rose_griffes (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rose_griffes) wrote2012-02-04 11:59 am
rose_griffes) wrote2012-02-04 11:59 am
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Person of Interest 1.13
So, Person of Interest 1x13 "Root Cause" is THE BEST EVER, because Zoe Morgan is back. Yay! I had three things I wanted from this episode:
And as far as I'm concerned, the episode delivered! *sticks fingers in ears* Lalalalala, nothing can convince otherwise on number three. I'm wearing this shiny tinfoil hat that can repel anyone's belief to the contrary.
(Apparently the whole idea of 'tin hat' or tinhatting is only used in referring to a belief that a pair from real-people fiction must be, well, real, rather than pairing fictional characters together. I feel like my efforts at tin-hatting are being ignored by the term's exclusionary usage! *laughs*)
Oh. Probably I should talk about the episode some, yeah? Let's do that. We start with Finch making tea in the Library Lair of Loneliness. He calls Reese, who's having some trouble taking down this burly dude. (Caviezel is tall, but slim. Burly dude is really, really burly. He carried Reese around with some ease.) Presumably Reese wants to take down the burly dude without permanently harming him. He finally manages it and Finch gives him information about their newest number: Scott Powell. Family guy, a wife and two kids. Reese does the I want that life puppy-dog eyes whilestalking surveilling him.
"You ever crave a more conventional life, Finch?" asks Reese. D'aww. Nice glimpse of Caviezel's pretty eyes as he sits in the car taking photos.
Powell isn't quite as stable as he appears at first glance; he's been out of work for months and hiding that information from his family. (Side note: THIS IS A VERY BAD PLAN.) Poor Powell sits in the rain making phone calls to look for work. Then he goes to a pawn shop and tries to make a bit of money selling more stuff, but the pawn broker doesn't want what he's selling. Powell shows a flash of temper, but backs down. Man, this is hard to watch.
Fusco is "handling another matter" so they're going to ask Carter for intel about Powell. (We never see Fusco in this episode--at least, not that I noticed. I wonder if he's somewhere in the background when Finch is on screen? Or maybe he's following Will Ingram. Hm.)
Reese: You ever been on a stake-out, Finch?
Finch: No, should I bring anything?
Reese: Warm clothes, something to read... and an empty water bottle.
Finch: Empty?
Reese: There are no bathrooms on a stake-out, Mister Finch.
Finch uses an empty not-Pringles can to help capture the Powell family's wi-fi signal. And then Finch listens in as Powell gets a job offer of some kind...
Carter calls with info: Powell has a clean history plus an application for a rifle permit. And Reese and Finch put the pieces together to determine that Powell isn't going to 'work,' he's going to assassinate Congressman Delancy. Dun dun DUN!
Reese and Finch go into the fundraiser, having lost track of Powell. So Reese does the lurky background thing while Finch does some exposition, figuring out that this is a setup to make Powell look guilty. But all of this is too late: the real shooter takes his shot and makes a clean getaway. Whoops.
Library Lair of Loneliness: Finch and Reese watch news feeds and talk about what this all means. Powell is the patsy in the setup, so presumably he's still in danger of being taken out; Reese says that the shooter was a professional. I'm enjoying the prettiness of this particular set, since it might be our last episode with the Library Lair of Loneliness. *sadface* I like the wood or metal scrollwork that's behind Reese and Finch at this angle.
Ooh, so the computer hacker and the shooter are a team. Vaguely familiar. *grins* Did a hacker and shooter cross over from Bizarro World to torment our good guy shooter and hacker?
Reese calls Carter, who is very Not Pleased that Powell is an apparently successful assassin. Reese persuades her to get a sound feed from Powell's interview with the Feds. Poor Powell is completely freaked out; understandable in the circumstances.
Ack, congressman whatsit is dead. Powell gets to call his wife, who is also freaked out.
