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We start out with Nude Caviezel in love. Okay, wait, this isn't the show I signed up for. Not that I'm complaining or anything... But he loses the woman he's with, and becomes shaggy Jesus Caviezel (a la The Passion of the Christ), on a subway in New York. He basically karate chops a very deserving group of privileged punks on the subway, and ends up at the police department talking to Taraji P. Henson. When she heads to the lab to learn that Jesus's fingerprints have been found at half a dozen crime scenes and that there are open warrants for him in four countries, some bigwig lawyer comes in and busts him out. He wonders who's picking up the tab, and the lawyer and some other suits take him directly to Ben Linus.
Ben calls Jesus "Mr. Reese" (but since his brute strength and power must come from God, I'm sticking with Jesus), but promises not tell anyone everything he knows about him: the work he used to do for the government, the doubts he came to have about that work, that the government and everyone else thinks he's dead, that he's been trying to drink himself to death and even contemplating more efficient ways. Ben's name is "Mr. Finch." He wants to give Jesus a purpose. And by "purpose," he means "job." Finch tells Jesus about all the people who die every day in New York City, and wonders: What if they could stop murders -- not the ones in the heat of the moment, but the ones that are planned days and weeks in advance? Finch shows Jesus a woman named Diane Hansen, who's on his list of people about to be involved in a crime. He doesn't know if she's the victim or perpetrator; all he knows is she's involved and that Jesus must follow her to stop it from happening. So, yes, he's asking creepy-looking Jesus Caviezel to follow a cute young thing (Natalie Zea). Jesus refuses this tempting offer, kicks Finch's suits' asses and leaves.
He goes back to a hotel room (a fairly nice one considering his status as a homeless drunk) and shaves himself into Sexy Caviezel. Then he drinks himself to sleep and the phone rings. It's Finch -- duh! -- who lures him back with promises of being able to save people, like he couldn't do with his "friend," Jessica (the woman he was Nude Caviezel with in the opening). He takes Jesus to his secret lair and shows him his list of Social Security numbers (that's all he gets), but won't give him any more information.
Jesus starts looking into her -- by hacking, stalking, trespassing, and basically becoming a giant creeping stalker, literally lurking in the background of her life. It works, though, since he quickly narrows the suspects to another district attorney, Wheeler, with whom Diane has some sort of romantic history; and the guy she's currently prosecuting, Lawrence Pope, who's on trial for killing his friends in a drug deal gone bad. Pope eventually ends up dead, and Diane doesn't trust Wheeler, which convinces Finch and Jesus that he's bad.
In a flashback, we learn that clean-cut Jesus quit his job as a special forces ranger of some type in order to be with his girl, Jessica. At the very moment he tells her this, Sept. 11, 2001, occurs, and they both sit up in bed to watch.
Jesus takes time out from future-crime-solving to tell Finch how frustrating it is not to know what's going on. Finch limps through Central Park as he explains how this all goes back to 9/11, after which Finch created a super-secret security system for the government to find terrorists. The list of Social Security numbers is just the irrelevant (non-terrorist) information that Finch manages to sneak out of the system every day.
Jesus follows Diane Hansen -- to protect her -- and quickly learns she's Queen Bee of the bad cops, and Wheeler's the guy who's onto her devious ways. Jesus lets his guard down while his shock wears off at being wrong, giving one of the bad cops time to point a gun at his head. She tells them to "take care of him" and to get rid of Wheeler tonight. One of the corrupt cops, Fuscoe, drives Jesus out into the desert to presumably kill him. Jesus makes his escape, but not before telling Fuscoe he will let him live so he has someone on the inside.
The corrupt cops show up at Wheeler's and see Wheeler's young son is with him, but that doesn't change anything: They'll just kill the kid, too. You know, in case you didn't know they were really, really bad. Jesus steps in between the cops and Wheeler, but bad cop Stills doesn't relent, and makes a lot of threats. So Jesus kills him. (See why it's fun to call him "Jesus"? So I can say total nonsense such as that.)
He still has to get Diane Hansen, though, which he does by subbing a recording of her telling the cops to take care of Wheeler with a testimony recording, so she ends up airing her confession in court.
Jesus and Finch have a heart to heart in the end, and decide to keep doing this thing, even if it kills them (which it might). Taraji P. Henson arrests one of the bad cops Jesus let go; all she wants to know is more about Jesus. Because she's obsessed. Must be his eyes.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Previously in the wacky brain of J.J. Abrams: Disguises! Numbers! Parallel universes! Plus, lots of faux science. And always with the sexy, which we get here, too (thank you, Jim Caviezel). Let's just hope this show is more serial storyline and less procedural, mystery-of-the-week drama.
