Trama

Finch and Reese run surveillance on a man who's been unemployed for eight months without his family knowing. Angry that he's been fired, he may pose a threat to society.

The next number the machine dispenses is that of Scott Powell, who is seemingly undistinguished from the many in the working middle class. He works as a construction projects manager for the city, he is a family man with a wife and two children, and the Powells live a typical suburban middle class lifestyle. But as Finch and Reese dig a little deeper, they find that he was laid off from his job eight months ago which he has not told his wife, he is still unemployed but pretends to go to work every morning, he has maxed out their credit cards, and he has been blogging negatively about Congressman Michael Delancey, whose policies led to the municipal cutbacks which cost Powell his job. As Reese sees a desperate man who has hit rock bottom, he believes that Powell will try to kill Delancey. As Reese and Finch do some more investigating, they do see that Delancey is the probable target, but that there is another more powerful force behind the violent act. That powerful force threatens Finch's mission i.e. his reason for creating the machine. As that force seems to be one step ahead of Finch at every turn, he calls in a reinforcement person, one of their past POI's who may be able to delve deeper into the political machinations behind Delancey.—Huggo

The machine delivers the number of the constructor and family man Scott Powell, married with two children, and Reese snoops on him. Soon he finds that he was fired from his last work eight months ago and his wife is not aware. Unemployed, he has a huge debt in the credit card, and he insistently looks for a job. He blames Congressman Michael Delancey that eliminated several costs from the City Hall. When Scott is hired and goes to a fundraiser where Delancey will speak, Reese believes he intends to assassinate the congressman. Reese and Finch go to the reception and Reese sees Scott in the balcony; he runs but Scott was only a decoy for the hitman that shoots Delancey and flees. Scott is the patsy and is arrested by the FBI. Finch tries to find who framed Scott, but a hacker invades his system, and he is forced to shutdown. He contacts Zoe Morgan and asks her to help Reese and him to find who incriminated Scott.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Reese is still struggling with the their current case as Finch tells him about the next one, 38-year old family man Scott Powell (Myk Watford). Reese watches the man leave home and head to a park. Unbeknownst to his wife Leslie (Amy Hargreaves), Scott was laid off eight months ago and is trying to find work. We see that he's trying to sell personal items to raise cash.

The guys stake out Scott's house and see him get a call about a temp job. Finch hacks his computer and sees that he's politically-motivated and doesn't seems to care for a Congressman named Delancey. Finch finds a huge encrypted file.

At their request, Carter looked up Scott in the system and finds he's clean, though he's recently filed for a gun permit. Finch and Reese watch him arrive at work for what seems to be a fundraiser for Delancey. Finch finally gets into the file and sees that Scott has been sending Delancey death threats -- he is about to assassinate the Congressman.

Reese and Finch follow Scott into the fundraiser, but Reese is unable to bring his gun and dumps it prior to going throught the magnatometer scan. As Reese searches for Scott, Finch sees on his phone that the threatening E-mails are being flagged. Finch realizes that the E-mails didn't originate from Scott's computer, indicating that he's being framed. Reese tackles Scott, but finds he's holding nothing more than confetti. At that exact moment someone else shoots Delancey. Reese chases after the shooter while everybody points at Scott. He's been set-up.

Finch realizes that a sophisticated hacker has worked on Scott's computer. This means they need to look for the real killers.

Reese explains to Carter that Scott (who is in her precinct) was set-up. She watches his interrogation. The staffing agency is bogus and security cameras at the fundraiser seems to have been manipulated. Carter tells the guys that Delancey died in the hospital, meaning Scott's now looking at Murder One.

Scott calls wife Leslie while the police search their home and tells her he didn't do it. She asks "you have another computer?"

Reese tells Finch that in most cases patsies like Scott are killed to tie up the loose end. Finch has discovered the email that allowed the hacker into Scott's computer and uses it to try and find them. He finds out the hacker is looking at a court house floor plan downtown. Carter calls Reese to tell him the FBI are taking him to that same court house.

Reese intercepts the car and grabs Scott himself. At the same time the hacker tricks Finch and gets into his system and all of his devices. They must discard their phones.

Finch buys a disposable cell phone and leaves a number on an answering service. They speak and Finch tells Reese he's bringing in a political specialist.

Finch meets with their old buddy Zoe (Paige Turco from The Fix (2011)). She seems willing to help them find out who would want to kill Delancey.

The feds tell Leslie about her husband's secret unemployment and show her their financial statements.

Zoe and Finch figure out that Delancey's campaign manager Matheson had ran his former business during the campaign. Delancey's construction business is now under investigation by the DA's office for payoffs and corner-cutting. They think Matheson's plan was to kill Delancey and blame him for everything.

The assassin who killed Delancey tries to break into the hotel room where Reese is keeping Scott. They are able to get away.

Zoe confronts Matheson (Damian Young). She tells him she's a fixer and thinks he could probably use her services. She mentions setting up Delancey and leaves her card.

Matheson calls the hacker to complain about the fact Scott is still alive. She tells him that everything will be fine and calls her muscle. She shows him where Scott is located on a locater.

On the subway Reese pulls a tracking device the tread of one of Scott's shoes. Scott is getting nervous about ever being able to go back to his family. When Reese can't promise him they'll live, he says he wants to talk to his wife.

Through Carter Reese is able to arrange for Scott to speak with Leslie for a few minutes.

Reese lures the hacker's enforcer into a bathroom and beats him silly. He grabs the man's cell phone.

Scott turns himself in.

The hacker calls her muscle's cell phone. Finch answers and says the whole operation is over. We see the hacker start typing a note.

Carter is E-mailed proof that Matheson was behind the murder. Police find Matheson dead in front of his computer... the message the hacker typed, a suicide note, is on the screen.

Scott is returned home to his family safely. Zoe meets up with Reese and asks him to buy her a drink.

Finch has contact with the hacker. She (Rachel Miner) finds him a worthy adversary and is looking forward to their next interaction. She tells him she's had many names, but he can call her Root. She also knows his real first name.