History PersonOfInterest / TropesNToS

** The show presents an extremely accurate portrayal of artificial intelligence and computer science, and uses correct terminology throughout. The attention to detail in this department makes the show a solid 5 on the MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness.

-->'''Finch:''' [[BigBrotherIsWatching You are being watched]]. The government has a secret system, a Machine that spies on you every hour of every day. I know because ... [[TheReveal I built it]]. I designed The Machine to detect acts of terror, but it sees everything, crimes involving ordinary people like you, crimes the government considered irrelevant. They wouldn't act so I decided I would--but I needed a partner, someone with the skills to intervene. Hunted by the authorities, we work in secret. You'll never find us; but [[WeHelpTheHelpless victim]] or perpetrator, if your number's up, we'll find you.

-->'''Finch:''' [[BigBrotherIsWatching You are being watched]]. The government has a secret system, a Machine that spies on you every hour of every day. I designed the Machine to detect acts of terror, but it sees everything. Violent crimes involving ordinary people. The government considers these people irrelevant. [[WeHelpTheHelpless We don’t.]] Hunted by the authorities, we work in secret. You'll never find us. But victim or perpetrator, if your number’s up, we’ll find you.

-->'''Finch:''' You are being watched. The government has a secret system –\\

-->"I know exactly everything about you, Mr. Reese. I know about the work you used to do for the government. I know about the doubts you came to have about that work. I know that the government, along with everybody else, thinks you're dead. I know you've spent the last couple of months trying to drink yourself to death. I know you're contemplating more efficient ways to do it." --Finch, "Pilot"
-->"The catch, ''Albert,'' is that you leave this very second, disappear, and don't show your face for at least a year. Especially not at your mom's house in Queens, where you presently reside." --Finch, to black marketeer "d3mon8," in "C.O.D."
-->"Your name is Charles Bennett [=MacAvoy=]. Your lovely wife and two little girls live in a palatial estate just outside of Houston, Texas. Your monthly mortgage of $4,200 is easily affordable, considering that you have 6.2 million in a Cayman Islands account--an account that I've just drained to zero. The money was payment for illegal mercenary activities, crimes that I doubt you were prepared to divulge to Agent Donnelly. So the question for you is who would you rather make a deal with, the FBI or me?" --Finch, to one of the mercenaries, in "Prisoner's Dilemma"
-->"In your right pocket, you have 85 cents. The change from your morning coffee run. In your apartment, there's an old photo of your father at the Franklin Park Zoo taken when he was a child. He's feeding a lion cub. Do you know what that cub's name was? Lionel. That's where your name came from." --Root, to Fusco, in "The Devil's Share"
-->"How's your wrist?...Still healing from the spiral fracture? It was a nasty break. It takes a long time to heal, especially when it's your writing hand. You told your friends you fell down playing tennis-- just a silly accident, how clumsy of you. You couldn't tell them how your husband twisted it so violently during an argument, he broke it" --Lambert, to one of the Numbers, in "The Cold War"
-->" The truth is you smoke an average of nine cigarettes a week in the parking lot when you think no one's looking. The truth is that you visit a massage parlor once or twice a month, that you pay for it with crisp $100 bills that you get out of the cash machine at the 7-Eleven across the street. The truth is that you fantasize on online forums about having sex with some of your patients, though not me yet. I guess I'm not your type." --Root, to her psychiatrist in "Liberty"

--> '''Root''': "Remember, one false move and you're dead." *smiles* "So have fun!"

--> '''Root''': *calmly, while cleaning a knife on her sleeves* "Thank you, Carlo."
--> *Finch and Fusco stare at her in mild fear, whith their mouths hanging open*
--> '''Carlo''': "GET THAT PSYCHO AWAY FROM ME!"

--> *muffled cries and banging from truck of the car*
--> '''Root''' (from the driver's seat): "Larry, I told you, stay calm and I'll grant you backseat privileges!"

--> '''Root''' (to a waiter, while putting on a gas mask): "You may wanna sit down."
--> '''Root''': (to an unconscious man, while stealing his suitcase) "Thank you!"

--> '''Seller''': "You're five bucks short on the ice."
--> '''Root''': *takes a BFG out of the car and stares at him.*
--> '''Seller''': *backing away with his hands up in surrender* Woah! We're cool! We're cool!
--> '''Root''': *smiles sweetly* Appreciate your understanding.

--> '''Taylor:''' Who's the guy with the glasses?
--> '''Det. Carter:''' When you find out, let me know.

-->'''Finch''': [[spoiler:Whoever Decima is, I believe they created the virus to find and infect a single target... The Machine.]]

* NoEnding: "Cura Te Ipsim": We never learn of [[spoiler: Benton]]'s fate. [[spoiler: "Many Happy Returns" suggests he might be in the same Mexican Prison as Deputy Brad Jennings, but it’s never been confirmed]].

