Line #55 Recap/PersonOfInterestS04E21


1	'''Season 4, Episode 21'''
2	!Asylum
3
4	-->'''Finch:''' Have you forgotten [[DragonInChief her]] so quickly? You've already discarded her and you're a human being, imagine how quickly [[AIIsACrapshoot that thing that you've created]] would discard you. Do you ever lay awake at night, wondering if one day it will see you as a threat? Or worse, as irrelevant?\
5	'''Greer:''' How arrogant of you to think that any of us are anything but irrelevant.
6
7	After Root and Finch receive a mysterious phone call, The Machine sends them to a mental hospital where Shaw may be held prisoner--and which turns out to be more than that. This leaves Reese and Fusco to work the two newest numbers, Elias and Dominic. Elsewhere, Control kidnaps a seemingly harmless soccer mom who she suspects of being a Samaritan operative working a mole within the ISA.
8
9	----
10	* AintTooProudToBeg: Root, out of sheer desperation, begs the Machine not to give in to Samaritan's SadisticChoice.
11	* AffectionateGestureToTheHead: Martine while EvilGloating to both Root and Finch.
12	* AnimalThemeNaming: Harold [[LampshadeHanging hangs a lampshade]] on his own during his SarcasticConfession.
13	-->'''Harold''': I go by many names, all derived from species of birds.
14	* ArcWords: "It's not enough to hit back. You gotta put your enemy in the ground."
15	* BackForTheDead: Link
16	* BatmanGambit:
17	** Elias planted the pneumatic canister and the mole note at the bank to lure the Brotherhood to a trap.
18	** Samaritan knew Root had the only code of the Machine in her cochlear implant, and would come running to save Shaw even if that meant running into a trap.
19	* BeardOfSorrow: 12 episodes after [[Recap/PersonOfInterestS04E09 Scarface's death]], Elias looks ''rough''.
20	* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Elias says this when Dominic sardonically asks what it's like to be responsible for the death of a friend. [[TemptingFate He finds out.]]
21	* BeneathTheMask: Shelly drops the frightened schoolteacher act after Control shows photographic evidence that she's working for Samaritan.
22	* BerserkButton:
23	** Don't even touch Harold around Root. [[NeckSnap Or she will kill you.]]
24	--->'''Root:''' Lay a hand on him, I'll kill you.
25	** Control is noticeably pissed when she finds out that Samaritan is planning an attack.
26	** An InvokedTrope with Lenny the giant mental patient (see WeNeedADistraction)
27	* BlatantLies: Harper claims she doesn't know about Team Machine's safehouse, despite having been there.
28	* BondOneLiner:
29	** Root when she kills Martine.
30	--->'''Martine:''' ''[about killing Harold]'' He doesn't look like much of a fighter. Bet he'll die without so much as a peep.\
31	''[{{Beat}}. Root [[NeckSnap snaps her neck]].]''\
32	'''Root:''' What do you know? [[IronicEcho Not a peep.]]
33	** When Dominic gets to know the name of the account of the "rat" in his Brotherhood:
34	--->'''Link:''' Whose name was on the account?\
35	''[Dominic pulls out a gun shoots Link dead four times]''\
36	'''Dominic:''' It's yours, Link.
37	* BulletproofHumanShield: Root shields herself from Martine's fire with the mook she's struggling with. Martine just [[WeHaveReserves empties her gun into him]] and goes in for hand-to-hand.
38	* TheBusCameBack:
39	** [[TheDragon Link]] appears after an eleven episode absence.
40	** [[Recap/PersonOfInterestS04E18 Harper Rose]] is working for the Brotherhood.
41	* CassandraGambit: Used to insert Finch into the mental hospital.
42	* CallBack:
43	** Several references are made to the events of "Terra Incognita".
44	** The Machine sent Root on [[Recap/PersonOfInterestS04E20 yet another]] NoodleIncident.
45	** Once again, [[Recap/PersonOfInterestS04E19 Finch and Root climb down a tunnel in the snow to get data about Samaritan]].
46	** The Machine again [[Recap/PersonOfInterestS04E11 evaluates strategies prior to asset destruction]].
47	** Root points out that Harold taught the Machine to play [[Recap/PersonOfInterestS04E11 chess]] and [[Recap/PersonOfInterestS02E01 blackjack]].
