Season 2, Episode 7:

Critical

Reese and Finch go to a major hospital to investigate their latest number, a surgeon who is about to perform a risky surgery on the owner of a major power company. When the surgeon is blackmailed into deliberately botching the operation by Alistair Wesley, an ex-MI6 operative turned professional criminal, Finch must do what he can to slow the operation down until Reese can rescue Alistair's hostage.

Tropes in this episode:

• 555: On Detective Carter's card.
• Affably Evil: Alistair Wesley is perfectly polite as he holds the threat of assassinating her wife over the surgeon's head.
• Agony of the Feet: Reese escapes being garroted to death by shooting his assailant in the foot.
• Arbitrarily Large Bank Account: Finch gives the hospital enough money to build an entirely new wing (or two) to get access to the hospital.
• Asshole Victim: Tell the truth, did you actually care if the patient died?
  • Though he's simply a jerk on a personal basis; it's not like Veldt does anything evil. Leon on the other hand is Played for Laughs; Reese and Finch just find it annoying they have to save him again.
• Bad Ass Crew: Alistair Wesley's hit-squad who are former SAS soldiers.
  • Informed Ability: John and Fusco however manage to overcome them despite some minor difficulties.
• Blindfolded Trip: Leon Tao is taken to and from the library in a hood. Apart from the usual reasons for secrecy, they don't want him turning up again, asking for help.
• Boring Insult: Reese refers to Wesley as "just a common thief."
• The Coconut Effect: Reese pegs Wesley as "former MI-6", instead of using the correct name SIS (Secret Intelligence Service), perhaps to avoid confusion with the SAS he mentions a moment later.
• Crazy-Prepared: Alistair's plan would be considered ridiculously over-planned if he wasn't going up against Reese and Finch. Not only does he have a sniper targeting his hostage, he has the sniper wearing a high quality bulletproof vest in case someone takes the rifle away from him and shoots him with it. He also has several other men in the area, one of whom is dressed as a police officer in case the target realized she was being followed and went looking for help. And in case all of that fails, he also had a second agent in the hospital to make certain the operation failed in case the surgeon didn't back down.
  • Complexity Addiction: And he could have avoided all of that if he'd just had the nurse kill the patient in the first place.
• Enemy Mine: Snow wants Reese to know about Stanton, who unfortunately interrupts before he has a chance to reveal who she is, or what she's planning.
• Evil Brit: Wesley oozes this trope in his first meeting with Dr. Enright. Justified as he is trying to scare her. She's already shown that an Albanian thug brandishing a pistol in her face doesn't phase her, but an urbane Englishman detailing in precise medical terms how she will commit murder and Make It Look Like an Accident really throws her off her stride.
• Evil Counterpart: In the pub scene, Wesley and Reese quickly realise they used to be in the same business. Wesley even recognises Reese from the old days, though Reese does not.
• Foreshadowing: The policeman trying to blow off Detective Fusco, who claims to be investigating an abduction. Fusco uses this as an excuse to start a distraction, but it's actually a sign he's trying to get rid of him because he's not a real policeman.
• Happily Married: The surgeon and her wife have an excellent marriage—in the first scene they're together, her wife has driven across town to get her coffee and give her support before the difficult surgery. Unfortunately...well, see below.
• I Have Your Wife: Possibly the first time that this trope has been invoked on a same-sex couple on network television. In a further twist on this trope, the wife has not been kidnapped, just put under a constant threat.
• Impersonating an Officer: Allisatair's assassin is disguised as a cop at the fair.
• Janitor Impersonation Infiltration: Mark Snow's plan.
• Laser Sight: Used more realistically given that it's an infra-red beam, which can't be seen by bystanders. Reese still works out where the sniper is because he's seen the infra-red image that Wesley used to intimidate Dr. Enright.
• Loophole Abuse: The usual kind; the villain warned Dr Enright about calling the police, not a couple of vigilantes who happened to find out about the Evil Plan.
• No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Dine: After Reese takes out his sniper, Wesley rings him up and suggests they have a beer.
• Open Heart Dentistry: Finch has to assist Dr Enright.
• Paranoia Fuel (In-Universe):
  • Wesley recognizes Reese from his days at the Agency, but Reese never saw him.
  • The mysterious woman holding Snow hostage is planning something big.
  • The I Have Your Wife plot causes Reese to remind Carter that she still has loved ones who can be threatened.
• Prophecy Twist: The doctor is a victim forced to become a perpetrator.
• Reflective Eyes: A variation when the sniper sees Reese sneaking up behind him, in the reflection off his telescopic sight's lens.
• Sheep in Sheep's Clothing: The patients assistant, Leland Raines comes across as much more polite and knowledgeable than his boss, who favors alternate energy. He also displays deep medical knowledge about the upcoming operation, is one of theo only people who knows about the surgery and had a proposal he made for offshore wind farms rejected by his boss. These factors cause Finch and Madeline to suspect him, but it turns out that Leland is a Red Herring Honest Corporate Executive who has no idea about the attempt on his boss's life (or the shorting of their stock) who had convicted Mr. Veldt to reconsider the wind farms at a later date rather than wanting him to die over it.
• Shout-Out: Our Evil Brit addresses Reese as "Mr Mystery Guest".
• Squick: invoked Finch, when he finds himself assisting in the surgery—though he manages to hold himself together well enough to be of assistance.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: Wesley's bodyguard nearly garottes Reese because he's not where Reese expects him to be.
• Stealth Pun: "Agent Snow, freeze."
• Tastes Like Friendship: After Leon's initial worries that Bear will eat him (last time they met, the Aryan Brotherhood were using the dog as a Freudian Threat) they end up sharing a bowl of noodles.
• Trail of Bread Crumbs: Snow leaves Detective Carter's card on the body of someone he's been forced to kill, so Carter will show up at the next place he's going to be.
• Too Dumb to Live: Leon Tao's number comes up for the second time.
• Villain Ball: Wesley and his team of ex-SAS fails to live up to other Magnificent Bastard villains in this series, and Reese even lampshades this. Likely this is why we never saw Wesley again, despite it being foreshadowed.
• We Need a Distraction: Fusco starts an argument with a patrolman so Reese can slip an (untapped) phone into the wife's purse.
• We Will Meet Again: Finch considers it likely that Tao will need their help in future. Then Wesley gives them a call, promising the same thing (this doesn't happen though, due to the series being Cut Short).
• Who Would Be Stupid Enough?: Cue Destination Defenestration by Leon Tao.
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: The fake policeman wastes time talking instead of shooting, giving Fusco time to run up and become a distraction again.
• Worthy Opponent: How Alistair views Reese, showing amusement at the idea of being bested and seeming to already be planning a "reunion" more out of interest than malice.
• You Do Not Want To Know: Carter demands answers from Reese re: Snow's behaviour. Reese points out that unlike him and Finch, Carter still has family she cares about.
  Reese: So I think the real question you have to ask yourself, Detective... is how much more do you really want to know?
• You Look Familiar: The actor who plays the mook Reese beats up in the pub previously appeared in "The Fix", as one of the hitmen trying to kill Zoe Morgan. Reese beat him up in that episode too.