Line #39 Recap/PersonOfInterestS03E21


1	'''Season 3, Episode 21'''
2	!Beta
3
4	->''"Just remember, what our Machine sees, Samaritan sees. Two gods playing with the same deck of cards."''
5	-->-- '''Root'''
6
7	A few days after the events of "Death Benefit," Decima gains access to all the government surveillance feeds from New York City and tasks Samaritan to look for Harold Finch. When it can't find Harold himself, Greer tells it to look for someone close to him, and it gives him the name of Grace Hendricks.
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10	!!Tropes present in this episode include:
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12	* AnalogyBackfire: Greer asks Grace to think of him as Creator/MichelangeloBuonarroti lying on his back, painting the Art/SistineChapel. Grace informs him that Michelangelo painted standing up.[[note]]According to his recollections, more like scrunched up in awkward positions[[/note]]
13	* AlwaysSaveTheGirl
14	* AsideGlance: Root winks at the camera in the police precinct that she knows is being monitored by Samaritan and Decima. Unfortunately that tips off Greer that he's BeingWatched, and he positions his forces in CCTV blind spots to ambush Team Machine.
15	* BatmanColdOpen: Shaw foiling a convenience store robbery.
16	* BatDeduction: Grace sees the missing poster of Stills and instantly assumes that Reese is an imposter. Could there not have been more than one Detective Stills in the NYPD? Hell, Reese should have just said they were brothers.
17	* BlackSite: Decima is hiding in areas not covered by surveillance, including a ship that doesn't appear on the register.
18	* BlindfoldedTrip: As a [[PetTheDog courtesy to Finch]], the hostage exchange is made with Grace blindfolded.
19	* CallBack:
20	** [[http://imgur.com/a/4z0ol A subtle one]]. The place where Greer has Harold taken to is the empty IFT office where he built the Machine.
21	** As in "Trojan Horse", Greer orders one of his own men to kill himself.
22	* CarFu: A Decima SUV rams Team Machine's, enabling them to kidnap Grace.
23	* ComicallyMissingThePoint: {{Invoked\|Trope}} by Greer when showing Garrison his crude setup for Samaritan's beta test:
24	-->'''Garrison''': Mr. Greer, I'd assumed the beta test of your system would be a little more...professional.\
25	'''Greer''': ''[soft chuckle]'' [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments The espresso machine is on its way]]. And let me assure you, Senator, Samaritan is running as smooth as a Swiss watch.
26	* ComplainingAboutRescuesTheyDontLike:
27	** Grace, understandably. She's grateful, but has no idea what is happening and reacts accordingly.
28	** Shaw shoots someone about to kill Root, who complains that she holed the tablet (with crucial information on it) he was carrying.
29	-->'''Root:''' "You couldn't have aimed two inches higher?"
30	* TheComputerIsYourFriend[=/=]DeusEstMachina: The Machine, yes. It even has "protecting assets" as part of the protection protocol. [[{{Understatement}} Samaritan...no.]]
31	* CrazyPrepared:
32	** Finch, as ever.
33	** The Machine uses "Protection Protocol 7" at the start.
34	* DespairEventHorizon: Finch, after Grace is taken, is so distraught that he willingly surrenders himself to Greer to ensure her safety. Not to mention when Finch makes clear his intention to surrender himself to Decima, he tells Reese and Shaw to refrain from violence at all costs, and then goes on to instruct them to murder all of Decima's men if they harm Grace in any way.
35	* FauxAffablyEvil: Greer interrogating Grace.
36	* FreezeFrameBonus[=/=]ShoutOut: The name on Grace's new passport is "Grace Ellsworth," which is a subtle reference to Finch's bird-based ThemeNaming.
37	** [[http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Ellsworth Ellsworth]] is WesternAnimation/{{Goofy}}'s mischievous pet crow.
38	** The town of Ellsworth, Maine is home to a bird sanctuary.
39	** [[http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/28/arts/ellsworth-kelly-artist-who-mixed-european-abstraction-into-everyday-life-dies-at-92.html?_r=0 Abstract artist Ellsworth Kelly]], who enjoyed bird watching as a child, made a sculpture for the Holocaust Museum which suggests "the image of a great bird lifting upward over closed windows."
40	* FromBeyondTheFourthWall: As Shaw and Reese rescue Grace at first, the usual [[IdiosyncraticWipes Idiosyncratic Wipe]] gets [[InterfaceScrew subverted]]: Samaritan instead crops the screen to the heroes and provides it to Greer and Virgil. You can almost ''feel'' the fourth wall crumble down.
