Recap / Person Of Interest S 05 E 07

Season 5, Episode 7

QSO

When you do the kind of work I do, steeping yourself in conspiracy theories day in, day out, you get good at recognizing patterns, and sometimes the patterns are just coincidence, but sometimes... sometimes they're real.

— Max

After Root tells The Machine she won't do any more missions unless The Machine helps her find Shaw, The Machine sets her up as the new producer for an overnight talk radio show devoted to conspiracy theories and paranormal claims.

• Aborted Arc: The plotline of Root going to Lithuania to investigate a missile silo was never followed up.
• Accidental Truth: Becomes almost a Running Gag until it starts being Played for Drama.
  • Max posits that all non-human intelligence has been destroyed by a technological singularity. As we know, Samaritan doesn't like competition.
  • Warren thinks it's all to do with Mind Control, which Samaritan has been trying out on Shaw, among others.
  • Max tells people to see the pattern behind events. Thus Root eventually works out what the Machine can't tell her directly.
  • Finally Max stumbles on the truth — the code really is a code, used for communication with covert operatives.
• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: You want a Machine that respects free will? That includes the right of humans to make decisions that will get them killed.
• All Just a Simulation: Subverted. Thinking she's in another one of Samaritan's VR simulations, Shaw actually kills the scientist Samaritan wanted dead.
• Amazon Chaser: After Root saves Vasily's life from an assassin, he says, "Marry me." Root takes his phone number instead, and follows this up at the end of the episode.
• Batman Cold Open: Root saving Vasily at the opener.
• Batman Grabs a Gun: Despite the risks, the Machine decides to directly communicate with Root so she can know about the Samaritan agents in the station.
• Bland-Name Product: Mysterious Transmissions is a pastiche of Coast to Coast AM.
• Breaking the Fellowship: Fusco hands over his 'unofficial' mobile phone to show he's leaving Team Machine.
• Brick Joke: The receptionist who rolled her eyes when she thought Root was another nut Hearing Voices turns out to be a Samaritan operative who receives her kill order this way.
• Bullying a Dragon: The nurse mistakes Shaw's Thousand-Yard Stare for apathy, and taunts her about her supposed reputation as a badass killer. A moment later Shaw has her pinned to the floor with a shard of glass to her throat.
• Can't Stop the Signal: But Samaritan does.
• Cassandra Truth:
  • When asked on-air about her views regarding extraterrestials, Root resorts to this.
  • Max attempts to reveal the truth about Samaritan's code, but his listeners just think it's another conspiracy theory, and they chime in with their own.
• The Cast Showoff: Subverted. Amy Acker actually can dance ballet, and studied dance before becoming an actor. She's even used the skills on other shows. However, we see her before and after her performance - but never actually dancing.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • The Machine has Root pinch an EMF reader from the ghost hunters, which she later uses to track down the source of Samaritan's transmissions.
  • Root follows up on her promise to call Vasily.
  • The software Samaritan is installing in ordinary computers is being used to transmit it's messages.
  • The radio in Shaw's hospital room is used by Root to send her a message.
• Conspiracy Theorist: The radio show host, and all of his audience.
• Continuity Nod / Call-Back:
  • Fusco is still injured from the collapsing tunnel.
  • Again, the Machine sends instruction to one of her assets through a third party.
  Root: I refuse to do one more mission until I know what I'm doing is going to lead me to Sameen. Please!
  The Machine: [!] Detection imminent. Samaritan agent incoming. Evaluating options...
  Man: Weird, I just got a text from a random number. Hold up guys, maybe this is a message from beyond. "WKCP UFO. Find her. Run."
  • Root's message to Shaw is "4 alarm fire."
  • Mysterious Transmissions is sponsored by the Coronet Hotel Group.
  • The Machine's written responses are similar to what she's used before.
  • Samaritan still can't identify Root, but knows who she is by her behaviour.
  • The Fermi Paradox is mentioned again, as it was in the previous episode (when Samaritan mentioned The Filter).
  • The Chinese are once again assumed to be behind something actually organised by Decima (or rather their successors).
