The Machine provides Reese a code that translates to the SSN of accountant Leon Tao, who is being targeted for stealing money from the Aryan Brotherhood. Reese saves Tao from the gang and adopts their dog, which he names Bear. The government sabotages Carter's investigation into Corwin's death to prevent her from learning about the Machine. Root takes Finch to a cabin in Maryland and kidnaps NSA operative Denton Weeks. She explains that she sees the Machine as a "perfect intelligence" and wants
Root interrogates Denton Weeks for the Machine's location and kills him after he discloses it. Reese identifies the missing girl provided to him by the Machine as Hanna Frey, who was abducted and never found twenty years prior. Reese suspects the missing Hanna to be Root, especially as her abductor was set up to be murdered in a manner matching Root's MO. Reese and Carter's investigation leads them to Hanna's friend Samantha Groves, the sole witness to the abduction. Sam informed the local libra
As Finch tries to readjust to life after his kidnapping, establishing a bond with Reese's attack dog Bear, Reese poses as a bodyguard to get close to Sophia Campos, the spoiled daughter of the Brazilian consul in New York. Sophia has become the target of the leader of a drug smuggling operation, who believes that she and a friend witnessed their operations. Reese saves her from the gang. Meanwhile, Fusco hands the Alicia Corwin case on to Carter. While at the morgue, Carter encounters Mark Snow,
Riley Cavanaugh, an enforcer for an Irish mobster, becomes the next number when he betrays his boss and goes on the run with his lover, Annie, whom he was ordered to kill. Reese and Finch debate the morality of trying to save a ruthless killer, but they soon need Riley's help when Annie is captured by bounty hunters hired by the mob. To keep Annie safe, Finch is forced to make a deal with Elias, who continues to run his criminal organization from behind bars, in exchange for a game of chess. Eli
In the midst of New York's mayoral elections, the police and FBI are closing the net around the elusive leader of HR. Using the information collected by Fusco, the FBI arrests 75 dirty cops, but their leader remains on the loose. Investigative reporter Maxine Angelis is trying to beat them to the story and becomes the next number, but Reese finds it difficult to protect Maxine when Finch discovers she is writing an exposé on the mysterious "man in the suit". Reese uses an online dating website t
Reese ventures into suburbia to locate the next person of interest, Graham Wyler, whose past returns to haunt him. Reese "proposes" to Zoe Morgan for the mission to help blend into suburban life. They move to the suburbs to investigate Wyler. Wyler is forced to help with a robbery led by his former partners, as he is a master safecracker. He cracks the safe as Reese and the NYPD show up. Carter buys some extra time with the police by leading them up the wrong staircase to give Reese and Wyler ti
Reese and Finch work to save both the life of a CEO undergoing secret surgery and the wife of the surgeon from a former MI6 agent and a team of ex-SAS operatives. Leon Tao, once again in danger, assists while under protective detention. Carter handles the case of a murdered man with her business card in his pocket, discovering that Agent Snow is the murderer. Snow reveals to her that he has been strapped to a bomb suit and says that 'she', referring to Stanton, is planning something big. Detecti
The Machine produces two numbers belonging to a married couple who own a publishing house. Reese and Finch work together and soon discover that each has ordered a hit on the other to settle a proposed sellout deal for their company. Reese kidnaps the couple with Carter's reluctant help, and defends them from a group of armed thugs while Finch plays marriage counselor. Eventually the hitmen are taken down while the couple are arrested but work out their marital problems. Finch suggests that the t
Reese works to save the life of a local taxi driver who is put in danger when a passenger leaves behind a laptop that is wanted by the Estonian mafia. Reese and Finch eventually realize the laptop contains valuable information that could enable terrorists to enter the country undetected. As a result, the Estonian mafia is killing anyone who has even seen the laptop. Finch is able to locate the laptop and the Estonians are defeated by Reese. Finch and Reese then have the cab driver use the laptop
Reese must protect the sister of a soldier who died in Afghanistan and her boyfriend, an ex-Marine who lost his right arm. The two are trying to expose an executive stealing from a charity for wounded veterans. Carter is offered a temporary assignment to the FBI when Special Agent Donnelly returns with new clues he believes will lead to Reese. The situation gets complicated when Reese, for whom the wounded veterans charity case has become personal, puts himself at risk as the FBI closes in on hi
With Reese in FBI custody, Finch poses as a high school teacher to protect the next number, a teenager named Caleb Phipps who is deliberately underperforming at school to hide his intelligence. Finch discovers that Caleb is a master coder and, with Fusco's help, learns the boy is also a drug lord. Finch accuses Caleb's tech teacher of stealing Caleb's code, but the truth is that the teacher is trying to promote Caleb's work so investors can help Caleb profit from it. Finch learns Caleb plans to
