Person of Interest (TV Series)

Proteus (2013)

Michael Emerson: Harold Finch

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Quotes 

• Detective Joss Carter : [Joss just shot the man who was about to kill Finch]  You all right, Harold?

  Harold Finch : Detective? You have impeccable timing. How did you get here?

  Detective Joss Carter : I hitched a ride with the Coast Guard. And some very unpleasant people inside said they thought they saw you come this way. So is that him, our identity killer?

  Harold Finch : He was pretending to be an FBI agent. He was really rather good at it. He had a badge and a gun and...

  Detective Joss Carter : And what?

  Harold Finch : Body armor.

  [Fahey stands up only to be shot by Cal Beecher] 

• John Reese : At least the storm's passing.

  Harold Finch : No, Mr. Reese. I have a feeling it's just beginning.

• John Reese : A drug smuggler shot at me with a spear gun last night.

  Harold Finch : Is that a first for you?

  John Reese : Wish I could say yes.

• Harold Finch : Mr. Reese is out on an island, looking for a man violent enough to pull out another man's teeth. And now I can't warn him. I have to get there myself.

  Detective Joss Carter : I'm pretty sure all the roads are closed now. How do you think you're going to get out there?

  Harold Finch : I think I'll use my pilot's license.

• Special Agent Alan Fahey : The question isn't who I am. It's who you are. I watched you all night. I can always spot an impostor. I spotted you. Are you like me?

  Harold Finch : You have no idea. You're an amateur at this.

• John Reese : What's going on here?

  Deputy Erica Schmidt : This amateur storm chaser Harold Gull is under arrest. He landed his float plane in the town square.

  Harold Finch : I needed a stretch of water to land and there was, well, water everywhere.

  John Reese : [Looks at a bunch of equipment]  And what's all this?

  Harold Finch : My meteorological equipment. I've been a certified member of the National Storm Chasers and Spotters Association for over ten years.

  [Reese raises his eyebrows at him] 

• Harold Finch : If the killer is among these people, then he's out of his element; he's broken his pattern. Assuming the identities of his victims, it's part of his ritual.

  John Reese : And now that Rollins' ID is burned, he's trapped. He must have taken on another identity.

  Harold Finch : And he can't go anywhere with it. He's as stuck as we are.

  John Reese : Why didn't the machine give us his real identity? Why play games?

  Harold Finch : I assume he's smart, and he digitally erased his original persona. I did.

• Special Agent Alan Fahey : What gave me away? How did you know?

  Harold Finch : The needle spiked in between the interviews. When I wasn't watching. When you were resting on the table. You should keep an eye on that heart rate.

  Special Agent Alan Fahey : I knew you were too good at those interrogations. Who are you really?

  Harold Finch : I could ask you the same thing.

• Special Agent Alan Fahey : Now that Fahey won't get far, I think the mysterious Mr. Gull might be my next great challenge.

  Harold Finch : You'll never get off the island. By morning they'll come here looking for the real Alan Fahey.

  Special Agent Alan Fahey : And they'll find him. In the trunk of his car.

  Harold Finch : And what about you?

  Special Agent Alan Fahey : [Mimicking him]  And what about you? And what about you? And what about you? You asked the question and you're the answer. Your plane. You're gonna fly me out of here. You haven't outlived your usefulness.

  Harold Finch : You could never be me because I save lives. You take them.

  Special Agent Alan Fahey : No, I live those lives better than real people ever could. I follow them and watch them waste what they have. I do those identities justice. The things I've seen. The lives I've lived. One day I'll stop, when I find the person I'm meant to be.

  Harold Finch : [Disgusted]  What? People like you don't stop. You can rationalize it however you like. But you hurt people because you like it. Because you're sick! You're maladjusted and you need help.

• John Reese : Any word from our dearly departed Agent Shaw?

  Harold Finch : Not a whisper. What worries me more at the moment is that we haven't heard anything from the machine recently either.

  John Reese : Yes, I've noticed. Three days. No numbers. Maybe we're finally cleaning up the streets.

  Harold Finch : As much as I'd like that, I have to wonder if it hasn't got something to do with the actually departed Kara Stanton. The virus that she uploaded during the time you spent in your bomb vest could easily have spread from the Department of Defense systems, all the way to the machine.

  John Reese : You built the machine, Finch. Can't you access it? You know, check under the hood?

  Harold Finch : I sealed it for a reason, Mr. Reese. I'm afraid you're going to have to wait and see what Stanton's employers have in mind for the future.

• John Reese : [Exiting movie theatre]  Isn't this service vest a little unethical?

  Harold Finch : I am handi-capable, Mr. Reese, but I need some assistance. We don't want to exclude Bear from our rainy day activities.

  John Reese : We should have seen Once Upon a Time in the West. Fewer subtitles.

• John Reese : Rollins was in a hurry to get out of the city. And we're not the only ones looking for him.

  Harold Finch : Heading out in a storm like this? Rollins is running from something.

  John Reese : I'll find out what's on Owen Island.

  Harold Finch : Mr. Reese, is that a good idea?

  John Reese : Storm or no, Finch, if Rollins is our one lead, I'm headed to the beach.

• Detective Joss Carter : Someone tried to destroy these teeth. But the flame wasn't hot enough to burn enamel. It could take some time, but if the vic's dentals are on file, we could get an ID.

  Harold Finch : No, we can't wait that long. Assuming that the teeth belong to Jack Rollins, he was likely dead when they were removed. One would hope so, anyway.

• Detective Joss Carter : Whoever did this knows how to get rid of a body. They didn't just want to kill Rollins, they wanted him to disappear.

  Harold Finch : We may be looking at more than a string of missing persons. We may be looking at a string of murders. Six victims. If our killer can assume these identities, then he would be a composite of all these missing persons in more ways than one.

  Detective Joss Carter : We're looking at a serial killer.

• John Reese : The National Storm Chasers Association, Harold?

  Harold Finch : Well, it worked, didn't it?

  John Reese : We were wrong. This isn't a group conspiracy. Those numbers, they're all dead. And we're tracking their killer.

  Harold Finch : I know. I had the displeasure of seeing all that was left of the real Jack Rollins, molars and all. Some twisted mind's idea of a trophy. What if the machine sent us all six numbers to tell us that someone had been all of those people? What if a smart killer was interested not only in taking lives, but in taking identities. Like a chameleon. Changing into his victims, living their lives until he gets bored and moves on to the next. To identify such a killer, we would want to consider who he has been, and what he might look like.

  John Reese : Okay, so how do you spot someone who's that good at being anyone else?

• Harold Finch : [Harold is doing a crude lie-detector test]  I'm getting clean readings. The metal in the table amplifies it. Everyone is steady. Stanley the bar owner is a little below average, but I think there might be something wrong with him.

  John Reese : No, I just think his blood alcohol level could start a lawn mower.