An off-the-grid and presumed-dead former CIA agent, John Reese, is hired by a mysterious tech billionaire software genius, Harold Finch, to prevent violent crimes before they happen in New York City via an advanced surveillance AI.
A billionaire software-genius named Harold Finch creates a Machine for the government that is designed to detect acts of terror before they can happen, by monitoring the entire world through every cell-phone, email and surveillance camera. Finch discovered that the machine sees everything, potential terrorist acts and violent crimes that involve ordinary people. When the government considered violent crimes between normal people "irrelevant", Finch built a back door into the system that gives him the social security number of a person involved in a future violent crime so he could act. Partnered with John Reese, an ex-CIA agent, the two work in secret to prevent violent crimes before they can happen. Eventually their activities lead to being hunted by the New York Police Department, CIA Agents in pursuit of Reese who was listed as dead, a computer hacker named Root who wants access to the Machine, and government officials who want to keep all knowledge of the Machine a complete secret.—Jones
Wealthy genius software engineer, who generally goes by the name Harold Finch, is the mastermind behind the creation of an all-seeing machine. Finch and his front man Nathan Ingram devised the machine to sell to the US government, who are unaware of Finch working behind the scenes. The purpose of the machine is so that the government can spot acts leading to terrorism to prevent those terrorist acts from occurring. But what the government considers irrelevant in its use of the machine are acts leading to murder. As such, Finch, without the government's knowledge that he has a back door to the machine, wants to prevent those murders. The machine only provides the social security number of someone involved, Finch unaware if that person is the target or perpetrator. He enlists the help of an ex-CIA special operative who generally goes by the name John Reese to assist in his mission, Reese who is officially listed as dead. But as Reese in particular often uses non-legal means to achieve Finch's end goal, he is tracked by the authorities, who only know him as the man in the suit. They are also tracked by those who are thwarted by the pair in carrying out this mission, and by the few who know of the machine's existence and who have their own nefarious thoughts of what to do with the machine if they can get their hands on it.—Huggo
A billionaire software engineer and an ex-CIA agent team up to prevent crimes before they happen by using an Artificial Intelligence known as "The Machine". At the same time they must survive being hunted by the Government and protect The Machine at all costs.
Billionaire tech wiz recluse Harold Finch hires ex-CIA ex-Ranger John Reese to work the social security numbers fed to them by THE MACHINE, an artificial intelligence fed data by the U.S. government, created by Harold. Based in New York, they start each case not knowing if they are pointed to a victim, or a perpetrator.—Ali Kayn (Festivale Online Magazine)
After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, a wealthy billionaire software engineer and genius who generally goes by the name Harold Finch (played by Michael Emerson) created a Machine that is an all-seeing supercomputer designed to detect acts of terror before they can happen. The supercomputer, simply called "The Machine," can monitor the entire world using pattern recognition software by monitoring every cell phone communication (using voice-print technology), every email (using keyword filters), and accessing every surveillance camera (using facial recognition). Finch and his best friend, Nathan Ingram (played by Brett Cullen), devised the machine to sell to the US government, using Ingram's own company, IFT, in New York.
The two friends made a deal that keeps Finch's anonymity. Finch uses a pseudonym because Harold is a wanted cyber hacker due to an incident that occurred in his youth in the 1970s. It's later revealed that when Finch's father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, a young Harold built a prototype machine to replace his father's failing memory. To power the machine, he hacked into the government's network. Ingram acts as a frontman so the government remains unaware of Finch working behind the scenes.
The purpose of the machine is for the government to spot acts leading to terrorism and prevent them. To prevent abuse of its capabilities, Finch programmed the Machine to only provide the identity of a predicted terrorist involved in an imminent attack in the form of a Social Security number, withholding other details of the future attack from the government. However, a moral dilemma arises when Finch and Ingram discover the machine also identifies violent crimes involving ordinary people such as murders, attempted murders, and kidnappings. They only receive the social security numbers of those involved, without knowing whether the person is a perpetrator or victim. To address this, Finch programmed the Machine to delete the "Irrelevant" list every night at midnight, but Ingram, feeling guilty, creates a back door into the system to access social security numbers of people involved in future violent crimes before the list is deleted. However, with only the social security number as information, distinguishing between good and bad becomes difficult.
