ZERO DAY

Harold Finch: "It's still not clear to me how stalking the NYPD helps either of us at this unfortunate time."

Finch always wants something efficient – John will settle for something, anything at all. The creation of the Machine is enough proof of that: Harold wanted a better system, one which worked on its own – and what it could not deal with, the irrelevant numbers, he first ignored, because you can't deal with everything, not even when you try to. There's always the need to define a line, if you want to do something – and Harold's line has been breached, so he doesn't do anything. But John, John isn't Harold. If he can't do what he's supposed to, he'll still try to do something. If it means he has to play it like Mr Incredible, so be it.

John Reese: "Beecher was a good man."

John can't say he's known Cal Beecher, himself – but of course he's seen his file, and even if some things were dubious, it could be chalked up to working in narcotics. Detective Beecher, himself, always tried to do what's right and wasn't afraid to go back on something he'd thought true before if confronted with evidence to the contrary. He'd come and helped Carter with the Alex Declan case – he'd saved her life, after she'd saved Harold's. He could be relied upon.

Joss Carter: "Three fresh bodies – my eighth homicide in two weeks."

People get used to everything. He remembers when she used to ask what right they had to intervene, how they – or rather, John, because in the beginning Carter didn't know about Finch – could possibly come in the middle and do whatever they wanted. Now – now Joss Carter has gotten used to being able to save people before their death, and she's asking why things are going back to normal. To a homicide detective having to solve murders.

Joss Carter: "You guys made one hell of a mess."

It's not him this time, unless she's talking about saving people. Is taking people out of exploded, overturned cars a crime, now?

Harold Finch: "Ernest Thornhill... is the Machine."

Algorithms... John would say he's surprised – he is, a bit, and yet. If people can do it, if they can simulate an entire life out of fake receipts and bills, if they can pretend someone is there where there is no one with data and communications alone, a supercomputer probably can do it, too.

John Reese: "Precautions or no, the Machine made Thornhill. Decima wants him dead, and we need to know why. Thornhill's been buying up payphones all over the city. Why? And why does your Machine need an apartment, a phone, a car from the airport?"

Harold needs to recenter himself – he always panics when things are going outside of what he considered possible, out of what he'd planned to begin with, and right now, it won't help. So what if Finch's Machine doesn't do exactly what its creator expected? It might become a problem, perhaps, but feeling betrayed – or whatever Harold is feeling right now in regards to his creation – over its unexpected changes will not help. The Machine changed, and Finch didn't expect it – fine. What they need to do now is figure out what this means for them.

John Reese: "I know you could, Joss, but right now, maybe Beecher needs your help more than we do. Good luck."

It's not manipulation if it's true, and he can't actually tell her, so.

Sameen Shaw: "The hell are you doing here, John?"

Good question. He's not entirely sure, himself.

Sameen Shaw: "I'm hunting the woman Harold gave me a lead on."

And of course, Finch with his secrets... Apparently Sameen Shaw has been on both their minds – John reached out, kind of, and Finch – Finch shared something with her, too. But whereas John didn't make much of a secret of his interactions with Shaw, Harold didn't tell him anything. How expected of him, for something unexpected.

Sameen Shaw: "Either way, if those two have history, odds are she's with him, so I need you to find Harold for me. Can you track him? How? You put a bug on your friend?"

What's certain is that he doesn't even need to answer for her to get it. She barely needs a second to deduce the answers to her own questions, because she knows – not the specific, perhaps, but she knows. They really have a lot in common, John and her – if only through their training.

John Reese: "Just his glasses. I've lost people before, so when I care about someone, I plant a tracking device on them."

Of course, now, that's going to be a moot point, because Finch will know to look for tracking devices after all this is finished, but if it helps even just this time...

Sameen Shaw: "John. This is the plan."

Oh. Chemistry. He's never been too at ease with that – he knows how it works, mostly, but he doesn't really like it. He's always liked physics better – the consequences of a punch come from kinetics, after all. Anyway, it's always a good thing to have complementary skills between colleagues. Not that he's hinting at something or anything.

John Greer: "Oh, yes, I know all about you, John. And you, Ms Shaw."

It's not the first time someone introduces themselves to him that way. It lost its effects after the first three times – the first was Marshal Patterson, then Kara, more or less, and to finish with, of course, Harold himself. Whether any of them had been right at the time... Whether they'd really known all about him, that was another question entirely.

John Greer: "The man who sold the laptop in the first place... the man who is to blame for all of this. That man's name is..."

Ah yes, the age-old excuse. Someone else is responsible and therefore I am not.

John Greer: "...Harold Finch."

Okay. John didn't see that one coming, he guesses.

Sameen Shaw: "I guess your friend Harold has some explaining to do."

Maybe. Maybe not – definitely, but probably not how Shaw means it. John seriously doubts Finch played him from the start – the older man is good at pretending, yes, but not that good, not for almost two years, and John is good at spotting liars, too. Even if he doesn't always call them out – because you might learn more from keeping your mouth shut than always confronting the ones who lie, who try to control you, sometimes. Harold might not have told John everything – John would be more surprised to learn Harold Finch had told him the whole truth, to be honest – but he's opened up. It took him a whole year, but the operative managed to learn enough, to see through enough to be confident in Finch's motives, in his beliefs. And the months since then, well. They were all the more reason not to believe Greer's version of the events, just because the stranger had a "startling revelation" for John and Shaw.

Sameen Shaw: "Looked like you had it under control."

The worst is that she's right. He did manage – and she saw it. She trusted him enough to handle it, in the end, but they weren't close enough for her to want to come in between, to make it end sooner. He'd appreciate the show of trust, if it didn't mean they were losing time to go after Root and Harold.

The Machine: "Can You Hear Me ?"

Well. John is almost certain of what this is, and he is truthfully surprised, this time.