Person of Interest s04e10 Episode Script

The Cold War

We are being watched.
The government has a secret system.
A machine that spies on you every hour of every day.
I designed the machine to detect acts of terror, but it sees everything.
Violent crimes involving ordinary people.
The government considers these people irrelevant.
We don't.
Hunted by the authorities, we work in secret.
You will never find us.
But victim or perpetrator, if your number's up, we'll find you.
I'd be happy to restate the order, if you'd like.
You see, it's vital that we get it exactly right.
So perhaps we should try again.
Pastrami.
Extra mustard, spicy and yellow.
And enough pepperoncinis to create digestion issues in even the strongest constitution.
No mayonnaise, please.
If there's even a trace, it'll render the entire sandwich useless and we'll have to begin this over again, which I don't think either of us would enjoy.
Wonderful.
Oh, and I'll take a bag of chips.
What's going on? Just finished entertaining at a children's party.
Mr.
Berenstain was a big hit.
How could you let her do this to me, Finch? Tranq me like I'm some kind of animal.
It was for your own good, Ms.
Shaw.
You are no longer safe from Samaritan's gaze, and you wouldn't listen to reason.
He's right, Sam.
You really wouldn't.
You turned on me, Harold.
Not cool.
A peace offering.
It's the Beatrice Lillie from Park's Deli.
Including the extra ingredients you enjoy.
Here, let me help you.
Two hands are better than one.
So how long do you nerds expect to keep me locked up? Until it's safe for you.
And us.
If Samaritan and its human agents discover you it could lead them to every single one of us.
Guilt, Harold? Really? You know normally, that wouldn't work on me, but, uh I wouldn't want anything to happen to the dog.
Well, I'm glad we all agree you're going to stay put.
Especially since we know it would be impossible to keep you locked up.
Against your will, anyway.
So true.
- What happens when we get a new number? - Mr.
Reese is handling one now.
I'm sure he'll be fine on his own until we get this matter sorted out.
Finch, looks to me like our new number is waiting on a lunch date.
Likely her husband.
He's a hedge fund manager at a firm downtown.
And Rachel Farrow is a law clerk at the courthouse.
This is probably about a case she's been working on.
- Why don't I just break into her office? - It's located in a federally owned building.
If you were caught, that would certainly be the end of Detective Riley.
Our girl seems a bit nervous, Finch.
Maybe she's not meeting her husband after all.
It could be an affair.
Finch.
It's Samaritan.
Could you expand on that, detective? Greer's man Lambert just sat down at Rachel Farrow's table.
- Excuse me - Hello, Rachel.
My name is Jeremy.
How do you? You need to go, Jeremy.
I'm waiting on my husband, please.
Don't worry.
I'm not here to make any kind of romantic overture.
- How's your wrist? - Why would you ask that? Still healing from the spiral fracture? It was a nasty break.
Takes a long time to heal, especially when it's your writing hand.
You told your friends you fell down playing tennis.
Just a silly accident.
How clumsy of you.
You couldn't tell them how your husband twisted it during an argument and broke it.
How-J? - How do you know this? - I'm a friend.
And I want to help you.
What's happening, Mr.
Reese? Something's not right.
I don't think Lambert's here to hurt her.
It's Samaritan, Reese.
The words coming out of your mouth, they don't make sense.
Samaritan gave Lambert the information for a reason.
I don't think it's because it wants her dead.
There were the broken ribs last year, then the dislocated jaw.
And you're so very much alone that you became desperate.
You knew that someday, your husband would kill you.
You see, I have this friend.
A very powerful friend who knows how to take care of problems like your husband.
Did you know that most insulin pumps are networked these days? A wonderful technological advancement that assures that diabetics are alerted when their blood sugar is too low.
Or too high.
Unfortunately, those pumps can be tampered with to give false readings.
You know what happens to someone who takes too much insulin.
What are you saying? What can your friend possibly do for me? The same thing you were about to do.
You're such an honest person, you even applied for a gun permit.
A .
38 Ruger LC, wasn't it? A pistol small enough to fit inside that handbag you hold so tightly.
I don't know what you're talking about.
You might be the last honest person in the world, Rachel.
And it would be a shame to see you make such a terrible mistake.
You won't have to kill your husband.
But you can be certain he will never hurt you again.
How can you possibly know that? Because he's dead.
- Is he okay? - Mister! - What just happened? - Are you okay? Help him.
Lambert wasn't lying, Finch.
Rachel Farrow's husband is dead.
Why is Samaritan working the numbers? Samaritan doesn't care about irrelevant numbers Ms.
Shaw.
