Person of Interest - Episode 3.07 - The Perfect Mark - Review: Bad Con

WARNING - SPOILERS FROM THE OUTSET. ONLY READ ON IF YOU HAVE WATCHED THE EPISODE

Ever since he was first introduced, it seemed abundantly clear that Laskey wasn't going to last very long. Tuesday night, Person of Interest took the step and killed him off, along with another of its recurring characters, Detective Raymond Terney.

After 62 episodes, Carter has finally learned the identity of the head of HR. I found Carter's reaction to the reveal fantastic. She has had meetings with Quinn, she had talked to him about HR earlier in the episode, the whole time unknowingly talking to the man at the helm. While she'll be upset that Laskey is dead, next week (see bottom of article) could leave her grieving over another friend's death.

Once again, the writers managed to make the main storyline coincide with HR, as the number of a con-man hypnotist came up. As Finch underwent hypnotism - possibly one of the funniest moments on the show, he knew something was up. The phone tap, which rarely fails, did, and Finch came to the smart conclusion that he had already had his phone hacked.

As we learnt quite quickly, Hayden is a con-artist, and a good one at that. Using his hypnotherapy sessions as a means of discovering the answers to common security questions is a superb way of stealing. However, the problem with stealing, in this city at least, is you never know quite who you're stealing from.

As it turned out, Hayden edited an email for a Swede that was money laundering for HR, causing him to buy a real item instead of a fake. This cost HR $4.4m, which as you can well imagine, left Simmons in a very angry state of mind. As he sent men to kill Hayden, the ever so timely duo of Reese and Shaw arrived to (temporarily) save the day. This was despite Shaw's early misgivings, earlier stating "I'm so gonna shoot this punk." Like I said in my episode 2 review, 'Trigger-happy Shaw'.

Something that this show does really fantastically is the way it is never a clear cut storyline. There's always a twist that you aren't expecting. Unfortunately, there have been so many of these recently that it came as no shock when it was revealed that Hayden's girlfriend had been conning him the whole time. In the end, she won, leaving with the $4.4m baseball.

In the midst of the conning extravaganza, Finch found time to talk with Root. Telling her that "Mr. Reese is upstairs with an unhealthy amount of firearms" was another great moment in the show. Her suggestions that something bad is coming, and that Finch's connection to the Machine isn't as strong as hers is didn't put Finch off keeping her captive, while adding a few more books to his collection for her to read.

Some odds and ends:

• Shaw did get to shoot someone - but it was two cops, not Hayden, who she really wanted to shoot. Poor Shaw. Never gets to shoot who she wants. What a terrible life she lives.
• We saw more Fusco this week, which included him faking a murder and complaining to Carter that "Why is it every time you call me these days I know to bring a firearm?"
• How fantastic would it have been if the kid had made off with the $4.4m baseball? Then the conman got conned who also got conned. In any event, there seems to be an awful lot of conning going on. 
• I loved it when Reese hit Terney over the head with a chair. The casual nod of the head and "Terney" to him beforehand made it even more fantastic.
• Elias still seems to be hiding out somewhere. Wonder when he'll be involved more.

I thought this episode, despite the strangeness of the main storyline, was altogether a good one. I enjoyed Carter's investigation into HR, and the outcome of it. Sets things up nicely. 8/10

The latest promo. Seriously, MAJOR SPOILER warnings apply here:

Bradley Adams
15 year old in England. Love Hawaii Five-0, NCIS, NCIS LA, Person of Interest, Elementary, Criminal Minds, Nikita and Arrow, and the new The Blacklist, Hostages and The Tomorrow People. I am reviewing Person of Interest and The Tomorrow People for Spoiler TV. Aside from TV, a keen cricketer.
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