Speaking of, we open right on his sexiness, as he rolls lovingly around an outdoor bed draped in white sheets with an equally sexy blonde woman. He whisper-talks (does he have any other way?) a voiceover: "When you find that one person who connects you to the world, you become someone different. Someone better." It's worth noting that he has a scratch on his shoulder that she caresses a little bit as they kiss. Whisper-talk voiceover continues: "When that person is taken from you..." Lost-style musical cut to shaggy, dirty, homeless Jim Caviezel (whom, by the way, I've decided to call JC for now instead of Jesus. I'm in the market for better nicknames for his character and all others. If you have ideas, email me or post them in the show forum). JC finishes: "...What do you become?" I'm guessing that since we already see he's a shaggy, depressed, homeless guy, his question is rhetorical.
Some punk kids enter his train. We know immediately they're punks because the preppy ringleader is chewing on his fake gold necklace. Lame, and lamer. They pick a fight with some minority subway riders who flash a gun, but end up leaving out of fear or intelligence when lame ringleader Anton asks if they want to see a real gun. Anton assures his friend they'll get some new "hardware" week and restore some order to the subway. He basically is a richie-rich kid but rides the subway to taunt people. JC's his target. He steals his bottle of liquor, but JC quickly and easily jumps from depressive to ninja as he kung-fus Anton's three friends and then chokes Anton into submission. He grabs his head -- regretfully? -- as surveillance images beep-beep and back out to shows us that someone is watching.
When the surveilling is over, Anton and his friends are glaring at pretty female cop Taraji P. Henson (I'll just pretend we already know her name is Carter and call her that, but all of these last-name-only characters are going to get old quick). She wants a statement from "the bum," but first she watches surveillance footage of JC beating the crap out of the punks. She finds JC, tells him she wishes he'd let those punks land a couple punches first, says no one fights like that unless they're in the service -- but not the regular Army -- and then asks his name. He thinks it's funny that you only need a name now when you're in trouble; so, is he? She asks him to tell her; he's the one living on the street. She wonders if he needs her help, or if he's one of those guys who's done so many bad things he thinks he deserves to be punished. She asks if that sounds like his story, then excuses herself for a moment. She's such a good detective that she doesn't need to wait for answers, I guess.
As soon as she's gone, a suit comes in and says he's here for his client, JC. Carter's in the lab learning from JC's fingerprints that he's been at half a dozen crime seasons and has open warrants in four different countries. Lab guy asks if she has the "Angel of Death" down there. Not exactly. (Technically, Jesus wasn't an angel.) Outside, the attorney leads JC to some other guys in suits. JC monotones (although it somehow sounds like overacting) that he appreciates the help, but would like to know who's picking up the tab. The suits tell him their employer would like a word, and he willingly gets in their car, just as Carter comes outside looking for him. Surveillance images focus on her, then on the car as it drives to a man standing under the 59th Street Bridge.
JC gets out of the car, and asks Ben Linus if he owes him money because he's running a little short at the moment. Ben Linus (who we'll pretend we already know is named Finch), calls JC "Mr. Reese," and asks him if that's the name he prefers to go by. He promises not to tell anyone about JC, and JC says he doesn't know anything about him. Finch says he knows "exactly everything about you." He knows about the work JC used to do for the government, the doubts he came to have about that work, that everyone -- including the government -- thinks JC is dead (which I'd buy except for the small fact of his fingerprints at the station and the four warrants out for his arrest). He also knows that JC's been trying to drink himself to death for the past few months, and has begun to consider more efficient ways to do it. I wonder which of the government's surveillance cameras allow him to see the contemplation inside JC's head... Anyway, knowledge isn't Finch's problem; doing something with it is. He says JC can call him "Mr. Finch," and he thinks they can help one another. He doesn't think JC needs a psychiatrist, a support group, or pills. He just needs a purpose; more specifically, a job. I wonder if he's here to hire him as a barista at Starbucks? That would be a different show.