Finch finds the trojan horse virus that Powell accidentally downloaded. Finch is geeking out about how clever the code is. "But not clever enough," says Finch. Oooh, foreshadowing. Carter passes along the news that Powell is being transported to a courthouse, and Finch has just gotten courthouse plans from the trojan horse tracing he's doing. Dun dun DUN!
Reese executes a car accident/hijacking in order to rescue Powell from the FBI. Hah. Something about this whole scene--his gas mask, the nonchalant way he drives the car in reverse at high speeds, the dramatic music--just amuses me.
Finch calls and mentions a vulnerability in the firewall that he's going to use. Only, NOOOOES! "It's a honeypot." All devices connected to the network are being infected! Dun dun DUUUUN! We see our first glimpse of Root, with her black fingernails. She's typing and hacking as fast as Finch is trying to take things apart from his end.
Finch pulls the plug on the power at the Library Lair of Loneliness. We get the sadly dramatic music and a last glimpse of a really cool set. Goodbye, Library Lair of Loneliness! I'll miss you!
*wipes away a single tear*
Finch buys a pre-paid cell phone from a street vendor. Reese takes Powell to a hotel room and gives him a cap and hoodie for the less-conspicuous factor. He gets Finch's new number and calls... and Finch is in another library! Hee! This one is more populated, complete with cranky student who really doesn't want to hear someone else's phone conversations.
Finch: Listen, I felt like we might need a little extra help looking for Congressman Delancy's killer, so I've called in a specialist. Someone with an intimate knowledge of the political arena. Oh, here she is, I have to go.
Reese: Wait a minute. Specialist? She? Finch?
EEEEEEEE, Reese totally knows who Finch called! *redons tinfoil hat* Which means Reese has been thinking about Zoe, right? Yup.And he was totally gonna tell Finch to say hi from him.
Ahem. Sorry 'bout that. Meanwhile, Leslie Powell is getting a lot of scary information, some of which is true and some of which was planted by Root.
Finch kicks some kids out of a library "study room" (by bribing them), and he and Zoe have a little brainstorming session about Delancy, his business partners, the background information Zoe has about them, etcetera. It's really adorable. Finch is sorta kinda flirty... for Finch, anyway. I'm entirely pleased with this whole scene.
Finch: Even if this was true, we have no proof that Matheson had Delancy killed.
Morgan: Let's go get some.
EEEEE, I love her.
Reese and Powell are watching TV and then discussing what's going on, when they get interrupted by a professional killer. Reese temporarily disables him and he flees with Powell.
Zoe approaches Matheson to get things rolling. One of her awesome lines: "If you're going to do something wrong, do it right." Bwahahaha! Matheson dutifully freaks out and makes a phone call to Root, which Finch is able to record.
Root calls her shooter and gives the location of Powell and Reese: down in the subway. Reese has figured out that Powell is wearing a transmitter, so I'm not freaking out just yet.
Powell: I could die! And the person who I love most in life would think that I'm nothing more than a killer. Do you have any idea what that feels like?
Reese: [making the SADDEST REESE-FACE EVER] Actually, I do. Of course, in my case, it was true.
Carter is Very Grumpy when Reese calls, but she manages to get Leslie Powell on the phone anyway. Scott and Leslie have a brief conversation--the job, their savings, the setup...
Leslie: I thought we told each other everything.
Awww, Leslie, honey. *sadface*
The shooter trusts the tracking device more than his eyes, which is a good thing, 'cause I think Reese is taller than Scott Powell. There's this awesome fight in the men's restroom, with Reese wearing that hoodie. Mmm, I love that grim look and the bloody lip. Fake fights and fake blood, yay!
Scott Powell turns himself in at Carter's precinct. Presumably safe to do so with the hitman out of commision. Dead by hand dryer? (Certainly down if not dead.)
Reese grabbed hitman's phone; he hands it to Finch after he gets into the car. (Question: how many times has Finch had a chauffeur since the pilot episode? I don't remember seeing it, but Reese doesn't seem to mind getting into the backseat with Finch, rather than being in the front. Hm.) Anyway, Root calls to ask "Is it finished?" and Finch answers instead of her shooter. Hah!
