History Recap / PersonOfInterestS03E23

-->'''Samaritan:''' CALCULATING RESPONSE...

-->'''Samaritan:'''

* LongLastLook: Finch when they abandon the Library.

** The title may refer to the situation Finch finds himself in at the climax. Alone and trapped on a rooftop with Lambert aiming a Glock 19 at him and getting ready to pull the trigger he's saved by John getting up there in time to screw up Lambert's aim with a well placed bullet.

* HomoeroticSubtext: More LesYay between Shaw and Root.

** Root points out their window to stop Samaratin ended when they [[Recap/PersonOfInterestS03E20 failed to kill Congressman McCourt]].

* NotSoDifferent

** Fusco has no idea what broadcast Reese and Hersh are talking about.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Vigilance using a Rylatech satellite to "stream" the trial across the world. What was the name of that company that [[Recap/PersonOfInterestS02E19 had agents planted inside Rylatech, and thus has control over their technology? Further emphasized when The Machine recognizes an anomaly with the transmission.]]
** In the previous episode when Greer was talking to Senator Garrison about the sudden kidnappings, the former noted "We don't have much time". At that very moment, who walked in? Collier. A vague hint that Greer had organized his own capture from the beginning

** Also, Fusco has no idea what broadcast Reese and Hersh are talking about.

** Finch [[PleaseKillMeIfItSatisfiesYou offers his own life for those of Greer, Control and Garrison]]. He then tries the same with Collier after Greer turns on them. Both fail.
** Hersh attempts to do this, taking multiple gunshot wounds as he attempts to defuse the very large bomb Decima has set up, but expires due to his injuries before he is able to prevent its detonation.

* WhamEpisode: the mother of all Wham Episodes. The government gives Samaritan full access, Team Machine abandons the library and goes into hiding, and Decima is poised to take over the world.

** [[Recap:PersonOfInterestS02E19 Rylatech]] appears in one of the camera feeds after the flashback of his Collier joins Vigilance ends.

** Finch offers his own life for those of Greer, Control and Garrison. He then tries the same with Collier after Greer turns on them. Both fail.

* TheBadGuyWins: Decima thoroughly ''annihilate'' Team Machine.

** Hersh steals someone's bike the same way he got himself sent to jail, by shooting into the air.

** Rylatech appears in one of the camera feeds after the flashback of his Collier joins Vigilance ends.
* TheChessmaster: Greer and Decima ''created'' Vigilance to goad the U.S. Government into allowing Decima's open system access to the government feeds.
* {{Determinator}}: Hersh. Takes several bullets near the climax but still does his damnedest to defuse a large bomb which Decima has planted

* FalseFlagOperation

** Even more so during the trial apart from the others who were stoic, terrified or defiant in the face of a shotgun wielding Peter Collier, Greer was the only one smirking and jovial, a hint that he knew the trial was staged and he wasn't in danger.

* HeroicSacrifice / ChronicHeroSyndrome: Finch offers his own life for those of Greer, Control and Garrison. He then tries the same with Collier after Greer turns on them. Both fail.
** Hersh attempts to do this taking multiple gunshot wounds as he attempts to defuse the very large bomb Decima has set up but expires due to his injuries before he is able to prevent its detonation.

* IronicEcho: Collier was convinces to join Vigilance after hearing "Tyranny, like Hell, is not easily conquered". Greer tells him the same thing, revealing that it was he in fact who created Vigilance.

* PreMortemOneLiner:To Collier.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Control delivers an epic one against Collier invoking her own personal experience on 9/11 when she was nearly killed by the plane which tore through the Pentagon and calls him out on his actions as terrorist.
--> '''Control''': Where were you when Flight 77 hit the Pentagon? Because I was inside it. I carried out the wounded. I covered up bodies. And I have spent every day since putting bullets in the people responsible, and in anyone else thinks they can do that to our country again. You want to shoot me, because I had to tap a few phone calls, read a few e-mails? Then you go right ahead. But you better turn that gun on yourself next, Mr. Collier, because you have broken just as many laws, and the only difference is I didn't wrap myself up in the American flag, and try to convince people that I was a hero.

* SacrificialLion: Manuel Rivera.

* TheReveal

* VillainousRescue: Greer's security detail arrives and kills off most of Collier's men, saving Finch, Garrison, Control and Greer.]]
* WhamEpisode: the mother of all [[WhamEpisode Wham Episodes.]] The government gives Samaritan full access, Team Machine abandons the library and goes into hiding, and Decima is poised to take over the world.

** The title may refer to the situation Finch finds himself in at the climax. Alone and trapped on a rooftop with one of Greer's employees aiming a Glock 19 at him and getting ready to pull the trigger he's saved by John getting up there in time to screw up the man's aim with a well placed bullet

-> '''Root''': [[spoiler: This was never about winning... it's just about surviving.]]

* AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler: Granted his methods were rather extreme, but Collier thought he was doing what was best for the people of the US, must have been harsh to find out he did all that for nothing.]]
* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler: Of all people it's Collier who turns into this, when Greer has him shot, after informing the man that all his actions were for nothing and helped pave the way for the establishment of another omnipotent surveillance system]]
* BatmanGambit: [[spoiler: Decima Technologies have been assembling one and during this episode, put it into action.]] By the end of the episode, [[spoiler: all their enemies are dead or on the run and]] they've successfully completed everything that they've set out to do.
* TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler: Decima thoroughly ''annihilate'' Team Machine.]]

* BrokenMasquerade: [[spoiler: Subverted. Finch did tell the court (and, he believed, the world) about the Machine, but the courtroom is blown up and the only ones who survive knew about it already.]]

** [[spoiler: Root's cover identity photo is that of [[Recap/PersonOfInterestS01E23 Caroline Turing]]. Shaw's is that of [[Recap/PersonOfInterestS03E03 Nadya Ferraro]].]]
** Decima appeared on Northern Lights' radar due to an RFID implant they recovered from Alicia Corwin's body. [[spoiler: It appears here as the method of accessing Samaritan's server room, in lieu of a key card or more conventional biometric locks.]]

* TheChessmaster: [[spoiler:Greer and Decima ''created'' Vigilance to goad the U.S. Government into allowing Decima's open system access to the government feeds.]]
* {{Determinator}}: Hersh. Takes several bullets near the climax [[spoiler: but still does his damnedest to defuse a large bomb which Decima has planted]]
* DeusExMachina: [[spoiler: Averted. Nothing comes out of the blue to save Team Machine this time, the title refers to [[DeusEstMachina Samaritan]] going fully active.]]
** The title may refer to the situation Finch finds himself in at the climax. Alone and trapped on a rooftop with one of Greer's employees aiming a Glock 19 at him and getting ready to pull the trigger [[spoiler: he's saved by John getting up there in time to screw up the man's aim with a well placed bullet]]
* [[spoiler: FalseFlagOperation]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler: Vigilance using a Rylatech satellite to "stream" the trial across the world. What was the name of that company that [[Recap/PersonOfInterestS02E19 had agents planted inside Rylatech, and thus has control over their technology?]] Further emphasized when The Machine recognizes an anomaly with the transmission.]]
** In the previous episode when [[spoiler: Greer was talking to Senator Garrison about the sudden kidnappings, the former noted "We don't have much time". At that very moment, who walked in? Collier. A vague hint that Greer had organized his own capture from the beginning]]
** Also, the previous episode showed that he had brought a large security detail with him to conduct his operation and during [[spoiler: "A House Divided" when he gets "captured", they're conspicuously absent and reappear in this episode to destroy Vigilance and rescue their boss]].
** Even more so during the trial [[spoiler: apart from the others who were stoic, terrified or defiant in the face of a shotgun wielding Peter Collier, Greer was the only one smirking and jovial, a hint that he knew the trial was staged and he wasn't in danger]].
** Also, [[spoiler:Fusco has no idea what broadcast Reese and Hersh are talking about]].
* GameChanger: [[spoiler:Samaritan is online. The library has been compromised. Team Machine can't move beyond the bounds of their cover identities, or they will be detected and eliminated by Samaritan.]]
* HeroicSacrifice / ChronicHeroSyndrome: [[spoiler: Finch offers his own life for those of Greer, Control and Garrison. He then tries the same with Collier after Greer turns on them. Both fail.]]
** Hersh attempts to do this [[spoiler: taking multiple gunshot wounds as he attempts to defuse the very large bomb Decima has set up but expires due to his injuries before he is able to prevent its detonation.]]

* HopeSpot: [[spoiler:Team Machine has failed for now, but they are alive. Root even uses Pandora's Box as an analogy.]]

* IronicEcho: Collier was convinces to join Vigilance after hearing "Tyranny, like Hell, is not easily conquered". [[spoiler:Greer tells him the same thing, revealing that it was he in fact who created Vigilance]].
* {{Irony}}: [[spoiler:Greer wants a world governed by benevolent computer overlords devoid of human biases. The analogy he invokes is...[[JerkassGods the Greek pantheon]].]]
* JustInTime: [[spoiler: Reese shoots [[TheDragon Lambert]] milliseconds before he would have executed Finch.]]
* KangarooCourt: Collier claims that it isn't, citing the defendants have a defense attorney, a jury, and the media has access to it...all of whom were brought in at gunpoint. The judge is also a member of Vigilance, the defense lawyer doesn't get to speak with his "clients" (or at all), the jury isn't given time for deliberation, etc. [[spoiler:Plus Collier summarily executes Rivera on the stand, and is going to just execute everyone else when TheCavalry show up]].
* KillEmAll: [[spoiler:The members of Vigilance are hunted down and killed by Decima or the NYPD.]]
* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler:Decima has been this for Vigilance the whole time.]]

