2.04: Triggerman

[Lenny]

A man betrays his boss by killing his son and automatically becomes a target with his lover. Finch gets Elias to call off the bounty but Elias requests something in return even though he saved his life. The man is killed and is sent to New Mexico for safety. It is then revealed Elias requested a game of chess.

---

Back to the usual working day for Finch and Reese. After three episodes of backstory and the arc for the series, this episode was a bit of a disappointment, made particularly so by a story that felt like nothing more than a variation on previous themes.

The number of a guy comes up, with think he's the perpetrator, but it turns out he's in danger. Ho hum. So...

I was also rather disappointed to see Finch get over the fear he displayed last week, of going outside, so quickly.

Carter was nothing special this week, but I liked Fusco's scenes in the bar ("Hey, Merry Christmas", "Hey, Happy Birthday") - it seems that he was the comic relief this week, which fits him well, but I hope his character doesn't get assigned the role permanently.

Finch describing this weeks number (I watched it yesterday, but I've already forgotten his name!) as "bad code" was a nice touch.

On another positive, I was actually kind of happy to see Elias again. He may be hidden away in a jail, but he is still relevant, and he represents a further party of conflict (fifth/sixth, depending on who you think Carter's Captain is working for) in the series arc.

 

[J-Sun]

Finch describing this weeks number (I watched it yesterday, but I've already forgotten his name!) as "bad code" was a nice touch.

That was my favorite part (and his immediately backing off of it with "never mind") and the key to why I wasn't particularly disappointed with this ep, as it addressed a couple of things - one, that Finch and Groves/Root are not completely dissimilar and there may be a bit of Stockholm syndrome going on and, two, that "our hero" is a killer on a path of attempted redemption, causing him to identify (perhaps wrongly) with one of his subjects this week. The scenario of Finch liking "his" reformed killer but still seeing others as "bad code" reminds me a lot of something else I can't put my finger on and creates some interesting dynamics.

And, yeah, it gives Elias something to do and shows the writers haven't confused themselves yet and aren't forgetting their own pieces. (Though the chess ending was obvious).

So not an award-winner to me, but I liked it fine. And I'm actually kind of relieved to be back "in the season". Not that the Root arc wasn't great but sometimes series forget who they are in the ratings business of season finales and premieres and it's a relief to have survived one of these transitions for this show.

-- Oh, but I forgot to note a couple of things about it I didn't like: it again made Reese kind of dumb and incompetent. He got himself shot yet again and then decided to see how a fight with the subject would go before explaining himself, rather than saying what he ended up saying in the first place. The show has to avoid making Reese a boring invincible superhero but they usually portray him as exactly that until and unless they make him incompetent. There's a happy medium they need find somewhere between all that.

 

[FireDragon-16]

-- Oh, but I forgot to note a couple of things about it I didn't like: it again made Reese kind of dumb and incompetent. He got himself shot yet again and then decided to see how a fight with the subject would go before explaining himself, rather than saying what he ended up saying in the first place. The show has to avoid making Reese a boring invincible superhero but they usually portray him as exactly that until and unless they make him incompetent. There's a happy medium they need find somewhere between all that.

That kind of annoyed me to, what did he think was going to happen? Reese knew that Riley had a gun so the fact that he went running down those stairs in full view was pretty dumb.
When he pulled Riley into the alley, I think he kind of wanted to fight him in order to get back at him for shooting him in the first place.

 

[ctg]

Can Finch really play chess with Elias as he has learned over the time? What I mean is that is it wise for him to let Elias to learn about him and his ability to move pieces on the board?

 

[clovis-man]

Didn't care a lot for this episode as it seemed to have devolved into just a "cops & robbers" tale. Complete with the double deadly shoot out at the end. the only thing that got me to take notice was the "bad code" remark. But that went nowhere.