Sameen wakes up and finds herself strapped to a table as doctors work on her. They insert a chip behind her ear beneath the skin and assure her that soon she'll never know it's there. Greer and Lambert watch from the next room, and Lambert points out that Sameen has killed six of his men in the last nine months. The doctor warns them implanting a chip so close to Sam's brain is dangerous, but Greer overrides him and says that it's time to begin phase 2.
Later, Sameen lies in a hospital bed. An orderly, Stewart, tells Sameen that she has beautiful eyes and places a pair of eyepieces on her. A recording of Lambert says that they can show Sameen the face of a god or wipe her mind clean. Images are fed into Sam's brain, and Lambert comes in and begins questioning her. He explains that the team has compressed the Machine's code and asks where they might go. Sameen remains unconscious, and Stewart figures that the chip fried Sam's brain.
Lambert tells Sameen that as a child, she got sick on a roundabout. She forced herself to ride it even though it made her sick. Sameen still doesn't respond, and Lambert asks Sameen if Joseph Kent, the man who saved her, is alive or dead. There's no response, and Lambert says that Kent is dead. He shows her photos of the team and asks if they're alive or dead, and Sameen asks if Lambert came up with the game himself or if Samaritan did. Lambert says that her friends abandoned her, and Sameen promises to make Lambert bleed. Stewart gives her a sedative and she passes out. Greer comes in and Lambert asks how they should proceed. Samaritan texts to tell them to implant a new chip, and Greer insists that no price is too great if they can turn Sameen into a valuable asset.
Sameen wakes up later and removes the bandage from the site where the chip was implanted. She stares at herself in the mirror and then breaks it, and tries to run. The guards knock her out with a sedative. Later, a nurse takes an unconscious Sameen down the hall with lambert escorting them. They're unaware that Sameen has palmed a piece of the broken mirror. As the nurse takes her into the elevator, Sameen cuts through her straps and uses the nurse as a shield when Lambert shoots her. She then grabs the nurse's gun and wounds Lambert, and then shoots out the surveillance cameras. As Sameen straps Lambert into the wheelchair, he warns that his men will be waiting for her when the doors open. She pours a vial of BZD down his throat and gags him, and points out that he swallows then the drug will kill him. The elevator arrives at the next floor and Sameen wheels Lambert ahead of her. She shoots the Decima agents as they charge out, takes Lambert's key card, and runs. Sameen gets outside and knocks out a guard, and runs away from the manor where she's been kept. She comes to a shore and realizes that she's on an island in the middle of nowhere, but spots a fishing boat and heads for it.
Later, Sameen takes a taxi into New York City, and notices a silver BMW following them. The cab driver insists that they're not being followed, and she has him pull over. The BMW drives past them. Sameen gets out, goes into a pharmacy, and takes out the surveillance cameras. She then grabs some bandages and medicine from the shelfs. A clerk comes up behind her and offers to help her, and she tells him to move along. Sameen grabs a cigarette lighter and goes into the restroom. She uses the supplies she's gathered to remove the chip and cauterize the wound, but is overwhelmed from images from the programming. When she snaps back to consciousness, she finds her hands covered in blood.
Sameen finds the clerk, Bobby Jackson, and asks to use the phone. She calls 911 and says that she's about to kill Bobby, and tells him that his number is up.
The Machine picks up the call and identifies Sameen.
Sameen ties up Bobby and says that she just needs to make it look like she's killing him. She gags Bobby and goes to the sporting goods section, and three Decima agents come in. They spot Bobby and move in, but Sameen knocks one of them unconscious with a baseball bat, grabs his gun, and runs into the shadows. She returns fire, taking out another agent, and is hit with more images. The third agent threatens to shoot her, and Sameen discovers that her gun is empty. She drops the gun, and the agent says that he wasn't ordered to bring her back alive.
Root shoots the man in the back and realizes that Sameen was his target. Sameen thanks root for saving her, and Sameen collapses in pain as more images hit her.
Later, Sameen wakes up on a subway train to find Root and Reese standing over her. They figure that Samaritan is tracking her so they can't take Sameen back to the Machine.so they'll have to take the chip out there. Sameen warns that Samaritan is in her head, and Root assures her that they'll get the chip out. As Root starts operating, she warns that it's going to suck and Sameen screams in pain.
At a safehouse, Sameen wakes up to hear the others discussing whether Samaritan turned her or not. She asks where she is, and Bear jumps into bed with her. Root confirms that she removed and disabled the chip, and they tell her that the Machine is alive and well. Sameen worries that Samaritan could spot her if she leaves the safehouse, and wants to kill Greer. Finch says that they have to proceed with a well-conceived plan, and Sameen asks if he even bothered looking for her. When he says that he did, Sameen tells him that he didn't look hard enough. Once Finch and Reese leave, Root tells Sameen that she never stopped looking for her. She gives Sameen her coat and asks if she can repay Sameen for saving her life. Sameen pulls away and says that she's not in the right mindset for any of it, and Root tells her to get some rest.
Late, Sameen approaches Root and says that she's not tired. She says that they're probably not going to make it out in one piece, and make love. They end up in bed and Root strokes the scars on Sameen's back. Sameen says that the Numbers are from before when she worked with Northern Lights, and Samaritan's torture was more psychological. They trained her to take her mind somewhere safe when she was tortured, but there was no safe place for her. Root asks Sameen to stay there with her, and they kiss.
