History Awesome / PersonOfInterest

** Bonus points; there were seven punks, and he fired the gun ten times. Due to the small size of the weapon the first punk shoved in his face, by the time he threatened the ringleader into letting him [[KleptomaniacHero treat the arsenal on the table like a buffet]], it was probably ''[[ItWorksBetterWithBullets empty]]''.[[note]]IRL it was a blanks-only [[http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Person_of_Interest_-_Season_1 "non-gun"]] issued by propmasters to untrained extras.[[/note]]

** Root manages to extract the information she needs from Finch and Denton, the two men she captured, through a combination of [[BatmanGambit Batman]] and [[WoundedGazelleGambit Wounded Gazelle Gambits])

** On a meta level, this episode was at one point the third-highest-rated television episode of [[http://www.imdb.com/search/title?num_votes=1000,&sort=user_rating&title_type=tv_episode all time]] on Website/IMDb, only topped by ''Series/BreakingBad''[='=]s "Ozymandias" and ''Series/GameOfThrones''[='=] "The Winds of Winter", and has a perfect user rating of 10/10. (It's since been knocked to eleventh.)

** Reese casually commandeering the truck that was supposed to deliver Omar to the airport, and casually shoving the other driver out the door before peeling out.

* Reese's confrontation with Andrew Benton at the end of "Cura Te Ipsum," combined with its [[spoiler: NoEnding conclusion]].

-->'''Finch''': "I know that the only thing you do care about is money. So that's what I'm going to take from you. Your money. All of it. You were right, Mr. Keller. [[IronicEcho Thanks to you, I never will have to invest in another company]]."

* "Witness": the reveal of [[spoiler: the MagnificentBastard Carl Elias]] When the Yogorovs finally inform Carter and John who they were actually looking for, Charlie Burton, the meek, DeadpanSnarker school teacher [[spoiler: transforms into a professional and pragmatic criminal mastermind, utterly catching John off guard with a DramaticGunCock]] After forcing John to tie himself to the rail, he kneecaps one of the Yogorovs, calmly walks off the east river ferry where his bodyguard who knocked out Fusco is waiting and to the tune of the SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic "Sinnerman" casually strolls off to his SUV which zooms away by the time Harold arrives.
** Later he has a lone gunman break into the Yogorov offices and double tap the patriarch of the family, forcing the Russian Mafia to cede control of Brighton Beach, [[spoiler: the place where Carl's father used to run before being arrested]]

** One of the SmugSnake Dons who's secretly made a deal with Elias grabs Fusco's backup revolver and tries to force Carter and Fusco to let Elias into the safehouse. [[spoiler: They gun him down in response]]

** [[spoiler: Root's plan to capture Harold, become a POI, get into a situation where John and Harold are separated and take the latter hostage, utterly outwitting the normally ProperlyParanoid Team Machine]]

* The 'negotiation' with [[spoiler:the Machine]] in "The Contingency," when Reese basically blackmails it into helping him. It has actually been compared to a staring contest between two Mack trucks. The part that makes it ''really'' awesome? [[spoiler:Reese wins.]]

* Fusco tracks down villain-of-the-week [[ScaryBlackMan Monty]] and goes BigDamnHeroes on his ass, saving the girl from a certain death. Monty recovers, puts him at gunpoint and mocks his bad shape "You think you can outrun me?", Fusco stares and answers with a [[GrinOfAudacity smile]] "Lemme mull that over for a second." [[spoiler: Cue Reese [[CarFu hitting him]] with a car]] and Fusco taunting back "Yep, pretty sure I can outrun you." Very impressive for the resident ButtMonkey.

** And then later, when trying to convince [[spoiler: Caleb]] not to [[spoiler: kill himself to atone for getting his brother killed accidentally two years earlier]], we get this gem:
--> "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." [[spoiler: And the best part is that he succeeds.]]
** [[spoiler: Doubles as a SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming Moment|s}} and TearJerker as Finch alludes to the events which separated him from his OnlyFriend and fiancée in the past, seeing himself in Caleb and not wanting him to make the same mistake like he did.]]

