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Sep 13, 2020 · Played by Michael Emerson, Finch was one of the show’s two main protagonists and the mysterious creator of the Machine. It was never a secret on Person of Interest that “Finch” was not the character’s real name.
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At about 2:20, he starts walking with a limp, realizes he doesn't actually have to limp, and then does a short sing and dance about how he isn't crippled. It's a character thing! He's only limping in lost because he gets the living shot beat out of him like 24/7 So- 😂.
May 9, 2016 · Below are 5 reasons why the Emmy Award-winning actor is a real person of interest. Person of Interest airs Mondays and Tuesdays on CBS 10 p.m. ET. It was a long and winding road to prime time for...
Haha. Playing a character for years can give you all kinds of weird muscle memory, I guess. I wonder if he had the same issue in flashback scenes. He seems to have: https://americanprofile.com/articles/michael-emerson-on-person-of-interest/.
- Biography
- Appearance
- Personality
- Reception
- Skills
- Notes
- Known Aliases
- Flashbacks
- Notable victims
Grew Up… probably somewhere in the United States, but Finch’s past is deliberately obscured.
Living… in an abandoned library in New York City, despite the fact that he also owns a perfectly respectable home. From his high-tech computer setup in the library, Finch attempts to stop murders using only social security numbers that he illegally receives from a secret government surveillance system called the Machine.
Profession… unemployed, technically. Except that he is actually employed by a tech firm under a different name, and he actually owns that tech firm. Prior to his current life as a virtual vigilante, Finch worked with his partner Nathan Ingram to build the Machine for the government. Now, the closest thing Finch has to a profession is working with former CIA officer John Reese to prevent the potential crimes that the Machine alerts them to.
Interests… the Machine, and stopping the crimes that it predicts. He also seems to have a thing for birds and expensive suits. That’s pretty much it.
Relationship Status… single, in all possible ways. He is a solitary man on an all-consuming quest. That doesn’t leave much time or energy for romance.
Challenge… tracking down the people that the Machine warns him about to stop the crimes (especially murder) that it’s detected. Finch built the Machine for the government to detect terrorism, but the Machine didn’t quite work that way. Instead it predicted all premeditated violent crime, against ordinary people as well as nationally significant targets. The government wasn’t interested in ordinary people, however, so Finch took it upon himself to save the “irrelevant” citizens. This was nearly impossible for Finch to do by himself, since he is physically disabled, so he hired John Reese to be his man on the ground.
Finch has deep-set, bright blue eyes and wears glasses. He has somewhat spiky, graying dark brown hair with sideburns. He walks with a permanent limp as a result of being wounded in the ferry bombing. He is a relatively small man, around 5'8". Though not conventionally handsome, Finch has been described as having a 'certain gravitational pull with ...
In addition to his superb technical intellect, Finch is also very wise and eloquent, often using words to help the numbers out of their situations and acting as a sort of father figure to the other members of the team. He greatly values learning, owning a huge collection of books and taking his cover as a substitute teacher very seriously despite the low requirements of the job. He possesses a deadpan wit similar to that of John.
Finch is extremely guarded and secretive and is not quick to let people in. However, if you're lucky enough to get past his cool façade, he proves to be very caring and sensitive. He is steadfastly loyal to those he loves and would not hesitate to sacrifice himself for them, despite not being frequently in on the action. Though very polite and charming, Finch is also quite socially awkward and very soft-spoken, and feels more comfortable around computers than around other people. He is for the most part very pacifistic and tries to avoid violence whenever possible, but has revealed the lengths he will go to when pushed, such as threatening to have every Samaritan agent killed if Grace was harmed, or his use of the Ice-9 virus in Season Five. Finch is not easily angered, but when he is he becomes infinitely more dangerous.
Finch's character has been praised by both critics and fans for his empathy, intelligence, backstory and relationships with Reese and Root, and he is considered by many one of the show's best characters. Michael Emerson's performance has also garnered much acclaim. Mike Hale of New York Times called him "distinctive and oddly appealing as ever", an...
•Computing Expertise: Finch is highly adept with technology, as he built the Machine, several bugs and SIM card readers for cloning phones. He claims to have built "some of the most advanced computer systems in existence", including the internet (“Dead Reckoning”) Finch has also claimed to be able to hack the Pentagon while he was high on ecstasy (“Identity Crisis”), he also hacked the Department of Defense (“Dead Reckoning”) and it is implied he hacked the CIA and inserted Michael Cole into their systems as an agent (“Trojan Horse”).
•Vast wealth and resources: Finch has the financial resources required to buy a significant interest in different companies, purchase corporations or buildings he needs to operate and back up cover stories. He has business connections to use and it is implied he uses some of them to keep Grace Hendricks taken care of financially. Since Samaritan's activation, these resources are unavailable as Samaritan could use them to track him.
