Analysis / Person of Interest

The show's over-arching themes:

Trust

Reflected in one of the series' earliest Arc Words:

"In the end, we're all alone and no one is coming to save you."

—"Mission Creep"

Originally spoken by Reese to Jessica in the airport flashback (where it also doubles as Foreshadowing of Jessica's fate); various references to "going it alone" or "you're all alone out here" appear in several episodes (e.g. the Iraq flashbacks in "Get Carter").

"You have to trust somebody."

—"Ghosts"

The counterpoint to the above, first used by Finch while trying to convince Theresa not to run away again; seems to show up at least once an episode. Culminates in the discussion of trust between Reese, Carter, and Fusco in "Firewall":

Fusco: You can't trust us, how we supposed to trust you?
Reese: Trust is complicated, Lionel. For example, I'm sitting in a police car with one cop who tried to murder me and another who spent six months trying to lock me up. So you'll forgive me if I take things one step at a time.

There's another counterpoint which is repeated frequently (e.g., Reese to Carter in "Get Carter," to Maxine in "Bury the Lede"):

"You're not alone."

This becomes extremely important in "Endgame".

Loss

Established in Reese's voiceover, the first lines in the pilot episode:

"When you find that one person who connects you to the world, you become someone different. Someone better. When that person is taken from you, what do you become then?"

All of the main characters have lost someone close to them:

• Reese lost Jessica (the voiceover is what he says to her killer when he confronts him in "Many Happy Returns")
• Finch lost Grace and Nathan when the latter was killed in a government-orchestrated staged terrorist bombing and he had to fake his death and loss of his body to keep the former out of harm's way.
• Carter's marriage failed when her husband came back from the Middle East with PTSD (revealed in "Endgame")
• Fusco's marriage failed due to the nature of his job left little time for his family. In addition, the death of his colleague in the hand of a drug-dealer prompt him to murder the man while on duty, and take the first path down to the road of corrupt cop, and eventually leading to working for HR under Stills. (revealed in both "In Extremis" and "The Devil's Share")
• Shaw lost her father at age ten ("Razgovor") and her partner Cole ("Relevance")
• Root's Start of Darkness was triggered by the loss of her best friend as a child.

It's true of many of the POIs as well: Elias' entire life before the series has been one complex exercise in avenging the loss of his mother. Numbers such as Dr. Tillman in "Cura te Ipsum" and Darren in "Wolf and Cub" are seeking revenge against someone who took a loved one away from them. Other numbers, such as Wayne Kruger in "Nothing to Hide" are on the receiving end of revenge.

He Who Fights Monsters

As noted on the main page, Reese is a very self-aware version of this trope:

"I know what happens when you take a life. You lose a part of yourself."

—"Cura te Ipsum"

The theme is also present in The Machine. It's "a system of unimaginable power" built to fight monsters, but it seems to have turned the people in the government who control it a little monstrous themselves:

"Everything we did was to make the world a safer place, but we strayed from the path. I admit it. I have so many regrets, but it’s grown so big, and we’re so, so small. I don’t know who you are or how you know all this, but maybe you’re right. Maybe Nathan’s death, it is my fault. I saw the signs. I ignored them. Maybe I deserve this. "

—Alicia Corwin, "Karma"

Many episodes also question the morality and utility of vigilante action:

"Maybe it's up to me to do what the good people can't."

—Reese, "Cura te Ipsum"

"You can't keep playing God."

—Carter, "Get Carter"

"There are things you can do Detective, and things you can't. And that's where I come in."

—Reese, "Many Happy Returns"

Second Chances and Redemption

"I believe everybody deserves a second chance."

—Andrea Gutierrez, "Legacy"

Finch offers Reese a second chance at life; Reese and Finch's interventions give many of the POIs a second chance; Fusco tries to take advantage of the opportunity for one which Reese unintentionally extends to him. In Fusco's case, his continuing association with Reese and Carter leads to his redemption, as he explains to Simmons in "The Devil's Share":

"I could've been just like you, a bottom-feeder who turns on his own kind. For what? Money, power? I got lucky. I had a partner. She was good for me. For a lot of reasons. She reminded me that I could be good again too. I could be a good father, a good friend, a good cop. I'm not gonna let you undo all the good she did. Carter saved my life. She— she saved me from myself...because she believed in me. And I'm not gonna throw all that away on a piece of crap like you."

Past Mistakes

Many of the characters are dealing with the consequences of, or atoning for, their past actions: Reese and Finch, of course; Fusco trying to escape his Dirty Cop past; the POIs in "Mission Creep," "Triggerman," and "The High Road," to name a few. Summed up by Finch as he attempts to talk a POI out of committing suicide:

"Your mistakes, like mine, are part of who you are now. You can't move on from that. Believe me. I've made a sizable number. But... sometimes your mistakes can surprise you. My biggest mistake, for instance... brought me here. At exactly this moment when you might need some help."

—"2-Pi-R"

---