** [[spoiler: Agent Snow [[DyingMomentOfAwesome goes out with a bang]], [[TakingYouWithMe taking Stanton with him.]]]]

-->'''Finch''': I have built some of the most complex computer systems in existence. '''I can certainly unlock a phone.'''

* Proteus has Finch [[spoiler: confronting a identity stealing-serial killer.]] NotSoStoic doesn't even begin to describe it.
-->'''Man''': One day I'll stop when I find the person I'm meant to be.
-->'''Finch''': ''[[FlatWhat What?]]'' [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech People like you don't stop! You can rationalize however you like, but you hurt people because you like it! Because you're SICK, maladjusted and you need help!]]

--> '''Finch''': "You're an amateur at this."
* The POI in 'All In' gets one. [[spoiler: When he goes in to gamble and win back the money he lost from being a money launderer, he uses very, ''very'' impressive sleight of hand moves to continually win at Baccarat till he earns the money back. He used the same trick on Finch to avoid answering his questions and give him the slip.]]
** And the capper, "Hey [[SmugSnake dumbass!]] [[KicktheSonofaBitch I cheated!]]" [[spoiler:He had used those skills to steal the bullet out of a gun right before being forced to play Russian Roulette.]]
** Say what you will about Quinn, the fact that his plan for killing [[spoiler: Szymanski]] relies on being ''shot in the shoulder'', capped off with only letting out a small groan once he's hit... the man is fearless.

** Carter has to endure some gloating by [[spoiler: Terney who threatens to murder her son if she tries to hunt down HR.]] She stays quiet, but once he leaves, reveals she's taken advantage of his stupidity by force-pairing his phone.

** Finch having made [[spoiler: the virus that Decima was using to try to take The Machine down, and subverting it. Finch knew that sooner or later someone would try to gain control of the machine and infect it with a virus... so what Finch is that he sent his own virus into the world, and built it so that it would allow the Machine to protect itself. That's right, Finch played Decima into vaccinating the Machine for him!]]

** Carter reveals she's been busy tracking down and identifying the members of HR so she can target them in her revenge, an impressive feat considering, she's only had cooperation from [[spoiler: the weakened Elias organization]], and hasn't relied on John and Harold who would have the technical capabilities to do it instantly for her.

* "Nothing To Hide": Say what you want about [[spoiler:Peter Collier]], but his elegantly destructive scheme to destroy the POI is relatively admirable in its execution.

** Carter pulling off her TheChessmaster act to brilliance. [[spoiler: She conducts a complex series of false flag operations trying to start a war between the Russian Mafia and HR in order to get revenge for the events of Season 2, and it works!]] Leaving the head of HR in a floundering mess and the Yogorov family crying for blood.
** She gets Carl Elias to deliver her intelligence on the [[spoiler: 38 HR members to the current head of the Yogorov family]] and he even cooks pasta for the man who has every reason to kill him and lives.
** The highlight of Carter's scheming is when using a sniper rifle [[spoiler: she attacks Quinn in his office in broad daylight in order to goad him into making a mistake by making him believe the Russian Mafia is gunning for him]] And when he tries to have some Russian Mafia hitman executed, [[spoiler: she places a phone call to the FBI]] drastically compromising the security of HR.
** Carter sadly seemingly grips the IdiotBall in the end [[spoiler: and walks into an ambush when trying to legally arrest Quinn.]] But she even prepared for that eventuality and arranged for Harold to listen in on her confrontation with Quinn by hacking his cellphone [[spoiler: allowing Reese to burst in at the right moment, intervene and extract Carter and Quinn leaving several HR officers kneecapped in their wake]]

** After being upstaged and repeatedly being treated as the resident ButtMonkey for most of Season 3, Fusco [[spoiler: breaks out of his restraints and crushes the windpipe of the HR officer who was about to kill him and does so while severely beaten up and with broken fingers.]]
-->'''Petersen:''' [[spoiler:Oh, I forgot, we broke your fingers.]]\\
'''Fusco:''' [[spoiler:Yeah, you did. Which made it no big deal for me to break my thumb. *slips his broken hand out of his cuffs*]]

