Person of Interest 2.03: "Masquerade"

“I spent some time feeling lost. Someone found me, told me I needed a purpose.”
- Reese

So I realized after watching this week’s episode that the “previously on” segment was really to make sure people knew what was going on with the Root storyline. Episodes 1 and 2 really were a 2-part season premiere. And now we’re back to business as usual with the regular intro. We begin this week with a voiceover of a mystery guy saying he’s going to take care of a guy who was getting ready and some loose ends. We then see the guy fly out a window and crash onto a car. Back at HQ, Reese is continuing his search for Root until Finch shows up. He’s not too happy to see that Bear is sleeping at the library. Anyway, they’ve got a new number, Sophia Campos, daughter of a Brazilian diplomat. Reese is on the trail and ends up slipping an expensive watch into Sophia’s bodyguard’s pocket. Guess there’s a vacancy for him to fill now. Fusco has managed to nab a bunch of stuff from Corwin’s hotel room, including an RFID reader. Carter offers to take it off his hands if he doesn’t think he can continue digging.

At the interview, Reese pulls a little pick-pocket and snags all the other applicants’ wallets. He really is a funny guy, even when he’s being serious. Hector (Sophia’s dad) likes Reese and ends up hiring him, much to Sophia’s chagrin. She isn’t exactly nice to the people around her. While her father is off having dinner with a Russian diplomat, Sophia sneaks out to go to a club. Of course, Reese is waiting for her and she grudgingly allows him inside the club with her and her friend Gabby. Before they leave the consulate, Reese notices a car watching them but he only gets a partial plate. Finch is a little miffed at this, but when Reese asks if he has somewhere else to be, he answers that he doesn’t. I think Bear is making him nervous. At the club, Reese is keeping an eye on Sophia while she does shots and Finch is trying to keep Bear occupied. It was hilarious to see Finch not wanting to touch Bear’s tennis ball with his bare hands. Unfortunately, as Finch is complaining about Bear being a distraction, Reese has to pull Sophia from dancing on a table and breaking a guy’s phone (he was trying to take a picture).

The next morning, Sophia tries to get Reese fired by saying he attacked an innocent guy and humiliated her. Her father is just happy no one got pictures. So Reese is going to be around a little longer. Sophia is in a mood now and orders Reese to bring the car around because they’re going shopping. It may give Reese a chance to get her cell phone and clone it. Finch makes a call to Carter about the partial plate and she says he belongs to a rental company that went out of JFK the day before. At the last store, Reese is basically a glorified pack mule and Sophia ditches him (thanks to Finch for turning on her GPS). Reese tracks her down and finds her meeting up with her American boyfriend. We also get a sort of adorable scene where Finch actually throws the ball for Bear and then acts like nothing happened when Reese asks about the sound (Bear skidding on the hardwood). Bear really is going to become Finch’s new best friend.

Reese lies for Sophia when they get back to the consulate and they’ve missed a photo op with the Japanese Ambassador. Meanwhile, Carter heads down to the morgue to see if she can find the chip that goes with Corwin’s RFID reader. She’s not the only one looking. Agent Snow walks out of the morgue just as she’s going in. He says he’s been reassigned and he looks really sketchy. Unfortunately, there’s no chip (only an incision where the chip likely was). Finch has done a little more digging and he found out who the rental car was registered to. Reese overhears (thanks to the fact he finally cloned Sophia’s phone) a call between Sophia and Gabby. Gabby sounds pretty freaked about something that happened to some guy named Paul. For once, Sophia is going clubbing and using the front door. On the way, Reese spots the rental car. It turns out it’s not an assassin but a paparazzo. At the club, Sophia is constantly looking around for Gabby but she’s not there. Reese spots a bunch of guys with guns and realizes they’re the hit team trying to take out Sophia (our heroes’ working theory is it might be politically motivated given Hector’s intentions to announce his candidacy for the Brazilian presidency). Reese takes the guys out and gets Sophia out of there. Back at the precinct, Carter calls Snow’s cell number but gets a weird guy asking her if she’s had contact with Snow and when. Something is obviously not right there.

Reese takes Sophia somewhere safe and makes her something to eat to try and calm her down. Carter gives Reese a little grief about the guys from the club but says she’ll look into which gang they belonged to. Reese manages to get some information out of Sophia about Paul. He was a designer drug peddler and Gabby got video from the night they went to his penthouse. Paul was meeting with a guy and things looked tense. Reese IDs the guy as one of the shooters from the club. This of course sends Sophia into a panic about Gabby. Reese agrees to let her tag along as he investigates but she has to stay in the car (because that always works). Carter manages to ID the gang as 14th Street Mafia. She’s going to work on ID’ing the mystery guy from Paul’s penthouse and she tracks Gabby’s phone to the morgue. The shooters already got to her. Back at HQ, Finch is going to take Bear for a walk when he discovers the files on Root that Reese was working on.

Reese has taken Sophia somewhere private and where she can get some air. But he needs Finch to come babysit while he looks for Gabby’s killer. Finch can’t do it. He gets outside and has a panic attack. Honestly, I get he’s freaked about Root, but he has a big freaking dog who would eat anyone who got near him. So Reese enlists Fusco to babysit. Sophia and Fusco make it to the party and things seem to be going ok. Carter ID’s the guy at Paul’s apartment, and so she and Reese go to the bar where he hangs out to get some information. Reese beats the crap out of some guys but they don’t get any information. Finch has been cleaning up the video from Sophia’s phone and realizes there was another person in the apartment; Jack (Sophia’s boyfriend). It looks like he was bankrolling Monty and Paul’s drug operation.

Reese and Carter have to get across town fast since Sophia is going to meet Jack and she’s clueless as to his involvement. Monty whisks her away and is about to shoot her when Fusco comes to the rescue. Carter and Reese show up not long after and ram Monty’s SVU into him. They still have Jack to take care of. Reese finds him trying to schedule a one-way flight to the Caiman Islands and hangs him off the roof so Sophia can break up with him. Sophia has kind of mellowed a bit and is going back to Brazil with her dad. Reese will not be joining her. That night, Carter is on her way out of the precinct when a random CIA woman asks about Snow. Carter tells her it isn’t her (Carter) job to keep track of him. We see Snow hiding out in a basement somewhere and we learn he’s being held captive by Reese’s former partner. She’s got a bomb strapped to him to keep him in line. We end with Reese, Finch and Bear going out for a beer (or something else).