Person of Interest

Season 1 Episode 10

Number Crunch

Favorite
12
8.7
out of 10
User Rating
383 votes
13

EPISODE REVIEWS
By TV.com Users

Episode Summary

EDIT
Number Crunch
AIRED:

Reese and Finch go into overtime when the Machine gives them the numbers of four Persons of Interest. Meanwhile, Carter deals with the aftermath of the recent assassination attempt on her, and Reese's past resurfaces.

FAN RECAP

Fan Episode Reviews (13)

SUBMIT REVIEW

  • Great

    10
    By dreamgoat, Feb 07, 2012
    Great, Great action and suspense I was the edge of my seat the whole time. Now that we knoe that Reese use to be CIA, it's very vague why he left I'm sure we will know more in the future. CIA operatives told Carter this, with this new information Carter now knew who Reese really is and decided to set him up in order to bring him in. What happens I can't say don't want to spoil it all. But great performance and acting on these people. Great show don't miss out.moreless

  • Magnificent

    10
    By ryanhd83, Jan 16, 2012
    What a gripping and in someways game changing episode. Fantastic edge of your seat case while also helping to flesh out the universe. This show has gripped me from the start and when a few episodes ago they started to thread things together to form a larger story arc it is beginning to come together. The ending was gripping with great music, interesting twists, and a tantalizing question asked by Carter.moreless

  • Perfection on a broadcast network IS possible

    10
    By rebekah457, Jan 05, 2012
    This episode maintains its intensity from start to finish. Finch isn't happy that Reese is poking around in his affairs. Reese isn't happy the machine didn't get the number to him in time to save someone. It's all hands on deck to track the other 3 that the machine spit out. Reese barely manages to stutter an answer to his POI, a beautiful hair stylist. Det. Fusco loses (actually she gave him the slip) his POI *after* she bought a gun and Finch nearly gets blown to smithereens when his POI gets blown up by a loaded baby stoller. We haven't had the second commercial break yet and I'm on the edge of my seat wringing my hands.



    After the second POI is killed, Reese's feathers are clearly ruffled and Finch is in a tizzy. Reese manages to calm Finch down and get him to focus on finding a connection which he does. Reese finds Persons 3 & 4 and saves them by taking on a bad guy in hand to hand combat and ducking gunfire while they run. He saves them again later while engaging in hand to hand combat and shooting the bad guys.



    Now comes the perfectly scored and painfully well-acted finale. The song, "When things explode" by UNKLE feat. Ian Astbury, was absolutely the perfect choice. The look on Reese's face when he realizes that Carter has betrayed him is so subtle yet brilliant. Carter then realizes she's been played, but she's still not sure just how much she's been deceived by the CIA. Even after they shoot Reese *twice*, she's still not sure. Finch overheard Carter's call to the CIA and is racing to get to Reese in time. Over the phone, Reese thanks Finch for giving him a second chance and Finch tells him not to give up because he's almost there. Reese tells him to stay away because it's too risky. Thank God Finch doesn't take orders. As Finch gets to Reese to help him into the car, Carter bursts through the stairwell door and yelling, "Freeze." You can see the wheels turning in her head as she recognizes Finch from an earlier meeting. She decides to let them go and helps Reese into the car, but she pauses just long enough to get a slight nod from Reese before sending them on their way and leaving me to pick my jaw up off the floor and grab Kleenexes.



    This episode had it all. A sense of urgency times 4. Deadpan humor. A fantastic score. Belly-laugh humor. Fieldwork for the usually desk-bound hero. A near-haircut for our graying action hero (but the stylist disappeared after the shampooing). Car accident. Car bombing. Flirting. Hand to hand combat. Plenty of shooting. Betrayal. An unlikely rescuer. Brilliant performances by all the show regulars. What Caviezel and Emerson say with their eyes and facial expressions is incredible. Then they deliver those skillfully scribed lines and you know you are experiencing a perfect storm of entertainment.moreless

  • Best Ever

    10
    By snowfencer, Jan 01, 2012
    Definately the best episode yet. Tension was sky-rocketting until John got shot, and still held you there. It ended, for me, sitting there with a siries of mixed emotions for Carter.... Not too happy with her right now.

    Normally I wouldn't want to see such a major happning in the first season so early on, but this one was perfect.