** Carter's operation to destroy HR actually succeeds and she even gets reappointed as a detective. [[spoiler: But then things take a turn for the worse when Simmons ambushes her along with John.]] She also notably gets herself a yellow box, deducing the existence of The Machine, making her only the third person to do so.
** However, she actually steps in the way of several bullets [[spoiler: aimed at John that would have killed him, and sacrifices her life in the process]]
** Even as she goes down [[spoiler: Carter is still able to draw her Glock 19 and return fire, driving off Simmons and wounding him with one of her shots in the process]]

** Despite their TearJerker nature, John's violent antics are pretty impressive especially [[spoiler: since he's conducting them hours after being shot and is slowly bleeding to death.]]
*** John's stone cold, bone-chilling speech to [[spoiler: Quinn:]]

--> '''Fusco:''' [[spoiler:That's just it. 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 that away on a piece of crap like you.]]

** [[spoiler:Elias and Scarface]] take the time to deal with [[spoiler:Simmons]] permanently when he's trapped on a hospital bed.
*** Topped by the magnificent final conversation between [[spoiler:Simmons and Elias]]:
--> [[spoiler:'''Elias:''']] Well, there remains a debt. Civilization rests on the principle that we treat our criminals better than they treated their victims. That we not stoop to their level. But you and I are outliers. We're not really a part of civilization. We're something... older. Which means, of course, that we can do the things that civilized people can't. I offered to kill you for [[spoiler:Detective Carter]] many times, and she always said no. She was civilized to the very end. I don't think she liked me. But I liked her very much. [[spoiler:And you killed her.]] So now I consider it my responsibility to fix the particular problem that is you, [[spoiler: Officer Simmons.]]
--> [[spoiler:'''Simmons:''']] You really think you're going to be the one to kill me?
--> [[spoiler:'''Elias:''']] [[SlasherSmile No.]] No, my friend is going to kill you. I'm just going to watch.

** [[spoiler: Fusco vs. Reese. Fusco is sick and tired of Reese's trip over the DespairEventHorizon when he starts spouting borderline nihilistic stuff about how nothing matters. So Fusco throws him out of the bar where he was [[DrowningMySorrows drinking]] and fights him. Yes, Fusco gets the worse of it (there's that whole problem of fighting someone who's a better fighter than you), but the fact that he can still keep up with Reese just shows how Fusco has grown.]]
** [[spoiler: [[BiggerBad Control's]] reveal. Elias would be proud.]]
** A modest one for Shaw. With Team Machine short-handed, she's forced on close protection duty for Harold and Arthur and performs respectably [[spoiler: (until being surprised by the equally competent and numerically superior ISA unit)]], successfully fending off an attack by a Vigilance hit-squad who have the firepower advantage, through speed and decent marksmanship.

--> '''Root''': You're too late. [[spoiler: The Machine's already talking. You're too old; older than forty. You can't hear sound above fifteen kilohertz... but I can. With the ear I've got left. My friend's been beeping Morse code at that frequency since you brought your phone in here. She's been talking to me the whole time, telling me about you. You're scared of me... even with all these guards watching. By the way, that one has a bum knee. You're so scared of me, that you hid a knife in your pocket. I couldn't reach it. ''Until you got close enough to cut me...'']]
** After the fiasco in Season 2 [[spoiler: Greer makes his triumphant return]] successfully screwing over Northern Lights, Vigilance and Team Machine [[spoiler: while making off with the Samaritan Drives.]]

** [[spoiler: Hersh managing to take down [[BadassAbnormal Root]].]]
** [[spoiler:The Machine telling Control who's in charge, using Root as a translator.]]
-->'''[[spoiler:The Machine/Root:]]''' I don't belong to anyone anymore. You, however, are mine. I protect you. The only thing you love lives at 254 Wendell Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts. I guard it, same as I guard you. Do not question my judgment. Do not pursue me, or my agents. Trust in me. I am always watching.

-->'''Fusco''': [[PreAssKickingOneLiner Excusez-moi!]]
** Root shows that she's learned a thing or two when [[spoiler: Greer finds several ways to increasingly reduce the effectiveness of The Machine]]. She uses Bear to [[spoiler: track the man down the old fashioned way via his scent and it works]]
** Credit also to Greer, who has a counter for every single plan Root uses. [[spoiler: Yes, even Bear. He anticipated she would use Bear to track him, and so arranges to confront her with his men ready in a crossfire.]]

