Plot

Mr. Reese breaks Finch's code of communicating with the Machine in order to save the new number, Leon, who stole money from some Aryan outlaws. He then convinces the Machine to help him find Finch.

Reese is feeling at a loss with Finch having been kidnapped by Root aka Caroline Turing, the woman who the machine had identified as a person of interest, but who had set the machine up so that she could find Finch. Reese however does discover that Finch had set the machine up to use him as the contingency if anything were ever to happen to him, although it takes some deciphering on Reese's part to discover how the machine communicates the numbers. Reese hopes that the next number will be for Finch as the next person of interest. That's why Reese is disappointed when he learns that the next number belongs to Leon Tao, an accountant who stole $8 million from gangsters, an arm of the Aryan Nation. With Fusco's assistance, Reese tries to protect himself and Leon while getting Carter to do some legwork on Alicia Corwin's death, which is the primary lead they have on Root and Finch. They are unaware that there are other factions working against them, those faction who are hiding aspects of what happened to Alicia. Reese ends up having to do a little negotiating with the machine for its help. Meanwhile, Root slowly divulges to Finch what her plans for kidnapping him are and to what lengths she'll go to get what she wants.—Huggo

Reese misses Finch and finds the way to decipher the output from The Machine. He expects that it would be Finch, but is the crook accountant Leon Tao, who stole eight million dollars from the dangerous Aryan Nation. The criminals are hunting Leon to retrieve the money and Reese risks his life to protect the man. Out of the blue, Reese tries to force The Machine to give the whereabouts of Finch. Meanwhile, the psychopath Root is pressing Finch since she does not want to control The Machine but let it free.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Reese is answering what must be the last payphone in New York City. Various recorded voices give him some information.

Finch, meanwhile, is sitting with Root (Amy Acker, who he met as "Caroline Turing." She says if tries to call out she'll kill somebody. She says she's been waiting for him her entire life and says they "share an understanding." She wonders why his machine didn't protect him.

Reese drops by Carter's place and tells her about Finch being gone. They have to find him on their own, he says. He tells Carter that Root killed a former intelligence officer named Corwin in the process of taking Finch.

Reese tries to figure out the information from the payphone. He ends up with a social security number for a Leon Tao. Fusco turns on the anti-theft device in Leon's car.

At a bar Reese shows Leon (Ken Leung) pictures of Finch and Root, but he's never seen either person. Rees quickly realizes that Leon is yet another rescue and has nothing to do with Finch. Leon stole money from some people he was with. Reese shoots them and leaves with Leon.

Flash back to 2002 when Finch was working on the machine. He speaks to the machine as he fine-tunes its abilities.

In present day Reese is speaking to security cameras, upset about what's happening. Reese tells Leon the guys he stole from were Aryan Brotherhood. Leon was laid off from a legitimate finance job, then begin working for a start-up that turned out to be laundering money for the Aryan's meth business. He left with $8 million of their money. Reese handcuffs Leon to a police cruiser and leaves. Reese asks Fusco to make sure nothing happens to Leon in custody.

"Special Counsel" (Jay O. Sanders), a.k.a. "Pennsylvania Two," meets with NSA Deputy Director Denton Weeks (Cotter Smith) and asks him about the late Alicia Corwin. He instructs somebody named Hersh (Boris McGiver) to disrupt the NYPD's investigation and kill Reese.

Reese calls Carter with a link to the driver's license Root was using.

Leon escapes custody and Fusco tracks him down. A group of Aryans show up with guns, demanding their money. Leon takes them to a million dollars of their money, telling them the rest of it is gone. The Aryans grab Fusco and Leon.

Another flash back to Finch working on the machine. He goes to a casino and has the machine help him count cards in blackjack. With quiet amusement he runs his roll up to $250,000 to see if he can do it, then loses it all on purpose.

In present day Root has Finch distract a pharmacist while she steals pills.

Leon tells the Aryans the money is gone. One of them, Byron (Terry Serpico), threaten him with a dog they say is former military and keep referencing somebody named Titus. Reese arrives and is subdued, but figures out their dog responds only to Dutch commands and takes verbal control of the animal, then physical control of the situation. He gets them out of the Aryans hideout quickly. They bring the dog.

In the flashback Finch leaves the casino. On his way out the machine saves him from being killed by a drunk driver. Finch tells the machine its job is to protect everybody, not just him.

At lunch Root and Finch sit near a blonde woman (Beth Laufer). Root says the woman lies on her taxes and is sleeping with a married man. Root ends up drugging her water with the drugs she stole. Root tells him the machine is "perfect." She says he created life and handed it over to a corrupt government. When the woman falls to the ground Root grabs her phone and sends a text saying "Emergency, need to see you. Our place."

Using the guy who sold Root her license Carter gets Reese the name Reynolds and the address of a storage unit.

Titus (Robert Allen Mukes) returns and says he wants everybody look for Reese and Leon. "Those two die, tonight."

Reese and Leon find Reynolds dead. Leon gets on Reynolds' computer and sees that Root set up a perfect hack with his payment. Carter calls to tell Reese that the case file on Corwin is missing and she doesn't know how to find Finch. Someone begins shooting at Reese and Leon. Reese stands in front of a camera and says he wants something in return if he's to be expected to keep saving "idiots" like Leon. He asks the camera to figure out a way to bend the rules and a pay phone nearby starts ringing. He answers and is given information.

"Special Counsel" calls Weeks and tells him to "look out for yourself." Weeks says he's looking after a "personal situation."

Reese goes up against the enormous Titus in a fight and it doesn't go well. Carter saves the day. Reese lets the dog out of the car and we see it's eaten Leon's money.

Carter comes home to find Reese waiting with a lead on Finch. "Pack your bags," he says. "We're going to Texas." He hands her an old newspaper article about a 16-year going missing in Corpus Christi.

Root tells Finch that "everything has a flaw." Finch tells her he sealed up the machine to protect it from people like himself and "the things we do with it." He says that's why he'll never let her get control of it. At this point Weeks walks through the front door, saying, "Honey, I got your message." From concealment, Root sticks a hypodermic needle in his neck and he crumbles to the floor.

Root tells Finch she doesn't want to control the machine, she wants to "set it free."