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“Finch, I think I found a way to hurt these guys.”
- Reese
During our usual jumble of surveillance video that serves as transition, we see a man run over by a white car in a parking garage and a phone call between two men stating they have a problem. Then we find Finch in a diner, and Reese shows up, asking what’s good. Finch is paranoid that Reese is trying to find out where he lives by determining if he’s come to the diner often. Really, Reese just wants to know what’s good. It doesn’t appear he’s got much time for breakfast, though, because the machine has spit out another number. This week’s person of interest is Samuel Gates, widower with a young son who happens to be a judge in the criminal court, and he’s hearing the case of the driver who hit the man with the white car. So clearly he’s not going to be on the perpetrating end of the spectrum this week. While court is in session (yay for following proper admissibility rules. My evidence professor would be pleased), Reese infiltrates Gates’ chambers looking for anything that might lead to why someone is after the judge. He finds a bunch of hate mail and sends it to Finch for analysis. While the judge finishes up lunch, Reese follows him and some shady looking white guys with crew cuts and manages to recover a phone. It looks like these guys are going after Sam Gates, Jr. Reese gets to the house as the perps are kidnapping the boy and he takes a couple of them down, but Reese gets shot and they get away with the boy.
Reese grumbles about how he can’t be there in time if he has bad information, but Finch assures him the machine spit out dad’s number not the son’s. Before Finch can say much, Reese heads out, gun in hand. He’s not a happy guy (then again, is he ever?). Court is out, and Judge Gates is heading out of the courthouse when the kidnappers call. They say he can’t go to the cops or the feds or else his son will die. He hastily calls his son’s cell phone, his nanny, and a family friend, but no dice. Just as he sinks to the steps, Reese appears (reminds me of Parker from “Leverage”) and tells the judge they’re going to get his son back. They head back to the judge’s house, and Reese taps the phone and sets up a camera to cover the street outside the house. Finch hasn’t had much luck with the burner phone Reese recovered, and the cell phone company firewall is giving him trouble. Reese tells him to hurry up anyway, as the nanny is dead.
Over at police HQ Lionel is going through Carter’s desk. It looks like he sees a photo from when Reese was still a bum, but he scurries back to his own desk before Carter gets back. Before they have much time for Carter to question about why Lionel was transferred, Reese texts. He needs to see Lionel. In the coffee line, Reese hands over the bullet that killed the nanny, leaving Lionel to talk to himself in line. Meanwhile, Finch finally cracked the cell company’s firewall and gives Reese an address. The kidnappers need to sleep somewhere, and Reese manages to knock out one off the guys. He figures out very quickly they are an Eastern European gang. Definitely bad news. The cops have found the nanny’s body and are looking into questioning her clients. Carter’s on the scene because she got a call that the super at the building spotted Reese. Later that night, an officer shows up at Gates’ house to deliver the news. He feeds the officer a convincing story about the nanny not being home when his son got there, so he (the Judge) came home early to be there. The office leaves and we pan back inside to see Reese hidden just out of view. Reese assures the judge that he will find Sam Jr. And he can do that better than the cops or the FBI because he can be invisible. Well not if the super at the nanny’s building spotted him!
Judge Gates starts to say he should call the cops back and hand Reese over when the phone rings. It’s the kidnappers. It’s not your typical kidnap-ransom. They Eastern Europeans want the judge to throw the hit-and-run case in exchange for his son’s return. So now Reese and Finch need to figure out why the defendant (Angela) is so important. Turns out Angela is an account executive, and the man she mowed down was a CPA. Reese tells the judge to stall to give him more time to figure out what’s really going on. Finch has found more information on the gang. They’re not so much a bunch of thugs as a multi-national organization in over eighteen countries. While Finch digs more into Angela, Reese is going to try and wring some information out of the gang member locked in his trunk. No dice, though. Back at police HQ, Lionel spots Carter looking at the nanny crime scene photos. At about the same time, he gets a call from Reese asking about the ballistics report. The gun that fired the bullet didn’t have any matches in the system. Reese tries to the end call by saying he’ll be in touch but Lionel insists he can help. All Reese wants from him is to keep Carter out of the way.
In court, Finch clones Angela’s phone and keeps an eye on the judge. He reverses himself on the admissibility issue and continuously sustains defense objections during the prosecutor’s witnesses. He calls a recess until the next morning, but whoever has eyes in the court room for the gang calls and tells the judge to stop stalling. Reese drives around a bumpy, muddy parking lot to try to loosen the gang member’s tongue. Eventually, he gives Reese the address where he went to get paid. He also explains that they work in cells of four people. Finch is still at the courthouse as Reese heads for the address. He overhears a conversation between Angela and the head kidnapper. Whatever’s going on, it’s bad for the kidnapper’s business. But good for our dynamic duo. At the address, Reese finds another of the kidnappers and a whole lot of fake money.
We now have the real link between the gang and Angela. She installs software that detects money laundering. And she installed it at one bank, and if she still has access, she can turn it off with the click of a mouse, allowing the gang to clean their dirty money. Reese pays another visit to his two gang members in the trunk and uncuffs one to get the name of their boss out of the other. Meanwhile, Lionel did some more work and found the long-haired guy getting into a car. He ran the license plate and found it connected to a company Coldfield Holdings. Reese gives Finch the boss’s name and gets a text from Lionel about the company. We have a winner. It also seems the gang is laundering money for other people. Lots and lots of people. Finch sends Reese an address that’s only ten blocks from the judge’s house. Worth a shot, but Reese needs to hurry. The jury in Angela’s case is back with a verdict. The judge’s throwing the case worked because the jury finds her not guilty.
Finch calls Reese with the bad news, but Reese is already on it. He snags Angela at the courthouse as the judge goes off to meet the kidnappers. It isn’t looking good for the judge and his son until Reese shows up. He tells the leader that he’s transferred all the funds in his clients’ accounts to an offshore account. If the kidnappers don’t let Sam and the judge go, the clients will be notified of the missing money. Reese gets to be the hero and wound all the baddies and dump them at the house where he found the money. On cue, the cops show up and arrest everyone. The next day, Reese pops in for a final visit to the judge while he plays soccer with his son. The judge thanks Reese for his help but says he won’t be able to protect Reese in the future when the cops find out who he is. We end back at the diner. Finch asks what the judge said, and when Reese says he knows he judge will help them in the future, Finch says he was listening. Reese explains he was reading between the lines. Finch leaves, but not before giving a breakfast recommendation.
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