Person of Interest

About the series

Contains story spoilers.

Person of Interest began on CBS in 2011, with Jonathan Nolan credited as its creator and the writer of its opening episode. Jim Caviezel plays John Reese, Michael Emerson plays Harold Finch, Taraji P. Henson plays Detective Joss Carter and Kevin Chapman plays Detective Lionel Fusco. That combination puts two private operators alongside two people working within the police department. The opening run builds their relationships through particular investigations: saving somebody can leave another person suspicious, indebted or newly exposed to danger. The cases below follow selected first-season developments, where a name is the beginning of an investigation rather than an explanation of what has happened.

Finch recruits Reese after a subway fight brings the former CIA operative to Carter's attention. Reese is homeless and grieving Jessica's death; the work offers him a reason to carry on. Finch's first number belongs to assistant district attorney Diane Hansen, who initially appears to need protection. Surveillance reveals that she directs corrupt officers and intends to murder a fellow prosecutor, Wheeler. Reese prevents the killing, saving Wheeler's son and an ex-convict intended to take the blame, and kills the corrupt Detective Stills during the intervention. Exposing Hansen in court closes that immediate case, but Reese also forces Fusco to conceal Stills' body, making the compromised detective his police contact. The new partnership is therefore established through both rescue and coercion. Reese accepts Finch's offer to continue rather than walking away once Hansen's scheme has been stopped.

A number belonging to Theresa Whitaker raises a different problem: the girl is supposed to be dead. Her family was apparently destroyed by a murder-suicide after her father's financial collapse, yet Theresa survived because the hired killer refused to murder a child. His account has reached the people behind the killings, and another assassin is now hunting her. Reese and Finch uncover an asset dispute involving Theresa's uncle Derek and businessman Jimmy Calhoun. Her survival threatens their control of the property. Derek eventually refuses to betray her location and is killed. A call to her aunt allows the assassin to track the hotel where Finch is protecting her, but Reese intervenes before they are shot. Theresa's testimony leads to Calhoun's arrest, and Carter reunites her with her aunt. The official account of a family tragedy has concealed a living witness and a financial motive.

Dr Megan Tillman reverses the apparent direction of another threat. Reese first thinks she is being stalked by Andrew Benton, a sexual predator. He discovers instead that she is pursuing Benton because his assault on her sister was followed by the sister's suicide. Megan intends to kill him. Reese tries to have Benton imprisoned, but the arrest does not keep him contained. Megan eventually drugs him, puts him in a van and plans to take him to Montauk to dispose of his body. Reese persuades her to surrender the keys, arguing that carrying out the revenge would damage the person she is trying to remain. That prevents her becoming a killer, without making Benton's danger disappear. Reese later sits across from Benton with a gun within reach. The episode leaves the outcome of that confrontation unanswered, holding open the question he has just persuaded Megan to step away from.

Judge Samuel Gates faces pressure aimed directly at his family. Criminals abduct his young son and demand that he acquit Angela Markham, whose banking work enables their money-laundering operation. Her separate hit-and-run prosecution threatens a business with clients who will not tolerate losing their access to her. Gates has recently lost his wife, and the kidnappers have killed the child's nanny, leaving the judge terrified that resistance will cost him his son as well. He delivers the verdict they demand, but they still refuse to honour their agreement. Reese intervenes to rescue father and child, and the criminals are subsequently brought to justice with help from Carter and Fusco. The case also loosens Finch's reserve a little. Reese has been trying to learn something ordinary about his partner at a diner; Finch finally admits that he regularly orders the eggs Benedict there, offering a small personal detail after the danger is over.

The search for a witness in Brighton Beach draws the partnership into a larger criminal conflict. Charlie appears to be a schoolteacher endangered after seeing a shooting connected to Russian and Italian organised crime. Reese protects him from armed pursuers, loses contact with Finch when his phone breaks and takes shelter with one of Charlie's former students. Charlie's concern for those students makes his explanation of himself convincing. Finch and Fusco investigate from outside while Reese struggles to get him safely through hostile territory. At the waterfront, a captured Russian finally reveals the missing fact: Charlie is Elias, the criminal figure whose identity has eluded Carter. Elias confirms it by holding Reese at gunpoint and tying him up. He spares Reese out of gratitude before returning to his own campaign for control of the neighbourhood. Protecting the person selected by the Machine has also protected a man capable of creating further violence. The number was accurate, but Reese's understanding of the person behind it was incomplete.