Photo: Giovanni Rufino/Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. and CBS
Warning: Spoiler Alert
When they find themselves with their collective backs against the wall, the team from the CBS series “Person Of Interest,” have overcome the odds and wound up on top in each situation. In the latest episode, the team and the viewers, realized just how overwhelming those odds are this time, as they take on two adversaries on two different fronts. As the episode concluded, we witnessed while one situation, gives the team enough time to prepare, the second threat’s imminent and immediate and imminent.
The episode entitled “Point Of Origin,” has Reese in his guise as NYPD Homicide Detective John Reilly, as a temporary instructor at the Police Academy, with the latest number, a young woman named Dani Silva’s one of the recruits in the class he’s teaching. A training session’s taking place, we hear John’s voice yell from outside a door, that he’s going in alone and he bursts through the door wearing a combat uniform, complete with helmet.
He quickly takes out three of the four recruits, but Silva’s hiding upstairs and gets him with the paintball in his calf. She jokingly apologizes that he didn’t mention using the fire escape, so she took advantage of the loophole. He smiles and says he can’t blame her for coloring outside the lines. One of her classmates threatens her for cheating and making the class look bad, but another recruit named Ortiz, intercedes and tells the dude to chill. Two guys leave and Ortiz asks if she wants to join them for a beer after class, but she says she’s got a date.
We move to Samaritan’s headquarters and the Artificial Intelligence System alerts the administrator John Greer, that ISA Agent Rice, allowed two criminals to escape with the virus he coveted in the previous episode. The crooks, were the gang’s leader Tomas and Shaw, Samaritan attempts to recover an image of Shaw but isn’t able to get it clear enough to identify. Greer’s operative Martine, enters the room and Greer tells her the new information and wants her to track the woman, who he believes is a member of Finch’s crew. Since Martine’s the former investigator for the Hague, Greer thinks she’ll nail the assignment.
Shaw and Fusco relieve Reese of babysitting Silva and they follow her to the street, where they assume she’s waiting for her date, but they’re soon surprised when they see the members of her class head into the pub near where she’s standing. As they enter and get seated, she takes pictures of all of them and a beat-up Oldsmobile drives up and she climbs in. She shows the pictures to the driver and he asks if the pictures are “them,” and she replies they’re the targets. He asks if she’s ready to move and she says give the word and hands her a pistol. She climbs out and Shaw and Fusco tail the driver home.
They’re outside the guy’s home the next morning, with Fusco’s snoring getting on Sameen’s nerves and she punches him. He wakes up and the guy gets in his car and leaves. Fusco says they should follow him, but Sameen says, they’ll likely learn more breaking into the house. Lionel tells her to wait for him.
Martine heads to Ryker’s Island, posing as Katya’s new Public Defender, Katya’s incarcerated due to Fusco planting drugs on her in order to get Shaw on Tomas’ team. Martine’s pressing the woman on information about how she joined Tomas’ gang and who recommended her, Katya tells Martine she’s fired, hangs up the phone and starts to walk away. Martine raps on the glass and signals for Katya to sit down and pick up the phone, then shows the prisoner a picture of Katya’s daughter. She gives up Romeo as the guy who recommended her and Shaw.
Reese starts following Dani, but he’s grabbed by Police psychiatrist Dr. Iris Campbell, who reminds Detective Reilly he missed that morning’s session. John tells her this is a bad time, but she threatens to pull her recommendation that allows him to instruct at the Academy. He puts his hand on her back to steer her and says lets walk and talk. She’s flustered but agrees, then she brings up Reilly’s hero-complex, which she states usually a result of being bullied as a child. John responds there weren’t bullies in his school as he kept them in line, she replies that’s proof of a hero complex.
Shaw gets on his earpiece and tells John, that Silva’s the victim not the perp, she’s actually an officer from Internal Affairs looking for the mole in her class. Lionel chimes in according to her last report, she’s identified him. Just then Reese realizes Dani’s heading right into a shoot-and-run and he starts to sprint, Iris asks why he’s running from her, he replies he’s not, he’s trying to save a life then whistles. Silva hears the whistle and dives for cover, while John shields Campbell from the gunfire, while she’s freaking. He puts her in a cab and goes after Silva. Reese tells her he knows she’s a cop and she admits she’s from Internal Affairs and needs to contact her handler in person, John says he’ll tag along as her backup. Harold tells Reese to act carefully, as an IA officer could blow his cover.
