History PersonOfInterest / TropesNToS

** In "Aletheia," we finally learn how The Machine has been communicating with Root: [[spoiler: Morse Code audio signals at frequencies above 15kHz, which only younger people can hear.]] In the sequence with Root and Control in the Faraday cage, [[spoiler: there's a high frequency "beeping" sound effect that only younger viewers could hear.]] [[DoingItForTheArt The best part]]? [[http://www.reddit.com/r/PersonOfInterest/comments/1up00n/decoded_the_morse_code_spoilers/ It actually is Morse code, not just random beeping, and it's part of the dialogue!]][[invoked]]

** [[spoiler:HR has been severely damaged by Donnelly(who admittedly isn't a villain). While HR is eventually devastated through Carter and honest FBI agents, Elias has Simmons killed.]]

** [[spoiler: Kara Stanton, Reese's former partner, turns up in "Matsya Nyaya" despite appearing to have a bomb dropped on her during flashbacks in the same episode.]]
** [[spoiler: Though it is justified, as a wounded Reese was able to get a safe distance away there was plenty of time for her to escape too]].

** Subverted when it's revealed that the "team" is just ONE of The Machine's teams, specifically the New York team. It has other teams around the U.S. (possibly global), such as Joey who is part of the Washington D.C. team.

'''Greer:''' You granted it the ablity to see everything: to index, order, and control the lives of ordinary people.\\

** Then it initiates large scale funding of a education non-profit [[spoiler: intending to utilize the technology as a means to brainwash the next generation of American children.]]
** After that [[spoiler: Samaritan conducts a cyber-attack on the computer systems of the NYSE, instigating a market crash that is only reversed by the frantic efforts of Team Machine]].
** Despite that setback [[spoiler: Samaritan manages to compromise and cultivate the White House Chief Of Staff as a potential asset and begins building a army of assets in important sectors of American society such as the government.]]
** It's revealed that [[spoiler: Samaritan has been experimenting with mind control technology]]
** Finally, it initiates a successful operation to conduct the targeted killing of [[spoiler: any potential opposition to it and its goals]], leaving Team Machine totally isolated.
* OriginsEpisode: "[=RAM=]" is in effect this, showing how things were in 2010 when Finch first started out. [[spoiler: It establishes Finch's first forays into intervention with his first partner, a merc named Dillinger; shows why and how the laptop with Finch's virus/vaccine got to China; and ties together how Northern Lights and Decima began chasing for the Machine. Most significantly, it shows when and why Finch choose Reese.]]

** Finch designed the Machine to only output Social Security numbers and the humans then have to do the rest of the investigating. On occasion this means that someone will die before Finch and Reese are able to figure out what the actual threat is and how to neutralize it.

** In "Nautilus," a FictionalCounterpart to Blackwater is stalking the Number

** A "person of interest" can just as easily be a perpetrator as a victim. [[spoiler: This trips up Reese in the pilot episode.]]

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** Reese flashing the badge of the deceased Detective Stills always exasperates Fusco. He's not the only one either -- several villains walk right into the precinct house to commit crimes while impersonating law enforcement officials.

** Reese and Root [[spoiler: after Shaw is taken by Samaritan]]

** Elias versus the Five Families

* SadisticChoice: Shaw faces one in "The Crossing": [[spoiler: save Fusco, who's been captured and is being tortured by HR, or save his son Lee, who HR will almost certainly go after. She eventually decides to save Lee. Luckily, Fusco was able to man up and turn the tables.]]

* SaveScumming: Basically The Machine's M.O. when she's calculating possible outcomes of a scenario, as shown in "If-then-else". And like gamers who also try out the most asinine ideas for funsies when they know they can simply go back, her simulations also include her pawns behaving out of character (as long as it doesn't interfere with the scenario).

** How Carter seems to rationalize falsifying evidence to completely derail an FBI investigation. [[spoiler: And why she eventually helps Fusco when Internal Affairs comes after him.]]

** "Harold Wren" works as an insurance underwriter. This is the persona that is best friends with Nathan Ingram.
*** Doubles as a ShoutOut to ''VideoGame/SimCity''.

** "Harold Swift," inspiring math teacher
** In season 4, he's "Harold Whistler," a professor at NYU teaching a course in "Ethics of High Frequency Decision Making"
** "Harold Egret," legendary mercenary and black-market arms dealer

* SelfDefeatingProphecy: The Machine's job is to spit out prophecies of violent crime so that Northern Lights (And Team Machine) can defeat them.

** The Chinese ghost town shown in "Matsya Nyaya" [[http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1975397,00.html actually exists.]]
*** So does the virus that targeted the Iranian nuclear program.

