Person Of Interest Finale Recap: Not Such a Good Samaritan

It’s finally here – the season 3 finale – the episode that we’ll be talking about all summer. Did it live up to the hype? Let me know in the comments!

POI 3.23 Deus Ex Machine

Collier pulls out all the stops for his trial – he abducts common people to be the jury, a well known lawyer, and many members of the press, and live streaming to 12 million people. Collier, of course, is the prosecution. When one of his witnesses gets hostile, he kills him with a shotgun.

Reese, Shaw, and Hersh try to find the courtroom while Shaw goes to help Root, who she fears is going on a suicide mission against Samaritan. Root sends Shaw and Reese to a certain intersection, where they meet up with Fusco and Bear.

Elsewhere in the city, Vigilance men are reeking havoc in the still-dark city as a diversion. Bear helps Reese and Hersh capture one and trick him into telling them where the “courthouse” is before turning him over to Fusco.

Root has just been caught and is about to be shot at Samaritan’s location when Shaw shows up in time to save her. Root’s happy to have the company and the two implant themselves with RFID chips they steal from the two Decima man they took out.

2010 – Collier goes outside after getting the text message about his brother and is abducted by men in a van and recruited by Vigilance via a computer monitor that has a conversation with him.

Collier hones in on Finch and Control stands up and argues legal matters with him. He then calls the Senator as a witness and plays tapes of him ordering someone to destroy all references to Northern Lights. The Senator tells him that Northern Lights was already up and running before he got elected. Collier decides that the Senator wasn’t really in control, so he calls Control to the stand.

2012 – Vigilance steals some government surveillance data but Collier gets a text that encourages him to up the ante a bit. He rallies the troops to do something bigger and better.

Control isn’t willing to play along and is willing to die to protect the country. Collier makes his closing argument and the “jury” quickly finds her guilty. Before she can be sentenced, she tells the “court” that she was in the Pentagon on 9/11 and carried bodies and wounded people out and since then she’s done nothing but protect the country and kill terrorists.

Collier asks her again about the Machine – who built it, where is it – but she tells him [partially truthfully] that she doesn’t know. As they go to kill her, Finch stands up and tells them that he knows the answers – he built it.

2013 – Some of the original Vigilance foot soldiers are getting tired of the status quo and are itching for violence. Collier reminds them that they are not terrorists. Turns out the main person pushing for violence is actually an undercover FBI agent. Collier makes him and then kills him.

Finch agrees to tell Collier everything he wants to know if he promises to spare the lives of everyone else in the room. He is put on the stand and starts at the very beginning of the tale. He tells Collier that the Machine has saved thousands of lives. Collier asks him where the Machine is, but of course Finch can’t tell him. Finch tells him that he built the Machine to only give social security numbers to protect people’s rights. Finch tries to show Collier that he built the Machine for altruistic reasons, not to use it as a weapon.

Collier hears over a walkie-talkie that one of their guard posts has been infiltrated and their men killed and so he immediately suggests a change of venue and they head for the roof.

On the roof, Finch confesses his guilt and suggests that Collier kill him but spare everyone else. The shooting starts, but it’s Decima men who kill or capture all the Vigilance men. Decima men escort Control and the Senator back to Washington. Greer is leaving, but he’s planning that Finch and Collier aren’t going to live very long. Finch pleads for Collier’s life and we find out that Greer was apparently the unseen force behind Vigilance. The entire court was theatre – the AV equipment was made by Decima and the live streaming only went to one office building where his men were, meaning no one outside of the room actually saw anything of the trial (so Finch’s secrets are mostly safe).

The purpose of Vigilance was to use them to justify the need for Samaritan to keep the country safe after terrorist attack – a bomb that will explode, killing police officers, media, and innocent civilians.

Reese and Hersh arrive at a deserted library where they think the court is being held and go their separate ways. Hersh finds a HUGE bomb rigged to blow when the power comes back on. He tries to disarm the bomb, but is interrupted by more Decima men. He gets back to disarming the bomb, but too late – BOOM!

Finch, Collier, and Greer watch the building explode from the roof. A Decima man kills Collier and the man is pulling the trigger on Finch when Reese shows up. Finch gets shot in the shoulder, but isn’t seriously hurt. Reese takes out other Decima men but Greer escapes. He wastes no time calling the Senator and apologizing for not being able to prevent the explosion but assuring him that once Samaritan is online it won’t happen again. The Senator agrees and gives him access to the surveillance feeds.

Root installs the 7 missing servers that she previously stole. Shaw wants to blow the place, but Root tells Shaw that there are more than 100 facilities for Samaritan all over the world. Her mission wasn’t to shut down Samaritan…

Samaritan gets the government feeds, goes fully online for the first time and starts to search the populace for “deviants” to eliminate.

Finch and Reese are in the library dressing Finch’s wound when Root calls. She tells them that they lost their chance to stop save the world when they didn’t kill the Congressman. She directs them to a section of bookshelves and they find envelopes. She tells them that they must leave immediately.

Root made 7 new identities for them and her nerds and used the 7 servers she stole to create blind spots for Samaritan as they are the only people that may someday be able to fix things. Her trip to Samaritan’s base was to make it all work. They have to become their new identities completely to escape its notice or they will die.

We see surveillance footage of the team splitting up and going their separate ways and then Samaritan deeming them not a threat. Meanwhile, Vigilance people and others are eliminated. A heavily armored and armed team enters the library and destroys it.

Samaritan comes awake and Greer asks it what it wants them to do. We don’t get to see its response.

My Thoughts:

I have to say that I didn’t love the initial set-up for this week’s episode. While the court idea seemed very suspenseful, it’s also become a bit cliche. But, I needn’t have worried as the next twists were definitely anything but cliche. It never occurred to me that Greer could be behind Vigilance, but in hindsight, both Decima and Vigilance were often in the same place at similar times and the fact that Collier never actually met those who recruited him or guided him is sure suspicious. Plus, Greer is that diabolical, hidden behind his cultured English demeanor.

Speaking of cliche, the word “gamechanger” tends to be very much overused in TV today, although I have to say that tonight’s episode qualified. The ending felt a lot more like a series finale than a season finale of a show that has definitely been renewed. The entire premise of the show has been at least temporarily suspended and it’s hard to imagine where things go from here or what kind of show it will be next season.

What are their new identities? Is Finch poor now, or is his new identity also as a reclusive billionaire? Will the Machine still provide numbers, relevant or irrelevant? How will any of them do anything about them without communicating with each other or risking exposure? How do they stop a machine that seems much more powerful and wide-reaching than the Machine?

Memorable Quotes:

Seriously, are you about to kamikaze into the Decima fortress with a bunch of nerds? – Shaw

I’m good with computers – Finch

We’re inside a sleeping giant, Shaw. Try not to wake it up. – Root

I call it the best I could do – Finch

The time has come for your God and mine to do battle – Greer

First time’s [getting shot] the worst – Reese

Why would you ever choose a career where this was an occupational hazard? – Finch
Well, I tried to quit, but some jackass told me I needed a purpose – Reese

Look for Person of Interest Season 4 on CBS in the fall!