History PersonOfInterest / TropesHToM

** [[spoiler:[[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers Three Samaritan mooks]], who kill Reese only to be taken out by a [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill cruise missile]] [[ItMakesSenseInContext sent by their own boss]].]]

** [[spoiler: Root... kinda]]

** A former soldier and Afghan War veteran [[spoiler: robs banks]] because he believes he has a debt of honor to repay and needs to support the family of a friend who died in Afghanistan after they switched seats during a mission.

* HumansAreBastards: Plenty of this once ArtificialIntelligence comes into the plot. Not that they can't be evil as well, but even that is a reaction to human foibles. Samaritan is only created because Northern Lights insists on having an ASI under its control, and is encouraged by its AGodAmI belief by the likes of Greer who believes in this trope.

* HyperAwareness: Carter often picks up on the subtle clues that everyone around her misses.
%% ** The Machine ''is'' this trope.
%% ** Reese is pretty good at it, too.

* IndyPloy:
** Finch throws one together in "Baby Blue" when he realizes that the two orderlies walking in to the clinic are actually [[spoiler: hired goons there to kidnap baby Leila]].

** Somewhat reminiscent of another stiff, nebbishy George Lucas character - given that C-3PO uses almost this exact line to describe the actions of an Ewok.

** Also Reese letting himself get caught by the Aryan Brotherhood to rescue [[spoiler: Fusco and Leon]]

** [[spoiler:Root]] uses this in "Bad Code". [[spoiler: In order to prove to Finch that HumansAreBastards, she gives Weeks the chance to free himself while she is absent. When she returns with her pistol drawn, he disarms and beats her, then asks Finch a few questions and [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness tries to shoot him]] with Root's empty gun - upon which Root calmly stands up and tases him. Point made.]]

** Reese ( [[spoiler: when Finch was kidnapped by Root]] )"I just want to find my friend."
** Root ( when [[spoiler: Shaw is taken by Samaritan after If-Then-Else. Curiously, she never believed that Shaw had been killed other than taken hostage, differently than Finch (and even Reese after a while). ]] ) "Hold on [[spoiler: Shaw]].We're close."

* JokerJury: In the season three finale, Peter Collier holds one for everyone he can find who is connected to The Machine. He served as prosecutor. One of his own men was the judge. The person dragooned into being the defense attorney does not get to examine any of the evidence beforehand, and in fact has no lines all episode. Collier gets the legal definition of treason wrong (It's knowingly aiding the enemies of your country, ''not'' using methods of questionable legality to fight them). At one point he murders a defendant in cold blood on the witness stand for refusing to self-incriminate himself as is his constitutional right. And the jury deliberation period consisted of Collier saying "Everyone who finds them guilty on all counts, please raise your hand" - to a group of 'jurors' who were surrounded by several heavily armed bailiffs in the employ of the homicidal prosecutor. At least Control manages to give Collier a ReasonYouSuckSpeech about the whole thing before they were unanimously found guilty.

** [[spoiler:[[BigBad Elias]]]] has spent the better part of the past years being a [[spoiler:school teacher of the children of his enemies so he can better understand them and turn the children against their families.]]

** Finch forced the Machine to delete it's memories every night. The Machine gets around this by creating a data entry company, impersonating a fake CEO, printing out his memories prior to their deletion, and having them entered back in.

** Another one of Finch's commands is not to prioritise Finch above others. And yet, the Machine is circumventing this rule as well, [[spoiler: by instead using Root to rescue him whenever he is in trouble.]]

* LotusEaterMachine: [[spoiler:Samaritan is keeping Shaw in one in an attempt to learn Team Machine's location. Thus far, it's run nearly seven thousand simulations and has failed to learn anything of use to it.]]
* LoveInterest: Zoe for Reese, though it's pretty subtle. It's been slowly building over the course of the first two seasons, including one episode in which they operate [[UndercoverAsLovers undercover as husband and wife.]]

* MadBomber: In "Till Death", a hit-man plants a bomb on his target's car and plans to detonate it while the car is on a busy Manhattan street.
%%* MagicalComputer: The Machine.

* MaleGaze: In "Booked Solid," Pennsylvania's sexy secretary, Ms. May (Root actually) walks into the room wearing a tight skirt. Before we see her face, the camera focuses on her behind.
** This is also done to conceal her identity for as long as possible, and heighten the surprise when it's revealed. Not that anybody's complaining about the camera focusing on Amy Acker's arse.
%%* MamaBear: Carter.

* MegaCorp: Though there are no (obvious) links between any of them, the various companies that Finch owns could be considered this. So far we have a computer company, an insurance company, a construction company, a power company, and a magazine publishing company. It's entirely possible that this is not the complete list of industries that Finch (or the Machine) has companies in.
%%* MenacingStroll: Reese.

** "Scarface," who works for Elias. First appears as a uniformed officer in "Witness." In "Flesh and Blood," he's seen [[spoiler: triggering the bombs Elias uses to kill his father and the other Mafia dons.]] Still active as of "C.O.D."

%%* MrFanservice: Reese, once he cleans up.

* MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness: [[Mohs/SpeculativeScience a good, solid 5]]. The show is, for all intents and purposes, set in the present. The only fictional element is the existence of a powerful ArtificialIntelligence, and even that is [[ShownTheirWork based on real-world concepts and computer science]].

