the federal Office of Personnel Management whose number came up. Wainwright is taken hostage by a Vigilance operative posing as a taxi driver, who tries to get information from her and then blows up the cab, with himself and Wainwright in it, when he sees Reese approach.
Finch sends Reese and Shaw to investigate a new number, Manhattan prosecutor Matthew Reed, while he and Fusco go to Washington DC to figure out why Wainwright was targeted by Vigilance. Shaw and Reese follow Reed to his high school reunion, which is interrupted by incidents implying that Reed, whose high school girlfriend Claire Klein died of an overdose, actually murdered her. But it turns out that Reed himself organized all this to terrorize Doug Hammill, Claire's "best friend" who eventually admits that he slipped hydrocodone into Claire's drink with the intention of raping (he sees it as seducing) her but who accidentally gave her an overdose. Reed intends to kill Hammill, but he's interrupted by Reese and Shaw and then by an attack from Vigilance, who have somehow tracked Reese and Shaw and intend to kill them.
In DC, Finch learns that Wainwright handled security clearances, among other things, and so had access to the identities of everyone involved with Northern Lights. He hacks into the OPM's secure database but her files have been wiped, so he and Fusco have to sneak into the FBI evidence locker to get access to the hard copies in Wainwright's safe. Finch gets into the safe, but Vigilance intercepts him and Peter Collier acquires a black budget report for, among other projects, Northern Lights. Root rescues Finch and Fusco, but Collier escapes with the documents and orders them disseminated to the media.
Control, who was trying to keep Wainwright's information under wraps, has been hindered by Senator Ross Garrison, who was involved with Northern Lights but now wants to establish plausible deniability. He talks her into shutting down the program (by which they apparently mean their access to the numbers, since the machine itself can't be shut down).
The episode ends with Finch and Root in DC. Finch intends to stay in DC and keep close to Vigilance, while Root, to whom the machine has now started routing the relevant numbers, leaves to deal with them.
3x20, "Death Benefit," by Erik Mountain and Lucas O'Connor
Reese and Shaw prevent two drug dealers from killing each other (by having them arrested), then Root arrives on a motorcycle and lures Shaw away to deal with a relevant number that's come up in Alaska.
Finch asks Reese to come to DC, where they have a new number: Congressman Roger McCourt of Illinois. McCourt is a popular senator with a reputation as an excellent deal-maker, and as the ranking member of the House Rules Committee he has the power to advance or impede legisislation. Reese poses as a Secret Service agent to get close to McCourt, but discovers nothing except that McCourt is having an affair with his aide--but McCourt and his wife have an arrangement.
Meanwhile, John Greer of Decima meets with Senator Ross Garrison and asks for his support in introducing Samaritan, which unlike the machine is an open, controllable system.
It turns out that Decima has been tracking McCourt; a Decima agent then blows Reese's cover, and Reese semi-kidnaps McCourt to save him from what he thinks is a Decima attack. Decima tracks them, however, and they're only saved from another attack by Shaw's nick-of-time arrival. The team tries to get out of DC but a roadblock forces them to hole up in an empty house.
Finch hacks into the Decima agent's phone and discovers that he was actually assigned to protect McCourt. It's then revealed that McCourt has made a deal with Decima--he'll help the Samaritan system get through Congress in exchange for stock tips.
As SWAT teams and the FBI begin searching the neighborhood, the team tries to figure out why they got McCourt's number. Reese concludes that the machine is asking them to kill him to prevent Samaritan from coming fully online. After a passionate argument in which Finch says that he draws the line at murder, the team leave McCourt unharmed and flee. They're pursued through the woods and Shaw is shot, but they make it to New York, where Reese and Shaw dodge police while Finch disappears.
Meanwhile, Garrison agrees to help Decima after McCourt assures him that he'll help get the necessary legislation through Congress. They agree to give Samaritan a 24-hour test in New York: Samaritan will have access to all the NSA feeds for New York, and Greer promises to uncover a terrorist in that time. But when Samaritan comes online, the first person Greer asks it to find is Harold Finch.
