“There’s some unfinished business we need to take care of,” says Supervisory Agent Terence Beal (Keith David). “There always is,” replies Reese (Jim Caviezel) in season 5 episode 3 of CBS’s crime thriller series, Person of Interest.
The episode starts with a flashback to when Reese was being recruited to a special branch of the CIA by Beal. He assigns Reese and his partner, Kara (Annie Parisse), to investigate a military advisor named Tomlinson who is suspected of helping the Taliban steal a shipment of Stinger missiles. If they discover he is guilty, they are to “handle the situation” – in other words, kill him.
Flash forward to present day, Reese is fighting with a man in the bathroom of a restaurant who was trying to kill a man whose number Finch’s machine picked out. Reese knocks out the would-be killer and handcuffs him to the stall. He tells the man that it appears his business partner wanted to be a solo businessman and that Reese’s partner would collect the assassin. Reese heads out into the restaurant to have lunch with the woman he’s been dating, Dr. Iris Campbell (Wrenn Schmidt), and her parents.
After lunch, Reese meets up with Finch to go over a new number which belongs to Alex Duncan (Stephen Plunkett), a computer science tech who works for an international consulting firm that has a contract with the DOD. Reese realizes on his first day at Duncan’s work with his fake ID that Duncan is up to something and witnesses him sneak into his boss’ office and copy files. As Reese is following Duncan outside, the CIA pulls up and kidnaps Duncan. Reese knows it’s the CIA because he recognizes his old boss Beal. Finch (Michael Emerson) warns Reese not to engage to save Duncan because the CIA believes Reese to be dead.
With some help from the Machine, Reese is able to track down where the CIA is holding Duncan. Reese sneaks in wearing a ski mask and rescues Duncan, but Beal recognizes Reese’s style of fighting and realizes Reese is alive.
Root, with the help of the Machine, goes undercover to discover that Samaritan is using a certain location to deliver and load malware onto computers. She is able to get a copy of the malware code to Finch to analyze.
Jump back to 2010 where Reese and Kara are interrogating Tomlinson about the missing missiles in his tent. Of course, he denies doing anything wrong and so far they haven’t found any evidence in his tent to indicate that he is the traitor.
Back to present day, Reese and Duncan are holed up in a very expensive hotel because Reese knows the CIA will be checking the cheaper hotels and motels for them. Alex tells Reese he didn’t steal any top-secret files; he was just looking to see if he could find out what really happened to his brother. All he’s been able to find out is that his brother, Paul, was being investigated for treason before he died. After looking at the files and a photo, Reese realizes that Duncan’s brother was the same man he interrogated back in 2010. Duncan and Reese head back to the office where Duncan stole the files and go through more files to discover that Alex in his search to find out what happened to his brother accidentally stumbled across an off-the-books CIA op that the agency will want to keep hidden. As they go to leave, Beal shows up with some men and knocks John out.
In the car Beal gets Reese to admit that he and his partner were sent to investigate and question Duncan’s brother. But Reese lies and says they left because Duncan’s brother was innocent when in fact Reese killed him and then his partner found the money under a false bottom in his suitcase. Beal realizes that Duncan is no spy so he lets Reese’s lie stand, and then it’s fist-fight time with Reese taking out Beal and his goons and getting the car to crash while escaping with Duncan.
Reese and Beal meet up the next day and come to an agreement that John will not expose the off-the-books op as long as Beal leaves Duncan alone. Beal also tells Reese he’s going to leave him out of the report he’s going to file. Reese asks why he’s going to do that and he tells John that maybe it’s because he likes knowing Reese is still out there doing what needs to be done.
Reese meets up with Iris and breaks up with her, letting her down easy. He knows that as long as he works with Finch saving people and fighting Samaritan, he can’t have a normal life (he can’t have that someone special to come home to). Just then Finch contacts Reese through their ear devices and tells him they have a new number to which Reese responds, “I’m on my way.”
Review of Person of interest season 5 episode 3 titled “Truth Be Told”
Suspenseful and engaging, season 5 episode 3 titled “Truth Be Told” turned the focus of the show to Reese who is still struggling with the sins of his past and still hopes in the end that he’ll have done more good saving people with Finch and the Machine than the bad he accomplished working for the CIA. Caviezel delivers a flawless performance as “The Man in the Suit” John Reese but in this episode shows the softer side of the man who feels for the young man Duncan who only wants to discover the truth about his brother. He shows kindness in letting Duncan believe the lie that his brother was innocent of treason instead of telling him the truth and shattering the image he has of his brother.
With the numbers up and running again it’s only a matter of time before the ultimate showdown between the Machine and Samaritan. Can’t wait!
GRADE: B
Person of Interest Season 5 Recaps:
- Episode 1 – BSOD
- Episode 2 – SNAFU
- Episode 4 – 6,741
- Episode 5 – ShotSeeker
- Episode 6 – A More Perfect Union
- Episode 7 and 8
- Episode 10 – The Day the World Went Away
- Episode 11 – Synecdoche
- Episode 12 – .exe
- Episode 13 – Series Finale Recap