Fusco is assigned to the new number, supermodel Karolina Kurkova. Meanwhile, Carter is asked to interrogate the four suspects in jail. Elias offers to help Reese, but Reese refuses to avoid the attention of the FBI. Finch bribes a suspect to blame one of the other men, but after another suspect is killed by a government assassin named Hersh, Agent Donnelly suspects the real man is Reese. Donnelly incites a brawl involving Reese to get him to reveal himself, but Elias breaks it up, saving Reese a
Carter survives the crash while Reese is taken by Kara Stanton. Reese, with a bomb strapped to his vest like Mark Snow, is forced into doing fieldwork alongside him. The two steal a hard drive and are assigned to install it. A flashback shows Stanton was visited in the hospital by a man named Greer after surviving the Ordos airstrike. Stanton agrees to help Greer if he reveals who tried to kill her in China. Back in the present, Stanton activates the bomb vests and activates the cyberweapon stor
Reese protects eccentric Internet billionaire Logan Pierce (Jimmi Simpson), who is dragging the reputation of his company FriendCzar through the mud with his bad behavior. After several attempts on Pierce's life, it is revealed that his partner, Justin Ogilvay, has been trying to kill him. Pierce flies himself and Reese to St. Petersburg, Russia, to escape the killer, but he invites several friends to join him and party, causing Reese to walk away. Pierce runs into Justin and his goons outside w
Reese and Finch work undercover in a hotel to protect a maid named Mira (Mia Maestro) who escaped the war in Kosovo. Mira, who is hiding her true identity, is being followed by a hit squad. She refuses to cooperate with a reporter investigating a Serbian general's war crimes. When the reporter is murdered, she decides to give a DVD with evidence to the authorities. Fusco escorts Mira to the station, where one final hit man attempts to kill her; he is shot by Carter. Meanwhile, Carter is invited
The Machine gives the numbers of Sameen Shaw (Sarah Shahi), a government assassin, and Michael Cole (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), a computer specialist working for Special Counsel (Jay O. Sanders). Special Counsel has sent a hit team to eliminate Shaw and Cole because Cole may have obtained information on the Machine. They kill Cole but Shaw escapes, shooting Reese, who she believes is another assassin. Root captures and interrogates Shaw but leaves abruptly to avoid another hit team from Special Counse
After being silent for three days, when the Machine generates numbers of six missing people, Reese, Finch, and Detective Carter realize that they are hunting a serial killer who assumes the identity of his victims. Reese encounters FBI agent Alan Fahey (Luke Macfarlane) at Owen Island during his search for the same killer. Due to a severe storm, residents of the island take shelter in the police station. Finch arrives at the island and assists Fahey interrogate the people in the station. Carter,
The Machine generates the number of watch repairman Lou Mitchell (Ron McLarty), who is consistently losing large sums of money at a casino. He and many other elderly gamblers are actually victims of a drug-money laundering operation headed by the casino's owner Dario Makris (Michael Rispoli). Finch breaks into the casino server room and gathers the needed evidence, but is caught and taken hostage along with Reese, Leon, and Lou. They are forced to play a game of Russian roulette, but Reese gets
Reese monitors Michael Cole's family where Shaw finds him. Finch calls with a new number, that of Monica Jacobs (Tracie Thoms), a high-ranking employee of a technology company called Rylatech. Jacobs is being hunted and framed for industrial espionage by other employees who are secretly working as spies for China and Greer's shadowy company Decima Technologies. Meanwhile, Shaw tracks Finch to the library, where she grabs a list of Root's aliases from the wall, telling Finch she has a new project
When a highly decorated doctor named Richard Nelson (Dennis Boutsikaris) is poisoned with a fatal dose of radiation, Reese is forced to partner with Nelson to track down the killer after they both realize that the radiation has no antidote. Unable to save Nelson, the two poison the killer with the same toxin. Flashbacks explore how Detective Fusco became involved with HR and the development of his friendship with Detective Stills. Meanwhile, HR has an informant give the Internal Affairs Bureau t
Special Counsel discovers that there is a threat to the Machine, which Finch and Reese are attempting to stop. The Machine gives a number belonging to Ernest Thornhill, a CEO who is buying several payphone companies in New York. Decima Technologies, Finch, Root, Shaw and Reese all attempt to reach Thornhill, but Finch discovers that Thornhill is an alias created by the Machine. Root and Finch enter Thornhill Enterprises and discover that the Machine will reboot to defend against the virus, once
The Machine grants both Reese and Root full administrative access and saves Reese (with Shaw) and Root (with Finch) from several potential threats. Root and Finch arrive at the Hanford nuclear facility where the Machine is kept, followed shortly by Reese and Shaw, the latter being slowed as the Machine directs them to rescue people from the irrelevant list. They find that the Machine has moved. Finch explains that he planted hidden code inside the Machine that would grant it the freedom to prote