Root apparently finds this twist to be... unacceptable? She types a fake suicide note for Matheson. She has a gun next to the laptop.
Carter gets a text: check your e-mail. I'm assuming Finch is the one who sent the recording of Matheson talking to voice-disguised Root. The Feds hanging around her precinct are presumably getting the same information, based on their reactions. As the police arrive at Matheson's home, they find his dead body slumped over a laptop, a gun in his hands. Dun dun DUN!
Okay, next the flailing. Because now we get a scene with Zoe and John, and then a scene with Finch and Root. Brace yourselves!
Powell comes home to his wife! Awwww! And John watches lurkily. WITH ZOE!
Reese: Zoe.
Morgan: John.
[They both watch the happy reunion with various FASCINATING looks on their faces.]
Reese: I hear we have you to thank for catching Matheson.
Morgan: Glad I could help. Although there is a matter of payment.
[They turn and look at each other. SIGNIFICANTLY.]
Morgan: Buy me a drink?
[They smile and then look away.]
Reese: You once told me a story about a guy who could say two words that would make the reporters go away. Ever figure out what he said?
Zoe looks at John and then walks over to the Powell home and SHE MAKES THE REPORTERS GO AWAY with the sheer power of her awesomeness.
Finch is back in the public library. He calls Reese so they can be appropriately, somberly pleased about Powell's better fortunes to come... and to discuss what we learned of the mystery hacker, namely that she used a temporarily-abandoned dorm room as her base of activities for this little venture.
Zoe and John then exchange Significant Glances across the street from each other as she leaves. YAY, ZOEEEEEEEEE!
And then Finch has a nice little online chat with the mystery hacker, aka Root. Lemme see if I can make a screencap...
Interestingly enough, John Reese travels light too. Hm... Is Root someone else who used to work for the CIA?
Finch is almost smiling at the end. ALMOST SMILING. Aaaaaah!
1. Zoe Morgan being awesome
2. Screen time with Zoe and Reese together
3. Nothing that contradicts the idea that Morgan and Reeseare totally having a secret affairhave had contact since her prior appearance on the show.
And as far as I'm concerned, the episode delivered! *sticks fingers in ears* Lalalalala, nothing can convince otherwise on number three. I'm wearing this shiny tinfoil hat that can repel anyone's belief to the contrary.
(Apparently the whole idea of 'tin hat' or tinhatting is only used in referring to a belief that a pair from real-people fiction must be, well, real, rather than pairing fictional characters together. I feel like my efforts at tin-hatting are being ignored by the term's exclusionary usage! *laughs*)
Oh. Probably I should talk about the episode some, yeah? Let's do that. We start with Finch making tea in the Library Lair of Loneliness. He calls Reese, who's having some trouble taking down this burly dude. (Caviezel is tall, but slim. Burly dude is really, really burly. He carried Reese around with some ease.) Presumably Reese wants to take down the burly dude without permanently harming him. He finally manages it and Finch gives him information about their newest number: Scott Powell. Family guy, a wife and two kids. Reese does the I want that life puppy-dog eyes while
"You ever crave a more conventional life, Finch?" asks Reese. D'aww. Nice glimpse of Caviezel's pretty eyes as he sits in the car taking photos.
Powell isn't quite as stable as he appears at first glance; he's been out of work for months and hiding that information from his family. (Side note: THIS IS A VERY BAD PLAN.) Poor Powell sits in the rain making phone calls to look for work. Then he goes to a pawn shop and tries to make a bit of money selling more stuff, but the pawn broker doesn't want what he's selling. Powell shows a flash of temper, but backs down. Man, this is hard to watch.
Fusco is "handling another matter" so they're going to ask Carter for intel about Powell. (We never see Fusco in this episode--at least, not that I noticed. I wonder if he's somewhere in the background when Finch is on screen? Or maybe he's following Will Ingram. Hm.)
