Person of Interest/Characters: Difference between revisions

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== Regulars ==

[[File:POI_Reese_5043.jpg|frame]]

{{quote|''I went around the world looking for bad guys. But there were plenty of you right here all along.''}}

* [[Above the Influence]]: Not with sex, but when {{spoiler|Finch was high on Ecstasy and in a talkative mood,}} Reese opted out of it knowing the person would regret it in the morning.

* [[Anti-Hero]]

* [[Badass]]

** [[Heartbroken Badass]]: His lover, Jessica, left him after he left for war without telling her, married someone else, and {{spoiler|was accidentally killed by her abusive husband.}}

*** This is to the point where when he instead wears a motorcycle jacket in episode 9, she suggests the suit is in the cleaners.

** [[Badass Longcoat]]

* [[Would Hit a Girl]]

* [[Wouldn't Hurt a Child]]: {{spoiler|When a choice came down to either watching a child die from freezing to death or giving Elias the info he needed, he chose to save the child. Elias knew this of him as well. That's why he put Reese in the position.}}

 

[[File:POI_Finch_5518.jpg|frame]]

{{quote|''I should tell you... I'm a really private person.''}}

* [[The Atoner]]

* [[Badass Bookworm]]: The man chose an abandoned library to be his (and by extension, Reese's) base of operations and the shelves have been re-shelved with his books, and if he isn't working, he's usually reading. Badass not with fighting, but he's one badass computer hacker who, for example, hacked all of the cell towers in New York City, cutting off all cell communications except for which phones he chose. He also has walked right up to an influential leader of a corrupt cop ring and manipulated him into backing down from working with a mob boss, and completely bankrupted a corrupt executive's company.

* [[Gentleman and a Scholar]]: Finch is a very well-read computer genius who prefers [[Sharp-Dressed Man|elegant tailored suits]] and is extremely courteous and polite ( [[Gentleman Snarker|except for when he's snarking Reese or Fusco]] ).

* [[Good with Numbers]]

* [[Honorary Uncle]]: To Will Ingram.

* [[Hurting Hero]]

** [[Animal Theme Naming]]: Almost all of Finch's known identities are Harold [Kind of Bird].

* [[It's Not You, It's My Enemies]]: After he realizes that the government is willing to kill anyone who discovers the existence of the machine, he fakes the death of one of his various aliases so that if the government learned about him, they wouldn't know about and seek to harm {{spoiler|his fiancee. However, despite the fact that he cannot be with her ever again (and in fact has surveillance programs in place to ensure that they never get with 100 yards of each other so that she'll never learn he isn't dead), it is implied that he is quietly using his various businesses to ensure that her illustration business has steady work.}}

** Lampshaded in "Legacy"

{{quote|'''Andrea:''' So, what's this boss of yours like?

* [[Unreliable Expositor]]: Where the Machine and his past is concerned the essentials of what he says are true, but he often lies or omits parts in order to avoid further explanation into more secrets. He's a very private person.

** Considering that the more someone knows about the Machine or himself, the greater the danger they're in or could put someone from his past in, his 'unreliability' is quite understandable.

 

[[File:POI_Carter_3923.jpg|frame]]

{{quote|''I'm a cop. My life's'' always ''in danger.''}}

* [[All a Part of the Job]]: The quote above, in response to Reese telling her she's in danger.

* [[Badass]]

** She seems to officially being promoted to [[The Commissioner Gordon]] in "Matsya Nyaya". The opening sequence is slightly altered, moving her segment relative to the [[Opening Narration|voiceover]] from "hunted by the authorities" to the end of "someone with the skills to intervene"

* [[To Be Lawful or Good]]: Struggles with this.

 

[[File:POI_Fusco_5549.jpg|frame]]

{{quote|''I made some mistakes. Big ones. But things are different now. I'm helping people''}}

* [[The Atoner]]: After working with Reese and doing some good, he's found that he much prefers helping people to being corrupt. {{spoiler|He even gets angry that Reese forces him to be [[The Mole]] in a group of [[Dirty Cop|dirty cops]], as it takes time away from which he could be doing actual police work}}.

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]

* [[Punch Clock Hero]]: Reluctantly, at first.

** [[Punch Clock Villain]]: Before Reese showed up.

 

[[File:POI_Machine_2262.jpg|frame]]

{{quote|The Machine is everywhere. Watching us with ten thousand eyes, listening with a million ears...|'''Finch''' }}

* [[Black Box]]: The inner workings of the Machine are never shown, to the audience or in-universe. Obstensibely, this is done so that [[Loophole Abuse|no one's Fourth Amendment rights are being violated]], because no ''human'' sees what the Machine does.

