Person of Interest2011

Harold Finch:
You changed the machine. You put in a back door.

Nathan Ingram:
I couldn't quit thinking about those people, those people that you said were irrelevant.

Harold Finch:
So you have it send you their numbers.

Nathan Ingram:
That's all I could pry out of it. I never know whether I'm looking at a victim or perpetrator.

Harold Finch:
And you just have the numbers sent directly here?

Nathan Ingram:
Honestly - and I know this will sound odd - but it was like it wanted me to, as if it was waiting. And I-I took precautions.

Harold Finch:
Precautions? This is the federal government we're talking about, Nathan! Whatever skills you had as an engineer you drank away years ago. Do you think that your precautions would last one second if they ever suspected what you've done? [Goes to his computer]

Nathan Ingram:
What are you doing?

Harold Finch:
[Typing code] I told you. We are not going to play God. This threatens everything that we - everything that I - have built. And thousands of people whose lives are in jeopardy, I'm putting a stop to it, permanently.

Nathan Ingram:
[Gestures to the person on the screen] You can't! What about her? What about the next person whose number comes up? Are you gonna look that person in the eye and tell them that they were irrelevant?

Harold Finch:
I would tell her, or whoever it was, that I was sorry, but that the greater good was at stake. I'm sorry, Nathan. Truly. But people die. They've been doing it for a long, long time. We can't save all of them.