Nobody knows where the Machine has now relocated itself, but it is still in contact with both Finch and, by association, Reese and their new partner Shaw, as well as Root. Still institutionalized, Root may have a short term problem in dealing with her psychiatrist, whom she sees as being stupid, and from whom she has not been provided access to any electronic devices including telephones. Carter, now demoted to patrol following her HR-initiated wrongful shooting incident, has her own new primary agenda. She has also not told Finch or Reese of her association with a past number. And the Machine has dispensed another number to Finch, that of navy sailor, petty officer second class Jack Salazar. Upon first sighting, Reese, despite or partly because he chose the military over a prison sentence for an assault five years earlier, likes Salazar, a man who seems to stand up for his principles and his friends and who knows how to take care of himself using his fists. After Reese loses track of... Written by Huggo

The next number the machine dispenses is for Wayne Kruger, an Internet genius and head of a company called Life Trace, which allows people to find others through information readily available already on the web. However, Finch learns that Life Trace's primary goal, its money making venture, is as a data broker, selling the information it gathers to people who will pay for it. As Kruger prepares to make what is perhaps the biggest deal of his career, he wants to be as open and transparent as possible with his prospective clients... or so he says. Finch, Reese and Shaw also learn that there was a class action lawsuit against Kruger and Life Trace by people who were ultimately hurt by the information that was provided through the site. They believe Kruger is the target, as someone or some people, probably a coalition of those behind the lawsuit, want to expose Kruger in very public means for not being as open concerning his own life as he purports. They have to wade through the list of ... Written by Huggo

The next number the machine dispenses is for Ian Murphy, a young man who lives off his investments. Years earlier he was a struggling college student who inherited $100,000 which he now has in a diverse portfolio of investments. Reese and Shaw initially follow him on a date. While Reese decides to check out his apartment, Shaw continues her tail. What they both find leads them to believe that Murphy is the perpetrator, stalking then killing the long list of women he meets through online means and of whom he has been keeping detailed dossiers. There is at least one woman dead already, Dana Wellington, and another, Jenna Lakritz, missing. Reese devises a plan to trap Murphy using the feminine wiles of their slightly expanded team of Carter, Shaw, and Zoe Morgan. The one of the three that Murphy eventually chooses finds a story a little more complicated than they originally thought. Meanwhile, Root knows that someone will soon be coming to kill her. Using information from the machine, ... Written by Huggo

The next number the machine dispenses is for Vanessa Watkins, a hard-nosed prosecuting attorney who, when Finch and Reese first meet her, has just reported her husband, Jeremy Watkins, missing from their yacht. While Vanessa has put away many a criminal over her storied career, Jeremy has let many go as a flashy and high-priced defense attorney. As her number came in after the report of him missing, they know Jeremy's presumed death is not the reason for the number, yet they don't know if Vanessa is the target or the perpetrator. They learn that the lead investigator on the case of Jeremy's death, Detective Cameron, is looking at her for her husband's murder as all evidence found thus far implicates her. Cameron's main problem?: he doesn't have a body, and thus needs Vanessa to confess to make a conviction stick, which she may or may not know. They will also learn that Cameron has a personal vendetta against her, which places a major obstacle in tracking her as she tries to elude ... Written by Huggo

In his typically quiet way, Finch tries to tell Shaw that she needs to soften her approach and be more caring toward those they are helping. When that tact doesn't work, he has what he believes is a private discussion with Reese about the issue, which also doesn't yield any tangible results. However, Shaw is tasked with direct contact with their latest number, that encounter which may require Shaw to be more caring to achieve their end goal. That number, an alien registration number rather than a social security number, is for Genrika Zhirova from Russia, she who has virtually no electronic footprint. When Shaw meets her, she understands why: Gen is only ten years old. She originally came to live with her now-deceased grandfather a few years back, and now lives virtually uncared for under the official guardianship of a distant junkie cousin. She also sees herself not as a spy in training, but an actual spy as she tries to uncover information on illegal activities in her drug-infested ... Written by Huggo

Reese and Finch go on separate missions. Finch has noticed that Shaw has been less responsive than she even usually is and he sends Reese to go find her. Reese initially discovers evidence that Shaw was abducted, but later finds more evidence that she may have gone willingly with her abductor: Root. He has to find what Root is up to, she who has been in contact with the Machine, which is feeding her information for her latest mission requiring Shaw's assistance. In the meantime, Finch works on their latest number, that of Timothy Sloan, an estate investigator for the New York Public Administrator. Finch is pretty sure that he is the target because of what he has found during one of his investigations. Finch will learn that that investigation is of Jason Greenfield, who died two weeks ago of a heroin overdose and whose case file is not Sloan's. It is Sloan's personal connection to Greenfield and Greenfield's activities as a computer hacker that are the key. And Carter learns a little ... Written by Huggo