48	** Root reminds Finch of when he [[Recap/PersonOfInterestS02E22 had her admitted to a mental hospital]].
49	** Root discovers [[Recap/PersonOfInterestS04E11 Sameen's bullet-riddled coat]].
50	* {{Cliffhanger}}: Samaritan has the Machine's location.
51	* ColdBloodedTorture: Elias gets his hand smashed by a hammer, John is stabbed with a screwdriver, and Fusco is waterboarded.
52	* TheComputerIsYourFriend: Samaritan is getting closer to this with every episode.
53	* ContinuityNod:
54	** Harper's still receiving texts from [[Recap/PersonOfInterestS04E18 Ernest Thornhill]].
55	** Samaritan is still [[Recap/PersonOfInterestS04E19 searching for the Machine's code, in an attempt to locate it]].
56	** When it first went online, [[Recap/PersonOfInterestS03E23 Samaritan started cataloging "deviants"]]. [[ChekhovsGun Now it's ready to start acting on that information]].
57	** Reese is still suffering from the gunshot wound he received in the previous episode.
58	* CosmicPlaything: Suddenly, everything goes to hell for the Machine: first it had to give in to Root's GameOfChicken and reveal Shaw's location it knew very well was too dangerous to go to and Root refuses to listen to reason. Then it has to give up its location to save Root and Harold once they get captured.
59	* CurbStompBattle: Root and Harold really don't stand a chance inside the asylum once the trap is sprung, though Greer has to point this out for Root.
60	* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Martine invades Finch's personal space, and says that she'll lay "more than just a hand on him" and that "he doesn't look like much of a fighter", which seems almost more like a threat of sexual assault than a death threat.
61	* DrivenToSuicide: Elias left the pneumatic canister at the courthouse deliberately, so the Brotherhood would come for him. However, unlike last time, he doesn't have an escape route planned.
62	* EnemyMine: Control acknowledges, with deliberate irony, the 'friends' in Team Machine who tipped her off about Samaritan.
63	* ExactWords: Reese tells Dominic he truthfully doesn't know where his boss is. Is he referring to Harold or the Machine?
64	* FaceDeathWithDignity: Greer brings up this trope while scolding Root for continuing to fight, even when the situation was hopeless. Root waits until she's snapped Martine's neck like a twig before she stops.
65	-->'''Root:''' Now I surrender.
66	* FaceHeelTurn: According to Martine, Shaw has done this. She's later seen aboard a Decima van.
67	* FakeShemp: Shaw being led into a car. However, we also see her in a reflection in the passenger-side mirror of a car.
68	* FauxAffablyEvil: Greer has finally reached this point, gleefully greeting Harold with the fact his subordinates are about to slice Root's head open.
69	* ForcedToWatch: Root says that Finch doesn't have to watch her get her head cut open. Martine threatens to make Root watch her killing Finch instead.
70	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Samaritan's dialog at the end of the episode is a map of the U.S. power grid, revealing the fact that that's where the Machine moved itself an episode early, for people who know what they're looking at.
71	* GameOfChicken: Root and the Machine.
72	* GlassCannon: Martine. All the marksmanship in the world was ultimately worthless once Root got close enough to kill her.
73	* GreaterNeedThanMine: Root begs for the Machine not to give away its location to Samaritan, even if it means herself and Finch being killed.
74	* GrewBeyondTheirProgramming: Finch taught the Machine never to value one person over another. The Machine, however, admits that Finch and Root are not interchangeable as he says.
75	* TheHandler: Shelly, with the cover of a schoolteacher, is working for Samaritan to handle his moles inside ISA.
76	* HeroicSacrifice: The Machine gives up its location (thus giving Samaritan all it needs to end it) in order to save Harold and Root.
77	* HeroStoleMyBike: Root and Finch steal an ambulance, which comes in handy infiltrating a hospital.
78	* HitlerCam: Used for comedy when Lenny stands up and Finch realizes just how big he is.
79	* HopeSpot: Finch and Root are still alive. If the Machine had let them die, Samaritan would still have been able to get the location from Root's implant.
