Person of Interest - "Matsya Nyaya"

Person of Interest 1.20: “Matsya Nyaya”

“Whoever sent us here, doesn’t want us to retrieve the package. They want to confirm it’s destroyed. They want everyone who had contact with it destroyed. And you just gave them a beacon.”
- Reese

We start this week in 2010 in the Middle East while Reese and his partner Stanton are working. Reese is watching her interrogate some guy when Reese swaps out the SIM cards in his phone and he’s got a message from Jessica. She sounds kind of scared and he immediately calls her back. She didn’t think he’d do it. He says she’s okay but that she needed a friend to talk to. Before she hangs up, Reese promises to come for her. He just needs 24 hours.

Back in the present, Carter and Reese are at a bar. She wants more detail on how process works. So he tells her they’ll work the current number together. He points out a guy and girl at a table and says that girl is not the guy’s girlfriend. A woman storms in and pulls a gun. That’s the girlfriend. Carter manages to take the girlfriend down without anyone getting hurt (though a shot does go off). She’s a little annoyed that Reese said they’d be working it together. He doesn’t have too much time to revel in his witty quip back because as usual, they’ve got a new number. Tommy Clay (married ten years with a 9-year-old son) works as a hopper for an armored car service. He’s the guy that has to go in and out of the truck with the goods. Reese is going undercover as a trainee guard. This should be fun. He plants a license plate detector under the car to see if they’re being followed.

At first, things are looking pretty good. They make it to a couple stops with no problems, though Tommy doe explain they don’t always know what they’re carrying. As they’re getting back in the truck after a stop the driver says he’s spotted guys with guns coming their way. Reese reacts accordingly, especially since the plate reader picked up the same plate three times that day) but when he gets to the back of the truck again, Tommy jumps out with a clown mask. Apparently it’s a little ritual hazing for the new guy. Unfortunately, as Finch points out, the Machine never issues a false number. The robbery will happen. And on the HR front, Lionel has been tasked by Lynch (one of the higher ups) to go with a street thug who used to pay the mob to get the money so HR can take it. I can tell this is not going to end well at all.

We jump back to the Middle East in 2010 where Snow shows up with some other woman and they issue orders that Reese and Stanton need to go to China to retrieve a computer with a program that was supposed to be able to disable Iranian nuclear devices. Apparently, they were also developing it for use against China. Reese tells them to find someone else as he has a family emergency and needs leave. Snow blows him and tells them they need the team to go now. On his way out, Reese has a little chat with Snow. Snow ants him to kill Stanton when the job is done because she’s been compromised. As her partner, Reese should have noticed so now it’s his problem to fix.

In 2012, Reese is getting ready for day 2 on his undercover gig. Finch hacked the system so he knows the route and figure out what they’re picking up. I have to say Finch really is clever. Reese is still waiting on a call back from Carter on the plates from the day before when he gets a call from Lionel with an update. Reese just tells him to keep gathering info. Finch made the point earlier in the episode that he thought it was time to tell the two cops about each other. Reese of course said no. But I have to agree with Finch on this one. Not only do we only have three episodes left in the season, but I just really want to see the look on Lionel and carter’s faces when they find out. Reese finally gets in touch with Carter and she says it belongs to a seventy-two-year-old guy. But it looks like his nephew is out on parole for armed robbery. Looks like he’s the guy casing the truck. We get a little scene with the armored truck guys in a diner for breakfast and we meet Ashley, the waitress. The driver notes the really nice diamond bracelet on her wrist. She brushes it off as a gift from her grandmother.

Most of the stops are no problems, just like the day before. Finch seems a little confused when they pick up raw platinum and nothing happens. He spoke too soon. The truck hits something that explodes and it gives the robbers some time to start shooting at the truck. Reese takes both of them out (though he doesn’t kill them) just in time for Tommy to climb out and shoot the driver and Reese. Of course it was an inside job. We jump back to 2010 again but this time we’re in China. Reese and Stanton are getting instructions from the guide to the little town where the computer should be. They head into the town which is under quarantine. The locals were told it was bird flu. Reese and Stanton quickly figure out that everyone in the town was killed.

Reese comes to in the hospital and watches as the driver from the armored truck dies in the ER. Luckily Carter is there to sneak him out of the ER for a chat. Finch calls her cell and he’s quite happy to hear that Reese is alive. Finch doesn’t really show it much but I think he cares a lot about Reese. Anyway, Reese is going to try and track Tommy down before he can fence the platinum. Carter is going to talk to his wife. It doesn’t take long to figure out Tommy’s been having an affair. Finch is a step ahead of her and manages to clone Ashley’s phone. Reese finally tracks Tommy’s burner phone to a hotel but he’s too late. The other two robbers are dead and Tommy’s gone. Or so Reese thinks until he hears someone at the door. He lies in wait and grabs the guy. It turns out to be Lionel, sent there by Lunch to get the platinum from Tommy. Man are things getting super complicated.

We jump back to 2010 in China yet again. I swear this episode has more flashbacks than any other episode we’ve had this season. Apparently Reese isn’t superman because Stanton has to talk to the one guy who managed to sort of survive. He says that some people came and took the machine. So the computer they’re looking for is gone. But she doesn’t tell Reese this. Obviously, something is up. They find a case though and decide to wait somewhere “safe” until the helicopter picks them up at dark. Back in the present, Lionel feeds Lynch a line about the two guys being dead. Well I guess it’s not really a line since it is true. They’re going to check all the places Tommy could fence the platinum together. I guess Lynch doesn’t really trust Lionel to not screw him.

Meanwhile, Reese scares Ashley into telling him that she was supposed to meet Tommy but that he never showed up. Reese learns from Finch moments later that Tommy got a new burner phone and had a voice mail message from his fence about where to meet. Reese heads off and Carter is about to join him when she gets sidetracked by Snow and his buddy showing up. They tell her to stop talking to the FBI about Reese. Okay, really? We’re going have to his immature inter-agency nonsense? I just want to smack that stupid little snide grin off his face. Anyway, things go south pretty quickly. Turns out Ashley and Tommy were working together. Reese sees it coming too late that Ashley is turning on Tommy. Her solo act doesn’t make it far. Lynch and Lionel show up and shot her. Lionel’s quick thinking saves Reese’s life. So that’s one more HR cop out of the way.

We end up back in China as Reese and Stanton are heading out to meet the helicopter. Stanton thinks soon they’ll all be replaced by technology and drones and stuff. Reese isn’t so sure. Unfortunately, he has a momentary change of heart about shooting her, giving her the window to shoot him first. Snow told her that he’d been compromised. Looks like neither of them were supposed to make it out alive. Reese staggers away just as the helicopter launches a rocket and we see a really big explosion where Stanton was just standing. So it appears she’s dead. Except, when we jump back to the present, we find Snow and his partner sneaking into a room paid for with funds from the Caiman Islands that they think they tracked to Reese. But they were wrong. Stanton’s alive and well and seriously pissed at the CIA.