Warning: Spoilers ahead for those who have not seen tonight’s episode

The last episode left most of the Person of Interest fandom in shock, with a good many still reeling from Shaw (Sarah Shahi) being shot and the possibility that she may be gone for good. While a good portion of tonight’s final installment in the POI trilogy focused on finding and saving Shaw, the majority of the episode highlighted another character. In a surprising twist, Team Machine may just have gained a new ally, and given Finch’s (Michael Emerson) team current precarious situation, this is a good thing because they need all the help they can get.

At first glance, it looked as if we were going to be dealing with a terrorist situation in Detroit, Michigan. While Samaritan has been wrecking havoc on the NY Stock Exchange, everyone on Finch’s team, and no telling who or what else, we may have forgotten that she has also been hard at work as Research, providing Control (Camryn Manheim) with the names of 4 terrorists in a sleeper cell located in Detroit. Three in the group are Muslims from the Middle East who are here in the U.S. on student visas. The 4th member is actually an American-turned-Muslim,Yasin Said (Ryan Shams), who on paper appears like the perfect all-American student but with Samaritan painting a very different picture.

Yes, I know Samaritan is an AI and supposedly never lies, but honestly, I knew as soon as the alleged terrorists’ faces were thrown up on Control’s monitors that these guys were not real “relevants” at all. More than likely, they are simply men who Team Samaritan want dead, and they are using Control and Northern Lights to do the dirty work for them. The only questions that remain are who are they and why are they targets? But, the big red flag that something is definitely amiss comes when Control tells Samaritan to access Said’s laptop, she gets a message on the screen that she has never seen before: “Access Denied.” Say what? Samaritan is God, and so, how can you deny access to God?

This prompts Control to pitch a hissy fit like a kid who has had his toys taken away from him, resulting in Samaritan being shut down altogether. A major pissing contest is underway, with Senator Garrison (John Doman) and Greer (John Nolan) joining in and escalating the argument even further. Of course, Control is not the one actually in control but Greer is, and so he ends up winning. But Control doesn’t like to be told “no” and instructs her team that it’s imperative that they retrieve Said’s laptop at all cost.

Now that Samaritan is back online, Control officially gives the mission the green light, and immediately 3 out of the 4 in the sleeper cell are eliminated. As this is happening, we also get a very welcome re-introduction to Devon Grice (Nick Tarabay) , who we may recall as being Shaw’s former partner who let her live in the episode “Honor Among Thieves” even though he had orders to kill her. He’s the lead assassin on Control’s team, and all he has left to do to complete the mission is to locate Said as well as his laptop. But, that turns out to not be so easy because while he does find Said, he leaps out a window, and his laptop self-incinerates as soon as Grice tries to access it. So no laptop, and to top it off, Said survived the fall, and so, they still have a suspected terrorist running loose on the streets.

 

While all of this is going on, you may be wondering what Finch’s team has been up to, and what they are doing to try and locate Shaw. Well, as it turns out, they are not far behind, and actually, the sh*t is about to get real. Apparently, several Samaritan operatives had been spotted outside of Control’s home, and so Team Machine (erroneously) assume that means Control must know where Shaw is. We all witnessed how emotional Root (Amy Acker) was at the end of “If-Then-Else,” and all of that raw emotion was about to turn into sheer anger directed straight at Control.

First, Root launches a rocket at Control’s car, which she seemed to have way too much fun doing. Then, she recreates the torture scene from “Aletheia” except now with Control in the chair and the torture device being a taser. Of course, Control *truly* doesn’t know what’s going on, hasn’t the slightest clue where Shaw is, but Root doesn’t believe her, and it takes Finch stepping in to keep Root from killing her.

 

This is perhaps the best scene of the entire episode, and Michael Emerson delivers an amazing performance. AMAZING. Root is all about violence and coercion, but Finch has a completely different approach, one based solely on truth. Finch sees clearly that Control knows nothing about Shaw, what went down at the Stock Exchange, and so he very calmly – but bluntly – fills her in.

You’re in the dark, and you’re being kept there for a reason. How long before your employers decide to kill you? Actually not long, which is why I am here – Finch to Control

If you look at Control’s face at this point, you can see it suddenly drop, and you know that she knows. Grice had actually been re-assigned by Samaritan to kill her, her number came up on Finch’s Machine, and had Finch’s team not been there to intervene, she’d be dead.

Now armed with this information, you would think Control would wise up and begin questioning everything. Remember Yasin Said? Yeah, in all the commotion, I kind of forgot about him too. But, Control didn’t. She tracks him down in Canada, and it is then, with a gun pointed at his face, that we learn his true mission, and surprise, surprise, it has nothing to do with terrorism. In a brilliant tieback to the episode “Nautilus,” he and his Muslim friends were simply students who had entered and won Samaritan’s recruitment “game.” Since then, they had been commissioned to write a computer program (my guess, probably the software that was used to take down the NY Stock Exchange) in exchange for huge amounts of cash.

Can you consider for a second the possibility you’ve been lied to? – Said to Control

No – Control

Then, she pulls the trigger. Very, very foolish move because Said could have been an extremely valuable resource on learning about Team Samaritan and what they have planned. But not all is totally lost. Finch’s little speech didn’t fall completely on deaf ears because she does check out the NY Stock Exchange, and while everything had been cleaned up, she does make one major discovery – fresh paint.

I absolutely loved this ending (and actually loved the episode in its entirety) because it opened up the door to so many possibilities. We’ve seen several characters – most notably Elias – start out as enemies of Team Finch and eventually grow into more of allies. But, we’ve never had someone from the government or from Northern Lights make that transition (although I think Hersch might have if he had not been killed in last season’s finale). Control now knows she’s being deceived, she knows she’s a target, and my gut says she may end up helping Finch and his team and become a valuable ally. At least I hope so. Having someone with intimate knowledge and connections to Samaritan on Team Machine I think is critical if there is any hope of winning this war.

And, things definitely are about to get worse — a lot worse. Creepy Samaritan avatar, Gabriel (Oakes Fegley),  is back, and that kid doesn’t like to be ignored. And, what exactly happens if you decide to blow him off? He’ll totally screw up your stock portfolio and cause it to lose 16% in a single day.

I crashed the stock market yesterday. Tonight the stock market will close at 10,233 points after regaining 678 points. I’d like to discuss this as well as other more pressing matters with your immediate supervisor, the President — Gabriel to Chief of Staff Mike Richelli

It is all about to hit the fan, and again, Finch and Team Machine need all the help they can get, even if it is from someone like Control who was once the enemy.

Finally, what about Shaw? Unfortunately (and as many viewers had suspected), no confirmation that she’s still alive — but also no confirmation that she’s dead. In the few spare moments while trying to save Control’s life, Finch is able to get a small piece of information from the phones of Samaritan’s operatives. It’s not much, but it’s a lead nonetheless that points them to upstate New York. Leaving Finch to hold down the home base, Reese and Root are on a road trip, and while this may not be the news the fans had been wanting to hear, just remember one thing — there is **hope**. And, if Shaw did manage to survive that assault, you can be damn sure Root and Reese will find her, hell or high water.

Person of Interest airs on Tuesdays at 10/9c on CBS.

Critic Grade — A

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