They get out of a car on a busy New York street as Finch explains that someone is murdered in the city every eighteen hours. JC -- who seems to have a difficult time talking through his fake beard and moustache -- says you can't stop the bad things that happen every day. But Finch wonders: "What if you could?" He says you can't stop the things that happen in the heat of the moment, but what about the planned crimes? He says he has a list of people about to be involved in very bad situations: murders, kidnappings. Most of them have no idea anything's about to happen. They're just ordinary people. "Like her." He points to Natalie Zea, who's getting something from a food cart. Finch says her name is Diane Hansen. He doesn't know if she's victim or perpetrator; just that she's involved. He wants JC to follow her, find out what's going to happen, and stop it from happening. JC thinks Finch is a bored rich guy, and Diane's probably an ex-wife or someone he rode in an elevator with once. "Either way, I'm done." When Finch's suits try to stop him, he punches two of them out and strolls slowly away. Surveillance images remind us someone's always watching.
Back at a way-too-nice hotel for a homeless dude, JC decides to shave (he must know he's about to be the star of a TV show and he wants to look the part), then he watches a story about himself -- an "unidentified man" despite the fingerprints and warrants? -- being a "person of interest" (get it?) in a number of crimes nationwide. Not to mention four international warrants. Because, really, they're not mentioned. He drinks himself into a flashback to that beautiful day with his beautiful blonde. But this time, she looks upset and he asks, "Jess, what's wrong?" Before we get any answers, his phone wakes him up. When he grabs for it, he realizes he's tethered to his bed, using what looks like a carnival unlimited ride bracelet. Not exactly handcuffs, but I'll admit those could be a pain in the ass to remove as a child. Unless you had something like scissors or a knife. Finch is on the other end of the line, telling him he needs to know what it's like to know someone is going to be murdered and not be able to do anything about it. He hangs up and a woman starts screaming and struggling one room over.
Finch frees himself from the carnival bracelet and breaks down the door into the room to save the screaming woman. But he just finds Finch and an audiotape. Finch says that woman was killed by her husband in this room three years ago, so he's too late for that one. He can't save her, just like he can't save Jessica. "You were halfway around the world when she was killed." This enrages JC, and he pins Finch to the wall, asking what in the hell he knows about it. Finch says he left the government because they lied to him, but he never will. Finch thinks all JC's ever wanted to do was protect people. JC calms down and sits down. He looks at the recording, and knows it's an NSA or FISA recording, but he assumes Finch isn't government. Finch agrees, and says he can call him a concerned third party. He says JC couldn't have saved this woman, or his friend, but he could have if he'd known and that's what Finch is offering. He says it's not too late for Diane Hansen, so will JC help? It's time for the opening credits, so we'll have to wait out a commercial break to find out what he decides. I sure hope he chooses to help her, or this is going to be an awfully short-lived show.
Finch and JC are still together after the break, so he must have said yes. Phew. Finch takes JC to his lair, which is an old library that was bought by a bank that Finch controls. So, yes, he's very rich. Stopping murders is just his hobby. He can't afford janitorial service, though, judging by the books and pages scattered everywhere in this massive old building. Finch says the property technically doesn't exist, and JC says that Finch doesn't either; he did a little digging. Finch says he realizes there's a disparity between what they know about each other, but he wants JC to know he's a really private person. Finch gives JC his six fake IDs, credit cards, etc., "just like when you were at the agency." JC points out one difference: He knew then who was picking up the tab.
But he's noticed Finch's "list" now, which is just a green printout of Social Security numbers. But Finch has it pinned to a wall with strings branching out from each number to photos and articles. JC wants to know where he gets the numbers, but Finch says all that matters is that the number is Diane Hansen's. He gives him a little background: She grew up in Detroit, and moved to New York after law school. She's single, and has a few enemies, since she's an assistant district attorney with the best conviction record in her department. Finch asks JC how he's going to do this. JC offers a slow way: cultivate a relationship, earn her trust. But, since this is only an hourlong show, Finch is more interested in the fast way. JC jumps into action: He breaks into her home and goes through her email, financial records, personal effects. He hacks into her cell phone so he can track her using GPS as long as it's charged with a signal. And he can use the microphone to record her conversations even if she's not on the phone. He sets up a wireless camera to watch her.