41	* GetIntoJailFree: Root is brought into Fusco's office after being arrested [[GunsAkimbo with two unregistered weapons]].
42	* HonorBeforeReason: Reese insists on answering a ringing phone, knowing he may be caught on camera.
43	* HostageForMacGuffin: With Finch as the MacGuffin.
44	* IHaveYourWife: Well, Grace and Finch were never actually married, but Greer makes effective use of her as a hostage nevertheless.
45	* ImpersonatingAnOfficer:
46	** Reese's habit of introducing himself as Detective Stills backfires when Grace finds a Missing poster of the real Stills.
47	** Decima sends one of their own men into the precinct as a fed with a warrant. Fusco eagerly herds him into the interrogation room...where Reese is waiting instead of Grace.
48	* ItWorksBetterWithBullets: Deliberately done at the start.
49	* IWillFindYou: Reese promises Finch he will find him, before handing him over to Decima.
50	* LaserSight: As usual, it just gives Shaw a chance to save Root.
51	* LeaveNoWitnesses: Decima poison the crew of the ship bringing the servers to be used for Samaritan into the United States. [[NiceJobFixingItVillain This only gives Root the opportunity to steal some of the servers herself.]]
52	* LonelyFuneral: Grace is bewildered that her fiance had no friends willing to turn up for his memorial, though this is mainly because at that point, [[TheSpook Finch had very few friends to begin with]].
53	* LongLastLook: Finch at Grace as he passes her on the bridge, then Reese before Decima take him away.
54	* MacGyvering: Root makes an induction coil out of duct tape, copper wire, needle-nosed pliers and an extension cord, in order to take the 8th Precinct's cameras down.
55	* NeverFoundTheBody: Finch, after the ferry bombing.
56	* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Finch telling Reese and Shaw to kill the Decima agents if they harm Grace.
57	* PetTheDog:
58	** In the opening scene, Shaw stares down a guy robbing a convenience store, baffles him with knowledge of the man's home life, then tosses him a pack of diapers and tells him that his child is better off with a father. She kicks the crap out of the inside man who planned the robbery, but leaves him alive and even pays for the ice cream she was eating at the time.
59	** Despite having had her kidnapped, Greer is unfailingly polite to Grace, doesn't reveal to her that he's hunting Finch, and lets her continue to believe Finch is dead.
60	* PerspectiveFlip: This episode is from Samaritan's perspective, rather than the Machine's.
61	* PrisonerExchange: Averted; Reese offers to swap Greer's tech guy for Grace. The tech guy then kills himself using Reese's pistol.
62	* PunkInTheTrunk: Reese and Shaw smuggle themselves in a yellow cab.
63	-->'''Shaw''': Next time we need to hide from an all-seeing supercomputer, we're getting separate trunks.
64	* ShownTheirWork: During his interrogation of Grace, Greer reveals that Grace is from South Carolina. As Grace gets more stressed and upset, a touch of a [[UsefulNotes/AmericanAccents Southeast regional accent]] creeps into her voice.
65	* SinisterSurveillance: For the first time played straight. Unlike The Machine, Samaritan's main objective is killing the main characters.
66	* SpitTake
67	-->'''Shaw:''' Are we safe here?
68	-->'''Root:''' Everything but the coffee. ''(Shaw spits up her coffee)''
69	* TheSpook: Finch, almost comically so. Samaritan doesn't even have a picture. Of course, it helps that the Machine is actively protecting him itself.
70	* TakeItToTheBridge: The Jefferson Bridge is used for the exchange, because it's too exposed for any treachery, especially with all the cameras accessed by both the Machine and Samaritan.
71	* TakeMeInstead: Finch gives himself up to save Grace.
72	* TheresNoKillLikeOverkill: Root shows up and warns Reese and Shaw that a Decima hit squad has set up an ambush for them down the road. Said ambush team is armed with no less than six sub-machine guns and one honest-to-goodness Russian RPG-7.
73	* {{Unperson}}: The Machine attempts to make Finch disappear even more than he already has from the public view. It works, too...but Greer finds another way.
74	* VanInBlack: Decima hit squads drive black SUV's.
75	* WeaponForIntimidation: The thief Shaw thwarts in the BatmanColdOpen did not have his weapon loaded.
76	* WeNeedADistraction: Cue StuffBlowingUp. Unfortunately, it's not enough. Giving your car to a wino works better.
77	* WhamEpisode: Greer finally has Finch.
78	* WorthyOpponent: Finch is Greer's, almost to the point of obsession.

Context Recap / PersonOfInterestS03E21