A few things stand out about this week's Person of Interest. There was very little time jumping, the series regulars seemed to be working hard on being friends with each other, a few of the plot lines seemed a little too predictable although there were a couple of change-ups at the end that were good, and Pete Vonder Haar, despite his promises of two weeks ago, will not be filling this week's wrapup, deciding instead to go to a wedding.
Tonight's episode, "Masquerade," started with that old reliable: man falls several flights down the outside of a building and lands on a car and is dead. Then we cut away to Reese and Finch at Finch's place and we know the good feelings are still flowing from Finch's captivity and near-death experience with Root the wacko lady because Reese calls Finch by his first name, Harold. And invites him to go out for a beer. Which doesn't happen because they've just got a new number in.
(We also get to see Bear, the dog Reese rescued and then handed off to Finch, is still around, although it's clear Finch remains a bit uneasy about this new relationship.)
Anyhow, turns out the number belongs to Sofia, a 21-year-old daughter of a Brazilian diplomat. In case you didn't know, and we didn't, the children of diplomats who are in this country get assigned "transient" social security numbers. Her background is swiftly sketched in: deferred admission to Oxford as she follows dad around on his postings, speaks six languages and dad is getting ready to run for the presidency in Brazil.
We also find out Sofia is a jerk to the bodyguard assigned to protect her. "Heel. Now stay," she says explaining that if he's going to act like a dog, she'll treat him like one. Reese follows them into a clothing stores, bumps into the guard and the next thing we know, two security officers are checking the guard's pockets and asking why he has an expensive watch in there. Sofia will need a new bodyguard.
Back at the police station Detective Lionel Fusco offers Carter a chance to talk over Danish and when she turns him down, shows her the evidence he swiped from the apartment of the Alicia Corwin who was killed by Root. Although he tells Carter to stay out of it, that they accomplished their mission with Finch's safe return, she is obviously going forward.
Fusco to Carter: "Whatever level these guys are playing at, we're not there."
Meanwhile, Finch has been working his computer magic and now Reese has been transformed into John Randall with all sorts of background that establishes him as a top notch security officer. Just to go that one better, though, Reese manages to pick the pockets of all the other candidates in the diplomat's waiting room, attracting the interest of Sofia's dad when Reese shows off what he's done.
Dad to aide who doesn't want to hire Reese: "These other men can't keep track of their own wallets, how can they keep up with my daughter?"
Still acting like a brat, Sofia declares that she doesn't want Reese as her bodyguard, saying he has "squinty eyes." She then makes fun of Reese to the Russian diplomat, calling him an oaf in Russian, but Reese speaks Russian and lets her know this.
She says she's drawing a bath and going to bed, but, of course, she slips out another door while dressed to the nines. Just as predictably, Reese catches her and drives her to go clubbing. The club is loud, Reese who looks pretty awkward, meets Sofia's friend Gabi and things go about the way you'd imagine for a 21-year-old wild thing: Sofia downs seven vodka shots and then gets up and dances on the bar. Reese pulls her away, but not before smashing cameras held by folks recording the moment.
Back on the home front Finch has started a tentative game of catch with Bear, who so far has been a great addition to the show.
