Reese (Jim Caviezel) manages to save a man from being murdered by hitmen on an elevator and leaves the scene.
Finch tells him that their new number is of Theresa Whitaker, a girl who was thought to have died along with the rest of her family.
After questioning one of her friends, Reese finds Theresa (Valentina de Angelis) robbing an ATM and she flees after she cuts his hand.
However, due to child killers not being popular in prison, the hitman has been defending his honor, and the information reached the men who hired him.
Reese also finds that Finch quit his job in the insurance office, as he wishes to keep his personal life a secret.
In flashbacks to 2002, Finch is joined by a colleague Nathan Ingram (Brett Cullen) and shows him an early version of the Machine with the basic task of watching over New York City.
In its original American broadcast, "Ghosts" was seen by an estimated 12.51 million household viewers and gained a 2.7/7 ratings share among adults aged 18–49, according to Nielsen Media Research.
Her father, mother, and brother were killed by a hitman a few years back, and Theresa herself was presumed dead; there's a brief tease at the beginning when Finch and Reese meet in the graveyard where the Whitakers were buried, and Reese says something about a ghost (sigh), but by and large, this is a straightforward, land-deal-gone-bad kind of story.
But all those take place in flashbacks, while the show wants to spend a majority of its time in the present, which to put it simply, is pretty boring.
"[4] Morgan Jeffery of Digital Spy wrote "Got to love the stylish Person of Interest title sequence introduced with this episode, featuring a moody voice-over from Michael Emerson.