01E13 - Root Cause

The next number the machine dispenses is that of Scott Powell, who is seemingly undistinguished from the many in the working middle class. He works as a construction projects manager for the city, he is a family man with a wife and two children, and the Powells live a typical suburban middle class lifestyle. But as Finch and Reese dig a little deeper, they find that he was laid off from his job eight months ago which he has not told his wife, he is still unemployed but pretends to go to work every morning, he has maxed out their credit cards, and he has been blogging negatively about Congressman Michael Delancey, whose policies led to the municipal cutbacks which cost Powell his job. As Reese sees a desperate man who has hit rock bottom, he believes that Powell will try to kill Delancey. As Reese and Finch do some more investigating, they do see that Delancey is the probable target, but that there is another more powerful force behind the violent act. That powerful force threatens Finch's mission i.e. his reason for creating the machine. As that force seems to be one step ahead of Finch at every turn, he calls in a reinforcement person, one of their past POI's who may be able to delve deeper into the political machinations behind Delancey.