While Finch still keeps Root hostage, he who can't understand why the Machine is in contact with her, he is the first to make contact with their latest number, that of hypnotherapist Hayden Price. The fact that his credentials seem made up, and that the therapy session in which Finch has with him seems more like a fishing exercise to obtain answers to secret website questions, lead Finch to quickly come to the conclusion that Price is a con man, out to bilk his patients. However, he still believes that Price is the intended target. In following Price's world, Reese, Shaw and Finch unexpectedly intersect with Carter, who, with Laskey by her side, is still trying to find out the head of HR to bring them down. One of Price's clients is antiques dealer Sven Vanger, who they learn has been laundering money for HR in a somewhat creative manner. They have to find why Price's life may be in danger because of his connection to Sven and indirectly to HR. But Price's true profession begs the ... Written by Huggo

Finch receives thirty-eight numbers from the Machine. They are all for New York police officers, four who are known to be within HR's ranks. Reese knows Carter's focus has been to bring down HR, which she can only do by finding out who the head of HR is. And he also learns from Fusco that things seem to be breaking down between HR and the Russians, led by Peter Yorgorov. Reese is worried that Carter, who has not told anyone that she's found out that Alonzo Quinn is the head of HR or that she was present at the shooting deaths of Officer Mike Laskey and Detective Raymond Terney, is orchestrating HR's downfall, hence the reason for the thirty-eight numbers. Carter implies as much to Reese. She also tells both Reese and Fusco that she needs to handle this issue on her own, despite their respective arguments that they can help. Carter decides to enlist those only on an as need be basis, but she has to be careful who she can and cannot trust, especially those outside her inner circle. ... Written by Huggo

Carter believes the only safe place to take Quinn into custody is to the FBI. Although she wants to do it alone, Reese insists that he help her. From the outside, Shaw and Fusco are determined to help their partners. As the head heavy for HR, Simmons has ordered his team to capture Carter and Quinn alive, but shoot to kill the man in the suit. That order to kill the man in the suit, whose photo has been circulated, extends to all criminals in the city. That is why the Machine dispenses as its next several sets of numbers all previous aliases of one person, namely Reese. This may make Reese more of a liability to Carter in her mission. In helping Carter, all on the team may need their own help from the others as HR goes about trying to stop Carter and anyone who may be helping her. Meanwhile, Finch come across a dilemma of whether to ask for Root's help potentially to save Reese. Written by Huggo

The team is grieving there team member's murder and Reese's serious wounding by Officer Patrick Simmons, who is on the run and wanted by the authorities. He is also being hunted by the Russians, who now feel betrayed by HR. Reese, who should be in the hospital and who may die if he doesn't receive proper medical attention, and Shaw decide to go rogue and go after Simmons individually through whichever HR members are still out there. Finch and Fusco are able to locate Shaw, who knows that they will not be able to do the same with Reese. The only person who may know where Simmons is is Quinn, who is being held in FBI custody at an unknown location. Shaw knows that there is one person who may be able to locate Reese through Quinn: Root. Finch has to decide if he can trust Root in order to save Reese. Others on the team may have their own ideas of how best to find Reese, and deal with both Quinn and Simmons if they can be located. Written by Huggo

During his physical recovery, Reese leaves without telling anyone, or where he is going. As such, Finch decides to ignore the Machine, which is trying to give him a new number. However, Finch can't ignore the indirect source of that next number, that source which may be more troubling to him. That number, which he will be working on with Shaw, belongs to Arthur Claypool. Shaw does not notice by Finch's reaction that he actually knows him. They are certain that Arthur is the intended target as he has a brain tumor and is not expected to live much longer. The tumor is causing his memory to go in various ways, such as not recognizing his long-term wife, Diane. What is more problematic is that Arthur is beginning to ramble. Finch and Shaw see that he is being protected by Secret Service which means that he has been working for a government agency probably on some top secret projects. Those ramblings are often about something called Samaritan, which they surmise is one of those secret ... Written by Huggo

Finch, Shaw and Arthur Claypool are able to escape from the clutches of Control, after which Arthur demonstrates that he has more lucid moments than he initially lets on. He informs Finch and Shaw more about Samaritan, and what from that project still exists, which is what Control was after. As the threesome try to protect Samaritan, they are tracked both by Control's team, led by Hersh, and Vigilance, led by Collier. Control has other issues on her mind, namely dealing with Root, who tries fruitlessly to explain to Control her relationship with the Machine, which Control believes rightly belongs to her. Meanwhile, Reese and Fusco are still in Colorado. In their current situation, they are able to have an uninterrupted philosophical discussion/argument about the nature of their work with Finch and with the Machine. Written by Huggo

