The next irrelevant number has been asking questions about The Machine itself. Tonight I’m reviewing the 22nd episode of Person of Interest (Season 1), “No Good Deed.”
Spoiler warning: This post contains major plot spoilers. If you haven’t watched it, please do so before reading my analysis.
Navigation: Introduction, Episode Summary, Thoughts & Feelings, Conclusion
Episode Summary
Main Storyline
Harold Finch and John Reese must protect their next irrelevant number, an NSA analyst, from government assassins who want to silence him. The bigger challenge is keeping him from discovering the AI surveillance system, The Machine.
Meanwhile, Reese gets more information about Finch and how he gets the irrelevant numbers.
The Number
Henry Peck, a meticulous intelligence analyst for the NSA, gets suspicious about his reports getting extra information that led to the stoppage of several terrorist attacks. He also realizes that the government successfully built a computer system that can watch everyone.
Henry Peck is the victim.
Flashbacks
The flashbacks focus on Finch and Nathan Ingram handing over The Machine to the government, Ingram and Alicia Corwin’s bar talk about moving The Machine, and Ingram secretly building a backdoor to access the irrelevant numbers.
Navigation: Introduction, Episode Summary, Thoughts & Feelings, Conclusion
Thoughts & Feelings
The Episode Title
“No good deed goes unpunished” is an ironic phrase meaning that acts of kindness, generosity, or simply helping someone lead to negative consequences.
The irrelevant number, Henry Peck, wanted to do something good by questioning and exposing the government’s surveillance of everyone. But he gets punished for it by losing his job and almost losing his life.
Finch built that very surveillance system to protect the country from terrorist attacks. But he, too, paid a personal price.
How Finch Gets the Numbers
Earlier in this episode, Reese discovered that Finch doesn’t get the irrelevant numbers in their base of operations, The Library. While following Finch within a certain distance, Finch picked up a call from a payphone, and he called Reese: “We need to meet, Mr. Reese. We just received another number.” Bewildered, Reese went to the same phone booth to check. What the hell happened there?
Later, when the vigilante duo discussed the new number, Reese asked where he got that very information:
Finch: Well, John, there’s this machine…
Reese: Yeah, but you didn’t get it here (at The Library), did you? It’s much more subtle than that.
That’s when Reese firmly asked how The Machine communicates with his boss in glasses, in case something tragic happens. Finch said he has a contingency for that, but he didn’t elaborate.
Reese: Sooner or later, you’ll let the cat out of the bag, Finch.
Finch: Curiosity kills cats, Mr. Reese.
Oh, the banter between these two.
Speaking of the new number…
On Henry Peck
The public wanted to be protected. They just didn’t want to know how they were being protected.
Harold Finch, Person of Interest: Pilot (Season 1, Episode 1)
The series constantly explores privacy versus security, and Henry Peck, an intelligence analyst, discovers that the government he works for is spying on everyone through a secret computer system. He had to tell someone about this grand conspiracy. (He doesn’t know that the government doesn’t really control The Machine, but that’s beside the point.)
His concern was noble, and maybe his plan to expose the government was his way of helping the country and perhaps the world. But the government doesn’t want to reveal how they protect their citizens from terrorist attacks, so Special Counsel (a government official who’s supposed to protect whistleblowers) ordered ISA agents to assassinate Peck before he exposes the government and The Machine, and they went to great lengths in doing so (from staging a drug overdose to killing him alongside a journalist he reached out to). Peck did something good, but he’s still punished for it.
Meanwhile, Finch and Reese also want to protect The Machine’s existence, but Peck’s life shouldn’t pay for it. Plus, to protect the system further, they didn’t ask Detectives Joss Carter and Lionel Fusco for that much assistance. (Interestingly, Carter shared Peck’s 76-page report just to fight a speeding ticket, revealing how meticulous and stubborn the analyst can be.)
Protecting Peck and The Machine’s existence was difficult, but the highly capable Reese pulled it off. Yet, after saving Peck’s life multiple times, he ran away from him and still wanted to talk to someone about the secret system.
The vigilante duo had no other options left…
Finch Talks to Peck
While Peck waited for a journalist to share his suspicions about mass surveillance, someone else sat across from him. It was Finch, and he basically confirmed The Machine’s existence to put Peck at ease. But that didn’t happen. In fact, the analyst asked more questions about the system. Finch had to warn him before handing over everything he needed to start a new life somewhere else:
This is a mystery you don’t want to solve.
Then I heard the very quote that made me appreciate Finch’s character deeply:
…go and live your life. Find some secrets of your own. And if you really need a mystery, I recommend the human heart.
A puzzled Peck asked how a stranger knows everything about The Machine, and Finch only answered four words:
Because I built it.
After revealing enough to Peck, the secretive hacker walked away, and Peck was bewildered. Someone else earned a yellow crosshair, The Machine’s designated color for those who know its existence.
