person of interest

A former CIA agent, John Reese, allegedly dead, is hired by a mysterious billionaire, Harold Finch, who invented a computer program, the Machine, capable of predicting and identifying all people directly or indirectly involved in Of crimes in New York.

The Machine produces the Social Security number of Joey Durban, a former soldier. On returning from Iraq, Joey joined a gang of former soldiers who have taken to robbing banks. Reese infiltrates the gang for their final robbery at an NYPD evidence lockup. They steal a file marked "Elias, M." before Latimer , the ringleader, starts killing off the gang members and escapes. Reese starts tracking him down, but discovers that Latimer has himself been murdered after handing the file over to Elias. The file is revealed to contain photos from the scene of a brutal murder.

Reese begins 24-hour surveillance of Dr. Megan Tillman , the latest POI. He and Finch believe that she's being targeted by Andrew Benton, a serial stalker and sex offender who drugs his victims before raping them, only to discover that Tillman is actually stalking Benton and planning to kill him; one of Benton's previous victims was Tillman's sister, who committed suicide shortly after Benton assaults her. Reese assaults a group of dealers connected to a Mexican drug cartel, stealing their product and planting it on Benton to have him arrested before Tillman can catch him. Tillman, however, abducts Benton, forcing Reese to talk her out of it by saying she'll never forgive herself for taking a life after saving them for so long. Afterwards, Reese takes Benton to an empty home and contemplates whether or not to kill him to protect his future victims. Meanwhile, Detective Carter starts to get closer to Finch and Reese when she finds a surveillance tape from the robbery in "Mission Creep" that shows their exchange. Reese also blackmails a police captain to transfer Fusco to Carter's precinct so that he can sabotage her investigation after saving Fusco from cartel hitmen, who are after him due to his actions with Stills' gang.