| abstract
| - Reese and Shaw are watching their latest number, Leona Wainwright, who Finch says works at the office of personnel management, and is living in Washington D.C. Leona gets in a taxi and Reese gets out to approach a taxi Leona got into, only to find a man pointing a gun to her head. When Reese gets close, the man reveals a grenade and the car explodes. At the Library, Finch examines the contents of the bomber's phone (which Shaw retrieved), finding that it belongs to one Jonathan Plowman Jr. He deduces that Plowman was a member of Vigilance. He gets a call from Fusco, who is at the crime scene and informs him that the FBI are investigating. Root comes over posing as an agent, telling Fusco that Leona worked for security clearances. Fusco decides to leave. In Washington D.C., Senator Ross Garrison meets with Control in her office. She warns him about Vigilance and advises him to leave her to the "heavy lifting". Finch reports that their next number is that of prosecutor Matthew Reed. Reese and Shaw will go to Westchester under the aliases Frank Mercer and Betty Harris while Finch and Fusco go to D.C. to investigate Vigilance. Reese and Shaw arrive at East Springs High School in Westchester, where a high school reunion is taking place. They are met my an energetic woman named Alice, who checks them off for attendance. Matthew arrives and checks in as well while Shaw clones his phone; he comes over and greets her, thinking she is Betty Harris. Alice gives them their itineraries and says that there will be both bowling and ballroom dancing. The caterer is Doug Hemmill. Reese and Shaw look through the yearbook from the students' senior year, and Shaw is disgusted by the appearance of the real Betty. Finch checks in and informs them that Betty hated high school and Frank has been sent on vacation, thus eliminating the possibility of the real students showing up. During the bowling party, Reese asks a woman if she's seen Matthew, but she simply slaps him in the face and leaves. Police officer Jack Tanner comes over to greet them, saying that Matthew is unlikely to show up, since his girlfriend during his senior year, Claire Klein, was found dead in his car. Matthew is spotted talking to Toke, a friendly and energetic man who happily greets Reese and Shaw. Matthew bumps into Doug, who angrily tells him he should have stayed home. Meanwhile, another woman comes over and slaps Reese. In D.C., Fusco requests access to Leona's office from a guard, being accompanied by Finch, his "forensic photographer". The guard agrees, just as the FBI hauls off all of Leona's belongings. They enter the office, and Finch figures Leona was targeted because of her job in a security-based field. He theorizes that a safe that the FBI hauled off would contain the names of everyone with access to confidential info in her department, the digital copies requiring more than simple "hacking". Fusco tells him he's found a place for them to stay during their visit. At the bowling alley, Toke explains to Reese how Doug was Claire's only friend besides Matthew, but Doug never had a chance at a relationship with her. Matthew changed after Claire's death, though Toke doesn't believe that Matthew killed her - she instead apparently died of a drug overdose. Reese leaves while Toke talks to a man named Phil. Reese calls Fusco to ask for the police report on Claire's death, and then gets slapped by a third woman. Shaw tells him that the reason he's getting slapped is because he became engaged with a brunette (the first woman to slap him), but then had an affair with her best friend, a redhead (the second girl), only to have another affair with a blonde (the third girl), whose mother he seduced. The alley's lights suddenly turn off and the TV screens switch to images from Claire's death. Matthew appears frightened and leaves. Shaw arrives at Matthew's hotel room, having given him a ride. She tells Matthew her room is conveniently next to his, and alarms the actual resident by saying an emergency evacuation due to bed bugs must take place. She finishes showering and Reese steps in, reporting that Doug went straight home. The two set up their camera equipment to spy on Matthew, and Shaw gets an email from Fusco with the police report of Claire's death. The cause of death is reported to be an accidental overdose of hydrocodone - Doug witnessed Matthew leave with Claire following a reported fight after a prom. She was upset and stole Matthew's car in her frustration, and was never seen by him afterwards. Reese figures Doug doesn't believe Matthew's story. In D.C., Finch reports to Fusco that he has hacked the OPM network, but all of Leona's security clearance work info has been erased. He figures it was the work of the government. He shows Fusco a safecracking device he will use to obtain the physical documents from the safe, which requires breaking into the FBI's evidence locker. During the ballroom dancing event, Reese and Shaw spot Doug chatting with Phil. Matthew comes over and asks Shaw to dance with him - while they do so, Matthew deduces that Shaw is an impostor, but Shaw instead says she's the one person who believes Matthew is innocent. Balloons begin to fall, but a mannequin of Claire falls with it; Matthew leaves. Reese asks Toke if he's seen any suspicious activity and Toke points out Phil's increase in height and masculinity. Reese follows Phil into the kitchen, where