Episode Guide - inaf iasf bologna

Person of Interest Episode Guide
payphone. As they talk, Finch receives a text message on his computer from Root, asking for a
meeting. Rather then tell Reese about it, he tells his partner to check out Thornhill’s apartment.
Once Reese leaves, Finch calls 911.
Once Reese gets to the apartment, Carter calls him and asks why someone rented a car but
didn’t use it. Reese tells her that they have it under control and advises her to look into Cal’s
murder. As he hangs up, Sam Shaw comes up behind him and holds him at gunpoint. When he
wonders why she’s there, Sam says that she’s hunting Root.
Finch meets Root in the park near Grace’s apartment, and watches as his former fiancee
leaves for the day. Root assures him that she doesn’t have any intention of hurting Grace. She
then explains that when the virus countdown ends, The Machine will go into debugging mode.
It will call a payphone in New York City and due to Finch’s programming, it will give full administrative
access to the person who answers the phone. Root knows all about Decima, which
engineered the virus, and doesn’t want them gaining control of The Machine. When Finch hesitates,
Root promises to kill Grace if he doesn’t cooperate. He gives in but tells her that there
won’t be any killing.
Simmons calls Terney at the station and tells him that Quinn wants Carter eliminated. Terney
then approaches Carter and says that he has a lead on Cal’s killer. She leaves with him, unaware
that The Machine has been watching her through the station cameras. It tries to call Finch on a
payphone. When he goes over to answer it, Root tells him that they don’t’ have time to deal with
it and takes him away.
Sam informs Reese that Root has infiltrated The Program and gotten close to the Special
Counsel. As Reese starts to call Finch to warn him, the police break in and capture him. Sam
slips away before they can spot her, leaving Reese behind.
2010 Day 3178 — Finch is going to see Nathan and tell him that Grace accepted his proposal.
He leaves a message on Nathan’s voice mail and approaches his friend’s apartment building just
as Nathan leaves. Nathan checks his phone but clearly ignores Finch’s call.
Intrigued, Finch follows his partner and friend to an abandoned library and goes inside after
him. When he finds Nathan, Finch asks what is going on.
2013 Day 4138 — As they walk down the street, Root figures that Finch programmed The
Machine with a God Mode backdoor in case it crashed, so that the administrator would have
unlimited access. Decima is trying to kill Thornhill because the CEO has been buying up payphone
companies to gain control of any payphone that The Machine might use to make the call at
zero hour. When she wonders how vulnerable The Machine is, Finch admits that the person who
takes the call will have unlimited access for 24 hours. However, he’s sure that Decima doesn’t
know which payphone The Machine will use for the call. As they continue walking, Root points
out that Decima has men guarding every payphone in sight, meaning that the call will come to a
phone in midtown. Even if Finch tells her which phone to use, they can’t get to it. However, Root
is confident that Thornhill has a plan so they don’t need one.
While Reese awaits interrogation at the station, Sam comes in posing as his lawyer. She plays
a recording of Finch’s call to 911, reporting a break-in at Thornhill’s apartment, and points out
that Finch wanted Reese out of the way. When Sam asks if Reese can trace Finch, he admits that
he put a tracking bug in Finch’s glasses. Sam then removes two guns taped to her back, gives
one to Reese, and tosses her briefcase out into the hallway. The tear gas bomb inside explodes
and they walk out, using water-soaked cloths for protection.
Root and Finch go to Thornhill’s company. As she breaks in, Root realizes that The Machine
created Thornhill to protect itself. When she sees the screens of code, Root realizes that The
Machine has been protecting itself by downloading its own programming code and having the
data entry operators enter it back in. Finch explains that when he developed The Machine, he
realized that it had a personality and had imprinted on him like a child on a parent. Since he
couldn’t afford a Machine with human sensibilities, he designed it to erase its personality programming
each day at midnight. As a defense, The Machine created a living external hard drive
to backup its memory code. Root points out that even though it has survived, The Machine is all
but crippled personality-wise by the constant loss and reloading of its personality programming.
Carter and Terney take two other officers to the house of Cal’s suspected killer. Terney and
Carter go around the back and Terney prepares to shoot her from behind. The suspect comes
running out and fires at Carter, and she shoots back in self-defense, killing him. Terney reluctantly
calls in backup.
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