He realizes quickly that she's tough, but scared of something. And he says there are hundreds of people who could be after her, but he's narrowed the list to two for now: Wheeler, her co-counselor, whom she dated for awhile until she broke things off. JC notices she tries to avoid him and he pushes too hard. Plus, forty percent of murders involve some kind of romantic relationship. His other suspect is Lawrence Pope, who she's prosecuting for allegedly shooting his friends in a drug deal gone bad. Pope's gang may be targeting her. At trial, Diane questions a cop, Detective Fuscoe, who says that when he questioned Pope, he said that if he'd shot the poor bastard, he would have shot him in the head, not left him there half-dead. After the questioning, Diane catches up with Fuscoe in the hall and says he went a little off-script in his testimony, and that what he talked about could clear Pope's name. Fuscoe wonders what it matters, since they got the guy. She says it matters because it's her job to make sure the wrong people don't go to jail. Fuscoe says he thought they were on the same team, and storms off.
Finch watches her GPS back at the Library, and tells JC she's going to lockup to see Pope. JC heads there, too, and listens in as she questions Pope. She wonders who he's trying to protect, and why he's taking the fall for this. She wonders if it's his brother, Michael, and assures him he can trust her. Pope tells her to stop asking questions, because he can do this time if it means protecting his brother. She keeps pushing until he jumps up and tells her he'll shut her mouth for her if she doesn't do it herself. Guards come in and help her out, and JC thinks he has the information he needs: Pope's brother, Michael, will know who framed Pope; those are the guys who'll be coming after Diane.
Surveillance images give way to surveillance audio, and this flashback phone call: "Hi, Mom. It's Jessica. I'm just down in Mexico with 'Cindy,' and I'll be back tomorrow." She gets off the phone, and JC asks if he looks like a Cindy. She says it's only been six months, and she wishes this weekend could go on forever. He says it already has, since it's Tuesday. She says he has to go back to base soon, which she hates. We flash on his military jacket, which says "Special Forces, Ranger, Airborne." He tells her to ask him to quit, and he'll stay. So she does, and he says he already did. He just couldn't take the chance she wouldn't be here when he got back. They kiss, and she happily lays back and flips on the TV as he picks up the phone to call for more tequila. She sees the TV, though, and sits up, concentrating. He asks what's wrong, and she tells him something's happened in New York. It's two plane crashes. So said flashback is on Sept. 11, 2001. I'm not exactly sure of the significance of that day to them or him -- other than he quit his special forces job right before 9/11, which might not stick (plus, can you just "quit" the military? I didn't think that was how it worked).
Back in the present, JC watches and listens as Diane has an uncomfortable conversation with Wheeler. He asks her about Pope, but she's evasive and clearly wants to get away from him. So Finch thinks Diane might think Wheeler's involved. And Pope did tell Diane that the guys framing him were protected from on high. JC watches from across the street as Wheeler dashes to the nearest computer and pulls up a picture of Michael Pope. So Wheeler must be working the killers, and they need to get to Michael before someone else does. More surveillance images cut us to our scene, outside a high school. JC is waiting when Michael comes out, but when he approaches him, Michael runs. JC chases him through the streets, catches up to him and tells him he has a message from his brother and he needs to come with him. Michael starts yelling at some nearby construction workers that JC's trying to take him into a taxicab. JC slips a cell phone into Michael's pack so they can track him.
Library. JC says he's going to need a lot more than a cell phone. Finch says he doesn't like firearms all that much. I really wish he were a little less Ben Linus, and a little more of a new character. Nothing against Ben, but I want to believe Michael Emerson can do another character. Anyway, JC doesn't like firearms either, but if someone has to have them, he'd rather it was himself. He looks up punk Anton from the subway, and then follows him and his punk friends into the back of a convenience store where they check out some guns. JC walks in and tells Anton it's good to see him again. Anton says he doesn't know him (and you can see why; JC really does clean up into quite a different-looking man). He takes a step toward the guns, and everyone in the room pulls a weapon on him. JC gives them a gun safety lesson by telling the kid to him that holding his gun sideways makes it so he can't aim it and it will eject a shell casing right into his face. He grabs it, shoots it into the ceiling and says, "See?" Still holding the kid's gun and hand, he shoots every guy in the room in the leg except Anton. Then he clears out the weapons, whisper-talks that he'll hold onto these while they get some more practice, and wishes them a nice day. The gun dealer asks Anton who the hell that was.