Under the assumed name John Wiley, Reese is making his escape from his life with Finch and the Machine by taking a one-way flight to Istanbul. He is however diverted onto another flight via Rome. Initially believing it is all Finch's doing, Reese soon learns that he was placed onto that Rome flight by the Machine, who provides him with the next number in the form of a seat number on the plane. 4C is occupied by a young man named Owen Matthews, who is accompanied by who Reese recognizes as two federal marshals. Reese initially has no intention about doing anything about Owen until the two marshals are taken out. With Finch's help and direct questioning, Reese learns that Owen is involved with a case of an online drug ring headed by a man code named Sphinx, Owen the site designer who is the only person who can identify Sphinx. Reese and Finch learn that there are many people on the plane after Owen, the only person who Reese trusting being the first class flight attendant, Holly. ... Written by Huggo

Upon Reese's return from Italy to rejoin the team, Finch receives their next number, that belonging to Kelli Lin. Born in Shanghai but raised in various places abroad, she became a naturalized US citizen six months ago. Reese's first instinct is that she is a spy, although her on-the-surface work is as an upscale events planner. The current event that she is planning is at a new exhibit opening at the Metropolitan Museum of History, that black tie event which Finch, Reese and Shaw plan to attend. During that event, which is being protested against by people who believe the artifacts being shown belong to the cultures where they were created, an incident occurs resulting in a Cezanne painting being stolen. After tracking the movements of the thief, Finch, Reese, Shaw and eventually Fusco change their goal of capturing the thief to trying to save a little girl, the two which may be incompatible. Saving the little girl may be made all the more difficult as the thief is being tracked by ... Written by Huggo

The next number the team receives is for 911 call operator and trainer, Sandra Nicholson, who has an exemplary on-the-job record. Finch has gone undercover as a 911 operator in the same call center, where he is able to monitor her calls. Finch believes he has the incident which the Machine saw as she takes the call of a young boy named Aaron, who is eventually kidnapped by the men who broke into his house. This incident being the one (the Machine saw) becomes a certainty when the lead kidnapper calls Sandra on her own cell phone, he seemingly knowing much about her and being able to see every move she makes within the call center. Finch passes along whatever information he can to Reese and Shaw, who are following the cell phone call signal, which proves to be more difficult than first anticipated. Finch has to find out why Sandra is targeted by digging into her past, while he tries to help her, knowing that he has to elude whoever is watching her. Fusco can only provide limited ... Written by Huggo

2010. Finch has just received the latest number from the Machine, on which he will work with his operative, Rick Dillinger. The two have an uneasy relationship. Dillinger doesn't fully trust Finch as Finch tells him nothing beyond what he needs to know for the number in question, while Finch believes Dillinger is too self-interested and takes too many risks, both which may be liabilities for the work in general. That number belongs to Daniel Casey, who works as a freelance computer hacker, hired by companies to try and break into their systems. Two months earlier, he seemed to go underground, which leads to Finch and Dillinger believing that he may have found some information in his computer hacking that someone wants or that his clients want hidden. That does end up being the case, as he seems to want to turn that information over to someone in authority who can protect him. Finch and Dillinger will find out that more than one group is after him, one group that wants the information,... Written by Huggo

The next number the Machine dispenses to Finch and the team belongs to Cyrus Wells, a custodian. His current blue collar job belies the fact that he has an MBA and was once a multimillionaire. What they also quickly learn is that the person who may figuratively pull the trigger on Cyrus, the target, is Root. Finch learns directly from Root that she has her own Machine-driven mission with Cyrus, her tasks (unlike Finch's) are laid out for her by the Machine immediately before she is to carry them out. All Root knows is that her overall goal is to protect the Machine, most specifically now from a competing Machine, namely Samaritan, which is close to being functional. Finch and Root will have to figure out if their Machine-driven tasks are incompatible, especially as Root has demonstrated in the past that the death of someone like Cyrus is acceptable collateral damage. They both have to figure out who truly is after Cyrus and what his role in getting Samaritan functional is. Root also ... Written by Huggo