Meanwhile, while the Machine was in its testing phase, encourages Harold to talk to a woman named Grace Hendrix (played by Carrie Preston), identified as a perfect match for Finch. They start dating, and Finch eventually proposes to Grace. However, Finch discovers Ingram's actions regarding the irrelevant list before sharing the good news, leading to a fight. Ingram decides to go public and disclose their project to a reporter in a public place.
The government learns about this and stages a terrorist attack on a New York ferry, the meeting place Ingram had chosen. Ingram and the reporter are killed, and Finch, who arrives to meet Ingram, is partially paralyzed and goes into hiding, even from his fiancée, Grace. Later, Finch discovers the Machine knew about Ingram being a target, altering his perspective on helping potential victims.
Finch hires a Blackwater mercenary named Rick Dillinger (played by Neil Jackson), motivated solely by money and possessing different morals and ethics. Dillinger is killed when he betrays Finch's objective to save lives by handing over a victim for money.
Later, Finch finds a perfect replacement in John Reese (played by Jim Caviezel), an ex-CIA special operative who was recruited by the CIA after displaying impressive skills acquired in the army, rising to the rank of U.S. Army Sergeant First Class, having served in the Army Rangers, the Green Berets, and Delta Force. Reese starts to doubt his work for the CIA and is sent on a mission to retrieve a laptop without knowing its connection to the Machine. The CIA considers Reese and his partner Kara Stanton (played by Annie Parisse) expendable and launches missiles at their location. Reese survives and returns to America to find out his former love, Jessica Arndt (played by Susan Misner), died in a car crash. He discovers evidence that the car crash was staged and Jessica was actually killed after being abused by her husband, Peter Arndt (played by Jonno Roberts), whom Reese confronts, assuredly killing him.
Reese, then on a self-destructive path, and tries to built up the courage to kill himself. He gets on a Subway train to travel to the perfect Suicide spot but ends up in a fight with some teenage punks and is arrested for assault. Detective Jocelyn "Joss" Carter (played by Taraji P. Henson), recognizing his army skills, interrogates him. Carter manages to take some finger prints from a cup Reese touched and passes it to forensics to run a search on. The prints are then flagged up on a database of old crimes Reese committed for the CIA. Before Carter can return to arrest Reese formally, Finch's lawyer frees Reese, and Finch offers him a job to help people. Initially reluctant, Reese starts working with Finch after learning more about the Machine.
Together, they attempt to stop violent crimes before they occur, with Reese adopting the moniker 'the man-in-the-suit.' Their first joint mission involves Diane Hansen (played by Natalie Zea), an Assistant District Attorney involved in an organized drug ring of corrupt cops. Reese is captured but escapes, eventually exposing the corrupt cops and blackmailing Fusco, one of them, into helping track down 'Persons of Interest.'
Their actions lead to pursuit by the New York Police Department's Homicide Task Force, led by Detective Carter. However, she later joins their cause after Reese saves her life. Carter and Fusco become partners, while Fusco, working with Reese and Finch, redeems himself throughout the series.
Meanwhile, the CIA and FBI, led respectively by Mark Snow (played by Michael Kelly) and Special Agent Nicholas Donnelly (played by Brennan Brown), are also after Reese, considering him a threat. A hacker named Root aims to access the Machine to free it from human control, posing a danger to the team, which gains new members including Sameen Shaw (played by Sarah Shahi), a former ISA operative, and Zoe Morgan (played by Paige Turco), a crisis management specialist.
Their endeavors involve dealing with Carl Elias (played by Enrico Colantoni), a mob boss who is attempting to take over the criminal underworld, and battling corruption within the NYPD led by Alonzo Quinn (played by Clarke Peters) and his connections with organized crime. Carter gets framed and demoted due to Quinn's machinations.
The story unfolds with alliances, conflicts, and an evolving team effort to save lives and battle corruption and crime while evading multiple agencies and threats.