JC leaves the shop (it was broad daylight when he went in, but it's dark now) and checks in with Finch, hoping he's found Michael. Finch has, but someone else found him first. He patches JC in to listen to the conversation going on: Some older white guys have their guns trained on Michael. They say they're going to put a couple in the back of his head to make it look like a gang thing. Finch urges JC to do something. In the coolest sequence of the episode (and there's a lot of badassery going on this episode), JC whisper-talks he's "on it," throws some money at the driver, gets out of the cab, pulls on a ski mask, walks over to the street the bad guys are speeding down in their SUV, tosses his bag of guns aside except the one he's going to use, steps into the road in front of the SUV and shoots right into the windshield. It crashes into a parked car, and the guys climb out. JC shoots the driver in the leg, then punches the guy who gets out. He pulls Michael out of the backseat. Michael tells him he's crazy, that they're both dead now. He asks if JC knows who they are. JC does now, since he pulled a wallet off one of them. "They're cops. Come on."
JC watches the bad cop he punched with several other cops, taking pictures. Then he meets up with Finch in Central Park and asks him exactly what he's gotten him into. Finch says that's the whole point; he hired JC to help him figure that out. JC gives Finch the photos he took earlier, and says they're up against a group of corrupt cops. He says Stills (the guy he punched last night) is Narcotics. They get word of deals, and steal the money and kill the witnesses. Then they get Fuscoe (who's with them in JC's pictures) to frame up the guys in court. JC tells Finch he knows nothing for certain, though, because Finch won't tell him where he's getting his information.
Finch looks thoughtful for a moment, then starts talking. Because right now, while they have a murder to stop, is an excellent time to exposit the backstory JC's been wanting since Day One. Finch says that when the towers came down -- and so we know how creepy he is, he says, "when you were in a hotel in Mexico" -- Finch was here, working. He didn't even know about the attacks until that evening. He had spent the better part of his life making himself very rich, but suddenly the money didn't amount to much. They literally stroll through the park like a couple of lovers -- Finch with an unexplained limp -- as Finch continues that the government gave itself power to listen to every cell phone and read every email, but they needed something to sort through it all and pick out the terrorists. The public wanted to be protected, but they didn't want to know how. So when the government finally got a system that worked, they kept it secret. Finch built that system.
But there was a problem: He built it to prevent the 9/11, but it was seeing all sorts of crimes. So he had to teach it to sort out "irrelevant" crimes from "relevant" crimes. Surveillance cameras watch them walk, as he says the machine erases the irrelevant crimes -- those that won't cause massive loss of life -- every night at midnight. Later, those irrelevant crimes started to eat at Finch, though. JC asks where the machine is, and Finch says the drives are in a government facility somewhere. But the machine is everywhere, watching us with a thousand eyes and listening with a thousand ears. Surveillance footage and sound. Finch built himself a backdoor into the machine, because he figured he needed to be able to shut it off if the government got too powerful. And he uses that to get the irrelevant list. Just Social Security numbers so no one catches on. So he says he doesn't know anything more about Diane Hansen, but the machine wouldn't be steering them toward her if something wasn't going to happen. JC doesn't know if he can protect her because he can't see the whole picture. Finch says he offered JC a job; he never said it would be easy.
Carter shows up to work and a fellow cop tells her about Anton and his friends getting shot by "one guy, in a suit" while trying to buy guns. She looks thoughtful. Not really a very big role for an Oscar winner, is it? Considering how upset she was that she wasn't in the promos, especially. Nothing against her, but this really feels like a two-person cast -- at least so far -- so her complaints seem unwarranted.
Finch calls JC to let him know Pope was stabbed to death in his cell. JC says Hansen must be . Then he listens in as Hansen gets a phone call to meet. Surveillance cameras watch as she heads to a shady alley to meet them. JC stays back with his weapon drawn, as she nervously hollers "Hello?" When the bad cops come out, Hansen tells Stills they don't have time for this. Stills asks what her problem is: Pope is dead. She says the problem is Wheeler, who knows about Pope and maybe some of the others. She says she can take care of the files at the office, but they have to take care of Wheeler. Tonight. JC lets his guard down at this development, and Fuscoe comes up behind him and points a gun. He leads him in to the alley and says he found their "groupie," who was heavily armed. No one knows JC, but he's not law enforcement, so Stills wonders if the cartel finally grew some stones and sent someone to take care of them. They ask who he is, and JC says, "A concerned third party." Stills bashes him in the face. Diane tells the guys to take care of him, and then get to Wheeler tonight. She turns back and tells Stills that if he screws this up, she won't let it get to her, because she looks after herself. So much for loyalty and all that. It's a wonder they don't off her. We fade to black when JC's apparently knocked out.
