'Person of Interest' 3.13 "4C" Review

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John Reese handed in his resignation and he's all set to fly away never to return. Unfortunately for him, the Machine has other plans as it works autonomously to put the former man in the suit right where he truly needs to be in order to avert a major national security crisis. Could this be what John needs in order to realize that he's still needed even if he wishes he could just leave it all behind?

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From the moment Reese's flight was altered it was obvious that a number must have come up somewhere and he was meant to be someplace else. In previous seasons, it would be easy to imagine Finch behind the scenes of this ploy to bring Reese back into the fold. But that was then and now we've truly come to see that, as Root would probably say, 'she' has a mind all of her own. Apparently leaving Team Machine is as impossible as trying to quit the mob but just as potentially deadly when Reese is put into the path of several paramilitary types trying to assassinate a young computer programmer that bit off far more than he could chew.

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It's easy to pass off Reese's call to action as a man simply following his training in a hostile situation. An ex-CIA agent would have a hard time ignoring violence happening around him especially around so many innocent bystanders. I like to think it was a little of that and a little of the fact that the target, Owen Matthews, reminded him a bit of his former partner albeit a far greedier version. "4C" had one of the plots that POI specializes in where the situation the team is working on at the time echoes their current circumstances. I loved Reese's line about how people like Owen and Harold build these systems they can soon no longer control. Owen tried to create a way for the inherent violence of the war on drugs to be minimized with a sort of open market approach. Of course in doing so he prevented dangerous people from making money and it's a very strong parallel to what Harold did by creating his Machine and then deciding the government couldn't be trusted with it. Both men had initial good intentions however, so that's why Reese ultimately pulls himself out of self-made retirement to keep Owen from getting killed. Makes you wonder how Reese would respond to a younger version of Finch than the one he knows now considering we've seen how his ambition and curiosity have courted trouble since day one. But that's what happens when you tackle well-established institutions with the audacious thought that you, a civilian, can do better.

Putting Mr. Reese on a plane is also a great way to challenge his resourcefulness. Can't use a gun really so he

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had to rely on several other skills to keep Owen alive. I think my personal favorite was the fight down in the cargo hold with Reese and the Activity agent sent after Owen. Watching them both rummage through luggage to find any kind of weapon had a great cartoonish quality to the resulting violence. Now it really makes sense why Reese's fake name was Mr. Wiley.

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Reese wasn't the only person to see a bit of action this week as Shaw assisted by going back 'home' to her former organization. It put her face to face with both a former facilitator and with current baddie Hersh as she tried to figure out why Matthews was actually a relevant threat--not number-worthy but still very actionable according to the Machine. I never tire of Shaw's social skills when dealing with people, the man in the trunk was absolutely Reese-esque. She was the only other featured character besides the classic duo and that was a smart choice not to clutter the episode with both Reese on a plane and another side mission back on the ground.

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This episode showed why Reese and Finch remain such a great team especially when Harold literally took the reins of the operation in order to land the plane without even having to leave his computer. The end scene where Reese decides to get 'fitted for a new suit' while in Rome felt like a superhero deciding to don his cape once more. This remains his fight and I think a part of him knows that Carter would be disappointed if she knew he wanted to give up and hide. He's grieved and now he's going back where he belongs because there's always work to do and he's going to do it in style thanks to Harold suit tailor in Italy. The man in the suit is back.