#poi speculation

John Reese’s birth surname speculation:

Considering its centering on the headstone (possibly placed there when he “died” in CIA service rather than in our last episode), we can guess the surname is rather short, and from Many Happy Returns we saw his service surname ended in -s. I’ve seen lot of guesses, including Tallis (I read that tumblr post link but now cannot find it), but I think there's a decent argument for Talos.

Talos (wiki also says Talon is possible), which could translate to  helios "the sun,"  was a mythical bronze automaton--the first robot ever, we might say!-- created to protect Crete. Some legends say Zeus made him, but others attribute his creation to Hephaestus, the crippled blacksmith/maker god. The latter is much more to my liking as the correlation to Harold is self-evident! Also, Zesus is just rather awful all in all.

Talos circled the island three times daily, throwing rocks at pirates and invaders, or clasping any enemies that might harm Crete and turning his body red-hot. Also, he evidently protected the citizens of Crete from injustice by carrying the bronze tablets of divine law to the villages three times a year.

He was killed by trickery via Medea, who in some stories was related to the king of Crete. This betrayal reminded me of Stanton shooting Reese in Ordos.

There's also the RIM8-Talos "a long-range naval surface-to-air missle, and was among the earliest surface-to-air missiles to equip United States Navy ships."

Reminded me of the missle taking out the building John fighting on, and also made me think of Ordos as well. Also, its earliest prototypes were designated SAM-N-6, which makes me snort with all the SAM connections we can make from this show!

There's also (from wiki):

TALOS (Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit)is the name given to a robotic exoskeleton[1] that United States Special Operations Command intends to design with the help of universities, laboratories, and the technology industry. The brief for TALOS states that it must be bulletproof, weaponized, have the ability to monitor vitals and give the wearer superhuman strength and perception.[2] The suit would comprise layers of smart material and sensors.[3] The suit may not be intended for an entire squad, but for a lead operator who will breach a door first, to protect them as they are the most vulnerable team operator in that situation.[4]

Excellent analysis. Did John say that Harold's number came up again? I didn't read it that way (though it would make sense). I thought they were talking about why Harold's # was up near the start of the ep if Samaritan was only trying to capture/turn Harold to their side.

carolineaquino73 replied to your post “Person Of Interest “The Day The World Went Away” Review”

By the way - did you read my theory that maybe this was all just a simulation by TM - running scenarios for fighting against Samaritan? And trying to figure out what would be necessary for Harold to finally let loose and give TM more power/access? Wouldn't THAT be crazy?

Huh? No, he didn’t say that Harold’s number came up again? I too thought he was referring to why Harold’s number came up at the beginning of the episode. I think TM might’ve predicted how this would end, and determined that the chances of something happening to make Harold lose it and unleash hell upon the world was huge, and so it gave out his number.

Oooh yeah, I’ve read this theory. It would be exciting, but I personally don’t think that’s what they’re going for. Fisher has confirmed on twitter that the ep is not a simulation. 

a.) kara stanton survived a building exploding and collapsing on her 

and 

And - because of my bias - I can’t help but wonder if Fusco is going to play a key role in bringing Shaw back to reality. Not just because they’re friends and he’s kind of emotionally intelligent and historically the best of the group at talking someone out of killing themselves and everyone around them, but because Samaritan has no idea who the fuck he is.

Which means Fusco was never in any of the simulations.

Hey! I’m glad you enjoyed my incessant ramblings about the show! I hope you don’t mind me publishing this. 

I neglected to talk about the opening in my review because I’ve analyzed that bit to death before, but the version we got was slightly different than anything we’ve heard so far. I had initially thought that it might be TM!Root narrating the season to us, but the “let me tell you who YOU are” with the emphasis on ‘you’ does make it seem like it’s Root talking to new/reconstituted/merged TM. 

I don’t think it necessarily means she survives though – as she points out, “all that’s left is the sound of my voice”, so it could very well just be a recording that new TM is playing for itself. 

chris just said it’s from 5.01 so probably no shaw in the pic.

GODDAMMIT!!! But.... do we know that it’s not Shaw though?! Maybe they inserted a quick shot of Shaw in post production. *crosses fingers* This is too great of an opportunity to let slide by. 

I’ll have to find all the interviews Greg and Plageman have done. They’ve given such conflicting info on when we first see Shaw.  

ANON THIS NOIR IS DA BESTEST EVAH!!

I have seen so many theories stating that Root is just running away from random SAM agents, but I actually don’t think that’s the case here because 1. she looks confused and alarmed and that is not the face she would have on while running away from SAM agents, and 2. she doesn’t have a gun in her hand! She cannot be fighting SAM agents without a gun! 

She honestly looks like she saw a ghost and is staggering away absolutely dazed and confused, and is staring at TM for help/support/answers. AND I AM SURE SHE JUST SAW SHAW ALRIGHT. 

But I also think the person behind Shaw looks like Root? She’s wearing a leather jacket and I swear I’ve seen that hair on Root in s2. I’ve also seen the theory that it might be Claire, which I could maybe believe. How tall is Claire though? As compared to Shaw? I also saw Harper being thrown around, which I don’t believe at all.