edit : Well not really, the end of season 3 is kinda old... wasn't there people saying that it was really subtexty and that we shouldn't expect much from it ? I remember that kind of talk
Oh, that was me. I wanted to warn people not to expect too much focus on romance, but it looks like I scared them off instead. Shit. But since you're on board with these two now, the best is yet to come :D
After Root and Shaw became canon there was an influx of people who tried to watch the show just for them and were disappointed by... all the plot? the male characters? I'm not sure. I thought it was a shame that they would dismiss a show because it has two male leads (and because of the network it airs on). Obviously people can watch stuff for any reason they want to, but if they go into POI expecting makeout scenes and declarations of love they're going to be disappointed. Root/Shaw is the main love story, but they're like the icing on the cake.
I think that by that "playing doctor" scene in 3x17 Root had feelings for Shaw, but she might not have been aware of them yet... Maybe. But I definitely think she realized how she felt when Shaw came to her rescue in 3x23, at the latest.