The Person of Interest tonight is young veteran Joey, now working as a doorman. During his usual tailing, Reese realizes that Joey is a bank robber.
Finch wants to turn Joey into the cops, but Reese wants to find out how a good soldier could go so wrong. He watches as Joey hands an envelope full of money to a woman he meets in the park. Further investigation into the bank robber gang turns up more soldiers as well as a lieutenant that they believe is the ringleader. Finch plants weapons on the getaway driver, and Reese has his opening into the gang.
Detective Carter watches footage of the bank robbery and also comes to the conclusion that they are ex-military. Reese is convinced Joey is the target on the List and not the criminal.
Reese flashes back to meeting up with his friend Jessica in an airport in 2006. She is engaged to someone else and reveals that she had waited for Reese, but he had disappeared.
Back in the preset, Carter investigates the bank robbing gang. She recognizes the military radio that the robbers use, since she was also in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Reese spies on Joey watching the mystery woman with a little girl. Joey tells Reese over a few beers that he came back from the war and had debts that he had to repay, so he wound up with the gang.
The robbers are called into action to steal from an underground casino. They’re almost caught when backup is called in by Detective Carter, who has tailed the gang. Finch finds that Joey has been paying money into a college savings account for the little girl, who is the daughter of one of his fellow soldiers who was killed. Reese plans on bringing in the cops on the next job he’s called about.
Carter has been curious as to how the gang has stayed together for so long. Usually after a few jobs a gang will fall apart due to infighting. She puts together that the secret to the gang’s success is a rotating roster – once a member does a few jobs, he is killed. The question now is who is organizing the killing.
[Spoiler Alert!]
Reese is forced to get rid of his cell phone and earpiece, which are his links to Finch. The robbery is a trap, and two of the gang are shot and killed by the lieutenant who organized the group. Reese encourages Joey to leave town with his fiancee.
Carter and Reese talk over the army-issued radios. She warns Reese that he’s playing a dangerous game. Reese goes to confront the gang organizer, but someone has already shot him. The last item that the gang stole was crime scene evidence: a knife and a few crime scene photos with the last name Elias.
Back to 2006: Jessica begs Reese to ask her to wait for him. When he doesn’t answer she walks away, out of earshot by the time he says “Wait for me. Please.”
I like that each person that the List generates brings out some new information about either Reese or Finch. These are two characters who are determined to keep their pasts a secret, and yet they can’t help but expose a little bit more about their backgrounds every time they interact with the people they protect. I’d like to see Finch open up a bit more in the upcoming episodes. I have a feeling that his secrets are some doozies.