Reese: You ever been on a stake-out, Finch?
Finch: No, should I bring anything?
Reese: Warm clothes, something to read... and an empty water bottle.
Finch: Empty?
Reese: There are no bathrooms on a stake-out, Mister Finch.
Finch uses an empty not-Pringles can to help capture the Powell family's wi-fi signal. And then Finch listens in as Powell gets a job offer of some kind...
Carter calls with info: Powell has a clean history plus an application for a rifle permit. And Reese and Finch put the pieces together to determine that Powell isn't going to 'work,' he's going to assassinate Congressman Delancy. Dun dun DUN!
Reese and Finch go into the fundraiser, having lost track of Powell. So Reese does the lurky background thing while Finch does some exposition, figuring out that this is a setup to make Powell look guilty. But all of this is too late: the real shooter takes his shot and makes a clean getaway. Whoops.
Library Lair of Loneliness: Finch and Reese watch news feeds and talk about what this all means. Powell is the patsy in the setup, so presumably he's still in danger of being taken out; Reese says that the shooter was a professional. I'm enjoying the prettiness of this particular set, since it might be our last episode with the Library Lair of Loneliness. *sadface* I like the wood or metal scrollwork that's behind Reese and Finch at this angle.
Ooh, so the computer hacker and the shooter are a team. Vaguely familiar. *grins* Did a hacker and shooter cross over from Bizarro World to torment our good guy shooter and hacker?
Reese calls Carter, who is very Not Pleased that Powell is an apparently successful assassin. Reese persuades her to get a sound feed from Powell's interview with the Feds. Poor Powell is completely freaked out; understandable in the circumstances.
Ack, congressman whatsit is dead. Powell gets to call his wife, who is also freaked out.
Finch finds the trojan horse virus that Powell accidentally downloaded. Finch is geeking out about how clever the code is. "But not clever enough," says Finch. Oooh, foreshadowing. Carter passes along the news that Powell is being transported to a courthouse, and Finch has just gotten courthouse plans from the trojan horse tracing he's doing. Dun dun DUN!
Reese executes a car accident/hijacking in order to rescue Powell from the FBI. Hah. Something about this whole scene--his gas mask, the nonchalant way he drives the car in reverse at high speeds, the dramatic music--just amuses me.
Finch calls and mentions a vulnerability in the firewall that he's going to use. Only, NOOOOES! "It's a honeypot." All devices connected to the network are being infected! Dun dun DUUUUN! We see our first glimpse of Root, with her black fingernails. She's typing and hacking as fast as Finch is trying to take things apart from his end.
Finch pulls the plug on the power at the Library Lair of Loneliness. We get the sadly dramatic music and a last glimpse of a really cool set. Goodbye, Library Lair of Loneliness! I'll miss you!
*wipes away a single tear*
Finch buys a pre-paid cell phone from a street vendor. Reese takes Powell to a hotel room and gives him a cap and hoodie for the less-conspicuous factor. He gets Finch's new number and calls... and Finch is in another library! Hee! This one is more populated, complete with cranky student who really doesn't want to hear someone else's phone conversations.
Finch: Listen, I felt like we might need a little extra help looking for Congressman Delancy's killer, so I've called in a specialist. Someone with an intimate knowledge of the political arena. Oh, here she is, I have to go.
Reese: Wait a minute. Specialist? She? Finch?
EEEEEEEE, Reese totally knows who Finch called! *redons tinfoil hat* Which means Reese has been thinking about Zoe, right? Yup.
Ahem. Sorry 'bout that. Meanwhile, Leslie Powell is getting a lot of scary information, some of which is true and some of which was planted by Root.
Finch kicks some kids out of a library "study room" (by bribing them), and he and Zoe have a little brainstorming session about Delancy, his business partners, the background information Zoe has about them, etcetera. It's really adorable. Finch is sorta kinda flirty... for Finch, anyway. I'm entirely pleased with this whole scene.