80	* IdiotBall: After finally managing to discard the one Root [[Recap/PersonOfInterestS03E23 hardwired into it]], Samaritan willingly picks this up again, releasing Finch and Root as targets in exchange for The Machine's location. It's not until [[Recap/PersonOfInterestS05E10 11 episodes later]] that it manages to get a bead on Finch again.
81	* IgnorantOfTheirOwnIgnorance: Dominic's attempts to get information on the mysterious Harold are... ineffective at best. Elias mockingly lampshades this.
82	** He asks Elias to make Finch give up his surveillance system - but it's an inaccessible black box.
83	** He asks Reese and Fusco to give up Finch's location - but Fusco [[DefiantToTheEnd mocks him]] (and doesn't know anyway), and Reese [[UndyingLoyalty would die for Finch]].
84	* IHaveAFamily: Subverted; Shelly pleads to Control that she has a daughter, but Control just takes this as proof that she knows who is interrogating her, as Control has a daughter herself.
85	* InternalReveal: Finch and Root learn Shaw is alive and held by Decima, which the audience has known since "[[Recap/PersonOfInterestS04E13 M.I.A.]]"
86	* IronicEcho:
87	** Dominic asks Elias how it feels to be responsible for [[Recap/PersonOfInterestS04E09 the death of his friend]]. After baiting Dominic into killing his own [[TheDragon Dragon]], Elias asks him the same question. [[{{Foreshadowing}} Foreshadowed]] by Elias in the earlier exchange: " Do you really want to know? Be careful what you wish for, Dominic."
88	** "It's not enough to hit back. You gotta put your enemy in the ground."
89	* KickTheDog:
90	** Control begins Shelly's interrogation by shooting a DoubleAgent in the head, just to show she's not to be messed with.
91	** Plenty of IShallTauntYou by the various villains, several of whom are made to regret it.
92	* LackOfEmpathy: Greer. His only reaction to Root begging the Machine to let her die is to look on impassively.
93	--> '''Greer''': Welcome, Mr. Finch! You're just in time to see us cut your friend's head open.
94	* LastStand: Elias admits that this was his.
95	* LivingLieDetector: Dominic has hired Harper as one.
96	* LoveMakesYouCrazy: Enough for Root to play chicken on a skyscraper ledge, to convince the Machine to help her find Shaw.
97	* MobWar: The cold war between the Brotherhood and Elias turns hot.
98	* TheMole: Subverted. Elias made Dominic think Link was the mole in the Brotherhood. There was no mole.
99	** Harper. Although she was working with Dominic, Thornhill (note: the Machine) says she can name her price if she rescued Fusco, and she didn't tell Dominic about Finch's safehouse.
100	* MrSmith: Sameen is listed under the hospital records as a Jane Doe, but her description as a 5'3" Persian sociopath narrows it down.
101	* MurderIsTheBestSolution: Deconstructed with Dominic; he kills Link on the suspicion of him being a rat, but it was exactly what Elias wanted.
102	* MyGreatestFailure: The Machine feels this way with respect to Shaw's capture by Samaritan.
103	* NeckSnap: Root does this to Martine.
104	* NewEraSpeech: Shelly gives one to Control.
105	--> '''Shelly:''' Go home to your loved ones. Hold your daughter tight, because a new day is dawning. And those who impede progress--the disruptive, the aberrant--will be systematically purged from our society. There will be no mercy, no stay of execution. For some this will be the end, but for others a rebirth, a second chance to live the life they were designed for. Every life given a purpose. Samaritan will build a new world, a better world.
106	* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
107	** Root's [[LoveMakesYouCrazy crazy love]] for Shaw causes her and Harold to run headlong into what both he, the Machine and even Root herself suspected was a trap, resulting in Samaritan, whose own search yielded no results at all, finally getting the Machine's location.
108	** Harper is only working with Dominic because [[Recap/PersonOfInterestS04E16 they met when Reese took down the Brotherhood's marijuana operations]].
109	* NoodleIncident: Root went to a "[[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny People's Republic]]" (presumably UsefulNotes/{{China}}) to get a circuit, using a fake cast to smuggle it out.
110	* NotSoDifferentRemark: Shelly says that Control's actions [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans are no different from what Samaritan is doing.]]
111	* NotSoStoic: Control keeps up a calm facade for the entire episode - but, when she finds out about [[ThePurge the impending Correction]], she brutally strikes Shelly in the face with her pistol, screaming as she does so.
