Person of Interest – Lethe

• Title: Person of Interest – Lethe
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With Reese (Jim Caviezel) on a cross-country soul-searching trip at the bottom of the bottle, and Fusco (Kevin Chapman) keeping tabs on him for Finch (Michael Emerson), resources are stretched rather thin. After ignoring The Machine for days, Harold finally discovers the latest number is an old friend (Saul Rubinek) and computer developer who worked for a rival team to build a version of The Machine following the events of 9/11 but is now suffering from a brain tumor making his ability to both remember and keep quiet about top secret operations like Samaritan a secret.

Initially Finch sends Shaw (Sarah Shahi) into the hospital to keep the man safe, but in order to protect his friend and the man’s wife (Camryn Manheim) Finch will eventually have to reveal himself which is exactly what his enemies had been hoping for. The episode ends in a cliffhanger with Fusco attempting to pound some sense into a drunken Reese in a back alley thousands of miles away as the number, Shaw, and Finch are all taken hostage by Hersh (Boris McGiver) and Control.

The episode also features the earliest flashbacks we’ve seen so far in the series. These come from Finch’s childhood and adolescence offering a look at the circumstances involving his father’s deteriorating memory that drove him to create an artificial intelligence and led him eventually on the path to build The Machine.

The show certainly isn’t slowing down after Carter‘s death and Taraji P. Henson leaving the show. Allowing Reese and Fusco to mourn their fallen friend in a macho asshole kind of way works well while the show gives us a look at Finch’s past and future by showing us the series of events which led him here and the new enemies he must face without the help of his closest friend.