After root dozes off, Sameen dresses and quietly goes into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. She looks at the bandage in the mirror and goes into convulsions again. When she recovers, Sameen finds a gun in her hand. She angrily tells Samaritan to get out of her head, and root knocks at the door. Sameen hides the gun and admits that she doesn't know if she's all right. Root invites her to come back to bed and promises that they'll figure everything out in the morning.
The next morning, Sameen wakes up and hears root on the phone saying that she'll be right there. Root tells Sameen that she's going to get some breakfast and Sameen should say there. Once she leaves, Sameen looks at the bathroom drawer where she hid the gun.
Root meets Reese at a nearby diner, and he tells her that Finch discovered that the chip was a placebo. Sameen is outside, secretly listening in via a bug she planted on Root, as Root tells Reese that Sameen is acting strangely. She insists that Sameen isn't the enemy and refuses to hurt them or let Reese hurt her. Reese tells Root to stay with Sameen and figure out anything. Sameen storms in, furious that Root can't trust her. Root realizes that Sameen bugged her, and says that Sameen doesn't have to be scared. Angry, Sameen says that it has to end and makes a random call. Samaritan picks up the call, as Sameen hangs up and tells the others that she's going to destroy the AI once and for all.
Sameen shows the others the weapons that she brought with her. The Decima agents come in and spots Sameen running out the back. They follow her and Sameen comes to a dead end. Reese and Root knock the agents out from behind, and Root triangulates the signal from their last call so that they can find Greer. They locate the Decima base and break in, taking out the Decima agents. Sameen grabs Greer as he draws his gun, and he shoots and wounds root before Sameen can disarm him.
The trio takes Greer to a church on Finch's instructions, and Sameen hesitates. Greer asks if she's all right, just as Finch steps out. He points out that the stone walls act as a natural Faraday cage and leads them into the crypt. Root wants to kill Greer while they have the chance, and Reese agrees with her. Finch disagrees, and Sameen says that they need Greer alive. She takes out a knife and says that Greer is going to tell them how to defeat Samaritan. Greer tells them that there is no head and he's irrelevant, and invites them to do what they will with him.
Sameen ties Greer to a chair and figures that he has an out. They search him for a kill switch and Sameen finds a scar on his arm. She cuts it open, ignoring Finch's objection, and removes a USB drive. Sameen then asks Finch to plug it in.
Using his laptop, Finch breaks the encryption on the USB drive. He recognizes Arthur Claypool's coding and believes that it's a kill switch that will obliterate Samaritan once they plug it into a network. Sameen irritably tells him to keep working, and Finch suggests that she get some rest. He admits that he thought she was dead and gave up on her, and apologizes. As Finch goes to somewhere more private to work on the code, Sameen goes into convulsions again and grabs Finch's hand with the USB drive. She snaps out of it and says that she wanted to look at the drive, and Finch takes Root to get her a proper bandage. As they go, Finch tells Reese to keep an eye on Sameen.
The next day, Reese offers to watch Greer while Sameen takes a break. She refuses to take a break until she destroys Samaritan. They hear Decima agents upstairs and Reese goes to take them out. Greer gets Sameen's attention, and she removes his gag. She tells her that it's time to call off the charade and says that she's almost completed her mission. Greer says that it was her idea to plant the drive in his arm, and says that it's a kill switch but not the one the team is expecting. Sameen goes into convulsions, and Greer says that they broke her months ago. Decima let her escape so that she would lead them to the Machine. Greer tells her to take them to the Machine so that they can wipe it out. Sameen grabs him, and Greer says that she couldn't kill him even if she wanted to... but she will kill her friends. Screaming, Sameen, shoots Greer in the head.
Reese returns and says that he took care of the agents. Sameen says that she killed Greer and explains that the whole thing was a setup. She figures the chip would signal Samaritan to let it know where Finch and the Machine are. They hit the streets and Reese calls Finch to warn him not to plug the drive into a networked computer. Finch says that he did and Reese explains that it's a beacon. Finch refuses to abandon the Machine, and Reese and Sameen head for Finch's location.
As they enter an alley, Reese wonders how Greer knew they would capture him. He figures that someone warned Greer, and Sameen insists that she didn't. She has another episode but says that they have to go. Rees refuses to go back to the Machine until they talk it through, and Sameen draws a gun and shoots Reese in the back. Finch calls and asks if they're all right, and Sameen tells him that Decima agents showed up and killed Reese. Root tells her to get out, insisting that they'll fix whatever is wrong.
Dying, Reese reaches for his gun and Sameen begs him to stop. She takes the gun and sees the Decima agents waiting in the alley. Sameen runs out to the street and sees more Decima agents approaching. Root finds Sameen and leads her into the crowd, and says that they have to get back to the Machine. She tells Sameen to lead the way, and Sameen tells her that she needs to tell her about Reese. Root says that it can wait, and Sameen leads her away.
Sameen takes Root to a park and says that she doesn't know who is controlling her anymore. She tells Root that she spot Reese and aims the gun at Root, and says that now she's going to kill her. Root asks why she hasn't yet, and Root figures that somewhere in Sameen's heart, she knows that they belong together. She says that they'll work through it once they get to safety, but Sameen says that nowhere is safe. She couldn't escape, but in her mind she came to the park with Root because Root was her safe place. Now Sameen can't control herself, and she puts the gun to her head and kills herself.
At the Decima manor, Greer watches as Sameen undergoes brainwashing. Stewart reports that Sameen blew her brains out again, and she didn't lead them to the Machine. However, this time Sameen waited an extra hour before shooting Greer. Greer tells them to start the simulation again, and Stewart begins simulation 6,742. Confident, Greer says that they have all the time in the world.
Written by Gadfly on May 17, 2016