Person of Interest (TV Series)

Lethe (2013)

Michael Emerson: Harold Finch

Photos 

Quotes 

• Sameen Shaw : Well, I can get rid of the guard dogs. I just need a gallon of anything flammable.

  Harold Finch : What?

  Sameen Shaw : Oh, relax, Finch, we're in a hospital.

  Harold Finch : Miss Shaw, I am sure there are ways to get to Claypool that do not involve any kind of combustion.

• Sameen Shaw : [Enters the library silently]  I knew you were holding out on me.

  Harold Finch : [Startled]  Must you do that?

  Sameen Shaw : So we have another number.

  Harold Finch : I haven't decided.

  Sameen Shaw : Decided? I didn't think you got to decide.

  Harold Finch : Actually, I do.

  [Harold stares at his screen silently] 

  Sameen Shaw : Okay, well, is that going to happen anytime soon, or should I be looking for some action elsewhere?

• Harold Finch : Now, Arthur, what was Samaritan?

  Arthur Claypool : Oh, Samaritan is truly a remarkable project.

  Harold Finch : You say it is remarkable. Tell me about it.

  Arthur Claypool : Its primary function is to detect potential acts of terror through analysis of large data sets. Specifically, it will have the ability to anticipate acts of aggression and suggest strategic countermeasures before the perpetrators can act.

  Harold Finch : It sounds like quite a project.

  Arthur Claypool : Oh, Samaritan is revolutionary. Not so much for what it does, but how it does it. The system was designed to function autonomously, to continually adapt and upgrade itself through past experiences.

  Harold Finch : You're saying that it can remember and learn.

  Arthur Claypool : Yes. Harold, it's what we always dreamed of. Samaritan is a true artificial intelligence.

  Harold Finch : You're right, Arthur. That is remarkable. Excuse me.

  [Moves over to Shaw] 

  Sameen Shaw : Is he talking about what I think he's talking about?

  Harold Finch : It would appear so.

  Sameen Shaw : But then that would mean...

  Harold Finch : That there was a second machine. And Arthur built it.

• Arthur Claypool : You know, Harold was the most brilliant of all of us. If anyone was going to change the world, we knew it would be him. You know, what did you end up doing? What's your field of expertise?

  Harold Finch : Insurance.

• Harold Finch : You're in the hospital's employee database as Dr. Anne Moore.

  Sameen Shaw : You sure you don't want to play MD, Harold? I never made a convincing doctor, even when I was one.

• Arthur Claypool : After 9/11, the government had everyone and their cat trying to build a system that could watch everything.

  Harold Finch : They came to you as well.

  Arthur Claypool : Yes. I told them the only way they could achieve what they wanted was to build something that not only watched, but understood what it was watching.

  Harold Finch : An AI.

  Arthur Claypool : I know you always said artificial intelligence was a fool's errand, Harold, but I was this close.

  Harold Finch : Close?

  Arthur Claypool : To making Samaritan operational. Truth is, I couldn't get it to work. I mean, I could've, if those pinhead bureaucrats would have just given me a few more weeks. I know I could have cracked it.

  Harold Finch : And that's when Congress shut you down.

  Arthur Claypool : Well, not just us. All the programs. Stellar Wind, Tides, Genysis, Futuremap, Genoa. Within six months, they were all gone. They came for Samaritan February 25, 2005. For fear of "Violating civil liberties," or so they said.

  Harold Finch : And you thought there was another reason.

  Arthur Claypool : The government wanted a system, Harold. They weren't just going to give up. They let Congress shut us down, all except for that piece of crap Prism, but that was just to throw anyone off the scent.

  Harold Finch : Of what?

  Arthur Claypool : They'd already found it. Someone else had got there first.

• Diane Claypool : I was concerned that you might disrupt my attempts to get close to Arthur. However, you proved to be quite useful, saving him from those misguided privacy terrorists and arranging it so I could meet your employer, who I've heard so much about. By the way, I didn't catch your last name, Harold.