  • Root surrenders to Samaritan to save Shaw, just as the Machine surrendered to Samaritan to save Root and Finch.
  • A simulated AI in Finch's experiment tries to make contact with the outside world, as his previous simulated AI's did.
• Corner of Woe: Subverted; Shaw uses this trope to work out of sight of the camera in her room.
• Cut Phone Lines: Max finds that his soundboard and phone lines have gone dead, and the staff have left the building.
• Darkened Building Shootout: Reese rescuing Root.
• Eye Scream: Shaw prepares to commit suicide by jamming a hypodermic needle through her eye into her brain.
• Foreshadowing:
  • In the hospital room with Lionel, Root starts doing leg stretches to limber up for her ballet performance.
  • Root's encounter with the paranormal researchers foreshadows the content of Max's radio show.
• Fake Static: Used to send messages Hidden in Plain Sight.
• Fanservice: Root dressed as a Fair Cop.
• Fantasy Keepsake: The hand injury Shaw experienced in the 'simulation' convinces her that what she experienced wasn't All Just a Dream.
• Fate Worse than Death
  • Max is told to Run or Die, but he rejects the idea of hiding for the rest of his life under a false identity.
  "On the run? For how long? This is nuts. That's no life. I'd rather be dead than leave now. Everything I've talked about on my show is true!"
  • Shaw decides to kill herself as the only way out of Samaritan's clutches.
  Nurse: You know as well as I do there's no way to escape. There's cameras everywhere. Guards outside this door. The only way that you get out of this facility is in a body bag.
  Shaw: Oh, I know, but I'd rather be dead than be your guinea pig for one more day.
• Hearing Voices: Root is literally hearing radio waves via her cochlear implant, so she fits in well at a radio station for nutcases. Turns out Samaritan operatives are getting coded messages via this method.
• Improvised Weapon
  • Shaw uses a shard of glass from the mirror she breaks to attack the nurse.
  • Root throttles an assassin after Vasily with her ballet shoes. Later she shoots a Samaritan operative with a musket, but it's just a blank so she buttstrokes him in the face instead.
  • Max prepares to defend himself with the broom he's using to jam the door closed, but Reese easily takes it off him.
• Incurable Cough of Death / Deadline News: Max after drinking his coffee.
• Initialism Title: "QSO" is shorthand for an exchange of information between amateur radio stations.
• Interrupted Suicide: After learning that she actually did kill the scientist (it was not a simulation, like she thought), and not wanting to be a guinea pig for Samaritan and Greer anymore, Shaw is about to kill herself with a needle when Root's message reaches her, giving her a glimmer of hope.
• Loose Lips: Root of all people forgets to never Speak of the Devil within range of a CCTV camera and microphone.
  Root: Harold, this radio station can communicate with any Samaritan facility. The Machine wants me to send a message to Shaw!
  Samaritan: DEVIANT BEHAVIOR DETECTED.
• MacGyvering
  Root: The electrical lock on that door is magnetic. A lot of magnetic locks can be confused by a strong enough rare-earth magnet. Luckily for us most people have one sitting around their home attached to their computer's hard drive.
• Machine Monotone: Samaritan speaking directly to Root via the radio speaker.
  Samaritan: YOU ARE AN ACOLYTE OF THE MACHINE.
• The Mad Hatter
  Max: Don't tell me no-one's ever called you crazy.
  Root: I don't mind because I know I'm right.
• Master of Disguise: This time we see how Root's disguises work, how she gets her instructions, and how the Machine really is keeping her one step ahead of Samaritan.
• Meaningful Name: Mysterious Transmissions. That's exactly what Max finds in the background noise of the radio station.
• Mind Screw: One of Samaritan's objectives with Shaw: make her unable to tell the difference between reality and a simulation, so she'll be tricked into killing its targets.
• The Mole: The receptionist.
• Mood Whiplash:
  • Root goes from churning butter to gunning down a Samaritan asset in the span of a few seconds.
  • The receptionist coldly checks Max's pulse to ensure he's dead, then makes a tearful call to 911.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Shaw, upon realizing her nonchalant murder of the scientist wasn't part of a simulation, she really did kill an innocent woman.
• Never Suicide: Samaritan was able to make it appear that Warren killed himself, and nearly did the same to Max (until it decided to just poison him).
