Harold Finch (Person of Interest)

Harold Finch
Person of Interest character
First appearance	"Pilot"
Portrayed by	Michael Emerson Parker Brightman (child) Chris Bert (teenager)
In-universe information
Alias	Harold Finch Harold Crane ("Risk", "Triggerman", "Critical", "Til Death") Harold Crow ("Identity Crisis") Harold Gull ("Proteus") Harold Martin ("No Good Deed", "Beta") Harold Quail ("All In") Harold Starling ("Trojan Horse") Harold Swift ("2πR") Harold Wren ("Wolf and Cub", "Shadow Box", "Lady Killer", "The Devil's Share", "Provenance") Norman Burdett ("Mission Creep", "Cura Te Ipsum") Mr. Partridge ("The Fix") Arthur Bellenger ("Ghosts") Lucas Bennett ("Baby Blue") Walt Trowbridge ("Judgment") Mr. Kingfisher ("Allegiance") Harold Whistler ("Panopticon", "Nautilus") Mr. Egret ("Wingman") Harold Cardinal ("Prophets")
Nickname	"Glasses", "Professor", "Mr.Vocabulary" "Mr. Peabody" (Fusco's nicknames for him) Harry (Root's nickname for him)
Gender	Male
Occupation	Software engineer College professor (cover identity)
Significant other	Grace Hendricks (fiancé, reunited)
Nationality	American

Harold Finch is a fictional character featured in the CBS crime drama television series Person of Interest, portrayed by Michael Emerson. The character's past is depicted through performances by Parker Brightman (child) and Chris Bert (teenager). Finch is characterized as a secluded and idiosyncratic billionaire software engineer. He devises a machine capable of analyzing surveillance data to pinpoint individuals displaying premeditated homicidal intent or those who are likely to become victims of imminent homicidal attempts. In his efforts, he enlists the assistance of John Reese, a former Green Beret and CIA operative, to prevent crimes involving the individuals marked as 'people of interest' by the Machine. Finch adopts several aliases, often bird-related, while maintaining an air of eccentricity and enigma. Despite Reese's persistent curiosity, Finch remains reticent about his personal life, further deepening his mysterious persona.

Background

Born in Lassiter, Iowa, Harold is raised on a farm by his father; his mother, Margaret Chamberlin, is indicated to have been absent from at least age eight. A child prodigy, he displays early skills in the fields of mechanical engineering and computer science. ^[1] With his father suffering early-onset dementia, Finch grew increasingly interested in artificial intelligence and human-computer interaction. ^[2] After hacking into the early military Internet to acquire more memory for the machine he is building, Finch becomes the subject of a federal investigation and begins living under a false identity.

Finch enters MIT under the assumed name 'Harold Wren', where he and classmate Nathan Ingram co-found the computer company 'IFT'. After Finch graduates from MIT he arranges for Ingram to be the public face of the hugely successful business, while Finch remained unseen, accumulating billions of dollars without having a public profile. ^[3]

After the September 11 attacks, Finch and Ingram begin creating a mass-surveillance machine that uses artificial intelligence to predict terrorist attacks by analyzing government feeds from emails, phone calls, and surveillance cameras. ^{[4] [5]} The machine also generates a list of predicted murders and violent crimes classified as "non-relevant to national security". As passing the generated information could reveal the existence and extent of constitutionally proscribed government surveillance, Finch programmed the machine to delete the non-relevant list every day at midnight. Finch and Ingram clashed when Finch discovered that Ingram had created a backdoor into the machine to access the non-relevant list before handing it over to the government and was trying to warn and even save people on the "irrelevant list". Finch shut down the backdoor.

Ingram's disagreement with Finch led him to contact a journalist with the intention of exposing the surveillance program. Anxious to stop him, Finch arrived at their meeting place at a ferry terminal to see Ingram murdered in an apparent terrorist bombing that also claimed dozens of innocent lives. Badly injured himself, Finch was taken to the temporary triage. Suspecting the attack was a government-sponsored attempt to kill Ingram, and understanding for the first time the lengths to which elements of the government would go to maintain the machine as secret, Finch allowed his fiancée Grace Hendricks to believe he was killed in the bombing. ^[6] At the secret library location where Ingram had created his backdoor to the machine, Finch reactivated the backdoor and began his own mission to save the non-relevant numbers. ^[7]

Finch is wanted for treason from 1974 and is connected with fifteen open homicides. ^[8]