The latest number the Machine dispenses is for Maria Martinez, a professional engineer working for Hydral Corp, a private energy company owned by a man named Ken Davis, her boss. Her latest jobs have been in reconstruction projects in third world countries, most recently replacing multimillion dollar generators in Iraq. The team originally believes that she is the perpetrator, a terrorist (which would be contrary to the purpose of the number regardless), as she seems to be interested in getting Omar Risha, another possible terrorist, into the country from Iraq, where he is currently being held in high security detention. She is tracking a man named Rene Lapointe, a French diplomat stationed at the UN, who is the high commissioner for refugees. As such, Lapointe, Maria's seeming-intended target, is responsible for reviewing and thus approving or denying Omar's asylum request. The team changes their perspective on Maria when it seems that she is only trying to convince Lapointe to ... Written by Huggo

Reese, Shaw and Finch are too late for their latest number, Leona Wainwright, as she is killed in front of Reese and Shaw's eyes. They know that Leona was killed by Vigilance for information she would have had unwittingly with regard to the Machine as a federal government employee. Finch decides to take Fusco to Washington DC to see if they can discover what information Vigilance wants, which is probably housed somewhere in Leona's physical or virtual office. Their problem is that the FBI is also involved in the investigation, which means that the Bureau has first access to all relevant information regarding the case. Root is getting her own information from the Machine as to Vigilance's involvement with Leona's death and what they will do to obtain whatever information they are looking for. Leona's death also causes nerves to rise within the politicos in the know, that nervousness which funnels its way to Control. Meanwhile, Reese and Shaw feel like they are being punished by Finch ... Written by Huggo

News of Northern Lights has hit the media, meaning that the team's work has become more difficult if only because of the public eye on what is happening. While Shaw heads off with Root on her next assignment, Reese heads to Washington DC to reunite with Finch for their next number, that belonging to Illinois Congressman Roger McCourt. Finch's initial guess is that they are heading into uncharted territory as he believes that McCourt is not only the target or the perpetrator of an individual crime, but also that his number is related to terrorism or national security regarding Decima trying to get Samaritan up and running, which, if happens, means the end of their own lives. McCourt sits on the Rules Committee which controls legislation. He has been an outspoken opponent of government surveillance, and thus could be a target for Decima as opposed to Vigilance. They learn that McCourt likes to see himself as a deal maker, one where all sides end up happy. When Reese eventually learns ... Written by Huggo

Finch has gone into hiding since he was unwilling to kill to protect himself and the team solely to prevent Samaritan from being activated, which Decima has now been able to do in a beta test. They all know that the team is the first on Decima's hit list, with Finch at the top of that list. Decima's task is made all the more easy by Samaritan, which, in its current state, has capabilities equal to the Machine. However, Samaritan will only get more sophisticated as it learns from what it sees. Even though Finch is no longer around, Reese still believes they should assist whoever the Machine identifies as a target or perpetrator of a violent crime, even at the risk of their own lives now that they have to avoid any camera in the five boroughs. That next person is Grace Hendricks, Finch's ex-fiancée, who Greer believes is the only person who can help him get to Finch, if only in a trade. The questions become whether Reese, Shaw and Root can protect Grace from Decima while protecting ... Written by Huggo

Decima has completed its beta test of Samaritan and has now shut it down temporarily as Greer has to get the politicos, namely Garrison, to buy into the need to purchase it in the name of national security. Greer needs this to happen as they require the government feeds for Samaritan to operate properly. With Finch now being held by Greer and Decima, Reese believes that their first priority should be to retrieve him. However, Root, in her continuing contact with the Machine, convinces Reese and Shaw that the Machine is telling her that Finch, for the time being, is safe, and that they have to deal with the next number. As the Machine does not have an overall picture of what will happen, it provides five numbers for the team to investigate on its behalf. Some of those numbers are for people familiar to the team, which gives them a good idea if these numbers are the targets or the perpetrators. The fifth number is one who they have to do some digging to discover the person's identity. ... Written by Huggo

Having taken over the power system causing a blackout, Collier and Vigilance have managed to capture all the people they feel need to be brought to justice for creating and/or operating the ever knowing surveillance system, the only one of which he knows by name being the government's Northern Lights project. Among those they have captured and have placed on trial, with a live video feed going out to the entire world, are Finch, Control, Senator Garrison and Greer. Those on trial seem to be standing in solidarity against Collier's judgment even before the facts come to light. However, that solidarity may break down based on insider information one of the accused has. Meanwhile, Reese has an unlikely ally in the form of Hersh, both of who are looking for the secret location of the trial to free their respective bosses. And Shaw is assisting Root in trying to locate and shut down Samaritan, needing to pose as Decima to do so. But Shaw only has a small part of the picture as Root does ... Written by Huggo