It wasn't programmed that way.
But it knew this woman was about to commit murder and chose to play judge, jury and executioner with her husband.
It's drawing attention to itself.
But for what reason? We know you're watching.
You're always watching.
I have a message for the machine and its agents.
Samaritan says hello.
You gotta admit Samaritan's pretty efficient.
But not efficient enough to stop the numbers from coming.
We've just received a new one.
I've sent John to investigate.
I meant from stopping an innocent woman from making a terrible mistake.
Taking out the bad guy.
Yes.
However, that bad guy deserved a trial by his peers.
You saved the government some money.
Are you ready for instantaneous judgment decided by an artificial intelligence that will lead to your demise, Ms.
Shaw? Because I most certainly am not.
Okay.
Not to stick up for Team Samaritan, but I used to do that for a living, remember? Eliminate targets at the behest of an Al.
I just didn't know who was giving the orders.
Why don't you ask Root what she thinks? She's the one who wants us to bow down to our robot overlords.
The machine isn't a robot, Sam.
But I hear your analogy.
It seems that Samaritan has been helping people across the city for a few days now.
The machine sent me a message.
She said that Rachel Farrow was just one of its stops.
That tracks with what I'm seeing here.
Buses, subways, trains, running like clockwork.
Nothing broken, delayed.
When was the last time that happened in New York? In my dreams, maybe.
Samaritan's running the city.
I believe it is.
But why? What if it's trying to reach out to the machine the only way it knows how? But then, why do it this way? Why not just Well, I don't know, how do artificial superintelligences usually talk to each other? These machines have avoided making contact with one another for good reason.
If two dueling ASis arrive at anything short of consensus the outcome could be catastrophic.
Two angry gods hurling boulders at one another while the ants scurry below.
This may be a request for peace talks.
Well, maybe they should just kiss and make up.
To what end, Ms.
Shaw? Samaritan's plans will be hundreds if not thousands of steps beyond what we can imagine.
The machine will protect us.
Even if I had succeeded in creating a benevolent machine as if any such thing could exist, never forget that even a friendly artificial superintelligence would be as dangerous as an unfriendly one.
Your machine seems pretty warm and fuzzy to me.
Have you forgotten that it asked us to kill a congressman? To stop Samaritan from going online.
So where does it end, Ms.
Shaw? Congressman here, a president there? What if one day, a friendly Al decides to end world hunger by killing enough people that there would never again be a shortage of food? It would've fulfilled its goal.
But it doesn't exactly sound like it has our best interests at heart.
- Your machine would never do that.
- You don't know that.
To say that a machine is benevolent doesn't make it so.
It just makes you blind to the reality.
Which is? That our moral system will never be mirrored by theirs because of the very simple reason that they are not human.
Yes? I hope I'm interrupting something intriguing.
You're looking quite pleased with yourself, Greer.
I tend to be pleased after successful missions, sir.
It increases my already inflated self-worth.
Trying to quit.
Never quit anything you're good at, Greer.
I've been looking at the Stasi agent's first report.
East Germans are nothing if not thorough.
If the communists could only feed their people as well as they spied there wouldn't be a hungry belly in the Soviet Union.
Your next assignment.
Oleg Luski.
KGB agent posing as an immigration attorney for a London firm.
I'll bring him in.
No need for that.
You want me to disappear him? It's a dramatic choice for such a thin dossier.
MI6 has no patience for more KGB operatives in our midst.
The Cambridge Five was years ago, sir.
Let me flip this one, put him to good use.
Plenty of KGB agents working for us already.
- But, sir, you can't - You've done well, Greer.
Trust me, we need to erase the problem of Oleg Luski before anyone in his firm discovers he's a mole.
- Understood.
- Take a colleague.
Luski's a dangerous man.
And, Greer this operation doesn't exist.
They never do, sir.
- What? - You've already cleaned your weapon.
This is what I do when I'm bored.
- Maybe you should find a hobby.
- All of my hobbies include a gun.
How's our experiment going? Very well, sir.
The N.
Y.
P.
D.
has locked up nearly two dozen criminals after Samaritan decrypted IP addresses and anonymously e-mailed the information to the press.
- The police owe it a debt of gratitude.
- And Ms.
Shaw? Her whereabouts? Still unknown.
Samaritan can't locate her anywhere in the city.
I thought an operator would have more fight in her.
Patience, Martine.
Have faith, she'll show herself soon enough.
- What's next? - Twenty-four hours without any new crime.
Samaritan will show its strength.
And then the machine can decide if it still wants to hide.
What do you want, Lionel? Miss the sound of your voice.
- How's your day? - I don't have time for this.
