Person of Interest - '4C', 'Provenance' and 'Last Call'

"I'm sorry, sir; the captain has turned on the no kneecapping sign..."

Confirmed in his desire to crawl into some sort of alcoholic beverage container, Reese is on his way out of town when a system malfunction diverts him to a different flight and a text to a cellphone he appropriated after punching out a mouthy businessman directs him to the passenger in seat 4C. At first he thinks that Finch is pulling strings, but it soon becomes apparent that the Machine itself is in charge of this operation, and is sending Reese - ably assisted by Holly the sassy cabin attendant - to intercept the many, many assassins targeting the programmer and internet black market kingpin in 4C.

'4C' is a delight of an episode, which serves up a deliriously silly story with a straight face and a devil-may-care grin, while also serving to realign Reese with his destiny. It shows a far more subtle and complex side to the Machine, not merely bypassing Finch but also the established signalling system, controlling Reese's movements, and setting the team against its own official side in order to head off a disastrous air crash.

Allegedly she has a .38 somewhere in that outfit.

Reese recovers his mojo - and scores a date with sassy Holly after they bond over their shared calling of 'helping others' - and heads back to work in a new Italian suit for 'Provenance', although this is really Shaw's show.

The Machine throws out the number of an art dealer, who turns out to be a sophisticated thief whose accomplices always turn up dead. There are wheels within wheels, however, and when the team prevent her theft of the Gutenberg Bible, they learn that she is a largely non-violent professional, working under duress for a ruthless cartel who are responsible for the actual bodycount, and who are holding her daughter. With Shaw on point, it's time for a heist!

Also, this happens.

'Provenance' gives Sarah Shahi a chance to work after a quiet week, primarily playing off guest star Elaine Tan, although the top moment has to be Reese accompanying Harold to an exhibition as his +1. When Reese goes on ahead, the woman taking the invites whispers "He's gorgeous," to which Harold gives a cheeky eyebrow wiggle. Fusco is on fine form as well, overseeing the arrest and disappearance of both Reese and Shaw at points during the convoluted plan to steal the Bible but never actually hand it over.

So weird without a tie...

'Last Call' is the last episode in this mini-marathon, and it's Harold's turn in the spotlight. We open with him working in a 911 call centre and bonding with the supervisor over his cool efficiency. We learn that the supervisor, Sandra Nicholson, is an exceptional emergency call operator, but has been targeted by an extortionist who is threatening a boy's life to force her to delete 300,000 calls from the call centre's servers. Like the team, or like Holly from '4C', Nicholson is a genuinely good person, and with another innocent life on the line the team must move fast.

'Last Call' gives Harold a chance to be a geek hero, even managing to win out in a showdown with a gun-toting villain. Reese is a little gung ho, ignoring Shaw of all people telling him to wait for backup. Meanwhile Fusco gets a little more meat. Working with another detective who has sought out his help, he finds that his case is dovetailing with Harold's as they close in on the extortionist's agenda. We also introduce a new recurring villain, and a personal nemesis for Harold.