Sameen Shaw, Person of Interest

Sameen Shaw (Sarah Shahi)

Shaw was a skilled and cunning assassin and former government operative first introduced in Season 2. Shaw had what she described as an Axis II Personality Disorder, which she diagnosed herself, making her unable to feel or express common human emotions like fear or sadness. Though she had completed medical school and had begun her residency, she came under criticism for her lack of concern for whether her patients lived or died and was deemed unfit to become a doctor. Having left medicine to join the army, she was part of an operation unit responsible for the “Relevant” list intelligence delivered by the Machine, before she became disillusioned and left the government employ to join Team Machine as one of the show’s core group.

Relevance (2×16)

In “Relevance” (2×16) Shaw met with Veronica Sinclair, an informant. As they talked, Shaw suddenly heard a noise from the bathroom and discovered the real Veronica tied up and gagged. Before she could react, Root, who had been masquerading as Veronica, tasered Shaw and tied her to a chair, threatening to torture her with a hot iron to get information. Showing little fear, Shaw told Root that she “likes this kind of thing” and the two began a flirtatious love-hate relationship that lasted the rest of the series. Though interactions between the two were often shown as Root flirting shamelessly and Shaw rebuffing her advances, the two were shown caring deeply for each other as friends and colleagues and eventually entered into a romantic relationship. Though she had indicated in conversation that she had previously slept with men to fulfill her physical needs and openly flirted with a male target in one episode, the relationship with Root was the only one ever shown on-screen.

If-Then-Else (4×11)

In “If-Then-Else” (4×11), the team was trapped in a hopeless battle, and Shaw finally kissed Root before sacrificing herself to give the others a chance to escape; she was taken captive, while the rest of the team was left not knowing if she survived. Days after the incident at the stock exchange, Shaw awoke in a hospital bed overlooked by the head of Samaritan, and she was tortured off screen for the rest of Season 4 and the first part of Season 5. Finally returning on-screen in 5×04, it was revealed that she was tortured by running her through thousands of virtual reality simulations where she betrayed and killed her friends. In the 6,741st simulation, Shaw woke up during an operation to insert a chip near her brain stem, and escaped, eventually reuniting with Root and having sex with her, though this too, was later revealed to be a simulation. Although referenced in dialogue several times, the simulation was the only time Root and Shaw were shown to have physical intimacy on-screen.

Sotto Voce (5×09)

In 5×09, Shaw had finally succeeded to escape from her torturers but was no longer sure what was real and what is not. When Root found her, Shaw confessed that when Samaritan’s torture got too awful, she would take herself to a safe place with Root. Losing her grip on reality, Shaw prepared to kill herself once more as she had in every simulation, but stopped after Root prepared to do the same, proving to her that it was real. Shaw and Root then reunited with the rest of the Team, though Root was killed in the very next episode. Shaw didn’t attend Root’s funeral, instead sitting on a merry-go-round and stating her belief that this was another simulation, before exposing herself to Samaritan in order to reset the day and have Root no longer be dead.

return 0 (5×13)

Eventually, Shaw visited Root’s grave where she attempted to say goodbye but found herself unable to. Moments after noticing that the grave had been disturbed, Shaw was contacted by what appeared to be Root, telling her that Samaritan’s operatives were likely after Root’s implant and “she” was sorry that “she” didn’t have Root cremated. To her shock, Shaw realized that it was not Root, but the Machine who had adapted Root’s voice to communicate with them directly. In the final episode of the series, Shaw identified Root’s killer and shot him in revenge for her murder. In the final battle, before she abandoned the dying Machine, the Machine conveyed to her Root’s true feelings towards Shaw, causing the normally emotionless Shaw to briefly shed a tear, knowing that both Root and the Machine would be gone for good. In the very last scene of the series, Shaw was walking down street when a public phone rang with a call from the duplicate Machine, and Shaw answered the call and smiled at a nearby camera, knowing the Machine, and Root’s voice, was back online.

Appearances:

• 50 episodes. Recurring S2; Main cast S3-5

Female love interests:

• Root 💀 (Amy Acker, recurring S1-2; main cast S3-5)

Relationship story arc with a woman: Yes

No male love interests

Relationship story arc with a man: No

Filter Relationship Arc:

• Female (Regular)

Storyline during sweeps? No

[1] A relationship story arc is defined as explicit, developed on screen, and lasting more than 3 episodes. It is listed as questionable or subtext if romance is only implied, mentioned instead of shown on screen, part of a dream sequence, or otherwise not explicit for the viewer.
[2] Sweeps episodes air in February, May, July and November, the periods when advertising rates are set. A character is marked as "sweeps" when there is a very limited number of episodes that address their sexuality, all air during sweeps period, and the storyline is otherwise ignore/dropped.