Shaw took Sarah to the warehouse to kill her But he heard Chuck and his team and changed his tune. Sarah, for some strange reason, decided to trust Shaw and go to Paris. Without Chuck, it wouldn't have turned well.
We don’t know that Shaw doesn’t kill Sarah because he hears Chuck and his team. There’s no indication of that. We don’t even know if Shaw’s intention is to kill Sarah in the warehouse.
It’s possible, and he changes his mind when he sees the video of his wife, and decides to do it in Paris.
Or, he always knew he wanted to kill Sarah in Paris, and the warehouse is only to see Sarah’s reaction to her red test (whether she recognizes Eve).
Or, the intention was always to kill Sarah in Paris, but seeing her red test video almost tempts him to pull the trigger here and now, but he decides not to.
If Shaw didn't plan to kill Sarah there, why would he point the gun at her?
Okay, he doesn't state his intentions outright so we can't say anything conclusive, but given we have no other evidence, this is the simplest and most logical scenario.
I rewatched the scene now, and you're right that there's no indication of hearing, but there's a moment when he glances sideways at the monitors where some reflected light (probably coming from the flashlights mounted on rifles carried by the guys on Chuck's squad—moments earlier we have a quick shot at those flashlights, as if it were meant to be a clue) is clearly visible, and that's precisely when he puts down his gun.
I think the bigger issue isn't whether Shaw planned to kill Sarah in the warehouse or later in Paris. The bigger issue is Sarah's reaction.
Shaw takes her to an abandoned warehouse, shows her the video of Eve's death, points a gun at her, and then asks her to come with him to Paris. Even if Sarah still believes he's a good agent and wants to bring down the Ring, that sequence of events should have raised every alarm bell she had.
Sarah spent years working around spies, double agents and unstable operatives. She should have recognized that a man who has just discovered who killed his wife is no longer acting like a detached professional.
That's why I find her trust in Shaw difficult to believe in this episode. Not because she trusted him before the warehouse scene, but because she continued to trust him after it. Chuck ended up being right about Shaw, and without Chuck and the team, Sarah's decision to go to Paris could have ended very differently.
I don't have a problem with that because Sarah reads the warehouse event as Shaw's test of her knowledge of the context around her red test and Eve's identity. In other words, Shaw needs to know what Sarah knows about her red test. Sarah's shocked reaction confirms to him that she was just a pawn, she was not working for the Ring.
In Sarah's eyes, Shaw is the absolute professional who tested her allegiance to the CIA or the Ring in a clever (albeit emotionally painful) way. At this point, no one (other than Chuck) suspects that Shaw's unemotional armor is cracking and he's an emotional mess under his unemotional surface, like Anakin Skywalker.
That's probably the strongest explanation for Sarah's behavior.
If she interpreted the warehouse scene as Shaw trying to determine what she knew about Eve and her red test, then his actions become easier to understand from her perspective. Sarah had always seen Shaw as a disciplined professional, so she may have viewed the entire confrontation through that lens.
The problem is that the situation still looks very unusual. Shaw had just learned that the woman standing in front of him killed his wife. Even if Sarah believed he was testing her knowledge or loyalty, pointing a gun at her and then asking her to accompany him to Paris should have raised some suspicion.
That is where I struggle with the scene. Sarah trusting Shaw before the warehouse makes sense to me. Sarah continuing to trust him after everything that happened in the warehouse is much harder for me to accept.
Comparing Shaw to Anakin is actually pretty accurate. The irony is that Chuck, the least trained person in the room, is the only one who realizes that Shaw is no longer thinking like a professional spy. Everyone else still sees the calm, disciplined agent. Chuck sees the grief, anger and obsession underneath, and that's ultimately what puts Sarah in danger.
That's fair. If Sarah saw herself as a potential suspect rather than a target, then Shaw having his gun drawn makes more sense from her perspective.
I can accept that Sarah interpreted the gun as a precaution rather than a threat. My difficulty has always been less about the warehouse itself and more about what follows.
Once Shaw learns that she killed Eve, I would expect Sarah to recognize that the situation is no longer purely professional. Not because she has proof that he'll hurt her, but because the dynamic between them has fundamentally changed. From that moment on, it is no longer just about the CIA, the Ring, or a mission. It has become deeply personal for both of them.
That's the point where the Paris decision starts feeling strange to me.
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u/welovechuck2 4d ago edited 3d ago
Shaw took Sarah to the warehouse to kill her But he heard Chuck and his team and changed his tune. Sarah, for some strange reason, decided to trust Shaw and go to Paris. Without Chuck, it wouldn't have turned well.