He wakes up in the back of a police car, with Fuscoe driving. Fuscoe says they're at Oyster Bay (which I missed in the recaplet viewing, and just said "desert"; clearly a bay is not a desert), where JC's going to spend "a long, long time." JC asks if there's a point Fuscoe knew he'd become a bad guy, and Fuscoe says he woke up one morning and realized he was being paid to guard a bunch of Wall Street crooks who were stealing more than his salary in an afternoon. JC doesn't believe him. He calls him by his first name, Lionel, and says he's been watching him. This gets Fuscoe's attention. He says Fuscoe's heart isn't really into it. Stills does it for money, but Fuscoe does it because he's loyal. "That's why I'm going to let you live." Fuscoe laughs heartily. JC doesn't crack a bit; just goes on that he's considering sticking around New York for a while, and could use someone on the inside. But he has a couple rules: If Fuscoe hurts anybody, JC will kill him. "I don't particularly like killing people, but I'm very good at it." And his second rule: Fuscoe has to be more careful. For example, search someone before putting them in the backseat of your car. He pulls the pin from a smallish bomb and rolls it under the seat. It goes off and the car flips. JC crawls out, then pulls Fuscoe out, too. He grabs Fuscoe's gun, then his keys to uncuff himself. He asks Fuscoe if he has his vest on. Fuscoe says he does, so JC shoots him four times in the back and walks off.
JC hotwires a car as he calls in to Finch to tell him Hansen wasn't the target, but the ringleader. And they're going after Wheeler tonight. Stills and another bad cop discuss Wheeler and the situation. Stills says they're taking the shooter out, with headshots, as soon as it's done. They pull an ex-con Wheeler put away out of the trunk and lead him into Wheeler's apartment building. Stills sends his bad cop friend to shut off the lobby lights, then calls another bad cop stationed by Wheeler's door, who says Wheeler's coming out now. And he's got his kid with him. Stills just says, "What a waste." Wheeler and his son get into the elevator. Stills tells the ex-con that he's about to kill a man and his son. The ex-con begs him not to do this. JC walks up to Stills' bad cop friend then and pulls a gun on him. He tells him to drop his weapon, so he does. Then JC shakes his head at Stills, who trains his gun on the ex-con now, instead of the elevator. They await the elevator at opposite sides of the lobby. Wheeler and his son, Henry, come out, and Henry drops his ball. It rolls toward JC, who stops it with his foot, then smiles at Henry when he comes over to pick it up. Henry doesn't notice the guy he's holding with a gun to his head, so he smiles back.
Wheeler and Henry are gone now, so Stills tries to make his move with the ex-con, but JC steps in front of him, with the other cop still in tow. JC tells Stills to let the ex-con go, but Stills says he can't do that, or he and his friends will go to jail. The other cop from the apartment comes into the lobby, and JC shoots him in the leg. He lets the cop he's hanging onto go, and tells him to take his friend to the hospital. He follows orders. JC trains the gun on Stills, who threatens JC that he'll kill him and the ex-con and make it look like they killed each other. "Then, just because you pissed me off, I'm gonna kill your family. And all your friends." JC says he doesn't have any family or friends. He says he went around the world looking for bad guys, but there were plenty of them right here along. We cut outside the building and see the flash of a gunshot or two. The ex-con runs out. Surveillance images.
In court, Hansen's not paying much attention to the case she's prosecuting with Wheeler. Instead she's texting Stills, asking where he is. The judge calls her up, and she gets back on task, saying they'll have the defendant tell in her own words with a 911 call she made. She hits play on the evidence recorder, and hears herself telling Stills to take care of Wheeler tonight, and that she won't let this touch her. He's a pretty smart cookie to have worn a recorder into that alley, don't you think? (Because I'm not buying this could have come from the machine if all they can get out are Social Security numbers.) She looks around, and sees JC standing in the back of the courtroom. She full-on panics as he walks out. Then JC pays a visit to Fuscoe, who tries to say he's no good to JC since it's just a matter of time before the gangs or IA get him. JC says he took care of it so no one knows Fuscoe was involved. He says they'll be too busy looking for Stills, since the police will think he ran and the gangs will think he's in witness protection. Fuscoe asks where he is, and JC says he's in the trunk and he shot him with Fuscoe's gun. So Fuscoe will be taking another trip, and JC's not coming along this time. He tells Fuscoe to take him to Oyster Bay, where no one will find him for "a long, long time." He tells Fuscoe he'll be in touch and hops out of the car. Fuscoe starts it up for his long, laborious journey to Oyster Bay.