Somehow, Shaw and Fusco tracked the shooter’s phone and he’s at an elementary school and texting back and forth with the leader of the Brotherhood, Dominic. A young woman’s giving out tough-love and money to some of the youngsters, she’s looking to recruit them young for the Brotherhood. She takes him into another area to meet up with Dominic and Sameen recognizes him as Mini, who she believes is an enforcer for Dominic. However when he orders the shooter’s execution, Finch informs her, that Mini’s actually Dominic, some kids enter the area and Dominic tells them to do the hit elsewhere. Shaw wants to take him out, but Lionel points out the kids.
Turns out Ortiz’s the mole and planted by Dominic, to hack into the Academy’s computer system and get Dominic access to the NYPD computer system. Dominic pulled strings and got Ortiz’s uncle out of a drug conviction and this was the repayment, a one time deal. He says he can’t show up at the Academy while Silva’s still alive and Dominic reassures him that matter’s on its way to getting rectified. The young woman tells Ortiz that he’ll hide out in an abandoned school-house in Spanish Harlem, for a few days.
Dominic and the young woman talk about how important the flash-drive that Ortiz brought him actually is, bringing up Edward Snowden, saying he worked for a satellite office of the NSA. The young woman catches on that the leader of the Brotherhood used the Academy as a satellite office for the NYPD. He explains it’s all about taking down Crime King Carl Elias, the man whose keeping him from being the top of the heap.
Meanwhile on the other side of town, Martine walks into Romeo’s bar while his back’s turned and he shouts out they’re closed. She asks can’t a girl get a shot of whiskey in this town after hours and Romeo, turns around likes what he sees. They each have a drink and she gets down to business asking about his crew, he tells her he’s not giving up any of his boys. She says it’s a girl his former driver, he tells her she quit and she asks where she is. He tells her he doesn’t know everything’s compartmentalized for a reason, but tries to text her, only to find out his signals blocked. A heavy-set man with a pompadour and mutton-chops comes out of the back with a shotgun, she says that Elvis forgot to load it, knocks the guy out and grabs the weapon and fires at Romeo, but it’s just buckshot. She pulls out her pistol and stands over Romeo as he’s lying on the floor behind the bar, she sees he tried to text “Nadya,” Shaw’s cover name and takes the phone and leaves.
Reese and Silva reach the safe-house and see the place’s lined with cruisers, someone killed her handler Detective Howard and used her training weapon to murder him. She wants to go inside and get her files proving her identity, but John tells her they’re not in the house. They head somewhere safe and she explains that she got forced to join a gang in school, got arrested and the judge gave her a choice to clean up her act, go to college and make a life, or do time in prison. She got her master’s in Criminal Justice and Internal Affairs recruited her before she graduated, Howard’s her surrogate father and taught her everything.
Lionel shows up and John introduces him, then Fusco says he’s got bad news and worse news for her. Ten thousand dollars got transferred into her account the day before and they identified the weapon as her gun and she’s wanted for murder. Silva tracks Ortiz to the school in Spanish Harlem and her, Reese and Bear, wearing a collar of grenades, drive to it, while Fusco returns to the precinct. Ortiz meets the gang members that run Spanish Harlem and he tells him he did a one-time-only favor for Dominic.
The Latino gang leader pulls an old-fashioned compass, used to draw circles and says if it’s a one-time-deal, the Brotherhood no longer needs him and tries to stab him with the tool. Reese and Silva arrive just then, knock out the two guys and tell Silva they’re getting him out of there, but the leader comes to and presses an alarm that brings gang members for ten-blocks rushing the school. Finch directs them to the schools swimming pool area, but the door they wanted to use got blocked. Harold tells them there’s an exit underneath the pool and John throws all the grenades in, creating a chasm in the bottom, he throws Ortiz first, Bear’s trained to swim he jumps next then Silva and Reese, they enter the street via a manhole cover.
Dominic’s at the school and picks up the compass and talks about circles and the reason he’s not running the city’s due to Detective John Reilly, whose circle keeps intersecting his. The young woman’s about to take out the leader, but Dominic gives the gun to the leader’s number two and has him take the leader out. Harold and John back at their underground lair and Finch informs him that “The Machine’s” got a new number, Carl Elias.
Martine tracks Shaw’s cellphone signal to the department store she works at, but Samaritan says she’s not there, so Martine asks for the latest update of the image from the robbery and it’s clear enough to identify Sameen, who she sees about 250-yards directly in front of her and she grabs he weapon. Shaw and she make eye-contact and Sameen’s grow wide with recognition as the screen goes black.
The Story Continues Next Tuesday Night at 10:00 pm on CBS.
