Shadow Box (Person of Interest)

"'Shadow Box" is the tenth episode of the second season of the American television drama series Person of Interest. It is the 33rd overall episode of the series and is written by co-executive producer Patrick Harbinson and directed by Stephen Surjik. It aired on CBS in the United States and on CTV in Canada on December 13, 2012. The episode's title refers to "Shadow box", an enclosed glass-front display case containing an object or objects presented in a thematic grouping with artistic or personal significance.

Plot[]

The Machine puts out the number of Abby Monroe (Jessica Collins), a 26-year old city worker who lost her brother in the War in Afghanistan and seemingly went Off-the-grid. Reese (Jim Caviezel) poses as a Federal Marshal in Abby's office and is told that she illegally downloaded a file which included engineering drawings for a building and then left. Finch (Michael Emerson) reviews security footage to see that Abby left with a motorcyclist, who stole the motorcycle from a shop and his tactics indicate he was ex-Marine. They also discover they stole explosives and must get to her before the police finds her.

Getting a lead, Reese discovers Abby's apartment but only finds a shadow box of his late brother. Finch questions Abby's charity manager, Philip Chapple (John Bedford Lloyd), and finds that Abby was fired for committing embezzlement, which she started doing after meeting the Marine, Corporal Shayn Coleman (Brian J. Smith) who lost his right arm. Chapple starts suspecting Finch and plants a GPS tracker on his pocket, which he quickly dispatches. Finch breaks into Chapple's office to get more information and finds Shayn there and both work to steal information from his computer and Shayn steals papers from Chapple's safe. Both flee in Shayn's stolen motorcycle as Chapple's security is alerted of their presence.

Reese takes Abby to meet with Finch and Shayn and she explains that Chapple scammed Shayn with a loan and the files that Abby stole reveal that he scammed more soldiers. After they leave, Finch finds that Chapple had connections to a specific bank that shared its profits with him, which he keeps on his vault. Reese follows Abby and Shayn to the bank where he helps them explode a wall to break in and gain access to his vault, revealing Chapple has $30 million on a Venezuela account.

Meanwhile, after receiving the anonymous tip, Carter (Taraji P. Henson) starts investigating Davidson's death. She is notified by Agent Donnelly (Brennan Brown) that after HR's collapse, his team will now refocus on following "The Man in the Suit" and even suggests that he and Agent Mark Snow joined the Chinese, and he offers Carter a temporary FBI position. While discussing this with Cal Beecher (Sterling K. Brown), Fusco (Kevin Chapman) clones his phone and intercepts a meeting between Beecher and Alonzo Quinn (Clarke Peters), revealing that Quinn is his godfather.

Having accepted Donnelly's offer, Carter is told that they managed to track "The Man in the Suit" through the charity robbery on his phone and they will get to catch him if he uses the phone again. Carter calls Fusco to notify Finch about the phone interference and Finch is forced to go to the bank to get them out. Abby and Shayn meet with Finch in the bank entrance just as FBI agents raid the bank and Finch handles Abby and Shayn fake IDs to avoid suspicion. He receives Chapple's account, intending to send all the money to military charities. The FBI team reaches the vault's location but Reese allows himself to be captured, along with three mercenaries. As Carter pretends to not know the "Man in the Suit", Donnelly has all four arrested and taken away.

Reception[]

Viewers[]

In its original American broadcast, "Shadow Box" was seen by an estimated 14.08 million household viewers and gained a 2.9/8 ratings share among adults aged 18–49, according to Nielsen Media Research. This means that 2.9 percent of all households with televisions watched the episode, while 8 percent of all households watching television at that time watched it.^[1] This was a slight decrease in viewership from the previous episode, which was watched by 14.18 million viewers with a 2.9/8 in the 18-49 demographics.^[2] With these ratings, Person of Interest was the second most watched show on CBS for the night, beating Elementary and Two and a Half Men but behind The Big Bang Theory, first on its timeslot and third for the night in the 18-49 demographics, behind Two and a Half Men, and The Big Bang Theory.

With Live +7 DVR factored in, the episode was watched by 17.44 million viewers with a 4.0 in the 18-49 demographics.^[3]

Critical reviews[]

"Shadow Box" received very positive reviews from critics. Phil Dyess-Nugent of The A.V. Club gave the episode a "B-" grade and wrote, "The pasty-faced one with the close-cropped carrot top will probably be released immediately, just because he looks too much like Jim Gaffigan to be a plausible superhero, but how will Reese get out of this one? Anyone unable to bear the suspense of waiting to find out will just have to arrange to be put into a medically induced coma until January."^[4]

TV Overmind wrote "So it’s going to be interesting to see what happens with Reese in custody and Finch still out there. My guess is they’ll probably resolve it fairly quickly when Person of Interest comes back this January. I hope not however as I really want to see how John Reese handles interrogated. Maybe we’ll learn more about the mysterious man too."^[5]

Sean McKenna of TV Fanatic gave the episode a 4.5 star rating out of 5 and wrote "It's great to see the last Person of Interest episode of 2012 conclude on a high note and I can't wait to see what happens when the show returns next year."^[6]

References[]

External links[]

• "Shadow Box" at IMDb