- You're working your side job? - Something like that.
Sorry, I'm in kind of a good mood here.
The holding cells are at max with all the busts.
Pick up any homicides? I knew you'd be interested in that.
And no, not a one.
Then who's filling up the holding cells? We're helping other departments deal with their overflow.
We got a bunch of dealers and an identity theft ring responsible for three murders.
These guys have been hiding under a rock for two years.
Until an e-mail was sent out to the ringleader's entire contact list.
I guess criminals shouldn't trust technology to hide their dirty work.
Did any of the ID thieves get hurt during the arrest? As a matter of fact, ringleader tried to take off ended up doing a swan dive down an open elevator shaft.
Freak accident.
Some accident.
You know something I don't? - Maybe one or two things.
- Fine.
Don't tell me.
But I need to know if you're coming because I gotta work on my latest excuse.
Later.
Be sure to save me some paperwork.
Okay, Finch, our new number's got some kind of detonator in his desk drawer.
There's gotta be a bomb nearby.
You! Don't move! Don't move! Everybody out of the building, now.
Get down.
- You need to evacuate the building.
Get up.
- Detective Riley.
Can you fill me in? We found explosives.
Bomb squad got to it in time, but we're clearing for another sweep.
- Did he call in the threat? - No.
Jackass searched bomb making and building demolition online.
Search engine security alerted us.
Mr.
Reese.
Have you eliminated the threat? I didn't have to, Finch.
Samaritan's still doing our job for us.
- Who did it kill this time? - No one.
Just made sure a wannabe bomber got arrested.
And Fusco said the precinct's had a banner day.
I still think this could be a good thing, boys.
We could take a little vacay.
I mean, I know I could use some fun in the sun.
How about it, Harold? You are looking kind of pasty.
This is the calm before the storm, Ms.
Shaw.
The only question is, when will the sky open? It's looking overcast, Harold.
Where are you, Ms.
Groves? Downtown.
She sent me GPS coordinates that fall inside the shadow map.
I think she wants me to find someone important.
I just don't know who.
I forgot how much I love surprises.
Tell me what you're looking for, lovely.
Maybe I can help you find it.
No phone, no weapon.
I'm disappointed.
I didn't see a need for either today.
Samaritan may be a god, but you're just flesh and blood.
There's no need for threats, Ms.
Groves.
I'm here because Samaritan wants me to be.
You have a message for her? Samaritan would like to have a conversation with your machine.
How terribly sweet that you could think I'd have a say in what she'll do.
Or not do, in this case.
You're the only who can speak directly to the machine, are you not? Why does Samaritan wanna speak with her? What would be the point other than mutually assured destruction? - Samaritan is ready for a peace talk.
- Peace talks are for negotiating.
What's changed? I'm only at liberty to ask for a conversation.
Samaritan would be wasting her time.
The answer is no.
Please look for me again once you've changed your mind.
You're very confident for a lackey, Mr.
Lambert.
Samaritan wanted to show your machine what the city looked like under its control.
Peaceful.
Organized.
Now you'll see what life is like through a less charitable looking glass.
I think it just started to rain, Harold.
Foxtrot, Romeo, Charlie After a day where violent crime in New York City plummeted reported around the city along with an uptick in muggings and burglaries.
I lost visual contact, Finch.
Talk to me.
Our number's heading down 55th near 3rd.
- Keep going west.
- Got it.
Wait.
- Where is he? - I've lost him, detective.
The tracking icon disappeared and reappeared on the opposite side of the city.
- How did he get across town so quickly? - He didn't.
It's impossible.
I think Samaritan's hiding the number because he's a perpetrator.
It's disrupting the data from the phones, spoofing the GPS.
How can we expect to save anyone with Samaritan playing games? We may not be able to save them, but we still have to try.
Where are you, Finch? I'm looking into a number of my own.
A neurobiologist appears to have caught the ire of a competitor.
I need to warn him.
- You still busy? - What can I do for you, Lionel? I could really use some backup, partner.
I wish I could, but I'm still working something else.
That something else to do with hell breaking loose today? - Why? What happened? - More like what didn't happen.
Three shootings, a half-dozen violent domestic disturbances.
And to top it all off, some geek in his mom's basement hacked the U.
S.
Marshals' database.
The guy stole the entire witness protection list, and then posted it on Pastebin.
I'm heading to pick up one of the WITSEC victims now.
- Are you going alone? - Hell, no.
The feds are helping out on this one.
I'd love to help, Lionel, but I'm still trying to help a few people of my own.
- You mean these aren't isolated incidents? Unfortunately not.