Beginning war on crime

Finch recruits Rick Dillinger, a former Blackwater mercenary, to help with his mission. However, their relationship is uneasy because of ethical differences. ^[9] The machine provides Finch and Dillinger with the number of Daniel Casey, a computer hacker who tests computer security systems. Dillinger observes that Casey is being pursued by multiple third parties, including the head of the Office of Special Counsel, a high-ranking U.S. espionage agent known as Control, and CIA agents John Reese and Kara Stanton. Dillinger rescues Casey and takes him to Finch, who is sympathetic to Casey's predicament. Examining Casey's laptop he concludes that it should be sold at auction, but later creates and installs onto the laptop a virus intended to give the surveillance machine more autonomy. ^[7] Dillinger, who secretly planted a bug to listen to their conversation, decides to drug Finch and steal the laptop.

Finch follows Dillinger to Central Park and watches from behind a tree as Dillinger meets with the buyers of the laptop. After the laptop changes hands, I.S.A. agent Sameen Shaw fires at the group. The buyers flee, and then Shaw shoots Dillinger in the chest. Finch makes his way to Casey and Reese's encounter. Finch watches as Reese lies to Kara and tells her Casey is dead. Reese tells Casey that he doesn't deserve to die and provides him with safe passage to Canada. Seeing Reese's skills and a strong sense of moral duty, Finch begins considering him as a replacement for Dillinger.

Activities with John Reese

I recognize, Mr. Reese, that there's a disparity between how much I know about you and how much you know about me. I know you'll be trying to close that gap as quickly as possible. But I should tell you... I'm a very private person.

— Harold Finch, Pilot, Season 1, Episode 1

When Finch first makes contact with John Reese, Reese is homeless and suffering from depression following the death of his lover, Jessica. Defending himself against subway thugs leads Reese to be arrested and questioned by Detective Joss Carter. ^[5] Finch gets him out of police custody with the help of a costly lawyer and tells him that he needs a purpose and a job, explaining that what he can offer is a "chance to be there in time". ^[5] After initially refusing, Reese begins on his first case, watching Assistant District Attorney Diane Hansen.

During his first job, Reese blackmails Detective Lionel Fusco to be their informant in the NYPD. When Reese completes the case, Finch tells him there will be more jobs coming. As their friendship starts to evolve in the series Reese becomes increasingly protective of Finch, particularly following Finch's kidnapping by Root. ^[10] Reese gives Finch his dog Bear as a companion and for protection when Reese is not around. ^[11]

Although reluctant at first, Finch increasingly assists Reese in the field, growing in confidence as he does. ^[12]

After the death of Root, Finch goes on a rogue mission to destroy a corrupt A.I. called Samaritan. Guided by the Machine, Finch uploads the Ice-9 virus to Samaritan in an episode titled ".exe" but it has global side effects. In the series finale episode titled "Return 0", Reese and Finch work together one last time to destroy a Samaritan copy that uploaded itself to an orbiting satellite. Wounded, Finch attempts to sacrifice himself to upload a copy of the Machine to destroy Samaritan but is tricked by Reese who sacrifices himself in his place. With Samaritan destroyed and having been reminded of the value of life by the Machine and Reese, Finch travels to Italy to be reunited with his fiancé and perhaps even a normal life.

Skills

Throughout the series, Finch displays his extraordinary expertise in computer hacking and advanced technology. As a result of his injury from the ferry bombing, he is unable to fully turn his head, has a rigid posture, and walks with a limp. In contrast to Reese, he lacks hand-to-hand combat techniques due to his physical limitations, but he prefers to use self-defense and non-lethal weapons such as Tasers when he stunned an NYPD officer inside the morgue in order to help Reese and Carter escape from HR. ^[13] He is adamantly against the use of guns.

References

1. "Lethe", Season 3, Episode 11
2. "Aletheia", Season 3, Episode 12
3. "Ghosts", Season 1, Episode 2
4. "One Percent", Season 2, Episode 14
5. "Pilot", Season 1, Episode 1
6. "No Good Deed," Season 1, Episode 22
7. "God Mode", Season 2, Episode 22"
8. "The Day the World Went Away", Season 5, Episode 10
9. "RAM", Season 3, Episode 16
10. "Firewall", Season 1, Episode 23
11. "Masquerade", Season 2, Episode 3
12. "Super", Season 1, Episode 11
13. "The Crossing", Season 3, Episode 9

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External links

• Official website