Season 2, Episode 9:
C.O.D.
Reese and Finch must find a way to protect a New York cab driver when his number comes up and any one of his passengers could be involved in the impending crime. Meanwhile, Fusco gets pulled even deeper into HR.
Tropes present in this episode include:
- Angry Guard Dog: Do not mess with Finch if Bear is around. Bad things will happen to you.
- Bait-and-Switch: The hit on the mob boss turns out to be a hit on HR.
- Big Damn Heroes: In the final confrontation with the Estonians, Reese saves Finch, then Bear saves Reese, then Fermin saves Bear.
- Blackmail: Simmons uses footage of Davidson confronting Fusco to force him to take part in the hit.
- Briefcase Full of Money: Finch buys the laptop with one.
- Call-Back: To Davidson's death in "Blue Code".
- Chekhov's Skill: Fermin can still throw a mean ball.
- Dissonant Laughter: The HR assassins wonder why their target is laughing at them. They soon find out.
- Fallen-on-Hard-Times Job: Fermin became a taxi driver after an injury to his throwing arm ruined his shot at a professional baseball career.
- First-Name Basis: Finch refers to d3mn8 by his actual name, just to show he knows all about him and should take his warning seriously.
- Good News, Bad News
- Grew a Spine: At the end, Fusco finally tells Simmons his opinion of both him and HR.
- He Knows Too Much: The Estonians have to kill anyone who might know what's on the laptop, as the information is only valuable if no-one knows it's been stolen.
- How the Mighty Have Fallen: Fermin has this rammed home when he goes to beg money from the man he fled Cuba with, who's rich thanks to his own baseball career.
- Ironic Echo: Reese seems himself being monitored by a camera and says, "We are being watched", an ironic riff on Finch's introductory line in the Title Sequence. Counts as foreshadowing too, you could say.
- Irony: To drop Fusco in it, Simmons tips off Carter that IA detective Davidson was killed by a cop, not knowing that both Carter and Fusco are working with the Man in the Suit, who's the actual killer. Carter meanwhile doesn't know about the involvement of both Fusco and Reese.
- It's Been Done: "Cuba was a surveillance state long before the digital age."
- I Was Just Passing Through:Fermin: "Who are you?"Reese: "Just a guy who needed a ride."
- Kinda Busy Here: Fusco calls Reese for help, but he's busy fighting the Estonians. By the time Reese calls back, Fusco thinks it's too late to stop events.
- Leave No Witnesses: The Estonians seem to favor this method of fixing their problems.
- Moving the Goalposts: Fermin's contact doubles the asking price to bring his family over from Cuba.
- Needle in a Stack of Needles: Anyone getting into Fermin's cab could be his killer.
- Noodle Incident: Reese's last ambush by the Estonian Mafia.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: Elias does this by sending HR on a wild goose chase and setting up an assassination which Elias has made sure will go completely sideways. He did this presumably to make a point about how HR abandoned him back in "Flesh and Blood".
- Series Continuity Error: Fusco took out the camera in the evidence room in "Blue Code", so he couldn't have been caught on tape. Though he did mention at the time there were other cameras in the building.
- Shame If Something Happened:
- Played with; Finch is not actually threatening d3mn8, but makes it clear that disappearing for a long time — not going anywhere near his mother in Queens, for instance — would be a good idea with the Estonians hunting him.
- When Fusco refuses to go along with the hit, Simmons emails him video footage of Davidson catching Fusco breaking into the evidence room.
- Sherlock Scan: Finch asks the cab driver to judge who he might be. He settles on professor or librarian.
- Shown Their Work: The stolen laptop is being offered for sale on a "darknet site
" ; Finch mentions the Silk Road online black market as one place he needed to look for it. - Spare a Messenger: Fusco's life (but not the other assassin) is spared to carry back a message that Elias has no interest in dealing with HR.
- Too Much Information: Carter's response when Finch offers to hack the TLC.
- The Villain Knows Where You Live: Or in this case, the hero.
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Working Title: "Hack" before being changed to "C.O.D."- Incidentally, the meaning of the final title is never specified so there's some slight confusion among the fans as to what it actually stands for. Top guesses are 'Cash on Delivery' or 'Cause of Death'. Take your pick.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Twice: Elias does this to HR and then after Fusco passes that message along to Simmons, Simmons sends out info to take down Fusco.