Finch: Even if this was true, we have no proof that Matheson had Delancy killed.
Morgan: Let's go get some.
EEEEE, I love her.
Reese and Powell are watching TV and then discussing what's going on, when they get interrupted by a professional killer. Reese temporarily disables him and he flees with Powell.
Zoe approaches Matheson to get things rolling. One of her awesome lines: "If you're going to do something wrong, do it right." Bwahahaha! Matheson dutifully freaks out and makes a phone call to Root, which Finch is able to record.
Root calls her shooter and gives the location of Powell and Reese: down in the subway. Reese has figured out that Powell is wearing a transmitter, so I'm not freaking out just yet.
Powell: I could die! And the person who I love most in life would think that I'm nothing more than a killer. Do you have any idea what that feels like?
Reese: [making the SADDEST REESE-FACE EVER] Actually, I do. Of course, in my case, it was true.
Carter is Very Grumpy when Reese calls, but she manages to get Leslie Powell on the phone anyway. Scott and Leslie have a brief conversation--the job, their savings, the setup...
Leslie: I thought we told each other everything.
Awww, Leslie, honey. *sadface*
The shooter trusts the tracking device more than his eyes, which is a good thing, 'cause I think Reese is taller than Scott Powell. There's this awesome fight in the men's restroom, with Reese wearing that hoodie. Mmm, I love that grim look and the bloody lip. Fake fights and fake blood, yay!
Scott Powell turns himself in at Carter's precinct. Presumably safe to do so with the hitman out of commision. Dead by hand dryer? (Certainly down if not dead.)
Reese grabbed hitman's phone; he hands it to Finch after he gets into the car. (Question: how many times has Finch had a chauffeur since the pilot episode? I don't remember seeing it, but Reese doesn't seem to mind getting into the backseat with Finch, rather than being in the front. Hm.) Anyway, Root calls to ask "Is it finished?" and Finch answers instead of her shooter. Hah!
Root apparently finds this twist to be... unacceptable? She types a fake suicide note for Matheson. She has a gun next to the laptop.
Carter gets a text: check your e-mail. I'm assuming Finch is the one who sent the recording of Matheson talking to voice-disguised Root. The Feds hanging around her precinct are presumably getting the same information, based on their reactions. As the police arrive at Matheson's home, they find his dead body slumped over a laptop, a gun in his hands. Dun dun DUN!
Okay, next the flailing. Because now we get a scene with Zoe and John, and then a scene with Finch and Root. Brace yourselves!
Powell comes home to his wife! Awwww! And John watches lurkily. WITH ZOE!
Reese: Zoe.
Morgan: John.
[They both watch the happy reunion with various FASCINATING looks on their faces.]
Reese: I hear we have you to thank for catching Matheson.
Morgan: Glad I could help. Although there is a matter of payment.
[They turn and look at each other. SIGNIFICANTLY.]
Morgan: Buy me a drink?
[They smile and then look away.]
Reese: You once told me a story about a guy who could say two words that would make the reporters go away. Ever figure out what he said?
Zoe looks at John and then walks over to the Powell home and SHE MAKES THE REPORTERS GO AWAY with the sheer power of her awesomeness.
Finch is back in the public library. He calls Reese so they can be appropriately, somberly pleased about Powell's better fortunes to come... and to discuss what we learned of the mystery hacker, namely that she used a temporarily-abandoned dorm room as her base of activities for this little venture.
Zoe and John then exchange Significant Glances across the street from each other as she leaves. YAY, ZOEEEEEEEEE!
And then Finch has a nice little online chat with the mystery hacker, aka Root. Lemme see if I can make a screencap...
Interestingly enough, John Reese travels light too. Hm... Is Root someone else who used to work for the CIA?
Finch is almost smiling at the end. ALMOST SMILING. Aaaaaah!