Speaking of those who know The Machine exists…
Alicia Corwin Learns About Finch
From afar, someone listened to Peck and Finch’s conversation. It’s Alicia Corwin, Nathan Ingram’s government contact who has been on the run since The Machine was built. Now Corwin knows the true brain behind the secret system, wide-eyed and all. What would she do with this revelation?
Earlier in the episode, Peck tried to reach out to Corwin by phone. When Corwin finally answered, Peck asked why the government was after him. She only said two words: sibilance and run. Later that night, Peck stole a report titled Sibilance (an internal audit of the NSA intranet that would prove his suspicions of The Machine) from his former employer’s office, and Reese protected him from the ISA agents’ hail of bullets.
Grace Hendricks Debuts
Meanwhile, Reese has been investigating his mysterious, rich employer, Finch. With Detective Lionel Fusco’s help, The Man in the Suit learned about the false identities Finch started using since his MIT days and his connection to IFT founder Nathan Ingram. Now, in “No Good Deed,” he learned something more personal and heartbreaking.
Armed with the knowledge that Finch bought multiple copies of The Boroughs magazine, Reese found where Finch frequently buys his sencha green tea and followed a truck that delivered the same magazine. It led him to a simple apartment nearby, and he thought he found Finch’s actual home. He knocked on the door, and a lovely redhead greeted him. Using his cover as Detective Stills, he was let in to check the apartment. He learned that the redhead was an illustrator who drew the magazine covers. She thought she had a guardian angel because an old-fashioned artist like her still gets referrals from magazine companies.
Reese looked around the apartment, then a framed photo caught his attention: Grace kissing Finch’s cheek.
Reese: Who’s this?
Grace: Um, that’s Harold, my fiancé.
Reese said Harold seemed like a nice guy, and Grace agreed. She believed she would never meet anyone who gets her. She briefly shared their first meeting—offering her ice cream while she painted near a river on a cold day in January. The undercover detective asked if he lived with her, and she said he used to. Apparently, he died two years ago in an accident. Reese only said a few words to Grace: “I’m sorry.”
Reese left Grace’s apartment, and then he saw Finch sitting in the nearby park. That’s when Finch explained that he built and gave a powerful surveillance system to the most ruthless people who would protect The Machine’s secret at all costs. Because of that, Finch doesn’t get a normal life. But Grace can still preserve hers, so he had to leave her when an accident happened. (At this point, the circumstances of that accident are unclear.)
For the second time in the episode, Reese said, “I’m sorry.” Finch reflected on his relationship with Grace, and said:
I was lucky. I had four years of happiness. Some people only get four days.
Finch walked away from Reese, and Reese stopped in his tracks.
Before Reese learned about Grace, he knew Finch as a paranoid, intelligent, rich hacker who hired him to stop violent crimes. During their walk in the park, Finch shared something truly personal and vulnerable with Reese for the first time. And even though he left Grace, he still supports her from afar by referring her to magazine companies and buying copies himself so she doesn’t run out of work. But Finch’s most poetic declaration of love for Grace is when he vaguely mentions her to Peck—she is someone he values more than his own life.
Beneath the paranoia, intellect, and social awkwardness, Finch can love and care.
The Flashbacks
All the flashbacks are related to The Machine itself.
First, Ingram talked to Finch about building a backdoor to The Machine before handing it over to the government. Finch shared that because he distrusts anyone except Ingram, he coded the system with self-maintenance and self-upgrade functions, and no one else can alter its code. Ingram disagrees with Finch because any system can be compromised at some point. Finch firmly tells him he will not compromise the system with a backdoor, will keep the code as is, and let it go. That’s when he turned off the entire system before the turnover.
Second, in a bar, before Ingram offered Corwin a drink, they discussed The Machine’s server transfer to an undisclosed facility. Ingram assured that only eight people knew about the system’s existence, and Corwin got anxious. “Seven, Nathan.” Ingram reassured her, “You know I’m not good at math.” He also noticed that Corwin looked worried, but she brushed it off and told him she could have that drink now.
Third and last, it was revealed that Finch didn’t build the backdoor to access the irrelevant numbers. Ingram himself built the backdoor behind his friend’s back before they turned it over to the government. At some point, Finch will learn about the backdoor. What will happen if he does?
Navigation: Introduction, Episode Summary, Thoughts & Feelings, Conclusion
Conclusion
In “No Good Deed,” Reese and Finch faced one of their most difficult missions: protecting an irrelevant number while keeping him from discovering The Machine. Reese also learned about Finch’s past with his fiancé, whom he had to protect by leaving. I truly love this episode because it deepened The Machine’s lore and showed something vulnerable about its creator.
Rating: 👁️👁️👁️👁️👁️
Navigation: Introduction, Episode Summary, Thoughts & Feelings, Conclusion
Disclaimer: This is simply an in-depth analysis from a fan. No copyright infringement is intended in any show-related media featured in this post.