• Noodle Incident: While we actually see what Root is up to being a dancer, her actual dance still happens off-screen, and we never did see what she was doing as a traffic cop.
• Oh, Crap!: Max when he hears his own voice on the radio, during a live transmission, suggesting that he and Warren should both kill themselves.
• Pimped-Out Dress: Root's dress as Petrina Durov, the ballerina.
• Properly Paranoid
  • The Machine is keeping Root one disguise ahead of a Samaritan operative. When she delays her changing to the next disguise for just a few minutes, the assassin catches up.
  • When Root demands an answer on Shaw's location, the Machine considers making direct contact, then rejects it as too risky, texting the message through a nearby phone instead.
  • Root notes the irony that Max is more paranoid than they are. Turns out he has reason to be.
  • Root hands Fusco a fake identity for him and his son, in case they have to go on the run.
• Public Secret Message
  • Samaritan is communicated with its operatives via Fake Static in radio transmissions, forming an encrypted morse code.
  • The message "4 alarm fire" refers to a comment Shaw made to Root: "...you and me together would be like a four alarm fire at an oil refinery." Root clearly intends for them to be together soon.
• The Real Heroes: A police detective and a radio talk show host reject the idea that they should hide in a hole and let some Badass Crew deal with everything.
• Running Gag: Root's alias as "Petrina Durov" is a reference to Nikolai and Pavel Durov, founders of the Russian social networking site VK.
• Shown Their Work:
  • There really is a "Funtenna" hack that turns a printer into a radio.
  • As seen on Root's laptop, Vasily's home town of Plateliai, Lithuania is the administrative center of the Žemaitija National Park and the home of a Dvina (R12) missile silo that's now a museum.
• Something Only They Would Say: "4 alarm fire" comes from something Shaw said the last time Root and Shaw saw each other, in the stock exchange basement ("If-Then-Else"). One of the first things Team Machine did when they infiltrated the exchange was to disable the outside access to the security system, so that Samaritan couldn't see or hear what was going on. That means that Samaritan would not have overheard the remark, and therefore wouldn't be able to include it in a simulation. That's how Shaw knew the message was for real.
• Take Me to Your Leader: Given that she's wearing a UFO T-shirt, Root quips this when asking to see Max.
• Tampering with Food and Drink: How Samaritan eventually kills Max, by poisoning his coffee.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: Shaw doesn't kill the nurse, despite being at the end of her tether. When she realises she killed someone for real, Shaw suffers a Heroic BSoD.
• Unbroken Vigil: Finch stakes out Fusco's room until he's ready to leave, just to make sure no-one is coming after him.
• Voice Changeling: Samaritan is able to speak with Warren's and Max's voices.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Samaritan has foreseen that a scientist's work to bring back an extinct animal will have unintended consequences to the ecosystem. When efforts to sidetrack her research fail, Samaritan sends an assassin.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Reese is horrified by Root's plan to give herself up to Samaritan, in exchange to being brought to Shaw.
  • Reese and Finch both feel this way towards the Machine's attitude towards Max's death:
  Finch: [to The Machine] Did you know Max Greene was going to die?
  The Machine: Max Greene exercised free will.
  Finch: That's not an answer.
  The Machine: Primary mission was successful.
  Reese: We never should've trusted The Machine's word. Damn thing's been acting strangely since we put it back together.
  Root: She's not acting strangely. She's doing exactly what She's programmed to do.
  Finch: Ms. Groves—
  Root: The Machine can tell us where to go, who's in trouble, but we still have free will. Max chose to risk his life. She can't stop him from doing that, and now Shaw knows that we haven't given up on her. I wish we could've saved Max's life, but if we were able to give Shaw some kind of hope, maybe it was worth it.
  Finch: A lie of omission is still a lie. And using the idea of free will as an excuse for... moral attrition? I'm not sure I'm comfortable with where this is going.
• Ye Olde Nuclear Silo: Root is attaching herself to Vasily to get access to one.