Ho Yay / Person of Interest

• It looks like we might get a hint of this between Reese and Finch. Those two are already pretty dependent on each other... and when Reese was shot and believed he was dying, he called Finch to share his last words with him. The two switched to using their first names, and the desperation on Finch's face as he drives to get to Reese in time is evident.
  • Almost all of Finch's reactions when he gets doped up on MDMA by the POI in "Identity Crisis" are this. Such gems include his response to her taking his earpiece and putting it in a cup of water: "Hey, hey, hey, hey, that is my very good friend!", and his attempts to keep Reese from leaving the library for the night: an extremely plaintive "You're leavin?", along with several offers to tell Reese anything he wants to know about him in exchange for staying with him there.
    • Bonus: Reese was already planning on staying the night at The Library to make sure Finch would be alright, and refuses to ask anything about Finch despite having spent the entire season trying to learn more about him, caring about him enough to know full well that he'd regret it in the morning if Reese took him up on the offer.
  • They own a dog together, see movies together on their off days, banter Like an Old Married Couple in just about every episode, and show more passionate concern for one another than any other pair in the show. The writers are definitely giving fans some ammo on this.
    • Let's not forget "Baby Blue," the episode where the two of them quite literally take care of a baby together for the entirety of the episode, including the two of them going out on outings with her complete with Reese wearing a baby sling, and Reese even reminisces to Finch about how much he wishes he had children.
  • Reese constantly tells people how Finch found him and gave him a purpose, with Finch listening on the other line.
  • Reese tells Finch that he "woke up happy, must be this job", only to get captured by the FBI later, and adds within his farewell call that he "meant what he said yesterday".
  • Pretty much the last five minutes of "God Mode".
  • Reese: "Finch, you know I don't like you heading into danger without me."
  • For a case, Reese is Finch's plus one for an museum exhibit. And the woman who checks them in (obviously reaching the conclusion they're a gay couple) comments on how "gorgeous" Reese is to Finch. Finch just smirks, as if to say "Yeah, I did hit the jackpot, didn't I?"
  • In one episode, Finch explains that Reese is his partner and the POI responds, "Didn't see that coming." Reese looks up from what he's doing in the background but no further comment is made.
• There is also Shaw and Root's relationship, who at first either come across as Vitriolic Best Buds or having lots of Belligerent Sexual Tension. Root just loves to tease her by flirting, with it becoming suggested a little more with each episode that she might not just be teasing. It doesn't help that Shaw describes Root's Guns Akimbo as "kind of hot", or that Root often takes Shaw with her for private missions, once at the back of her motorcycle. Or that in their first episode together, Root taped Shaw to a chair and threatened to torture her with an iron.
  • The relationship is heavily supported by the crew and the actors. With season 4's Prophets, it's nearing canon status.
    Root: If the worst comes to pass, if you could give Shaw a message?
    Finch: I think she already knows.

  • "Honor Among Thieves" Root acts jealous when Shaw is on a mission with Tomas. She keeps Shaw's direct line open and adds snarky comments every now and then (the result is Shaw turning off the line after a while). One of the comments included:
    Root (over the phone): He's hot, not 'hood and zip ties in a CIA safe house with ten hours to kill' hot but I kinda get it.
    • This comment seems to be a reference to "Mors Praematura" when they both had to wait on a CIA safe house and Shaw had to put a hood and zip ties on Root to keep their cover as agent-prisioner. This changed perspectives about what Root and Shaw were up to during the time they shared on the safe house (offscreen).

  • "The Cold War" Shaw appears handcuffed to a bench and Root comments that "We know it'd be impossible to keep you locked up... Against your will anyway... "

  • "If-Then-Else" has this relationship finally reach its canon status. The Machine believes Root's feelings for Shaw are genuine, with one of its projected scenarios involving Root, facing death, asking Shaw if she might've had a chance with her if things had gone differently. Shaw's answer during this scenario was "Maybe Someday". In the end, in reality, it's Shaw who full-on snogs Root before sacrificing herself to save her and the others.
    • The music that plays during Shaw and Root's kiss and Shaw's sacrifice is titled "Til Death Do Us Part." Even the soundtrack ships them.

  • "Control Alt Delete" In this episode, whether or not Shaw survived is unclear, but what is clear is just how determined Root is to learn her fate and save her if possible - nothing will stop her. She talks about how she "isn't a monster anymore" but will do what it takes to get Shaw back, but now she's actually doing some of the things that the "monstrous" early Root only almost did. If you are what's standing between Root and Shaw, you will know hell. Even as she keeps her adorable, cheerful personality.

  • A definitive moment from "/":
    Shaw: The only reason you're not stuck in a cage now is because of me. Don't make me look bad.
    Root: I couldn't make you look bad if I tried.
    Shaw: [shakes head, rolls eyes]

  • The teaser for season 5 shows Shaw and Root tearing each others clothes off, after Shaw returns from the custody of Samaritan operatives in 6,741. As it turns out, this was just a simulation - but more than anything it shows that the relationship is entirely reciprocated by Shaw. All in all she goes through over 7000 simulations while under the control of Samaritan and the only person she couldn't kill was Root. As she later explains, Root was her 'safe place'.

  • BSOD had Root tell a gangster that she is not the same anymore because she "Just needed a change. Got a new job. Fell in love.

  • In "The Day the World went Away" Root and Shaw are back to their old flirting style. They even have a gun fight complete with Root's metaphysical monologues and not-so-subtly checking out Shaw. Instead of defensively dodging Root's comments as in the past, this time Shaw smirks along.
    Root: And darlin', you've got a great shape.
    • Earlier in the same episode, when the two of them are waiting for a team of assassins to arrive they have a conversation where Root tells Shaw she finally feels like she belongs somewhere and they hold hands. Confirmed indeed.

  • Shaw has an unspecified axis personality disorder and hardly ever shows emotion. Earlier in the show we see her blank expression and -lack of- reaction to her father's death. When Root dies however, the machine -which at this point has chosen Root's voice to communicate with- sends her a message she believed Root was trying to convey. The message?
    The Machine/Root: You always thought there was something wrong with you because you don’t feel things the way other people do. But she always felt that was what made you beautiful. She wanted you to know that if you were a shape, you were a straight line. An arrow
  • Shaw who has probably never cried in her entire life manages to shed a single tear.

  • Shaw finally kisses Root at the end of Season 4 right before her Heroic Sacrifice.

• Elias and Marconi bonded during their time in a children's group home over their hatred of their abusive fathers, and eventually Marconi becomes Elias' right hand man in his takeover of New York's organized crime, having absolute Undying Loyalty to each other.