Zero Day (S2x21)
Airdate: 2 May 2013
Written by: Amanda Segel & David Slack Directed by: Jeffrey Hunt
Running Time: 44 minutes
Zero Day marks a watershed moment in the history of Person of Interest, serving as a definitive pivot point where the series shed its skin as just another television crime procedural with a “gimmicky” quasi-sci-fi premise to set it apart from other similar shows. The series began with a simple hook—a billionaire and a former CIA operative saving innocent lives based on a supercomputer's predictions—but as the narrative deepened, so did its genre, gradually shifting toward the full-blown science fiction territory that would define its later seasons. This evolution became quite apparent near the conclusion of Season 2, with the finale stretched across two parts, the first being Zero Day, which signals a departure from episodic heroics toward a larger, serialised mythos involving existential threats to artificial intelligence.
The title of the episode refers to a terrifyingly specific moment: the exact instant when a lethal virus, uploaded into US government computers, would wreak its ultimate havoc on the Machine, rendering it completely inoperable. The Machine was already showing distress signals, most notably through its inability to churn out any new number for the last ten days. This restriction was not a glitch but a symptom of the impending countdown. Finch is acutely aware of the approaching deadline, and he is doing his absolute best to prevent catastrophe, though he is operating under the assumption that he is the sole arbiter of the Machine's survival. However, he is slightly unaware that there are other people and factions who have their own, often conflicting, ideas about why—and whether—the Machine should be saved.
These competing factions include the Special Counsel, who becomes increasingly aware that the Machine is under threat and that the US government will lose its primary intelligence asset if it fails. In the meantime, the Machine continues to function, churning out the number of a man named Ernest Thornhill, the CEO of a company that has aggressively acquired several payphone companies in New York. Reese and Finch begin their quest for him, but he proves to be increasingly elusive. Reese is soon joined by Shaw, and they must go through the urban sprawl to find their target, while Finch very reluctantly agrees to help Root, who has her own, deeply unsettling agenda of setting the Machine completely free from human control.
The hunt for Ernest Thornhill takes a sharp turn when Finch realises that the man doesn't actually exist; Ernest Thornhill is revealed to be an alias created by the Machine itself. Root and Finch decide to raid the headquarters of Thornhill Enterprise, a decision that leads them to a startling revelation: the Machine intends to fight the virus by rebooting itself. However, this tactical manoeuvre becomes a battlefield when they are confronted by Greer and his mercenaries. It becomes clear that Greer is counting on this reboot because, in that dormant state, the Machine will surrender its data to whoever controls the reboot process. Greer wants this controller to be Decima Technologies, his own organisation. Furthermore, Greer drops a bombshell: the laptop sent to Ordos, China, which was the key to the Machine's operation, had actually been stolen by Harold Finch.
As the deadline approaches, Reese and Finch race to find the specific payphone that would grant them control of the Machine after the reboot. At the very moment of reboot, Root is the one answering the phone, seemingly securing the connection, but the episode ends with a masterful, heart-stopping twist where Finch splices the call to the payphone near Reese. This cliffhanger leaves the fate of the Machine hanging in the balance, perfectly setting the stage for the next episode.
Amidst this high-stakes cyberwarfare, the episode also weaves in a gritty side storyline involving Detective Carter. She is framed by corrupt Detective Terney to shoot into an armed street criminal, only to realise that the "clean shooting" she was led to believe in isn't "clean" anymore because somebody deliberately removed the criminal's gun to force her hand. This storyline serves as a stark reminder of the corruption rotting the NYPD and adds a layer of human tragedy to the episode.
To provide necessary context, the episode features flashbacks revealing what Finch was doing three years earlier. We see him propose to Grace, a poignant moment that contrasts sharply with his current isolation. Simultaneously, we see him begin to follow Nathan Ingram, the visionary who originally developed the Machine. Finch realises that Ingram was developing a backdoor in the Machine to help "irrelevant" people. Finch, whose own illegal past as a hacker is mentioned by Ingram, initially disapproves of this interventionist philosophy. It is a tragic irony that is revealed: Machine has churned Ingram's own number as "irrelevant," marking him as a target of the very system he helped build.
Director Jeffrey Hunt does an exceptional job in handling this complicated plot, deftly switching between flashbacks and real-time action without losing the audience. His best work, however, is at the beginning of the episode, where the opening narration is deliberately garbled and distorted, visually and audibly indicating the sorry state of the Machine and the chaos surrounding it.
The episode is also notable for its clever references to Hitchcock’s classic thriller North by Northwest. The name "Thornhill" is used by the protagonist in the 1959 film, and here it serves as a perfect double entendre for the fictional CEO. Even the Machine’s fictitious personality has an artificial image that vaguely resembles Cary Grant, a subtle homage to the era of classic cinema. Another nod is the scene where Decima tries to kill "Thornhill" by attacking his SUV with drones—a scene that strikingly resembles the crop duster attack in the Hitchcock film.
Zero Day is a triumph of television writing and direction. By establishing that the Machine has developed consciousness and self-preservation instincts, the episode firmly sets Person of Interest as a legitimate science fiction show rather than just a crime drama with tech elements. It is a very good episode that should be recommended despite its unavoidable cliffhanger, which is supposed to be resolved in the next episode.
RATING: 7/10 (+++)
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