** Vigilance in general for this episode [[spoiler: Even with the failure to kill Reese and Shaw, they managed to take out a POI at the start of the episode and acquire damning evidence of the existence of the Northern Lights Project]]
** Collier gets one by trying a more cunning approach in eliminating [[spoiler: Northern Lights who decimated his people in a straight fight back in "Alethea"]]. He sends the [[spoiler: compromising documents about the project]] to the media creating a massive public scandal and forcing [[spoiler: Control's superior to have her put the organization on a permanent hiatus.]]

** [[PreAssKickingOneLiner "A little late for the flu shot"]] kicks off Reese and Shaw's excellent double-teaming of a Decima assassin to save [[spoiler:Grace]].

-->'''Shaw:''' (Who has presented a detective shield) [[SarcasmMode And you just happen to know she's here.]] ("she" being [[spoiler:Grace]])

** [[spoiler: Vigilance [[OutGambitted outplays]] everyone, including The Machine, and takes Finch, Greer and Control prisoner.]]

** Firstly Greer [[spoiler: turns the tables on Peter Collier who seemingly held all the cards, when his operatives arrive and kill most of Colliers men. Greer then reveals that Vigilance was created by Decima as a FalseFlagOperation, twists the knife by telling Collier he was the one who sent the mysterious text messages which caused Coller to become a terrorist and after a few more seconds of gloating, has Lambert, his subordinate, blow him away]]
** Secondly Decima [[spoiler: conducts their own bombing, giving a pretext to have Samaritan implemented. As a result of this, they achieve substantial influence over American counter-terrorist efforts, are in a position to subvert the world's most powerful nation in a quest for world domination and now have the ability to eliminate any potential threats such as Team Machine]]
** Finally because of Decima's actions [[spoiler: Team Machine is forced to evacuate the library, adopt new cover identities and split up, making it considerably difficult for them to oppose Decima]]

--> '''Control''': "As a sworn officer of the US government, I can neither confirm nor deny anything pertaining to this matter. And I will say the same damn thing to every other question until the moment you put that gun to my head and pull the trigger."
** She further demolishes Collier's attempts at portraying himself as a good guy [[spoiler: by recounting her experience on 9/11 where she was nearly killed by the plane which demolished a portion of the Pentagon.]]

** And when Collier finally has enough and [[spoiler: tries to kill her with his Shotgun, the look she gives essentially dares him to pull the trigger]]
** Hersh gets one for [[spoiler: surviving several gunshots, and attempting to defuse the bomb Decima has set up]]. He may [[spoiler: have failed but points for trying to the bitter end to do his job]]
** Special mention to the ending montage on how effectively it hammered home just how much [[spoiler: Decima emerged the victor of the season]] Set to the tune of the SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic Radiohead's "Exit Music For A Film", [[spoiler: the montage cuts from Finch and Reese evacuating the library as Samaritan dispatches an NYPD ESU SWAT team to storm the building, the Vigilance group being subjected to ThePurge by Decima assets and law enforcement, the members of Team Machine sharing final looks with each other as they depart to places unknown and as the music begins to swell, we get to see the full power of Samaritan unveiled, with it racking up "Deviants" to be terminated in the future. It then closes with the money shot of Greer strolling into the room and asking Samaritan for commands. Heartbreaking? Yes. A DownerEnding? Completely.]] But successfully capping off the biggest villainous SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome of the season and driving home [[spoiler: just how much our heroes have lost and showing that the game in Person Of Interest has been changed forever in an epic fashion?]] Absolutely.

** [[spoiler: The Machine gets one for getting the heroes involved in the perfect case to get them back in the game and able to communicate without worrying about Samaritan listening in.]]
** The multi-pronged strike on the bad guys of the week. [[spoiler: With Reese's new grenade launcher, sniper fire from Shaw and even a dump truck, courtesy of Marconi, Team Machine shows they're back in a big way]]
** [[spoiler: The Machine finally convinces Harold to stop sulking. It does this by guiding Harold to the perfect base of operations by reminding him through purposely inserted spelling mistakes in his "thesis", of an old 1930s/1940s-era book about the then-extant New York subway and water system.]]