JC finds Finch sitting under a bridge. Finch says JC has a decision to make, and JC wonders if the machine gave him another number. Finch says the numbers never stop coming; JC should know that upfront. Or, you know, if not upfront, after you've already completed one salvation mission. JC asks why him, and Finch says they have a lot more in common than he might think. The world thinks they're both dead, for starters. JC asks Finch what changed his mind about the irrelevant numbers in the first place. Finch says JC's not the only one who's lost someone. Then he tells JC that if he wants to leave, he'll give him enough money to get far way and start over. And what if JC stays? Finch says one or both of them will probably wind up dead. Actually dead. "I said I'd tell you the truth. I didn't say you'd like it."
Now to wrap up the Carter storyline. She's arresting Stills' bad cop friend, who's trying to explain what went on, but she says she doesn't care about his crooked friend. She wants to know about the guy who came after them. He says it was just some guy alone, in a suit. She says he's going to tell him everything he doesn't know about him, and where he can find him. JC's standing nearby, watching and listening. She gets in the car with the bad guy as JC walks away. He stops to thoughtfully look around for cameras, and ends up looking quite strikingly into the Machine. Surveillance images cut back into a giant room full of drives. Most of the people being seen in the surveillance frame with JC -- including JC himself -- get little squares around their heads, then the words "NOT RELEVANT," which I guess means they're being deleted. Although the cut to the giant room of hard drives makes me think there might be something more ominous going on.
This is a really promising pilot, but I have a few lingering questions: If Finch only gets a list of Social Security numbers, how does he know every detail of what JC's been doing and thinking for so long? And if he knows so many details about JC, why did he wait until JC was arrested to step in and make him this job offer? Also, most of the show is from JC's perspective -- or so it seems: We know what he knows, see what he sees (or see what he hears sometimes) -- except a couple cuts back to Carter, which is probably why those seem so jarring. I know she's in the cast, but it would be more interesting if we only saw or heard from her when JC sees or hears from her -- like at the end. I also think keeping Finch holed up in the Library while JC gets to do all the action is a waste of Michael Emerson. I know he's not a super ninja or anything like JC, but surely he could do something in the field, too?
I would tell you what's happening on week's episode, but the promo doesn't give me the remotest indication of that. But they do list Taraji P. Henson along with Jim Caviezel and Michael Emerson. So at least someone's happy.
DeAnn, a writer and editor in Portland, Oregon, hopes they scale back the crime-solving of the week and scale up the backstory and mysteries of our main characters. You can contact her at twopmodmars@gmail.com.
Now to wrap up the Carter storyline. She's arresting Stills' bad cop friend, who's trying to explain what went on, but she says she doesn't care about his crooked friend. She wants to know about the guy who came after them. He says it was just some guy alone, in a suit. She says he's going to tell him everything he doesn't know about him, and where he can find him. JC's standing nearby, watching and listening. She gets in the car with the bad guy as JC walks away. He stops to thoughtfully look around for cameras, and ends up looking quite strikingly into the Machine. Surveillance images cut back into a giant room full of drives. Most of the people being seen in the surveillance frame with JC -- including JC himself -- get little squares around their heads, then the words "NOT RELEVANT," which I guess means they're being deleted. Although the cut to the giant room of hard drives makes me think there might be something more ominous going on.
This is a really promising pilot, but I have a few lingering questions: If Finch only gets a list of Social Security numbers, how does he know every detail of what JC's been doing and thinking for so long? And if he knows so many details about JC, why did he wait until JC was arrested to step in and make him this job offer? Also, most of the show is from JC's perspective -- or so it seems: We know what he knows, see what he sees (or see what he hears sometimes) -- except a couple cuts back to Carter, which is probably why those seem so jarring. I know she's in the cast, but it would be more interesting if we only saw or heard from her when JC sees or hears from her -- like at the end. I also think keeping Finch holed up in the Library while JC gets to do all the action is a waste of Michael Emerson. I know he's not a super ninja or anything like JC, but surely he could do something in the field, too?
I would tell you what's happening on week's episode, but the promo doesn't give me the remotest indication of that. But they do list Taraji P. Henson along with Jim Caviezel and Michael Emerson. So at least someone's happy.
DeAnn, a writer and editor in Portland, Oregon, hopes they scale back the crime-solving of the week and scale up the backstory and mysteries of our main characters. You can contact her at twopmodmars@gmail.com.