My Top 5 Reasons for Shipping Root and Shaw
#ShootWeek Day 6
(Previously: Top 5 Root Moments/Top 5 Shaw Moments)
In no particular order:
1. They have sizzling chemistry.
Root and Shaw were never meant to happen, but the writers immediately noticed the chemistry between Amy and Sarah and decided to play into it. They organically crafted a slow-burn romance just for them, and it became integral to the main plot as well.
2. Root and Shaw are fully realized, complex individuals.
It’s all too easy for shows to fall into the trap of reducing characters to love interests. POI, by contrast, never does that. Root and Shaw’s relationship is an important part of their characters but it’s not all there is to them. They are both highly competent women with other important dynamics too. Root is also a prophet and spearheads POI’s AI mytharc. Shaw is also a soldier and is constantly involved in saving numbers. They are both neurodivergent, and Root has a disability. Shaw is Persian, and POI honours her heritage on multiple occasions. There are so many facets to each of these women. Their relationship is the icing on the cake, giving them an added layer of depth.
3. Root and Shaw are the fundamental exceptions to each other’s rules/beliefs.
Root begins as a misanthrope who regards humans as “bad code.” With the Machine’s help, her view of humanity changes, and she begins to fall for Shaw. Society has continuously scorned Shaw, dismissing her as bad code because of her muted feelings; yet, she’s always chosen to try to protect people. She was a doctor, then a soldier then an ISA operative who killed terrorists. She goes through extensive lengths to protect Root and the team (e.g. biking across the state to save Root in 323, killing herself 7053 times in simulations rather than risking Root’s life). Shaw is a shining example to Root of good code.
Shaw, meanwhile, insists several times that she doesn’t do relationships; however, she slowly but surely enters one with Root. Root respects Shaw’s boundaries and never asks more of Shaw than she can give. She’s content with the bare minimum – look at how her countenance brightened at the mere possibility of her and Shaw being together in 411:
Root doesn’t demand that Shaw change, but Shaw still does in that she becomes more receptive to Root’s flirtations. Innuendo that would earn Root a characteristic “Shaw eyeroll” and an exaggerated huff in early seasons is now met with a grin in 510. Shaw might recoil at the idea of holding hands with Root in seasons 3 or 4, but she readily laces their fingers together in 510.
It’s endearing to me that these two lethal vigilantes who have tased/shot each other in the past are now so soft with each other.
4. Their love is unconditional and steadfast.
Root and Shaw’s relationship is the only one on the show that fits the Machine’s definition of love: being seen. I’d like to draw a contrast between two instances of hand-holding (or “hand-holding” for the first one):
This relationship begins with deception as Root tricks Shaw by pretending to be Veronica Sinclair and drags her to the chair to torture her. But then in 510, we are presented with a rare moment of openness, honesty and vulnerability between these two as they hold hands. Root is not hiding behind any identities here. She’s just Root. She’s telling Shaw with this gesture that she needs her, and Shaw reciprocates.
We see perhaps the most blatant declaration of unconditional, unwavering love in 513. Root has always loved Shaw for exactly who she is – an arrow. While other people in Shaw’s life, such as the head of Shaw’s medical residency, have made her feel like there’s something wrong with her “because you don’t feel things the way other people do,” Root appreciates her and finds the beauty in her unique way of experiencing the world. To use Amy and Sarah’s words, this is true love.
Reese/Jessica and Finch/Grace, on the other hand, aren’t nearly as healthy as Root/Shaw. As the Machine said, Jessica would have left Reese once she saw the darkness in him. Finch and Grace’s relationship is based heavily on lies.
5. Their relationship is normalized.
By “normalized,” I mean that no one fusses about Root and Shaw both being women. Coming-out stories are great, but it’s so refreshing to see Root and Shaw’s sexualities accepted in the show just as they are. Moreover, they get to be unabashedly explicit in their interactions. They allude numerous times to their kinks, they have kinky sex on screen, and the line “Oh there was plenty of sucking” is uttered between them. They are two women who just happen to fall in love in the middle of an AI war and find hope in the darkness, and every single team member recognizes the depth of their feelings for each other.
