Person of Interest: 6 Burning Questions We Have Heading Into the Series Finale

As Person of Interest wraps up its run (the series finale airs Tuesday at 10/9c on CBS), the final season has done a swell job of answering a lot of our questions about the series' overarching mythology. But with a show as rich and complex as this, some mysteries remain.

Below are six queries that should be at the forefront of every Person of Interest fan's mind. Will they be answered? Will they remain in limbo for us to answer on our own through fanfic? Or will we have to beg the television gods to find the show a new home so it lives on?

1. Who will survive?

It's been long foretold that Harold Finch (Michael Emerson) and John Reese's (Jim Caviezel) mission would not come to a close without some near and dear casualties. Carter (Taraji P. Henson), Elias (Enrico Colantoni) and Root (Amy Acker) have all been buried, but that doesn't mean the Grim Reaper is done yet. The trailer for the series finale shows more than one member of Team Machine checking bullet holes in their guts, so it seems like anyone's number can be up... for good. Personally, we're especially worried for both Reese and Finch. Reese was practically dead when Finch found him, and the Machine's simulations showed that Reese would have died alone and unknown if she wasn't built by Finch. Is death part of Reese's destiny, or can he avoid it? And for Finch, what is his story if his Machine is destroyed? Does his time run out, too?

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2. Will the Machine live on somehow?

In the penultimate episode, we saw Finch unleash a virus set to take down Samaritan in the closing moments. Unfortunately, the virus also meant the end of the Machine. Or did it? We haven't seen the end of either artificial intelligence definitively, so it's possible that one or the other could be running in some sort of backup capacity somewhere. Our hope is that Finch somehow preserved a copy of the Machine on an isolated drive somehow, like he did with her in the beginning of this season. Keeping the Machine alive, even if it's just on someone's flash drive, would keep the spirit of the show alive as well. Besides, we've all grown pretty attached to the Machine, and it's become much more than just a computer program.

3. What ending is in store for Fusco?

Finding out who was responsible for the dead bodies that were being stashed inside a rundown building (yawn) doesn't seem like the way to go out for our pal Detective Lionel Fusco (Kevin Chapman). But what else is left for him since he's been so far out of the loop? We're hoping to see him get directly involved with Team Machine as they wipe Samaritan and its agents off the map for good, and from the looks of the series finale trailer, that might happen. (With bad consequences.)

4. Will Shaw fully mourn the loss of Root and get revenge for her death?

We all know Shaw (Sarah Shahi) isn't fully in touch with her emotions after years of being trained to be a cold-hearted killer, but Root was able to crack that nut to facilitate one of television's best romances, gay or straight. Yet when Root died from a sniper bullet intended for Finch, Shaw's eyes remained dry. Given how much POI fans love the Shaw-Root relationship and how much we love Root, we need to see some emotion from her.

Also, will Jeffrey Blackwell (Josh Close) pay for pulling the trigger and killing Root? Will Shaw be the one to get him back? And, given that he was blackmailed into working for Samaritan, will Shaw let him off the hook?

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5. Will we see any more familiar faces one last time?

The penultimate episode, ".exe," revisited some old friends, and "Synecdoche" brought some past numbers into the mix. But what about other important characters we haven't seen in a while? What happened to Zoe Morgan (Paige Turco)? Leon (Ken Leung)? Control (Camryn Manheim)?

6. Where's Bear?

This is the most important question. Seriously, if we don't see Bear in this last episode, we will burn everything down.

Person of Interest's series finale airs Tuesday, June 21 at 10/9c on CBS.

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