they begin to fight. Toke walks in and Phil grabs him, threatening to kill him unless Reese drops his cleaver. Reese does but then throws a plate immediately afterwards, hitting Phil's leg and tripping him. Reese knocks out Phil with a can, and finds a picture on him. He gets down to wake him up, but Phil dies, having consumed cyanide. Reese realizes Phil is a Vigilance member - the photo has a picture of Reese and Shaw. Reese places Phil's body in a cooler, pointing out that Phil was sent to observe them. Shaw sees Alice and several others unpacking hydrocodone prescriptions out of the goodie bags, the same drug that happened to kill Claire. Shaw gets a text on her phone from Claire, saying to meet her at the chemistry lab. She sees that the message was sent to Doug, realizing he's the one being terrorized. Doug enters the lab and finds a suicide note written in his name. Matthew comes in, and Doug realizes he was behind the party scares. Matthew pulls out a gun and accuses Doug of killing Claire. Doug says that he was always there for Claire whenever she was mistreated by Matthew, but Matthew claims that Doug was only attempting to have sex with her. Doug says that he never saw Claire after she left with Matthew. He finally admits that he gave her hydrocodone to calm her down and ultimately to help her feel relaxed while having sex - he begs Matthew to take him to court. Matthew thinks the court won't consider Doug guilty over a gunpoint confession - he lived for 20 years haunted by guilt and claims that letting Doug rot for another 20 would only seem fair. Reese suddenly appears and orders Matthew to drop his gun. Shaw comes in, and Vigilance soldiers begin firing at them. Doug tries to run but it shot in the leg. Shaw gets a call from Root, who informs her that since Vigilance is constantly changing their means of communication, she had to leak Shaw's location to find their latest method. She then gets a message from the Machine indicating that Finch and Fusco are in danger. Finch and Fusco arrive at the FBI evidence locker and request the guard access to the case file. The guard leaves to get it while Fusco grabs his keys and opens the door for Finch to get to the safe. The guard comes back and tells Fusco he isn't authorized to view the evidence. Shaw runs out of ammo and finds two chemicals from a shelf. She asks Matthew to mix them, and then tosses the mixture at the last of the shooters, causing it to explode. Finch finds the safe and uses his device to unlock it. Fusco lies to the guard that Finch went to use the restroom - the guard sees Vigilance soldiers entering the building on the camera. Peter Collier has arrived with the team and blows the door open. Finch finds documents inside the safe and discovers connections between Leona and the government's Northern Lights program. He is startled by Collier, who shows Finch a captured Fusco. He brushes aside Finch's warning not to hurt Fusco, pointing out he's a non-violent man who helps people - he lists through all the cases he has witnessed them solve, having realized that they know when a crime is going to happen and how that has confirmed his suspicions that the government has a mass surveillance system. Finch denies association with the government, but Collier knows he is still protecting the system nonetheless, and the documents will provide any other info. He demands them at gunpoint. Finch hands him the documents, saying he sympathizes with his cause but not his methods, warning the risks they impose. Collier, reading through the papers, claims the world is already at war, disgusted by the fact that the government is authorizing drone assassinations and getting involved in cyber warfare. He decides they continue their discussion somewhere more private, but Root suddenly opens fire on them, freeing Fusco and allowing Finch to escape. She informs incoming investigators that Collier escaped out the back door. She informs Finch and Fusco that Reese and Shaw are unharmed. Shaw watches Doug's arrest, and Matthew bids her farewell, having accepted the fact that he will likely go to jail. He offers "getting together" afterwards, but Shaw leaves, simply saying she avoids relationships. In D.C., Root reports that Collier has disappeared off the grid and cannot be found even by the Machine. She gets another call from the Machine, which has sent her an intercepted message to Vigilance from Collier: disseminate. The Machine tracks rapidly increasing news about Vigilance having leaked the documents and publicized Northern Lights. Senator Garrison was one of the people named in the report; he persistently denies knowledge of the Program to the press. Garrison meets with Control to report the problem, advising her to terminate the Program. Control refuses, warning that the country will be left defenseless, but Garrison claims that the Machine will be all that is lost. He leaves, and shortly afterwards, Control makes a phone call ordering the shutdown of Northern Lights. She looks at a file on her desk that contains a report on Collier, their latest number, and shreds the file. Root and Finch walk in the park, with Finch informing her he needs to stay in D.C. in order to further pursue Vigilance. Root gets an alert from the Machine - without Northern Lights, all relevant numbers are now redirected to her. She tells Finch she has to go.
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