** [[spoiler:Credit must be given to the POI of this episode, who solved Samaritan's code and was recruited by it as an asset.]]

** When Harold [[spoiler: chickens out of the rocket launcher sale]] Root salvages the situation by [[spoiler: conducting a rapid mass kneecapping of several murderous Latvian mobsters.]] The best part is that the Machine apparently deduced this would happen with a fairly high degree of confidence.

** Points to Rousseau in particular. [[spoiler: She's the first Decima Technologies employee who lasted more than a second against a member of Team Machine, who in previous seasons tore through them like a blowtorch through butter]]. She also managed to match [[spoiler: the normally omnipotent Root shot for shot, with only one gun and Root trying to stack the deck against her with four handguns and a gas grenade, and even manages to score two hits]]
** Root didn't do badly as well, [[spoiler:taking two bullets like a champ, and managing to confuse the hell out of Samaritan by successfully baiting it into being forced to prioritize between killing her or the POI.]]

*** And we later learn that he did all this [[spoiler:while also inventing his own operating system and programming language]].

** The trailers for the episode may have been NightmareFuel inducing but Shaw forces [[spoiler: Martine to work hard in trying to kill her, instead of being a pushover]]. When the shooting starts, Sameen ducks, breaks out a [[spoiler: FN-P90 submachine gun]] and when she comes up, forces the seemingly invulnerable [[spoiler: Samaritan asset to dive for cover.]]

** But the icing on the cake would have to be Scarface's [[spoiler: DyingMomentOfAwesome]] Having been caught by [[spoiler: Link and his thugs]] and knowing that there is no way out for him, he gets his boss [[spoiler: to provide a special code for a safe they're trying to access.]] Unfortunately for [[spoiler: the Brotherhood gunmen, Elias provides them the code which activates a hidden explosive instead of opening the safe, killing Marconi]], but taking them down in the ensuring blast.
** Lieutenant Fusco continues to prove he's New York's finest by successfully stonewalling and hoodwinking [[spoiler: Martine Rousseau]]
** After Elias [[spoiler:gives them the wrong code to the safe and blows up the entire floor,]] Dominic is furious.

** The whole episode could easily constitute as one for [[spoiler:Samaritan.]]
** The sit down between [[spoiler:the two machines.]] Never has been two people talking together been so highly effective since [[Film/{{Heat}} Pacino and De-Niro met for some coffee]].

** The Machine earns its {{Chessmaster}} credentials. [[spoiler:Running almost a million scenarios in 13 seconds in an attempt to save all its assets.]] Not to mention [[spoiler: prepairing a valid option to prevent the destruction of the global economy which Team Machine could use]]
** In [[spoiler: scenario number 2, Lambert has to shoot Reese several times just to subdue him as the latter is clawing for the keyboard]]. As he lays dying however [[spoiler: John reveals he swiped a hand grenade Lambert had brought along, producing a beautiful OhCrap expression as Reese disengages the pin and massacres part of the Decima squad.]]

** Team Machine's chances of survival are at 1% and dropping. Then [[spoiler:Shaw]] arrives and their odds start rapidly increasing. In a combined effort, [[spoiler:Shaw lobs the suicide vest and slaughters almost all of Martine's hit-squad while those who survived the explosion get cut down in Shaw and Root's]] barrage.

** John and Root try their hand at vehicle interdiction [[spoiler: by using their [=AT4=] launcher on Control's SUV]]

-->'''Finch:''' You say that like we weren’t expecting them

** [[spoiler: Root's return]]. With a fanatic,smug Claire pointing a gun at Harold, [[spoiler: she strolls in, kills Clarie's fellow Decima/Samaritan mooks]] with the two suppressed pistols she's using, and then after wiping the grin off Claire's face with a brief PreMortemOneLiner, plugs her in the back.

** [[spoiler: Harold does a stone cold ShutUpHannibal when Claire taunts him that he's not willing to kill people. It also plants a massive seed of doubt in her mind about Samaritan which Greer inadvertently causes to grow.]]

