When Reese and Finch discover that their latest POI has connections to Cold War's Eastern Bloc espionage circles, they quickly learn how covert ops were handled in a world before the Machine. The case also makes Reese reflect on his own life as a spy back when he worked for the CIA.
Origin of the Title[]
The episode obviously refers to the antagonistic relationship between Ulrich and Reese and, to a lesser extent, Reese and Kara. However, the title can also refer to Reese's struggle between his job's requirement to kill people he doesn't know and his own ethics.
Main Plot Points[]
Person of Interest: Ulrich Kohl – a former Stasi assassin who wants to take revenge on his former co-workers and his wife who betrayed him.
Reese's time and attitude at the CIA is touched upon through his first day at work: He is very uncomfortable killing people, but Kara convinces him to ignore his feelings.
Reese's codename is revealed to be assigned by Kara.
Episode Notes[]
Kohl shoots his victims with a Welrod, an extremely rare silenced bolt action pistol.
The medals and the certificate Reese finds hidden in Hauffe's apartment match the real medals that were awarded by the Stasi. The text on the certificate almost uses the same words as there were on real certificates, though with spelling errors.
The flashback scene indicates that the Machine is accessing the NCS archive. This would serve to indicate that Stanton and Reese were working for the National Clandestine Service at the time.
This episode is the first time that the Machine is shown categorizing a new number before sending it to Finch.
Production Notes[]
The beginning of the episode is unusual as it introduces the Person of Interest directly. Usually, Finch and Reese discuss the new POI first, before the character is shown.
Bloopers and Continuity Errors[]
The word "Stasi" is misspelled in the headline of the newspaper the Machine digs up on Ulrich Kohl's wife ("Missing Stassi Agent's Wife Killed in Accident").
The German certificate ("Ehrenurkunde") Reese finds hidden in Hauffe's apartment contains many spelling and grammatical errors. It reads:
Ehrenurkunde Ais[sic] Zeinchen[sic] der Anerkennung für gewissenhafte Pflichterfüllung im Dienst der bewaffenten[sic] Organe des Ministeriums des Inneren wird im[sic] Hauffe, Heinrich[sic] Namen der Regierung der Deutshen[sic] Demokratischen Republik die Medaille Fur[sic] treue Diens[sic] in Bronze verliehen.
The certificate mentions the Ministry of the Interior as the awarding ministry, however bares the Ministry of State Security's ("Stasi") emblem.
The German report about Anja's accident that Finch receives from Pilcher is fairly nonsensical, in addition to showing major errors in German grammar and sentence structure. It tells, for example, incoherently of a dog, a forest, and that "in 400 years the population of the great state New York will reach epic levels before falling down after a natural disaster."
When Reese is driving to try to save Steiler, the machine shows him in a Chrysler 300. In the next scene of Reese in the car, there's instead a Cadillac logo on the steering wheel.
In the scene where Reese shoots the consulate car, it seems that from the time when Reese parks his car to when he fires his gun, the distance between him and the target shrinks.
Gun-Assembly
Aiming
For further proof, look at the arch in the background, and the white, yellow and orange signs on the right hand side of the second frame which are not in the first. Apparently, the local space-time region somehow folded to allow Reese to "close the distance".
In the shot where the hood blows off the Mercedes, it can be seen that the back seat passenger is actually a dummy.
When Kohl talks with Steiler, he has a gun in one and a coat in the other hand. He switches those several times.
Kohl fires two shots from the Welrod in quick succession at Fusco – without cycling the (completely manually operated) pistol at all.
Kohl's wife Anja and their daughter live at 205 Morningside Ave, New York, NY, 10027. The interior layout of the apartment is the same as in the apartment Finch used before as a cover residence when Carter came by to interview him about the robbery in the evidence lockup (“Cura Te Ipsum”) and also the same he uses as a safe house for the grandparents of Leila Smith. (“Baby Blue”)
Compared to Reese, Ulrich Kohl is one of the few opponents with a similar skill set as well as a similar background: he was a spy who had been betrayed by his government and was living under an alias, seeking revenge for the (supposedly) accidental killing of his loved one. He also doesn't enjoy killing people, but obviously he is very good at it. Reese described himself to Fusco in a similar way. (“Pilot”)
Special Agent Donnelly refers to Ulrich Kohl when he lists crimes "the man in a suit" allegedly has committed. (“Identity Crisis”)
Stanton suggests 'Wilson' as a cover name for Reese. The name is later used for a character in season 2, who is played by Paul Sparks, the real-life husband of Stanton's portrayer, Annie Parisse.
Stanton tells Reese that she knew their targets were compromised because of "an anonymous source, very reliable", implying that the source was the Machine.
Quotes[]
"I'm a sucker for surveillance." (Finch)
"You Tier I boys are all the same: tense." (Stanton)
Finch: "Mr Reese, I am highly uncomfortable being here." Reese: "I am highly uncomfortable having you here, but I need a spotter."
Finch: "What if you miss?" Reese: "I wouldn't know… never have."
"Look, you guys just can't ring me up like I'm a bellhop." (Fusco)