Q&A

Episode Overview

Summary

POI

Cast and Characters

Crew

← Season 3 Person of Interest — Season 4 (Flashbacks in parentheses) Season 5 →
401 “Panopticon”	409 “The Devil You Know”	417 “Karma” (Finch)
402 “Nautilus”	410 “The Cold War” (Greer)	418 “Skip”
403 “Wingman”	411 “If-Then-Else” (The Machine)	419 “Search and Destroy”
404 “Brotherhood”	412 “Control-Alt-Delete”	420 “Terra Incognita” (Reese)
405 “Prophets” (Finch)	413 “M.I.A.”	421 “Asylum”
406 “Pretenders”	414 “Guilty”	422 “YHWH”
407 “Honor Among Thieves”	415 “Q&A”
408 “Point of Origin”	416 “Blunt”

Q&A

Season

Episode

---

4

15

---

Air date

February 17, 2015

---

Running time

---

Production code

3J5415

---

Written by

Dan Dietz

---

Directed by

Stephen Semel

---

Viewers

9.17 M

---

ID(s) from Intro

ID.415/0217.15

POI Anna Mueller

Images (20)

 

“

”

[Suggest quote]

"Q&A" is the 15th episode of season 4, and the 83rd produced hour of Person of Interest. It originally aired on February 17, 2015.

Synopsis

Reese tries to protect a software programmer with a mysterious second life, but it’s unclear which side of her life the threat is coming from. Meanwhile, Claire, a young hacker who Finch tried to protect from Samaritan, reaches out to him for aid.

Origin of the Title

Q&A refers to Questions and Answers, and is often used to refer to questions asked by viewers or readers of a person or website that answers commonly asked questions. It is also known as a FAQ, or Frequently Asked Questions. The term applies to the questions being answered by Fetch and Retrieve's software, VAL. It can also refer to the question that Claire asked Greer about her risk of death.

Main Plot Points

The events in this episode are in Samaritan point of view.

• Person of Interest: Anna Mueller, an employee at internet search company Fetch and Retrieve, who has a secret life. Former POI Claire Mahoney reappears, seeking Finch's help.
• Reese moonlights as a security guard at the main office of Fetch and Retrieve, the internet search provider where the new number works.
• Claire Mahoney reaches out to Harold, saying that the mysterious organization that recruited her through the Nautilus quest gave her various hacking tasks which led to multiple deaths. Eventually, she slips in her speech, and Harold realizes that she is still actively working for Samaritan.
• Claire attempts to convince Finch of Samaritan's benevolence and offers him a chance to join Samaritan's team.
• Root rescues Harold, disabling four Samaritan agents and shooting Claire in the shoulder.
• Claire brings Finch's laptop to Greer.
• Greer meets with executives at Fetch and Retrieve to discuss a possible merger.

Production Notes

• This is the third of four sweeps episodes to feature the return of a former POI, in this case, hacker Claire Mahoney who attempts to recruit Finch as a Samaritan asset.

Trivia

• At the beginning of the episode, when Reese is gathering information on Anna Mueller, he reads from her "Friendczar" profile. This is the social networking site founded by previous POI Logan Pierce, and is featured in the season 2 episode “One Percent”.

Quotes

• "You know, I played a lot of chess, but this is the first time I almost beat myself" (Claire, to Harold)
• "Samaritan's not trying to subjugate humans, Harold. It's trying to save them." (Claire)
• "Join us! The world out there needs saving, Harold. Together, with Samaritan, we can start." (Claire)
• "Nice to finally meet you Claire" (Root, to Claire)
• "This game was played to a draw." (Finch)