** [[spoiler:Root unceremoniously kills Martine, and almost contemptuously slumps back down after pulling off the deed.]]
-->'''Root:''' *[[spoiler:NeckSnap]]* [[IronicEcho What do you know? Not a peep.]] Now I surrender.

** Elias [[spoiler:tricks Dominic into killing Link. It's made all the more sweet by the parallels to Scarface's death, where Dominic forced Elias to kill his best friend. Now, Elias has returned the favour, while crippling Dominic's leadership of the Brotherhood at the same time.]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Elias:''' *after Dominic kills Link* "You can take my title but you can't hold onto it, you can't trust anyone. And now your men won't trust you... Good news, there's no rat in your organization. Bad news, you need a new right hand man... So tell me, [[IronicEcho how does it feel knowing that you're responsible for your friend's death?]]"]]

** Reese seems to be on top form after [[spoiler:almost dying twice]] this Season. He takes on an [[spoiler:army of Samaritan agents ''in heavy smoke''. Granted, he was in God Mode, but it's still badass.]]

'''Floyd:''' [[spoiler:"Sharp right leg. Left knee ACL. Tactical blade. Glass jaw."]]\\

'''[[spoiler:The Machine:''' [[AC: Can you hear me?]]]]\\

** Samaritan and Greer [[spoiler:completely and utterly out maneuver Control, killing her only allies, isolating her and capturing her.]] To add insult to injury they play on her WrongGenreSavvy mindset regarding her belief that she's in a spy fiction drama like "24", in order to hide the true nature of "The Correction". [[spoiler: The terrorist plot was a SecretTestOfCharacter.]] One that she failed.
*** Credit where credit is due, [[spoiler:Control put up a good fight considering her adversary was omniscient.]]

** The way in which the Machine is saved. [[spoiler: Team Machine makes a supercomputer out of a cluster of UsefulNotes/Playstation3 consoles. Not only is this TruthInTelevision, but from a meta perspective, the writers figured out how to work weaponized ProductPlacement into the show in a manner that makes sense.]]

** Shaw's escape from Samaritan captivity. [[spoiler:It's a Samaritan simulation, so the deck's clearly stacked in her favor.]]
** [[spoiler:Samaritan has put Shaw through 6,741 scenarios – that would work out to one per hour for 9 months. In each, Shaw has managed to end the scenario without giving up the subway lair, Finch or Reese's cover identities, or that Fusco is part of Team Machine.]]

** The last stand of [[spoiler: Carl Elias]] who manages to perform a near successful extraction of [[spoiler: Finch from an apartment building being stormed by Samaritan assets.]] From gunning down multiple hostiles and having his men conduct a successful elevator ambush which [[spoiler: eliminates the Samaritan assets waiting to kill them]], he's nearly successful in getting Harold to safety, and[[spoiler: only undone with the Samaritan team getting to the driver of his getaway car, which distracts him before it's too late]].
** A stand out moment in the escape has to be [[spoiler: when Elias is pinned down by two Samaritan assets blocking access across the ground floor. Said Samaritan assets made the mistake of discounting the janitor of the apartment building.]] He proceeds to clear a path for his boss and Finch by ventilating the two hostiles with a DoubleTap from his Desert Eagle.

** [[spoiler: [[Main/BewareTheNiceOnes Finch's]] [[Main/TranquilFury bone-chilling]] [[Main/WorldofCardboardspeech monologue]] to Samaritan, while in federal custody. Pretty much indicating he's done playing by [[Main/TheUnfettered the rules]]. Which is soon followed by The Machine (taking the voice of the recently deceased Root), getting him out of prison, by [[Main/AIisaCrapShoot instigating a jailbreak]].]]