* ImColdSoCOld: Played with in "Terra Incognita". An apparent flashback has Reese on a stakeout, during which he keeps complaining of the cold and turning up the heater. Later it's revealed this is a FeverDreamEpisode, and Reese is actually dying of shock and hypothermia after being shot by the VillainOfTheWeek.

-->'''Finch:''' I'm afraid I may have done something rather rash.

-->What was it, a plane?\\

&& The event that drove Finch to protect the "non-relevant" numbers was his discovery that [[spoiler:Nathan's death had been predicted by the Machine, but could not warn them because he blocked Nathan's access to the list]].

** RealityEnsues: After yet another kneecapping in "Prophets", the department puts him on desk work only until the department shrink can figure out whether or not there's something wrong with him after the 'four years deep undercover work' that he did before transferring to homicide.

** Reese is confined to a wheelchair or crutches for one episode after being shot by the CIA. It doesn't stop him from taking down the villain of the week.

* HeadTiltinglyKinky: A variation. Reese and Finch hack into the Wi-Fi of everyone in an apartment building so they can access the webcams. One woman is doing yoga in full view of her webcam. In her underwear. Evidently the unseen position she gets into is Head-Tiltingly Contorted.

* HonestCorporateExecutive: Turns out that [[spoiler: Pierce, the [=PoI=] in "One Percent"]] is one, which is why his life is in danger. This actually comes as a bit of a twist because [[GoodIsNotNice he's obnoxious and a bit of]] [[{{Jerkass}} a jerk to everyone around him.]]

* HumansAreBastards: Plenty of this once ArtificialIntelligence comes into the plot. Not that they can't be evil as well, but even that is a reaction to human foibles. Samaritan is only created because Northern Lights insists on having an ASI under it's control, and is encouraged by its AGodAmI belief by the likes of Greer who believes in this trope.
* HyperAwareness:
** The Machine ''is'' this trope.
** Carter often picks up on the subtle clues that everyone around her misses.
** Reese is pretty good at it, too.

* IHaveYourWife: Used by the villain of "Critical" to force the POI to commit murder. One of the first times this trope has ever been invoked when both spouses are of the same gender.

** Reese is a very good marksman, and generally fires one-handed, from the hip. He's most likely utilising "the center axis relock" style which allows him to balance accuracy and speed (at short range), or point-shooting which allows him to forego the use of the gunsights altogether. [[ExaggeratedTrope Sometimes he also wields a digital camera in the same way]].

** Root gains these in ''God Mode'', with the Machine giving her highly specified audio tone cues to determine exact target orientation. Reese one-ups her by having only general directions given ("eleven o'clock", "one o'clock") and still managing to score incapacitating shots in the dark with iron sights. Firing from his weak hand.

* IndyPloy: Finch throws one together in "Baby Blue" when he realizes that the two orderlies walking in to the clinic are actually [[spoiler: hired goons there to kidnap baby Leila]].

* InterfaceScrew: After [[spoiler:a virus is uploaded into its network]] small visual glitches and artifacts begin to appear in the IdiosyncraticWipes.

* IWillFindYou: Reese ( [[spoiler: when Finch was kidnapped by Root]] )"I just want to find my friend."

* JanitorImpersonationInfiltration: Finch often impersonates some sort of nondescript technician in order to get information or bug a place.

* {{Leitmotif}}: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQxadWgK_fY Finch]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V53BLXwYh6Y Reese]], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6REiVe7B6VM the Machine]] all have them. There is noticeable (and appropriate) overlap for Finch and the Machine.

* MagicalComputer: The Machine.

* MamaBear: Carter.

-->What was it, a plane?
-->''Two'' planes.
* MeaningfulName: [[spoiler: Superhacker "Root," also known as "Caroline Turing."]] See ShoutOut entry below for details.

* MenacingStroll: Reese.

* MoleInCharge: In "Prisoner's Dilemma", Agent Donnelly puts Carter in charge of interrogating the four men suspected of being the Man in the Suit.

* MoodWhiplash: The hands down funniest scene in "Endgame": realizing that the person who has potentially started a war between the Russians and HR is a woman using a grenade launcher and wearing a gas mask, Reese and Finch suspect Shaw due to the M.O. Shaw promptly walks in, notices she's getting funny looks, and calls them weird. They show her the video and she starts fangirling over the tactics used, which reveals to Finch that [[spoiler: it's Carter, because Shaw has no other friends.]] Shaw reveals that she gave [[spoiler: Carter]] some of John's equipment, leading to the bemused "That's ''my'' grenade launcher?" From there, the scene quickly devolves into John all but commanding Shaw and Finch to get eyes on all 38 of the HR members whose numbers came up, despite there only being two of them, because if HR or the Russians discover who's really behind the attack, [[spoiler: Carter is the only person who is going to die.]]
* MrFanservice: Reese, once he cleans up.

* MyGreatestFailure: The event that drove Finch to protect the "non-relevant" numbers was his discovery that [[spoiler:Nathan's death had been predicted by the Machine, but could not warn them because he blocked Nathan's access to the list]].

** This is also what Finch is to Reese, from Reese's point of view, in Season 1.

* HeroAntagonist: Detective Carter is actively trying to track Reese down [[spoiler:for the first few episodes, anyway]].