* NothingIsTheSameAnymore: As of the end of the episode, [[spoiler:the members of Team Machine must separate and assume their cover identities, lest Samaritan detect them.]]
* OppressiveStatesOfAmerica: [[spoiler: Decima creates the beginnings of one when Samaritan finally gets the government surveillance feeds. Fully demonstrated with Samaritan racking up potential "Deviants" to be terminated along with Decima assets and American law enforcement gunning down the remnants of Vigilance en masse using the information Samaritan provided to track and eliminate them.]]
* PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad: [[spoiler: Samaritan classifies potential threats through "deviance". Naturally, over 20 million Americans count.]]
* [[PreAsskickingOneLiner Pre-Tranquilizing One-Liner]]:
-->'''Decima Employee:''' This shipment’s two days late. Where the hell have you been?
-->'''Root:''' Honestly? Planning this.
* PreMortemOneLiner:[[spoiler:To Collier.]]

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Control delivers an epic one against Collier [[spoiler: invoking her own personal experience on 9/11 when she was nearly killed by the plane which tore through the Pentagon and calls him out on his actions as terrorist.]]

* SacrificialLion: [[spoiler: Manuel Rivera.]]

--> [[spoiler: '''Root''': I'm sorry, Harold. I know it's not enough...]]
* ShootTheShaggyDog: [[spoiler:Just before he dies, Collier finds out that Vigilance is nothing more than a smokescreen created by Decima to further their own ends, and that everything he did ultimately ended up playing into their master plan by creating a legitimate terror threat that Greer exploited to justify seizing control of the U.S. government's surveillance feeds.]]

-->'''Greer''': [[spoiler:I think it's high time we discuss the true nature of Vigilance.]]
* TheUnmaskedWorld: Subverted. It looks like Collier's KangarooCourt about the existence of Northern Lights is streaming to millions of people worldwide, thus exposing the existence of the Machine to everyone, but in reality, [[spoiler:the video is actually being streamed on a closed network to a Decima facility, and virtually all of those millions of viewers are bots on a server.]]
* TrashTheSet: Happens when [[spoiler:the library's location is compromised by Samaritan.]]
* VillainousRescue: [[spoiler: Greer's security detail arrives and kills off most of Collier's men, saving Finch, Garrison, Control and Greer.]]
* WhamEpisode: the mother of all [[WhamEpisode Wham Episodes.]] [[spoiler: The government gives Samaritan full access, Team Machine abandons the library and goes into hiding, and Decima is poised to take over the world.]]
* XanatosGambit: [[spoiler:Decima created Vigilance and used them to shut down Northern Lights then frame them for a major terrorist attack that would justify Samaritan's activation.]]
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Greer [[spoiler: has Lambert blow away Collier after revealing to him that he wasted four years of his life becoming a terrorist and unwittingly helped pave the way for the sort of evil he despised]].

-->'''Samaritan Employee:''' This shipment’s two days late. Where the hell have you been?

* DeusExMachina: [[spoiler: Averted. Nothing comes out of the blue to save Team Machine this time, the title refers to [[DeusEstMachina Samaritan]] going fully active.]]

* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler: Of all people it's Collier who turns into this, when Greer murders him after informing the man that all his actions were for nothing and helped pave the way for the establishment of another omnipotent surveillance system]]

--> '''Control''': Where were you when Flight 77 hit the Pentagon? Because I was inside it. I carried out the wounded. I covered up bodies. And I have spent every day since putting bullets in the people responsible, and in anyone else thinks they can do that to our country again. You want to shoot me, because I had to tap a few phone calls, read a few e-mails? Then you go right ahead. But you better turn that gun on yourself next, Mr. Collier, because you have broken just as many laws, and the only difference is I didn't wrap myself up in the American flag, and try to convince people that I was a hero.

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Greer [[spoiler: blows away Collier after revealing to him that he wasted four years of his life becoming a terrorist and unwittingly helped pave the way for the sort of evil he despised]].

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Greer [[spoiler: blows away Collier after revealing to him that he wasted four years of his life becoming a terrorist and unwittingly helped pave the way for the sort of evil he despised]].

** Though this is actually the opposite of its meaning in Hamlet. Hamlet was being bitingly sarcastic as he was of the opinion that HumansAreBastards at the time.