    I can't wait to see what the two CIA agents will do, or what John will do to them.



    Hopefully we will find out why they targeted John in the next episode....... Definately on the edge!!!



    moreless

  • Best show on TV right now

    10
    By Sp3kkie, Dec 27, 2011
    This is how TV should be. They thought of everything. I mean, whats not to like. First of all, the surprise that this happened so early on in the season. As some people said, this is a game changer The acting is as close as perfect as it gets (for me). Then the choice of music, even if you almost never listen to this music (like i do) whats not too like and it fits. And then the writing, I mean they don't make it a shoot-out, and I think that a highly trained CIA-hitman wouldn't do that either, cause there is almost no chance you will win this. I mean, from the moment the car drives in, he handled the situation in a certain way. And I (would like to) think thats what someone with Reese's background would do. He knows that Mark (the guy from the car) would come without back-up, so running is not an option. He also knows they want him alive (at least for the time being). And then, as soon as he got shot the first time he doesn't search for the sniper or aims the gun on Mark. He just shoots out the lights so he has a chance to disappear. Althought this chance is very small, he would try it. And now we know he isn't untouchable, but still can handle himself in very bad situations. So all together this is probably the best new show on television in my opinionmoreless
See All Fan Reviews

Cast & Crew: STARS

James Caviezel

James Caviezel

John Reese
Taraji Henson

Taraji Henson

Detective Carter
Kevin Chapman

Kevin Chapman

Detective Lionel Fusco
Michael Emerson

Michael Emerson

Harold Finch
See All Cast & Crew

Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

Michael Murphy

Michael Murphy

Congressman Hallen

Guest Star

Bridget Regan

Bridget Regan

Wendy McNally

Guest Star

Melonie Diaz

Melonie Diaz

Paula Vasquez

Guest Star

Michael Kelly

Michael Kelly

Mark Snow

Recurring Role

See All Cast & Crew

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

FILTER BY TYPE

  • TRIVIA (0)

  • QUOTES (3)

    • Reese: Where did you come from?
      Finch: I breached the space/time continuum. (Reese stares) Not really. I did sense my privacy being invaded, but we'll leave that for now. We have work to do. Numbers have come in.
      Reese: What do you mean, numbers?
      Finch: What plurals usually mean. More than one, in this case, four.

    • Fusco: What the hell are you doing here? You didn't kill her, did you?
      Reese: Lionel, after all we've been through.
      Fusco: Exactly.

    • Fusco: Paula Vasquez? Why?
      Reese: Don't want her ending up like the lady upstairs.
      Fusco: You think she might?
      Reese: I know she won't, because you'll throw yourself in front of the bullet.
      Fusco: Funny guy.

  • NOTES (2)

    • Music: When Things Explode (Unkle)

    • International Airdates:
      Canada: December 15, 2011 on Citytv
      Turkey: February 2, 2012 on CNBC-e
      Australia: February 20, 2012 on Nine
      Germany: November 8, 2012 on RTL
      Slovakia: March 13, 2013 on Dajto
      Finland: April 24, 2013 on MTV3

  • ALLUSIONS (0)

See All Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

Person of Interest Listings

Full Listings
Sunday
No results found.
Monday
No results found.
Tuesday
No results found.

Forums: Person of Interest

See All Posts

Season 1 Episodes

See All
Ep 23
Firewall
Ep 22
No Good Deed
Ep 21
Many Happy Returns
Ep 20
Matsya Nyaya
Ep 19
Flesh and Blood
Ep 18
Identity Crisis
Ep 17
Baby Blue
Ep 16
Risk
Ep 15
Blue Code
Ep 14
Wolf and Cub
Ep 13
Root Cause
Ep 12
Legacy
Ep 11
Super
Ep 10
Number Crunch
Ep 9
Get Carter
Ep 8
Foe
Ep 7
Witness
Ep 6
The Fix
Ep 5
Judgement
Ep 4
Cura Te Ipsum
Ep 3
Mission Creep
Ep 2
Ghosts
Ep 1
Pilot

Contributors

Become a contributor
More
Less

Related Shows & Movies

TV.com Properties | Shows | Movies | Videos | News | Listings | Forums | People | Photos | Web Series | TV.com Blog
| Closed Captioning | Rating Guidelines | Mobile

CBS Entertainment | About TV.com | About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Ad Choice | Terms of Use