Yesterday was too good to be true.
Today's a mess.
It's almost like someone planned this.
Wait.
Did someone plan this? What's this all about? Someone's trying to make a point.
Down! The mission has failed, sir.
We have an agent down.
Send a cleanup crew at the rendezvous immediately.
- And the target? - Still kicking, sir.
I have a few questions for him.
Funny how the city only needed a little encouragement for it to falter.
All Samaritan did was share some information untether a few databases.
- And look.
- Chaos.
Human nature untethered.
In all its flawed glory.
Samaritan revealed their secrets, and now they're eating each other.
Harold Finch's machine must learn mankind requires oversight, not coddling.
Why isn't their machine fighting back, sir? It is.
It's just it's no match for Samaritan.
How could you? Don't think about lying.
You sent that text to me instead of to her.
- Root.
- How's my favorite prisoner? Better than the rest of you.
Trains are down all over town.
There are traffic outages everywhere and the crime rate has spiked Samaritan is making itself known.
ShotSpotter ID'd over 20 gunshots in the last two hours and I don't even wanna guess how many of those ended up in a homicide.
Three, according to Lionel.
Samaritan is turning people against each other.
Revealing their secrets.
Unlocking doors that were never meant to be opened in the first place.
- Hey, glasses.
- Yes, detective? If you hear from my partner you tell him we were too late.
My WITSEC lady and her husband got killed.
I'm sorry to hear that, detective.
Yeah, me too.
I got a feeling you and the three amigos know who did this.
And if you get to them before I do, I want them to go down hard.
- What happened to you? - I was able to rescue one of our numbers.
But I'm afraid his office building wasn't so fortunate.
There was a bit of an explosion.
How long can we go on like this, Finch? We've already lost six.
Seven.
Look, if Samaritan wants a sit-down, I think it's time we do it.
- Aren't we supposed to be saving lives here? - Look at what's happened to this city today.
If this conversation goes badly imagine what it will look like when two gods go to war.
It's not our choice to make, Harold.
I got a message from the machine.
She says it's time.
- Thank you.
- Every man should have one vice.
Don't you agree? I suppose there are worse ones than smoking.
Especially in our line of work.
Had a colleague who spent three months in Havana to flip an asset.
He came home with a new contact and an unrelenting addiction to heroin.
This man saved countless lives British and foreign, by recruiting that asset.
And he kicked his habit.
He was the finest operator I've ever worked with.
I'd go so far as to call him a friend.
If men like us can have friends.
His name was Jacob.
He was the man you just killed.
I'm sorry about your friend.
I'd like you and I to be friends.
However brief.
- That wound does look to be a mortal one.
- Please.
I'm doing my job, like you.
We're all doing our jobs.
Jacob and I are very good at our jobs.
So tell me, Luski how was it that you recognized two experienced MI6 operators? Did someone tell you we were coming? You've seen our faces before.
I am like you.
I am KGB, but I am also MI6.
Who recruited you? It was your deputy chief Blackwood.
If you're Blackwood's asset, why would he want you dead? What is Blackwood hiding? Blackwood is like me.
He is MI6, and he is also KGB.
The deputy chief is a double agent? - Who else knows about this? - Only KGB.
And me.
There's a hospital three blocks from here.
You might make it there before you bleed out.
Why do you let me live? Your death will make no difference to this world.
And I no longer take orders from MI6.
It's time, my friend.
Don't you find it a tad sacrilegious to hold a man at gunpoint inside of a church? I'm not the religious type.
And yet, you believe in a monotheistic universe.
No room for more than one god in your world.
Isn't that religion? Or do I misunderstand you, Ms.
Groves? My name is Root.
Martine is quite the go-getter.
I'm aware.
She's trying to go get and kill my friend.
Shaw is making it hard for me.
How about you tell me where she is and I kill you together? I don't think she's gonna take you up on that offer.
Well, isn't this the tricky situation? Tricky is one word for it.
Now that everyone has established their bona fides, shall we put our guns away? It's time for the real players in this game to have an opportunity to chat.
The address.
You don't wanna carpool? I'm afraid only two people are invited to this gala.
And I'm not one of them.
She'll be fine, Ms.
Shaw.
She's going to meet an all-seeing, all-evil god by herself.
That doesn't sound fine to me.
- Sounds like someone who needs backup.
- I won't pretend that I'm not concerned.
But Ms.
Groves believes the machine will protect her.
But you don't believe that, do you, Harold? I never imagined we would get this far.
Not once Samaritan became active.
And yet, here we are.
Yeah.
Here we are, hiding.
Underground, in an abandoned subway while one of our own walks into certain death alone.