112	* AnOfferYouCantRefuse: Harper explaining why she's working for Dominic. Turns out the Machine can come up with an even better offer.
113	* OhCrap:
114	** Shelly when she realizes Control is going to kill her.
115	** Dominic when he realized that Elias manipulated him into killing Link.
116	** Root when she realises they've walked right into Samaritan's operations center.
117	* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: The previous episode's events are shown to have an effect on Reese. Elias notes that he seems calmer than normal, and Fusco is surprised when Reese gives him genuine praise.
118	* OutOfCharacterAlert: Reese says it's not like Elias to get careless by leaving a pneumatic tube at the murder scene.
119	* PistolWhipping: Shelly is on the receiving end of this from Control after hitting her BerserkButton.
120	* PlotParallel: Both Samaritan and Dominic had the same plan: Lure their enemies (Team Machine and Elias' men, respectively) to their headquarters, so they can be killed and end their conflict. Both also failed, slightly: Samaritan succeeded in getting the Machine's location but left Harold and Root alive; Dominic didn't go through with it, thanks to Elias "[[BatmanGambit giving up his mole in the Brotherhood]]."
121	* PreMortemOneLiner / ShutUpHannibal: Control responds to Shelly's NewEraSpeech with one:
122	-->'''Control''': Too bad you won't live to see it. (''[[DoubleTap double tap]]'')
123	* ProperlyParanoid: Invoked as part of Finch's CassandraGambit.
124	* ThePurge: Samaritan's ultimate plan, dubbed [[DeadlyEuphemism the Correction]].
125	* PyrrhicVictory: Dominic has captured Elias, and is poised to take over New York - but he'll never be able to hold it, as he killed his [[TheDragon right-hand man]] on mere suspicion, and now nobody will trust him.
126	* RageBreakingPoint: Root hits this when Martine gloats about what happened with Shaw while she disappeared and threatens Finch. Root kills her in response.
127	* RedHerring: The talk between Anthony and Link was revealed to be one. For the genre-savvy viewer, it hinted that Link might betray Dominic at some point, which is aided by the new knowledge there's a mole in Dominic's operation. It turns out that no, there isn't - Elias just fooled Dominic into shooting his own number 2 by setting him up to look like a traitor.
128	* RuleOfSymbolism: Elias making use of the pneumatic tube system, once a cutting edge 'machine' of its day.
129	* SacrificialLamb: Control's execution of Tyler, a Samaritan mole within the ISA, establishes what she's willing to do (and ultimately does do) to Shelly.
130	* SadisticChoice:
131	** Samaritan gives the Machine the choice of giving up its location or having its Harold and Root die. Of course it would just get the Machine's code from Root's cochlear implant and locate the Machine using it anyway.
132	** Dominic gives Elias the options of revealing the rat in his organization or sending his men to their deaths. Though [[BatmanGambit it's exactly what Elias wanted in the first place.]]
133	* SarcasticConfession: Harold, when Root admits him to the asylum under the guise of being a 'homeless dope fiend'.
134	-->'''Root:''' I need to admit this man on a TDO. 72-hour involuntary hold. He's an increasingly dangerous paranoid schizophrenic. ''[looks at Harold]'' Unless he'd care to disagree?\
135	'''Harold:''' ''[{{beat}}]'' It's not paranoia if they're really out to get you.\
136	'''Doctor:''' Who exactly is after you?\
137	'''Harold:''' The Brotherhood, the federal government... an artificial super-intelligence, obviously.\
138	'''Doctor:''' What's your name, sir?\
139	'''Harold:''' I go by many names, all derived from species of birds.\
140	'''Root:''' I'd mark him as a John Doe. ''[{{beat}}]'' He basically lives in the subway.
141	* SchizoTech / ReinventingTheTelephone: Elias restores the defunct pneumatic mail network so he can have a means of communication that can bypass phone taps, and smuggle weapons into secure government buildings.
142	* StandardFemaleGrabArea: Shaw being hauled into a Decima vehicle, though it's likely she's drugged or weak from months of torture.
143	* StrappedToAnOperatingTable: Root -- though if they'd done the strapping a bit sooner, Martine would still be alive.
