| Episode Overview | Summary | POI | Cast and Characters | Crew |
The Machine recaps recent events, including Shaw's shooting, and Finch's location of a small upstate town called Maple. Root and Reese are at Maple, in search of a truck believed to be carrying Shaw with it. They prepare their cover identities.
Finch visits Fusco at the NYPD precinct with a casefile for their next number, to which Fusco takes interest and insists to be involved.
Root and Reese arrive at Maple's 212th Anniversary Fair, hosted by a woman named Leslie Thompson. They remain confused as to why they're here.
Fusco is at a park in search of the number, Albert Weiss, a sales associate from New Jersey. Detective Dani Silva is present as well and spots Fusco, walking over to meet with him. She warns Fusco that Weiss is a suspect in two missing persons cases.
Root and Reese arrive at Maple's police office to investigate recent security footage. The police chief, Chief Wicker, is attracted to Root and harasses her, but Root incapacitates him while Reese comes in. Root learns that the truck never left Maple, meaning Shaw is possibly still there. The two take Wicker to a nearby home and interrogate him, but to no avail. Finch reports that the truck was abandoned while Root tortures Wicker.
Silva gives Fusco her casefiles on the missing persons linked to Weiss, reporting hundred pounds lye stolen from the man's hardware store years ago. Silva believes that Weiss' unsuspecting nature could be a cover for an assassin.
Reese and Root get back on the road, and Root expresses her optimism that Shaw is indeed alive.
Silva and Fusco meet at a bar to spy on Weiss, while Finch identifies Marcus Young as a potential target. Weiss is spotted following Young into the kitchen, but Fusco arrests him under a trespassing charge. Weiss slams his head onto a table and makes it look like Fusco is being aggressive.
Root and Reese arrive at the home of Mason Bauer, whose trust fund crashed four months ago. They find the truck in his backyard, and though no one's inside, they find a stretcher with medical equipment.
The two then break into the home of Dr. Victor Haskell, who they interrogate about his medical equipment they found. Haskell admits he was anonymously called to consult on a craniotomy, though he didn't call the police due to a history of witness disappearances. Some victims went as far as those attempting to expose terrorism, while Haskell himself was framed for medical malpractice. He points them to his former workplace, run by Leslie Thompson, the woman at the anniversary fair.
Finch meets with Fusco and gives him the address of a Brooklyn home owned by Weiss under a false identity. Fusco asks about Shaw, assuming she's dead. He then returns to the precinct, where he and Silva warn Young about Weiss. Fusco gives Silva the address, to which she departs.
Root and Reese watch Mason Bauer get arrested for the shooting of a lottery winner. Leslie Thompson is present, and Reese grabs her.
That night, Silva arrives at Weiss' address, an abandoned-looking dark building containing a room for murders. Weiss ambushes Silva, but she is saved by Fusco at the expense of Weiss' capture.
Thompson wakes up in an apartment where Reese interrogates her. She says that her real name is MaryAnn Holst, and was anonymously emailed by Samaritan into working as an agent. Root, impatient, threatens Holst with the medical drill, and Holst says that she spotted Shaw with Decima. Root drills a hole in Holst's hand, prompting the latter to reveal that Shaw was alive.
At the precinct, Fusco and Silva know that they are Weiss' next targets.
Reese, Root and Holst arrive at the factory where Shaw was spotted. Holst points them to where Shaw was taken.
Silva returns home, where Weiss attempts to kill her - she and Fusco were expecting him, and a brawl ends with Silva shooting Weiss dead.
Root blows a security door open using explosive charges, and she and Reese fend off armed guards while discovering neural implants used to relay information to Samaritan. They locate the room where Shaw was taken, but instead find Delia Jones, a secretary at the stock exchange who was abducted to be used as a test subject for the neural implants. Reese rescues her and leaves the plant with Root.
At the precinct, Silva confides in Fusco that Weiss was her first kill. Fusco tells her that Marcus Young plans to testify, and reminds her that heroics isn't an easy job.
Shortly afterwards, Finch walks the streets reporting to Reese that Samaritan has ceased operations in Maple. He meets with Root at a street corner, and she is dismayed at the Machine's lack of an answer regarding Shaw's whereabouts. Finch remains skeptical, but Root begs a security camera for help. A phone promptly rings, but the first letters of the book titles the Machine names spell out "STOP". Finch appears to understand that the pursuit of the truth has the potential to consume them. Root, however, tells Finch goodbye and leaves.
Elsewhere, Greer is seen talking to a hospitalized Shaw, who is indeed alive.