•Anonymity: Finch is skilled at being "hidden" as he has kept most of his life a mystery and has had dozens of aliases. When he started working with Reese, he supplied him with six cover identities. When a POI is forced to leave town, Finch can supply them with passports, cover identities, start up cash, etc.
•Encryption and decryption: Finch is skilled at creating and decrypting coded messages, programmed the Machine to send him numbers using the Dewey Decimal System and once left a message for Reese in Tap Code. He can read Braille and understands Morse Code (“Bad Code”) (“Provenance”). In order to communicate with Reese undetected, Finch was able to hide their cell phones under cloned IMEI signatures that the police and FBI were unable to track for over a year and a half. The FBI only figured out Finch's system after months of work on studying the one time they knew Reese was communicating with his "handler". However, while they could track the phones through the signature, they were unable to listen to the calls or locate Finch himself.(“Shadow Box”).
•Counter-surveillance: Finch is an expert in counter-surveillance tactics as he lost both Reese and Shaw when they tried to tail him (“Ghosts”) (“Nothing to Hide”). He can detect even the most subtle interrogation tactics like when Reese asked what's good at the restaurant they were meeting at and Finch deduced that he was trying to figure out if he was a regular and lived nearby. When Philip Chapple slipped a tracking device into Finch's pocket, he was aware of it and promptly dumped the device into a laundry truck from New Jersey, laying a false trail for Chapple's men. He was also able to use a hand-held device to scramble all the security cameras in an investment bank (“Shadow Box”).
•Lock picking: Under Reese's instruction, Finch learns how to pick locks. He is first seen entering Zoe Morgan's apartment, but complained that lock picking is not as easy as Reese made it out to be (“The Fix”). Reese makes a bump key for Finch, because he can't pick locks quickly enough (“Super”). Later, Reese congratulates Finch on becoming more comfortable with his "breaking and entering duties" (“Til Death”). While Reese is in Rikers Island, Finch is able to use an ordinary lock pick to perform a break-in, showing that his skills had advanced since he first tried the skill (“2πR”).
•It has been implied he regrets building the Machine as he told Caleb Phipps that his "biggest mistake" lead him there, while looking at a camera, and the Machine. He previously told Alicia Corwin that despite having made some mistakes, building the Machine "wasn't one of them" (“2πR”)(“Firewall”).
•As they hunt down the Voice, Elias asks Finch what he intends to do with the man when they catch him. At the time Finch doesn't respond, but after Elias kills the Voice, he suggests Finch knew Elias would do so and brought him along for that purpose. Finch doesn't deny the allegation (“Sotto Voce”).
•Norman Burdett - paralegal at Marmostein Ribner; phone number (917) 555-0131 (“Cura Te Ipsum”).
•Harold Wren - underwriter at Universal Heritage Insurance; address 930 W 57th Street, Suite (unknown), New York, NY, 10019; phone number (202) 555-0112 (“Many Happy Returns”).
•Harold Crow - private investigator; business address 920 E 68th Street, Suite 500, New York, NY, 10065; phone number (212) 555-0179 (“Identity Crisis”).
•Harold Starling - Information Technology Manager at Rylatech; employee I.D. number 237412874 (“Trojan Horse”).
•Harold Finch - mentioned by Alicia Corwin (“Firewall”) and John Greer (“Dead Reckoning”) (“Zero Day”).
•Harold Whistler Ph.D. - visiting university professor; cover identity to protect Finch against Samaritan.
•“Ghosts”: Finch's days at IFT; introduces Nathan Ingram
•“Super”: Finch watches Nathan talk with Alicia Corwin and Denton Weeks about the Machine, later explaining to Nathan how the Machine identified its first number
•“No Good Deed”: Finch and Nathan prepare to sell the Machine to the government; Nathan secretly creates the "Contingency" function
•“The Contingency”: Finch training the Machine during its starting years
•“The High Road”: Finch continues training the Machine, and eventually meets his fiancée, Grace
•“Til Death”: Finch's happy times with Grace; set during Grace's birthday
Finch has been responsible for causing harm to the following:
•Destroyed 42 versions of the Machine during its creation (“Prophets”).
•Alicia Corwin - Threatened to kill with a car bomb in revenge for Ingram's death but changed his mind (“Karma”).
•Liz Picket - Knocked out with an overhead light to protect Madeleine Enright (“Critical”).
•An HR cop - Tasered to rescue Carter from the morgue (“The Crossing”).
•The Voice's hitman - Threatened with electrocution (“Last Call”).
Apr 4, 2024 · I got to chat with Fallout executive producer Jonathan Nolan and cast member Michael Emerson, who’ve worked together before on Nolan’s first TV series, Person of Interest, where Emerson played...
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Jun 21, 2016 · Although Emerson is looking forward to not having to walk with a limp and “worry about the domination of the planet by an artificial intelligence,” he will miss the show.