  Harold Finch : What is it that you want from Arthur?

  Diane Claypool : Just information. The location of his greatest achievement, Samaritan.

  Arthur Claypool : Samar - No. Samaritan was destroyed.

  Diane Claypool : I know the official story, Arthur. I also know about the drives. So where are they?

  Arthur Claypool : [Confused]  I don't know what you're talking about.

  Harold Finch : All right, stop it. He's telling you the truth. He doesn't know.

  Diane Claypool : I'll find out soon enough. And since you and I have had the good fortune of meeting, you can help me recover something else that belongs to me. *Your* greatest achievement.

  Harold Finch : Oh, I'm afraid I can't do that.

  Diane Claypool : One of you is going to tell me what it is I want to know. And whoever does, will be the one who gets to leave here... alive.

• Arthur Claypool : Harold, do you recall Arise, Ye Sons Of MIT?

  Harold Finch : Oh, I...

  Arthur Claypool : [Starts singing]  Arise, ye sons of MIT, in loyal brotherhood the future beckons unto ye and life is full and good...

  Arthur Claypool , Harold Finch : [Harold joins in]  Arise, and raise your steins on high tonight shall ever be a memory that will never die, ye sons of MIT

  Sameen Shaw : John's gonna be sorry he missed that.

• Sameen Shaw : We have a new number yet?

  Harold Finch : No, not at this time.

  Sameen Shaw : It's been a while. Guess the city's scumbags have been behaving.

  Harold Finch : We could use a little quiet.

  Sameen Shaw : I don't do quiet. That's why I took this job, and the one before that.

• Agent Easton : So what agency do you work with? FSB, MSS?

  Sameen Shaw : You're wasting your time. You should be protecting Claypool. That tech dosed him with sodium pentothol.

  Agent Easton : How would you know something like that?

  Sameen Shaw : The same way you would, if you'd done any real field work.

  Agent Easton : You know, I can make things very unpleasant for you.

  Sameen Shaw : Unpleasant? Oh, you Service boys are so polite. Look, whoever came after Claypool didn't get what they want. They will try again.

  [the agent starts choking] 

  Sameen Shaw : You all right there, Dudley? You don't look so good.

  [Easton passes out] 

  Sameen Shaw : Finch any chance you spiked the Secret Service guy's fried rice?

  Harold Finch : No.

  Sameen Shaw : Then we have a problem.

• Sameen Shaw : So you two know each other?

  Arthur Claypool : Harold and I go all the way back to MIT.

  Sameen Shaw : The mighty engineers, huh?

  Arthur Claypool : You should have seen us, two young Turks at the dawn of the information age. We were gonna shape the future - remember, Harold?

  Arthur Claypool : I do. Yes, but so do I.

  [Notices Harold's walk] 

  Arthur Claypool : You're limping. Are you hurt?

  Harold Finch : No, it's just an old injury that never healed quite right.

• Harold Finch : You'll be safe here while I make arrangements to get you both out of harm's way

  Arthur Claypool : Harm's way? Why, are we in danger?

  [Everyone looks at him] 

  Arthur Claypool : Oh, yes, the gun people.

• Arthur Claypool : [about his wife]  How come I remember you and not her?

  Harold Finch : Because tumors do mysterious things to memory. It's like you said. Your file system is corrupted.

  Arthur Claypool : [Shakes his head]  No. That's not it. I remember Diane. Diane is dead. I buried her two years ago, on June 12, 2011.

  Sameen Shaw : You do remember.

  [Turns to Diane] 

  Diane Claypool : I suppose this was inevitable. And seeing as how time is a luxury we no longer have - Hersh.

  Hersh : Perimeter is secure, ma'am.

  Sameen Shaw : Ma'am? He works for you?

  Diane Claypool : As did you at one time, Agent Shaw. I assume you always wanted to meet me.

  Sameen Shaw : Control.