* NotSoDifferent: Comes up a lot with all the {{Evil Counterpart}}s in the series.
** Reese and [[UsefulNotes/TheStasi former Stasi]] assassin Ulrich Kohl.
** Reese also identifies with Riley, the mob enforcer trying to protect the woman he loves, in "Triggerman."
** Finch and [[spoiler:Root]], who describes Finch as a "worthy opponent."
*** Unwittingly lampshaded by Finch in "Firewall," when he describes her (not yet realizing who she is) as "a girl after my own heart."
*** Used explicitly in "The Contingency" where Finch admits they are alike. However that episode also shows how they're not alike, as Finch does not share her LackOfEmpathy (but this is shown to change later on in "/" ""Root Path" when it is show that Root '''is''' capable of empathy and carries a fare share of guilt.).
*** Finch refers to the [=POI=] of "Triggerman, a mob enforcer, as "bad code," echoing Root's term for human failings in "Bad Code". He later corrects himself when Reese asks what the phrase means: "It only applies to machines."

** [[spoiler: Elias]] and [[spoiler: Dominic]]. Both are highly intelligent and erudite gang leaders; both of them are secretive and stay out of the spotlight; both run highly efficient, organized gangs; both seem AffablyEvil; both know how to use technology to leverage an advantage. They're even introduced in similar manners, with [[spoiler: both hiding their identity as unassuming, average guys.]] Also, [[spoiler:Elias was a math teacher. Dominic is fond of trying to teach his men.]]
** NotSoSimilar: However they're very different in key ways. [[spoiler: Whereas Elias is calm, patient, cunning, AFatherToHisMen, and prefers to solve problems without violence, Dominic is rash, headstrong, and believes MurderIsTheBestSolution.]]
** Season 4 introduces a Decima operative named Martine Rousseau, who comes off as, basically, evil Root. She also comes across as a mix between Root and Shaw. She carries the stoic demeanor of Shaw and lack of morality Root has (or used to have before her change of heart).
[[/folder]]

* RealityEnsues:
** Most of the protagonists are competent individuals. However, there are others out there who are just a capable as they are and in superior numbers can beat them in a fight.
** In "Mors Praematura" Root arms herself with an automatic pistol. She is able to shoot two people before she runs out of ammo. [[spoiler:It's also reinforced that when not taking her by surprise with a stun gun, she stands zero chance against Shaw.]]
** Due to the gradual dismantling of the corrupt cops and gang members over the course of the show, the ones left are increasingly intelligent and competent, by necessity.
** In Season 4, [[spoiler:Samaritan is prevented from digitally locating Shaw because of the corrupted server Root snuck in to prevent it finding Team Machine, even when it has the precise location of her phone ''and'' a photo. This does not prevent Greer and his agent, Martine, tracking her down the analog way; hurting people she's contacted until they talk.]]
** In "If-Then-Else", [[spoiler:when the simulations end, factors keep popping up that the Machine didn't prepare for or know about, like Martine's team arriving early, or a manual release for the elevator. If you watch closely, none of the camera angles it has on the elevator show the button, even in simulations.]]

*** Finch refers to the [=POI=] of "Triggerman, a mob enforcer, as "bad code," echoing Root's term for human failings in "[[CaptainObvious Bad Code]]." He later corrects himself when Reese asks what the phrase means: "It only applies to machines."

** However, from Season Two onwards screen time between the two characters 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.

* 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, Cavieze l 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 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.

* 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 Lost]]). He's still of course easily the deauteragonist 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, Cavieze l 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 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.

** The blood on Reese's shirt at the beginning of "Many Happy Returns" has never been explained; when asked about it, he just said that he'd "quit his job." We still don't know what he's referring to, but based on the timeline it can't be the incident at Ordos because that happened in May 2010, and the flashbacks in MHR took place in February 2011.[[note]]It is possible that this is a writer mistake though. In the original Pilot script, John did have an injury from his final mission when he came to find Jessica; it's possible they forgot that the timeline had been changed by the time they wrote MHR.[[/note]]

** While testing the Machine, Finch uses it to win at blackjack, but then deliberately loses when he realizes what he's doing. Though this was always just a test for The Machine, as Finch is already rich.

** When Alicia Corwin meets Finch's nephew, it is mentioned she lives in the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_National_Radio_Quiet_Zone United States National Radio Quiet Zone]] in West Virginia, which does have a blanket ban on all cellphones, Wi-Fi instruments, and radios. They still use pay phones in this region.

** While testing the Machine, Finch uses it to win at blackjack, but then deliberately loses when he realizes what he's doing.

** Reese and [[TheStasi former Stasi]] assassin Ulrich Kohl.

** Reese realises he did this in "Reasonable Doubt" [[spoiler: giving a gun to a POI who planned to kill her husband]], but manages to mostly fix things, while washing his hands off the POI.

** Joss Carter: [[spoiler: After John saved her life, she still decided to hand him over to his old CIA partner. Only for them to shoot him in the leg and find out that they planned to kill him, instead of arrest him.]]

* OutsideContextVillain: In Season 4, Dominic and Elias struggle for control of organised crime in New York [[spoiler:only to be gunned down in the SeasonFinale by a sniper sent by Samaritan, whose existence they're not even aware of.]]

[[Series/PersonOfInterest Main Page]] | [[PersonOfInterest/TropesAToG Tropes A-G]] | [[PersonOfInterest/TropesHToM Tropes H-M]] | '''PersonOfInterest/TropesNToS Tropes N-S''' | [[PersonOfInterest/TropesTToZ Tropes T-Z]]

* [[Series/PersonOfInterest Main Page]]
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* [[PersonOfInterest/TropesHToM Tropes H-M]]
* [[PersonOfInterest/TropesNToS Tropes N-S]]
* [[PersonOfInterest/TropesTToZ Tropes T-Z]]