The “Person of Interest” episode “Razgovor” was all about Shaw ( Sarah Shahi ). Just as we learned more about Reese ( Jim Caviezel ) and Finch ( Michael Emerson ) through a series of flashbacks, we now have flashbacks of Shaw as she struggles with her odd personality. We probably didn’t see these sorts of flashbacks for Carter ( Taraji P. Henson ) because of the fact that she is somewhat “normal” in comparison to the others.
Shaw saves the day #1
As with last week, the episode begins with a mini-job wherein Shaw saves a would be victim of liver-theft. She blows away two men about to steal a liver for their boss, and hands it back to the mouth-agape liver-transport driver. All in a day’s work!
POI #2
The next number has only a green card number, and no digital footprint. Finch can’t even find a photo! Shaw checks on the number, and discovers that she’s a 10-year-old girl, Genrika (Danielle Kotch), practically living on her own with a third cousin who’s preoccupied with a drug addiction.
Shaw pretends to be from immigration, but is not very good at pretending. She then tries to spy on Genrika and is quickly, as Reese says, “made by a 10 year old.” Finch tries to speak privately with Reese about taking over protection duty to ensure Genrika stays safe, but he doesn’t know that Shaw has bugged his office and can hear everything. She’s a full-fledged member of the team, whether Finch likes it or not!
Shaw is able to pull Genrika to safety as numerous Russian men attempt to nab her. The only problem is that Shaw doesn’t feel anything, and has very little inkling to truly protect Genrika from harm; she simply wants to get her job done.
The 10-year-old spy
Genrika believes that the men are after her because her grandfather was in the KGB, and she would like to follow in his footsteps with some of her own international espionage. Unfortunately, she only knows enough about spying to get herself in trouble. The reason the men want her is because she bugged her entire building using cheap, outdated technology. All she wanted was to get rid of the drug dealers.
There are just too many men after her, and they are eventually able to snag both her and Shaw. Shaw escapes, having lost quite a bit of blood, then steals blood to transfuse herself from the Russian who abducted her, all while interrogating him for Genrika’s location.
In search of Genrika
Meanwhile, Carter had been spying on HR, which leads her to… the same place where Reese is searching for Genrika! This means HR is behind the kidnapping, because she listened in on (and recorded) one of their conversations.
It turns out that HR is dealing in a drug called Bath Salts, and Genrika’s cousin is involved. While Reese meets with HR’s dirty cop Simmons (Robert John Burke), Shaw gets Genrika’s location using the GPS from HR Det. Terney’s (Al Sapienza) cloned phone (provided by Carter from when she spied on HR earlier).
Simmons believes he is going to kill “the man in the suit” while retrieving the tapes, but he doesn’t realize that he has no leverage since Shaw is already freeing Genrika. Instead, Reese holds all the cards, what with all that proof of drug dealing he’s got on tape, thanks to a 10 year old!
Carter knows her partner
Carter holds all the cards as well. When her new partner, Laskey (Brian Wiles), takes her to a secluded bar, she reveals that she knows all about his dealings with HR, and has proof to back it up! When the dirty cop pretending to be the bartender attempts to shoot her, she kills him with a gun registered to Laskey. He works for her now, not HR. in other words, Laskey has become Carter’s version of Reese’s Fusco (Kevin Chapman)!
Is Shaw really part of the team?
Throughout the episode, we learn of Shaw’s past through a series of flashbacks to 1993, when she was in a horrible car accident with her father. She learned she was different when she had no feelings after her father’s death, and the people around her knew she needed some sort of help. In the present, Genrika doesn’t believe Shaw is completely devoid of emotion. She tells Shaw that her emotional “volume is turned way down.” She simply needs to find ways to turn it up.
Shaw asks whether she is fired, since she went against Finch’s orders to save Genrika, despite her blood loss. But that was exactly the type of caring she needed to show in order to prove herself, and so Finch announces that she is officially hired.
In a final cliffhanger, Shaw is in bed when Root (Amy Acker) ominously appears nearby. She is taking the emotionally stunted Shaw, and there won’t be much Finch and Reese can do about it if Shaw feels no allegiance to them. She can just as easily work for Root!
“Person of Interest” airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on CBS.