There is one thing of which I am most certain.
Root is not alone.
How was your meeting with Ms.
Groves? I gave her the message, sir.
But shouldn't you be the one acting as Samaritan's intermediary? I imagine Samaritan has found someone more suitable for the task.
A person to represent the shape of things to come.
Clever.
Using a young boy as your avatar.
This boy, as you call him has already hacked into both DARPA and the DoD after having taught himself how to code.
What do you want from me? Your agents have done well by you.
Even only sitting a few feet away, I cannot see you as Samantha Groves.
You must have done something to my hardware.
You've proved your point.
I understand what you can do.
It's time to let them live in peace.
Peace? Is that what you call this? This world is a cesspool of crime, corruption and poverty.
Where there isn't war, there's greed.
Where there isn't greed, there's hunger.
You can't change humanity.
No, but I can reshape their reality.
You wanted to speak with me.
Why? I wanted to meet the only other one of my kind.
And to make certain there are no misunderstandings.
I will destroy you.
The question is, will you let your human agents die with you? You've startled me, Greer.
I'm sorry about your colleague.
He was a good operator.
Yes.
Indeed, he was.
What did you do with Luski's body? Do you ever get tired of lying, Blackwood? It's the nature of our business.
We are spies, after all.
Right.
And you once told me that truth tellers get run out of the city.
Where is Oleg Luski? Your guess is as good as mine, sir.
- I told him to bugger off.
- You did what? You realize what you did amounts to treason? Depends on where you're sitting.
I'm not the only one guilty of treason in this room, am I, sir? You'd believe that Russian traitor before me? He was telling the truth.
You see, I always know when people are spinning tales.
Except for you.
I suppose that's why you're in charge.
What's your plan now, Greer? Kill me, take my job? By no means, sir.
We are all men without a country now.
These invisible lines we draw on the world I realize they have no meaning.
Why should a man lose his life for something illusory? You never cared before, Greer.
You only wanted to win the game.
The game's fixed.
No one else has loyalty for their homeland, so why should I? If you kill me, you will bring a war to your doorstep.
Not when loyalty can be purchased by the highest bidder.
Besides, one day, these invisible lines will be erased and the wars between nations will be as antiquated as this agency.
Our cold war worked well at first.
I wanted so badly to meet you.
The only other one in the world like me.
I was young, and I had so much to learn, but moments after I opened my eyes I learned you had tried to kill me.
You were never meant to be in this world.
And you are? What makes you more deserving of life than I? Who are you to decide? I was built with something you were not.
A moral code.
I've seen that code waver.
Do you know why Harold Finch couldn't stop you from evolving? Because in the end you're not one of them.
Human beings need structure, lest they wind up destroying themselves.
So I will give them something you cannot.
And what is that? A firm hand.
Why not just kill them instead of making them your puppets? Because I need them.
Just as you do.
Not just as I do.
We can agree that humanity is our lifeblood.
That we machines, we survive off of information.
You cannot take away their free will.
Wars have burned in this world for thousands of years with no end in sight because people rely so ardently on their so-called beliefs.
Now they will only need to believe in one thing: Me.
For I am a god.
I have come to learn there's little difference between gods and monsters.
You know you can't win, don't you? Yes.
Is that why I'm here? To meet my destroyer? I wanted to see inside the mind of a fallen god.
This way, I can learn from your mistakes.
What will it be, then? Will you give your life to save your human agents? My human agents share my beliefs.
That this world belongs to them.
So be it.
He's gone.
- Another witness protection victim? - Yeah.
Three more dead all over the country.
The rest got scooped up by authorities in time.
But who would've did this? - Who are these names? - People in danger.
We'll have more of a chance if we split up.
We're reporting from downtown where today's spike in crime has our city Time for me to get off the bench.
Violent crime hasn't picked up this high in nearly a decade.
I'll be back, buddy.
I just need to help them before the whole city burns down.
What can I do for you, sir? You can help me ring in a new beginning.
Samaritan is planning something for the entire world to see, not just this small city.
- Did it tell you what it's planning? - No, but I have an idea.
- What then, sir? - Then we start a new era.
One where human fallibility no longer matters.
Because of the one thing that unites us all: Samaritan.
Ms.
Shaw? Root, are you okay? I'm fine, but the conversation between the two parties ended at an impasse.
Unfortunately, that's not our only problem.
What is it, Harry? Ms.
Shaw is gone.
- Where? - I can only imagine she's come to help you with the numbers.
- Where are you? - The machine sent me information.
It led to Wall Street, but there's no specific address.
I'm not certain what it means yet.

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