This week ‘Person of Interest’ came back with what I would describe as a closure episode. It wrapped everything up and basically set it aside. Actually I thought it was kind of interesting some of the dialoged at the end, which wasn’t just for the characters in the show but also the writers talking directly to the fans. I do have to say though, I enjoy when I’m right as well in my guesses about what’s happening within the show. But lets start off at the beginning.

The episode started with John and Root in Maples, NY, a small town with only two ways in and out of it. Neither really understands why Maples would be where the truck they were tracking would go, but this is the biggest lead they’ve had and they both are hell bent on finding Shaw.

While John and Root are doing the hard work, Fusco is left to go back to his normal routine and frankly he’s not really doing well at that. A new number (Albert) has popped up and Harold asks him to look into it, which Fusco is more than willing to do because it’s a distraction to sitting around worrying about Shaw and not being able to help in any way.

While Fusco is watching the new number he spots Silva, the Internal Affairs officer from early in the season. Of course this concerns Fusco but it’s soon revealed that she’s no longer with Internal Affairs and has transferred out into the Gang Unit. But why would they be both interesting in a middle aged white guy, who looks scared of the world?

John and Root are using the cover of investigating a murder in NY as their reason for being in Maples and needing to see video to identify where the truck could have gone. The police Chief in Maple is frankly a disgusting pig but luckily Root can handle her own no problem. John also manages to raid the well-stocked weapons locker at the police station. This leads into some light moments within the show of Root clearly dragging the Police Chief up the stairs in a bag to her hotel room. 

Fusco and Silva agree to work together, or at least brain storm together because Silva thinks she can do everything on her own and doesn’t need help. They discover that the man they’re following is probably a murder for hire man. It’s brilliant. He’s a middle aged white guy, looks like your average Joe from around town, you’d never see him coming.

Fusco and Silva follow Albert to a restaurant where they find out one of the waiters is a gang member and probably the target. They follow him back into the kitchen where he’s clearly ready to kill his target and they arrest him. During the arrest though he bangs his head on the counter to make it look like Fusco had beat him up. This leads to Fusco being told to stay away from Albert due to an investigation.

John and Root are heading to the impound yard where they’ve discovered the truck is now at and have a discussion about Shaw. She mentions Schrodingers Cat, which anyone who’s seen ‘The Big Bang Theory‘ on a regular basis knows about. It’s a basic theory that until you actually see the cat, it’s neither dead nor alive. A kind of seeing is believing theory. That’s probably a very simple explanation of the theory but that’s the main point for Root. As long as she hasn’t seen Shaw dead, Shaw is alive to her.  I think this is the writers being direct with the viewers though. I’ve always been of the belief with this show that unless you see someone’s dead body, they aren’t dead.

They get to the yard and find the attendant drinking and watching the news, which is reporting that a homeless man in town won the lottery. This is important for later but it also gives Root and John the ability to just walk around without anyone caring. They find the truck, which reveals medical equipment and lots of blood within it. Some of the tools are specific to cranium surgery so Harold finds the only neurosurgeon in town and John and Root head to his place.

This is where things start to get very interesting. The doctor explains that he did receive a call that night about someone unsuccessfully attempting surgery but that he didn’t help because the call didn’t last long enough. He then went on to explain that the reason he didn’t contact anyone about the odd call he received is because over the last few months if anyone spoke up on wrongs being done, they’d end up dead or something bad would happen to them (like being accused of medical malpractice and losing your job and ability to leave your home). This all though seems to center around the local factory in town so John and Root realize this must be Samaritan’s doing, but why?

Harold learns who the CEO is of the factory, Ms. Thompson. John and Root go to find her and on the way see that the attendant at the auto yard has tried to kill the homeless man who won the lottery.  They kidnap the CEO and take her back to the hotel to question her.

John is first to ask questions and although Ms. Thompson isn’t willing at first she soon starts spilling everything she knows. That she had previously had a heart attack and woke up in Maple and had been given a new identity, new life and told what to do. That life had been going great but suddenly things had started going bad, as if they were being punished.

Harold realizes that Samaritan is trying to learn human behavior, better understand people and how it can control people through small experiment towns such as Maple. First it gives them everything, makes it perfect, then it takes it all away.

Root isn’t satisfied, though, with what she’s being told and goes into torture mode, which really bothers Harold, but not John. She manages to coax out of the woman that there was someone taken to the factory and that she was alive at the time. So John, Root and Ms. Thompson all head to the factory to save Shaw.

Back to Fusco and Silva, they have a discussion about how dangerous Albert is and that Silva can’t do these things by herself. She goes on about how she can handle herself and doesn’t need any help. Then she heads home and goes about her business and we find that Albert is in her apartment and he’s going to kill her but it seems Silva knew that all along, and apparently listened to Fusco since he’s there too. Albert then states something that I found very interesting. It had been assumed through out the episode that he was a murder for hire guy working for the gangs in the city, but he says, “They said I’d never get caught!” To me this isn’t something normal gang people would say to convince some random Joe Smoe to become an assassin. I think this guy was actually working for Samaritan. Everything leads back to Samaritan after all these days.

Since Albert never intended to get caught he decides to go out with a fight and the result is Silva has to kill him. We find out that this is her first time ever killing anyone and she struggles with it. Fusco though tells her to focus on the positive that his death not only saved Fusco’s life but also the lives of whoever he would have been hired to kill.

Root and John get to the factory and discover items that are meant to track people. Samaritan wants to track people better so it’s building things that help it do this: Implants and GPS trackers. They find a room where there is a woman but come to find out it’s not Shaw but rather a secretary that must have been caught in the crossfire at the stock exchange.  They save her and put her up at the safe house where after she recovers Harold will give her a new identity.

They learn after the fact that the factory shut down and moved out of town which is sure to throw the town into a tailspin.

Perhaps the best moments of this episode, though, are at the end with Root and Harold. Root isn’t willing to stop although Harold knows they have to. I think sometimes the Machine is talking to him he just hasn’t told anyone yet. Root isn’t willing to stop, so the Machine calls them and gives her four letters: “STOP”. Harold talks about the Machine knowing what it’s doing and that it has a reason for wanting them to stop. Root though doesn’t seem to accept this and leaves. She’ll be back though, don’t worry.

Then it cuts over to Shaw lying in a bed with Greer by her side, much like when he took Kara. Of course Sarah Shahi who plays Shaw is out for at least 2 years to care for her twin babies, so we can surmise several things from what happened. Samaritan isn’t going away anytime soon. Perhaps the team will get some control over it but I don’t think it will officially go away for a while. And that Shaw may come back in the future in one of two capacities, either as an enemy to the team, or someone who managed to convince Greer and Samaritan that she was working for them, but in fact she never really was (a double agent).

Of course we won’t know this anytime soon. But what did I say, and what was proved in this episode? That until you see a dead body, no one is dead and gone. Shaw will be back (providing the show lasts that long season wise), but as what will be interesting to see!

Keep watching. There will be three more new episodes in a row!