Bad Code


"Bad Code" is the second episode of the second season of the American television drama series Person of Interest. It is the 25th overall episode of the series and is written by Greg Plageman & Patrick Harbinson and directed by Jon Cassar. It aired on CBS in the United States and on CTV in Canada on October 4, 2012.

Plot

Root brutally interrogates Denton Weeks over the location of the Machine, accusing him of having what she calls "bad code". To prove that Denton is "bad code", she allows Finch to help Denton temporarily escape and pretends to be subdued. Once Denton realizes that Finch was involved with the creation of the Machine, he tries to kill Finch, but Root kills Denton instead after he reveals the Machine's location to be somewhere in Salt Lake City.
Meanwhile, Reese continues to follow the trail of the missing girl supplied by the Machine in "The Contingency". Her name was Hanna Frey, a girl abducted outside a library. The one witness to the crime was Hanna's friend Samantha Groves, who informed the librarian what she saw, only for the librarian to accuse Sam of lying, because she was in love with the man that Sam had accused. The experience started Sam down a path that would ultimately lead to her becoming Root.
In the present, Reese and Carter are able to locate Hanna's body and ensure a proper burial, learning that Root arranged to have her killer murdered. Using a book Root sends to the librarian each year, Reese is able to track Root to a cabin in Maryland. He arrives in time to find Weeks dead and Root gone, having taken Finch with her to Union Station. Finch leaves a clue to where he is being taken by using a tap code on a telephone handset.
While Reese searches for Finch, Fusco investigates Alicia Corwin's murder. Fusco is able to steal some of Corwin's belongings and learns from a tapped conversation between Hersh and his boss of their search for Denton. Fusco alerts Reese with the information he discovers on Denton helping Reese to locate the cabin. Reese decodes the clue in order to follow and save Finch, but Root is able to escape before Reese can apprehend her. She later calls him to thank Reese for finding Hanna, but warns she will be back someday for Finch.

Reception

Viewers

In its original American broadcast, "Bad Code" was seen by an estimated 14.58 million household viewers and gained a 3.0/8 ratings share among adults aged 18–49, according to Nielsen Media Research. This was a slight increase in viewership from the previous episode, which was watched by 14.28 million viewers with a 2.9/8 in the 18-49 demographics. With these ratings, Person of Interest was the third most watched show on CBS for the night, beating Elementary but behind Two and a Half Men, and The Big Bang Theory, second on its timeslot and fifth for the night in the 18-49 demographics, behind The X Factor, Two and a Half Men, Grey's Anatomy, and The Big Bang Theory.

Critical reviews

"Bad Code" received mostly positive reviews from critics. Phil Dyess-Nugent of The A.V. Club gave the episode a "A-" grade and wrote, "In its first season, brains were sometimes Person Of Interests problem. In its determination to be sophisticated and elliptical, the show was often too spare and cold. It's warming up a bit; Reese and his helpmates inside the police department get together and even yuck it up a little, and Bear, the Dutch-comprehending dog introduced last week, appears to now be a series regular. It's often a bad sign when a show that wants to be hard and tough softens its edges like this, with or without a dog. But for right now, the balance feels just about right. Considerable credit has to go to Michael Emerson, an actor so magnetic yet so heroically self-effacing that he can make self-sacificial nobility look sort of creepy."
Keysha Couzens of TV Overmind wrote "Thankfully, Person of Interest didn't decide to make the hunt for Harold into a cross-country road trip that lasted more than a couple of episodes. Finch is clearly both grateful and deeply touched that Reese decided to go after him even though he wasn’t supposed to."
Sean McKenna of TV Fanatic gave the episode a 4.5 star rating out of 5 and wrote "Person of Interest really does a great job in giving a certain level of serialization of story while neatly coinciding with the case of the week. The blend of elements makes for a compelling treat to watch."