** John Reese's [[spoiler: HeroicSacrifice]]. Realizing that [[spoiler: with three Samaritan assets armed with assault rifles approaching him from two direction, he can't get off the roof, he decides to HoldTheLine, armed only with his SIG-Sauer. Despite being murdered, he manages to delay the Samaritan assets long enough for the Machine to get transmitted up to the satellite.]]
** Sameen hunts down and [[spoiler: executes Blackwell for his murder of Root. After trying to condescendingly plead for his life, and saying that Shaw's friends wouldn't want her to kill him, she shoots him down pointing out that they're either dead (like Root) or gone. Cue a well placed bullet through the heart.]]
** Despite all the simulated failures, when it counts, the Machine is able to destroy Samaritan once and for all. [[spoiler:And ups that when it hijacks itself into Samaritan, overriding it and thus creating a new better Machine.]]

** [[spoiler: Doubles as a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming and TearJerker as Finch alludes to the events which separated him from his OnlyFriend and fiancée in the past, seeing himself in Caleb and not wanting him to make the same mistake like he did.]]

** Fusco, to Reese, demanding to be kept in the loop with Team Machine. Doubles as a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming:

** Becomes a [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming CMoH]] when Reese basically adopts the dog.

* "Nothing To Hide": Say what you want about [[spoiler:Peter Collier]], but his elegantly destructive scheme to destroy the POI is relatively admirable in it's execution.

* "Witness": the reveal of [[spoiler: the MagnificentBastard Carl Elias]] When the Yogorovs finally inform Carter and John who they were actually looking for, Charlie Burton, the meek, DeadpanSnarker school teacher [[spoiler: transforms into a professional and pragmatic criminal mastermind, utterly catching John off guard with a DramaticGunCock]] After forcing John to tie himself to the rail, he kneecaps one of the Yogorovs, calmly walks off the east river ferry where his bodyguard who knocked out Fusco is waiting and to the tune of the AwesomeMusic "Sinnerman" casually strolls off to his SUV which zooms away by the time Harold arrives.

** At the climax, Shaw finally meets with the special counsel and Wilson. She calls Wilson out on stupidly taking a ContractOnTheHitman when other options were available to solve the problem and then resigns from the ISA in the most epic way possible by plugging Wilson in the chest and walks out with the AwesomeMusic "Future Starts Slow" kicking in.

** The entire opening, set to Johnny Cash's cover of [[AwesomeMusic Hurt]]. It is a phenomenal piece of cinematography, suceeding in conveying the emotions all the characters are going through, without any sound, just the pictures and the music.

** Special mention to the ending montage on how effectively it hammered home just how much [[spoiler: Decima emerged the victor of the season]] Set to the tune of the AwesomeMusic Radiohead's "Exit Music For A Film", [[spoiler: the montage cuts from Finch and Reese evacuating the library as Samaritan dispatches an NYPD ESU SWAT team to storm the building, the Vigilance group being subjected to ThePurge by Decima assets and law enforcement, the members of Team Machine sharing final looks with each other as they depart to places unknown and as the music begins to swell, we get to see the full power of Samaritan unveiled, with it racking up "Deviants" to be terminated in the future. It then closes with the money shot of Greer strolling into the room and asking Samaritan for commands. Heartbreaking? Yes. A DownerEnding? Completely.]] But successfully capping off the biggest villainous CrowningMomentOfAwesome of the season and driving home [[spoiler: just how much our heroes have lost and showing that the game in Person Of Interest has been changed forever in an epic fashion?]] Absolutely.

** The end of the episode. Down, but not out, Root and Reese facilitate the escape of The Machine to the AwesomeMusic Pink Floyd's "Welcome To The Machine" in a blaze of slow motion gunfire, while Harold, calmly walks behind them, a look of certainty and decisiveness in his expression.

* Early in the pilot episode, Homeless Bum Reese is harassed by a group of lowlifes punks. He hands them their asses. Later, when he needs weapons]], he tracks down the same punks to a gun deal. What follows is ''poetry.''