** Two in the Season 5 premiere, BSOD: Firstly, [[spoiler: The team attempts to construct a supercomputer using Sony PS3s, something which [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_3_cluster was actually done in real life]], [[TruthInTelevision as silly as it sounds.]]]] Secondly, [[spoiler: Samaritan hacks into a cop's pacemaker in order to kill him, which is a [[http://www.computerworld.com/article/2981527/cybercrime-hacking/researchers-hack-a-pacemaker-kill-a-man-nequin.html very real security concern]].]]
*** A third one from the same episode. When Reese goes and grabs a liquid nitrogen canister off the street, the phone company really does keep [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juZqGU9iuq0 canisters of [=LN2=] on the streets of New York]] which they use to keep the phone wires dry and in an oxygen free environment. The show did use the wrong type of compressed gas canister (it's one for storing regular N2 not [=LN2=]) but the existence of the [=LN2=] is correct.

* TheSpook: trained spies Reese and Shaw, of course, but also Finch (who has been operating under one assumed name or another [[CrazyPrepared back to at least 1976]]), Root (both in her career as a killer for hire and after becoming the "analog interface"), Kara Stanton, Greer, Elias, Dominic, Harper Rose, Peter Collier, Ulrich Kohl (the number in "Foe"), Alistair Wesley ("Critical"), and the unnamed BigBad from "Last Call."
* StealthEscortMission: In Bury the Lede Reese gets a new number who's a reporter. Besides investigating and reporting about the HR which got her into trouble, she's also researching about "The Man in the Suit" urban legend. So Reese has to help her without exposing himself.

* SupportingProtagonist: Interestingly, both Finch and Reese have played this role depending on the point in the show. The show's early promo material made Finch seem slightly more the main character than Reese and billed Michael Emerson before Jim Caviezel (likely due to the former being fresh-off a highly memorable and Emmy-winning performance on Series/Lost). He's still easily the deuteragonist at least, is the arguably the main catalyst for the plot AND narrates the intro, but in Season One Reese was given surprisingly far more screen time, with poor Mr. Emerson usually stuck behind a desk talking through an earpiece. And of course, Caviezel ended up getting first billing, with Emerson getting "[[AndStarring And Michael Emerson]]" at the end (which befits a character actor like himself). Due to this the general public USUALLY considers Reese the main character.
** However, from Season Two onwards screen time between the two characters becomes much more even, with Finch getting in on the action more and the stories becoming more AI-oriented. And in fact, by the time season five rolls around, one could even argue that Finch really was the main character all along the to him arguably having the meatier story arc of the two in the final season.

* SWATTeam: The US Marshals have a small SWATTeam guarding [[spoiler:Alonzo Quinn]]. They prove to be no match for Reese, who curbstomps them nonlethally.

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* ProperlyParanoid: [[UpToEleven Half the cast]] are this.

* PayPhone: These are cool again because of this show.

* NebulousEvilOrganization: HR, Northern Lights and now Decima Technologies.

** Finch's back injury was one until the flashbacks in "God Mode" told the story.

* PalantirPloy: And how.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: A few episodes deviate from usual premise:
** "Bad Code": Going to Texas to solve a cold case.
** "Prisoner's Dilemma" (and "2-Pi-R" to a lesser extent): [[spoiler:Reese being arrested and must escape Donnelly's suspicion]].
** "Dead Reckoning": Reese is forced to participate in TheCaper.
** "Relevance": The story follows a duo of government assassins who eliminate terrorists outed by the Machine, while the main characters are DemotedToExtra.
** "[[Recap/PersonOfInterestS03E16 RAM]]" is an ArcWelding WholeEpisodeFlashback OriginStory filled to the brim with [[CallForward Call Forwards]].
** "[[Recap/PersonOfInterestS04E11 If-Then-Else]]" is The Machine running a series of [[AllJustADream simulations]] to find a way to get Team Machine out of a tight spot.
** "[[Recap/PersonOfInterestS04E12 Control-Alt-Delete]]" focuses on Control and the new, improved "relevant numbers" operation powered by Samaritan.
** "[[Recap/PersonOfInterestS04E20 Terra Incognita]]" isn't "narrated" in he usual manner by The Machine or Samaritan because it's a FeverDreamEpisode

** Finch, Reese, and company don't have a name for themselves in-universe. ("Team Machine" is a FanNickname.)

** Shaw outright calls Vigilance terrorists and [[HeWhoFightsMonsters not that different from the monsters, like in Northern Lights, that they fight]]. Control also calls them terrorists in the Season 3 finale. She also points out that at least [[AtLeastIAdmitIt she recognizes herself]] as a NecessaryEvil, but they instead "[[KnightTemplar wrapped [themselves] up in the American Flag]]" to justify their actions.