In Budapest, at a bar, a man strikes up a conversation with a woman, telling her about how he lost his job as a journalist when he was poking around into an international stealth operation to close down every company looking into artificial intelligence. He thinks there is a huge conspiracy. The woman confirms he's right, then shoots him dead. Reese has been working as an NYPD detective in narcotics, often acting as a perp to perform drugs busts. Finch is a part-time professor. A department head tells him he's read Finch's dissertation and has made a few typo corrections.