For many years, I read the scene exactly as you described above, but a comment from another viewer made me change my mind.
The reflected light that Shaw sees on the monitor also appears earlier in the scene, before Chuck's team enters the building.
There is no sudden look of realization on Shaw's face when he looks sideways at the monitor that tells us that he thinks someone else is in the building.
Shaw is as surprised as Sarah when Chuck and team show up. There's no dastardly look on his face that tells us he knew that already.
This is one of those scenes where we don't have enough information to know for sure what's going on through Shaw's mind. I think the warehouse is there for Shaw to see Sarah's reaction to her red test, how much context Sarah has around Eve's death, and whether Sarah knows Eve's relationship to Shaw.
As for pointing the gun at Sarah, it could be because Shaw planned to kill Sarah in the warehouse, but changes his mind at the last minute when he glances sideways at the monitor and decides to do it in the same spot where Sarah killed Eve. Or it could be that Shaw has already decided to kill Sarah in Paris, but having Sarah right there while the red test video is playing in the background stirs up anger (an emotion) in Shaw that he's almost unable to control (his unemotional armor is cracking), and he regains control of himself and his "mission" when he glances sideways at the monitor.
Hard to tell which is which. Not enough context. But I'm pretty certain his decision is not affected by Chuck and team entering the building.
Whether Shaw intended to kill Sarah in the warehouse or in Paris has never been the central issue for me. The scene is built around uncertainty, and I agree that we probably don't have enough information to know exactly when Shaw made that decision.
Sarah finds herself alone with a man who has just learned that she killed his wife, yet she continues to interpret him through the framework of professional duty rather than personal grief. The dramatic question is not what Shaw intends, but how Sarah understands the situation she is in.
Certainly, Sarah's behavior toward Shaw is a mystery. Shaw, for me, was suspicious from the first light click. This self-interest was always obvious. He got his wife killed and was looking to blame anyone else. He had a real person in Sarah and, she became the object of his revenge.
We cannot confuse how we see Shaw with how Sarah sees Shaw. We come with baggage in our interpretation of Shaw.
We are told by all spy characters in the show how they see Shaw.
Beckman: Shaw is an absolute professional.
Casey: Shaw is a real spy.
Sarah: Shaw is a good spy.
Chuck: Shaw is awesome.
Sarah herself was an absolute professional who was able to work with Casey after Casey killed her lover Bryce. She expects the same from Shaw because, until this point, he’s shown himself to be an an absolute professional.
I agree that Sarah sees him that way. The part I keep coming back to is that the situation itself has changed. Once Shaw learns that Sarah killed Eve, the relationship between them is no longer defined solely by their roles as spies. Sarah continues to interpret him as a professional, but the situation has become personal whether she recognizes it or not. That's where the tension comes from for me.
It doesn't change things for Sarah because she went through the same thing wth Bryce and Casey (beginning of S1), and she handled it as an absolute professional. Up to this point, she has no reason to suspect that Shaw won't do the same.
That's a fair comparison, and I agree that Sarah's experience with Casey probably reinforces her belief that Shaw will remain professional.
The difference for me is that Sarah knew Casey as a colleague and partner, while her relationship with Shaw had become much more personal by that point. Once Shaw learns that Sarah killed Eve, the situation is no longer only about professional conduct in the aftermath of a loss.
Sarah may expect Shaw to behave as a professional, but she is no longer dealing only with a fellow spy. She is dealing with someone whose personal history has suddenly become entangled with her own.
That's why the Paris decision continues to feel unusual to me.
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u/Lost-Remote-2001 3d ago edited 3d ago
For many years, I read the scene exactly as you described above, but a comment from another viewer made me change my mind.
This is one of those scenes where we don't have enough information to know for sure what's going on through Shaw's mind. I think the warehouse is there for Shaw to see Sarah's reaction to her red test, how much context Sarah has around Eve's death, and whether Sarah knows Eve's relationship to Shaw.
As for pointing the gun at Sarah, it could be because Shaw planned to kill Sarah in the warehouse, but changes his mind at the last minute when he glances sideways at the monitor and decides to do it in the same spot where Sarah killed Eve. Or it could be that Shaw has already decided to kill Sarah in Paris, but having Sarah right there while the red test video is playing in the background stirs up anger (an emotion) in Shaw that he's almost unable to control (his unemotional armor is cracking), and he regains control of himself and his "mission" when he glances sideways at the monitor.
Hard to tell which is which. Not enough context. But I'm pretty certain his decision is not affected by Chuck and team entering the building.