-->"You're [[GangstaStyle holding that thing sideways]]. You can't aim it, and two, it'll eject a shell casing right into your face. [[PreemptiveDeclaration See?]]" ''([CurbStompBattle one-shots]] [[OneManArmy every thug in the room]] [[JustAFleshWound in the thighs]])''

* Early in the pilot episode, Homeless Bum Reese is harassed by a group of lowlifes punks. He hands them their asses. Later, when he needs weapons, he tracks down the same punks to a gun deal, corrects their gun handling ("Take you, for instance. You're holding that thing sideways. You can't aim it, and two, it'll eject a shell casing right into your face. See?"), takes them all down in about 10 seconds ''with one of their own guns'' and simply gathers up what he needs from the pile of ordnance on the table. Their ringleader is left standing, dumbfounded. Reese tells him to get some safety training and leaves. ''And he never once raises his voice.''
--> "Have a nice day."
** Bonus points; there were seven punks, and he fired the gun ten times -- once into the air to blind the first punk with the shell casing -- and still left one standing. Due to the small size of the weapon the first punk shoved in his face, by the time he threatened the last one it was probably ''[[ItWorksBetterWithBullets empty]]''.[[note]]IRL it was a blanks-only [[http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Person_of_Interest_-_Season_1 "non-gun"]] issued by propmasters to untrained extras.[[/note]]

** Bonus points; there were seven punks, and he fired the gun ten times -- once into the air to blind the first punk with the shell casing -- and still left one standing. Due to the small size of the weapon the first punk shoved in his face, it was probably ''[[ItWorksBetterWithBullets empty]]''.[[note]]IRL it was a blanks-only [[http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Person_of_Interest_-_Season_1 "non-gun"]] issued by propmasters to untrained extras.[[/note]]

*** Bonus points; there were seven punks, and he fired the gun ten times -- once into the air to blind the first punk with the shell casing -- and still left one standing. Due to the small size of the weapon the first punk shoved in his face, it was probably ''[[ItWorksBetterWithBullets empty]]''.[[note]]IRL it was a blanks-only [[http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Person_of_Interest_-_Season_1 "non-gun"]] issued by propmasters to untrained extras.[[/note]]
** Reese then puts what came to be known as the "Plan B bag" to good use. He ambushes a SUV with a hostage in it by firing a tear gas canister dead on through the windscreen with his new projectile launcher, causing it to crash, then walking towards the car, he kneecaps a hostage taker with his new WeaponOfChoice and finishes off the second man by hitting him in the face with the bag.
** Also from the Pilot episode; a handcuffed Reese escapes from the backseat of an unmarked NYPD cruiser by setting off a flashbang underneath the driver's seat, and then after the car wrecks he simply kicks out the back window, frees himself, and walks away... after stopping to shoot the DirtyCop four times in the back. At point blank range. Not to worry though, he made sure that he was wearing a bullet proof vest first.
** Reese switches the recording the POI was using with one that exposed her criminal activities. She plays it in the middle of a packed court room preventing her from pulling off a KarmaHoudini

-->'''[[spoiler:The Machine/Root:]]''' I don't belong to anyone anymore. You, however, are mine.

* Early in the pilot episode, Homeless Bum Reese is harassed by a group of lowlifes punks. He hands them their asses. Later, when he needs weapons, he tracks down the same punks to a gun deal, corrects their gun handling ("You're holding it sideways. That means you can't aim."), takes them all down in about 10 seconds ''with one of their own guns'' and simply gathers up what he needs from the pile of ordnance on the table. Their ringleader is left standing, dumbfounded. Reese tells him to get some safety training and leaves. ''And he never once raises his voice.''

* "No Good Deed" Despite getting wiped out by Reese in the end, the ISA hit squad acquitted themselves very well in their mission to kill Henry Peck. When Reese is escaping with Peck in a cab, they set up a nearly successful ambush with their team sniper disabling the taxi cab by detonating the fuel tank with a single shot.
* [[spoiler:"Firewall", Root's plan to capture Harold, become a POI, get into a situation where John and Harold are separated and take the latter hostage, utterly outwitting the normally ProperlyParanoid Team Machine]]

* Halfway through "Firewall", after Fusco and Carter discover they were WorkingTheSameCase, they come to the rescue, arresting all the HR guys on site.
** Later, when they're all chasing a car with some HR mooks who were able to get out of the parking garage, Reese tells Carter to slow down....and detonates the explosives that were kept in the HR vehicle beforehand killing the occupants of the car. The utterly shocked looks of Carter and Fusco who DidntSeeThatComing make it even better.

%%* "Truth Be Told":

--> '''Finch''': "You're an amatuer at this."