For its 100th episode, just four episodes out from the series finale, Person of Interest unleashed one of its most intense, heartbreaking, and haunting installments to date. An action-packed, crushing blow to help lead us into what's mostly likely going to be a very dark endgame for our heroes.

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For seasons now, we've known - and have been told by our beloved characters - that the war against Samaritan was to be a costly one and that any victory would be a pyrrhic one. So watching members of Team Machine fall was to be expected. That doesn't soften the blow, but "The Day the World Went Away" pretty much kicked off a symphony of glorious misery that I presume will follow.Root's sacrificial death, in the name of protecting Finch, was a wonderfully devastating experience. Not just the fact that she died, but the way the reveal was paced out. How we maybe just assumed she'd survived Jeff's sniper shot since - well - characters get shot quite a bit on this show, and they often pull through. But not this time, and not so close to the finale.It's always been within Root's design to die for the Machine. In fact, one of the reasons I loved the Season 4 episode "Prophets" so much was because it tricked me into thinking I was possibly watching Root's last stand when she faced off against Martine when Samaritan was trying to wipe out Jason Ritter's campaign manager character. There was even that moment in the hotel lobby when she took a bullet to the shoulder and I was like "Noooo, this is it!" So Root's always been a "die on this hill" character. Despite her burgeoning love affair with Shaw, which, in typical TV fashion, never truly got to take off.So yes, Root died without ever really consummating her love with Shaw (That we know of, right? Things could have happened off-screen, as POI EP Greg Plageman asserted to IGN ). Though some can argue that the two of them standing together, guns blazing, was really their way of intimately connecting. Even earlier in the episode, Root seemed to realize that Shaw would rarely be the "holding hands" type (though they did hold hands at one point in this episode), and that what really helped kick her out of her funk was shooting bad guys. Which is possibly why Root chose to flirt with her, or have deep conversations about their relationship, during moments of extreme violence. Because that's when Shaw was most open to the idea and willing to talk about it.Going back to the way the episode revealed Root's death, man, that phone call where the Machine took Root's voice as its/her own was so wickedly sad, but also fitting at the same time. Root and the Machine were finally one and it felt like the show had been leading us toward this point all along. There were so many impactful moments in this chapter, like Fusco looking down at Root's body, Shaw hearing the news (or seeing Reese's gentle head shake) and going cold, the music used (both the Moby track and the Nine Inch Nails song that gave the episode its title), and the basic premise of Harold slipping. Of him messing up and accidentally, subconsciously, revisiting a place he once took Grace - which nicely connected back to "SNAFU" when he was falsely seeing her in the surveillance of the Machine. She's on his mind, and it cost him - and everyone - dearly.[widget path="video/embed/playlist" parameters="slug=person-of-interest-nycc-interviews"]We can also talk how this episode expertly subverted certain predictions and expectations, similar to how Shaw's fall in "If-Then-Else" was unexpected because we'd already seen everyone else die in some form or another in virtual form. This time, Root's demise hit even harder because maybe we felt a bit safe after Elias got killed. But no, this was to be a double-punch. Elias was the palate cleanser, and what a great exit he got too, returning to the gang-riddled apartment complex he debuted in and having some nice final moments with Finch.Looking back at everything that led up to Root's death, she not only had a final moment with Shaw, but one with Finch - the Finch scene being her actual last conversation and one that worked wonderfully, considering how they both started out and their evolving dynamic over the years. Likewise, from a structure standpoint, I loved the episode starting things off with Finch talking to the Machine and then ending with him threatening - in a sublimely menacing manner - Samaritan. What an amazing speech he gave, giving into some rather dark notions that we'd never thought we'd see from him. It was absolutely chilling.And I haven't even written about the awesome action this episode contained. With Fusco now an official knowing member of the team, everyone launched an offensive, taking the fight to Samaritan as best they could. Guns, grenades, freakin' gatling guns, sniper shots - and a really final badass moment for Root as she took out her pursuers while steering with the back of her boot and shooting from out of the car's sunroof.I understand that some of this show's fandom will be upset with the passing of Root as not only do certain fans get upset when a character they love gets killed off but with Root also comes a touch of the "unhappy ending for LGBT couples" trope that's gotten more attention as of late. And I can see that. Though I feel that Root's choice to sacrifice herself, and her overall connection to the mission and the Machine, helps separate this death somewhat. Executive producers Jonathan Nolan and Greg Plageman have been, basically, plotting this redemptive Root arc ever since the end of Season 2 - including her death and the Machine taking her voice.I'm not the final say on this, of course, and emotions will run high no matter what. I happen to be a fan of heavy tragedy. As in, I enjoy weeping while watching TV shows. A good, earned death means a lot to me and the more tears the better. And I feel like, with this series winding down, there may be more of that to come.