144	* ShutUpHannibal: Root does the most permanent one possible to Martine.
145	* SmugSnake: Shelly, when her mask comes off.
146	* SnarkToSnarkCombat
147	-->'''Root:''' You admitted ''me'' to the funny farm once. Turn-about's fair play.\
148	'''Finch:''' I don't recall dressing ''you'' like a homeless dope fiend.
149	* StrawNihilist: Greer sees himself, and all of humanity, as irrelevant.
150	* ThereAreNoCoincidences: Invoked by Control to get Shelly to admit she's working for Samaritan.
151	* TortureAlwaysWorks: For Control, it's played straight. Averted with Dominic, who fails to get information on Finch from Elias, Reese and Fusco.
152	* TortureChamberEpisode: Control tortures Shelly, Dominic tortures Elias, Reese and Fusco, and Decima were going to vivisect Root.
153	* TrapIsTheOnlyOption: Shaw's phone call from the dead.
154	* TubeTravel: Restoring an obsolete pneumatic tube system gives Elias a method of communication that can't be intercepted, and a means of smuggling weapons past security in government buildings.
155	* VehicularSabotage[=/=]FakingTheDead: Shelly's brakes are tampered with so that she crashes. Control's men then plant the dead body of a blonde woman and a [[FieryCoverUp bomb in the front seat]], to MakeItLookLikeAnAccident.
156	* VillainRespect
157	** Control, in an ironic tone, acknowledges the 'friends' who tipped her off about Samaritan's activities.
158	** Elias lets Reese know ItHasBeenAnHonor
159	--->'''Elias:''' You're an honorable man, John. It's been nice knowing you.
160	* TheWarRoom: Root has an OhCrap moment when she peeks into a room and sees Greer standing in front of an [[TheBigBoard electronic board showing Samaritan's worldwide operations]].
161	* WeNeedADistraction: On the instructions of the Machine, Finch tells a large mental patient that some orderlies stole his spaceman toy. He promptly goes berserk.
162	* WhamEpisode: As usual, a few things qualify it:
163	** Samaritan has finally located the Machine and its assets are out to get her.
164	** Link and Martine die.
165	** Team Machine finds out Shaw is alive. She is glimpsed and is heavily implied to be working for Samaritan now.
166	** Finch and Root's covers appear to be blown, but this doesn't seem to be much of an issue since Samaritan has stopped hunting them, instead choosing to go after the Machine.
167	** Control finds out that Samaritan is planning an event resulting in a massive loss of life called "The Correction".
168	* WhamLine:
169	-->'''The Machine:''' You are wrong, Harold. You are not interchangeable. [[ILetGwenStacyDie I failed to save Sameen]]. I will not fail you now.
170	** Also, after Elias identifies Link as the traitor within the Brotherhood, and Dominic shoots Link:
171	-->'''Elias:''' I might have lied about a few things, like the message your men intercepted.\
172	'''Dominic:''' You planted that message? ...You knew we were coming.\
173	'''Elias:''' Well, good news, there's no rat in your organization. Bad news, you need a new right-hand man.
174	* WhamShot:
175	** Shaw's phone ringing.
176	** Samaritan's map of the United States, locating the Machine.
177	* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: Link urges Dominic to kill Elias immediately, but Dominic wants control of his men and access to his mysterious source of information.
178	* XanatosGambit: Samaritan's plan: Either the Machine gives up her location in exchange for letting Root and Finch live, or they get the Machine's code from Root's cochlear implant, and use that to locate her.
179	* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: The Machine's eventual message to Harold.
180	* YouCalledMeXItMustBeSerious:
181	** The Machine always refers to Finch as Admin. She called him Harold before giving her location up.
182	** Finch also switches from 'Ms. Groves' to Root when the latter looks like she's about to jump off the building (though this isn't the first time he's done so).
183	* YouHaveNoIdeaWhoYoureDealingWith: Shelly dropping the mask.
184	-->"You have no idea what's coming for you, [[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch bitch]]."
185	* YouSaidYouWouldLetThemGo: Averted; the Machine insists Greer's men let Finch and Root go before she reveals her location, and they make no effort to recapture them at this stage.
186	----
187	-->[[AC:Target Located\

Context Recap / PersonOfInterestS04E21