* [[The Computer Is Your Friend]] and/or [[Deus Est Machina]]: Depending upon {{spoiler|how it answers the question Reese posed at the end of "Firewall."}}

* [[Sinister Surveillance]]

* [[Viewer-Friendly Interface]]: The graphics and symbols that appear on the screen when showing events from the Machine's point of view.

 

== Villains ==

[[File:POI_Elias_5700.jpg|frame]]

{{quote|''I am the evolution of organized crime.''}}

* [[Affably Evil]]: Seems genuinely polite most of the time and is regretful towards John. He even seems delighted to hear from him on the phone at one point.

* [[Bastard Bastard]]

* [[Scars Are Forever]]: Has deep scars on the palms of his hands from when {{spoiler|his father tried to have him killed.}}

* [[Would Hurt a Child]]: {{spoiler|Elias claims he is personally against hurting children, but he's willing to at least appear to be willing to hurt them in order to get some much needed information out of John ("Baby Blue") and as potential leverage against various members of HR ("Flesh and Blood"). Does it to Carter by kidnapping her son in "Flesh and Blood."}}

 

* [[Badass]]

* [[The Dragon]]: For Elias.

* [[Good Scars, Evil Scars]]

* [[No Name Given]]

 

[[File:POI_Root_2561.jpg|frame]]

{{quote|''Come on Harold, we've got so much to talk about.''}}

* [[Bitch in Sheep's Clothing]]: {{spoiler|When we see her in the season finale, she plays the part of a meek therapist who is being hunted down, giving no evidence of her true nature until we see her shoot a woman from behind and hold Finch up at gunpoint.}}

* [[The Chessmaster]]

* [[The Cracker]]

* [[The Dog Was the Mastermind]]: {{spoiler|She hired HR to kill one of her aliases in the season finale.}}

* [[Evil Counterpart]]: To Finch, who she considers a [[Worthy Opponent]].

* [[Samus Is a Girl]]: Until the season 1 finale, "Firewall," the only thing we knew for certain about Root was that she is a woman.

 

[[File:POI_Snow_4805.jpg|frame]]

{{quote|''Remember: we're behind enemy lines here.''}}

* [[CIA Evil, FBI Good|CIA is Evil]]

* [[Consummate Liar]]

* [[The Men in Black]]

* [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness]]: Seems to be a favorite tactic of his, as he has so far done this to three of his operatives.

 

* [[Bald of Evil]]

* [[Dirty Cop]]

* [[Even Evil Has Loved Ones]]: He has HR quit working for Elias once he discovers that Elias is keeping tabs on their families in case he ever needs to threaten them.

* [[Jerkass]]

 

* [[Inspector Javert]]: He thinks Reese has become a CIA psychopath-turned-mob hitman and is trying to bring him in.

 

== Other ==

{{quote|''If you're going to do something wrong, do it right.''}}

* [[Badass]]

* [[Dating Catwoman]]: Her relationship with Reese has shades of this.

* [[The Fixer]]

* [[Only in It For the Money]]: how she presents herself to the world; it seems she actually has a [[Hidden Heart of Gold]]

 

{{quote|''In this job, you never go back.''}}

* [[Badass]]

* [[Posthumous Character]]: {{spoiler|until it's revealed she's [[Not Quite Dead|not quite dead yet]] }}

* [[Professional Killer]]

 

{{quote|''Everyone is relevant to someone.''}}

* [[Death by Origin Story]]

* [[The McCoy]]: to Finch's Spock (before his death and Finch's subsequent becoming something of a McCoy/Spock hybrid.)

* [[Posthumous Character]]

* [[Talker and Doer]]: The talker and face of his and Finch's company.

 

{{quote|''Tell me to wait for you, and I'll wait.''}}

* [[Domestic Abuse]]

* [[The Lost Lenore]]: with respect to Reese

* [[Posthumous Character]]

 

{{quote|''Run.''}}

* [[The Atoner]]: She regrets being involved in setting up the Machine and wants to destroy it due to her fears about how it is being used and the people who have control of it.

* {{spoiler|[[Boom! Headshot!]]}}

* {{spoiler|[[Sacrificial Lion]]}}: To establish {{spoiler|Root}}'s level of villainy.