Allison Shaw is the White House Chief of Staff who serves as one of the main villains for the third season.
Background[]
Shaw grew up in a small town were everybody knew everyone and even left their doors unlocked because they trusted each other. When the Red Flu pandemic began, Shaw witnessed her neighbors betray and kill each other to stay alive. Shaw and her mother, sister and nephew found refuge in a safe zone until the man who ran it kicked them all out because he wanted more food for himself. The Red Flu eventually claimed Shaw's family and she blamed the man who kicked them out of the safe zone and killed him in revenge. After that, Shaw came to believe that the American government was gone for good and grew to have a cynical view of the world, believing the Red Flu turned the world into a place ruled under the rule of survival of the fittest that couldn't be fixed.
Even when the American government was restored in 2015 thanks to the cure with President Jeffrey Michener leading the country, Shaw still believed the world was broken and a centralized democratic government was the wrong way to go. So Shaw got a job as Michener's chief of staff and helped him write and organize his policies and at some point the relationship turned romantic while planning to take over the country to disguise her true motives. Shaw then conspired with the regional leaders to usurp leadership of the American government and military forces away from Michener by killing CNO Tom Chandler through a partnership with Chinese Peng Wu and setting up a puppet government with her as the real authority of the country.
Events of The Last Ship[]
In a meeting between her, Alex and President Michener, Alex accuses Chinese President Peng Wu of hoarding the cure, causing millions of Japanese to die from a supposed mutation in the virus and letting it spread Allison states he doesn't know that for a fact. When CNO Chandler walks in and asks about the mutation, Allison explains that they've received reports from the Southern Isles of Japan that suggest the cure was ineffective and the death toll is skyrocketing. When Alex says Peng bombed North Vietnam, Allison responds that the reports Alex have saying this are unconfirmed and Peng is their foreign partner in spreading the cure and they have no alternative, which President Michener regretfully agrees with. Allison is later present with President Michener and Alex when Kara tells them they lost contact with several members of the Nathan James' crew during a firefight with unknown hostiles at a nightclub in Hai Phong and when the Acting CO delivers the list of personnel who are MIA. (“The Scott Effect”)
After Alex claims Peng is responsible, Allison advises Alex that they wait for CNO Chandler's report on Peng to draw any conclusions. When Alex suggests sending the Hayward and Shackleton, Allison advises waiting until they have more information before sending anymore people into the region citing it could be a trap set by Peng and President Michener sides with Allison on the issue. Allison and Alex later discuss Michener's presidency while he is on video chat with two regional leaders, Senator William Beatty and Manuel Castillo. While Allison says people support him, Alex says people have a short memory. When Alex theorizes they feel they would be running the country if the cure was brought to them first, Allison counters with the fact neither of them were qualified to run the country and Michener was the only one of them appointed by Congress, making him the president. Alex counters that with the fact that he is an unelected president and an Immune to discredit her argument. When Kara reports that the plane, Sasha, and the security team still haven't reported in Allison tells Kara to keep trying the plane and advises both not to panic. Allison later puts a call from Peng through to Michener, who tells him that Chandler's plane went down but Chandler later turns up alive. (“Rising Sun”)
Allison is present when President Michener talks with Chandler discussing their next move, when Michener held his press briefing and when Alex bursts into the President's office showing them the video the pirates sent to their news stations of all the captured sailors displayed as POWs. (“Shanzhai”)
Allison watches the video with the rest of the command staff and advises releasing a statement before the other stations start rebroadcasting it. When Kara witnesses a local reporter, Jacob Barnes, questioning the President's honesty, Allison explains the President can't say more without jeopardizing the mission. When Alex suggests sending the Hayward and Shackleton to back up the Nathan James, Allison advises against this, thinking giving the pirates what they want could give Chandler more time which Alex rebukes. Allison later walks into Michener's office while he is on the phone finishing a call with Chandler. Allison later sees footage of the pirates torturing Eric Miller and Ray Diaz and later sees Barnes interviewing Barbara Miller, who condemns Michener for not telling her about her son sooner. (“Devil May Care”)
Allison stands to Michener's right as he holds a press conference stating he has ordered the evacuation of their forces in Japan and are working to rescue the hostages. As Michener is discussing the pirate situation with Alex, Allison walks in telling them the Regional Leadership Committee is demanding a meeting with the President with half in town and the rest on their way. Allison recommends telling them about the full situation with the Nathan James and Chandler trapped in a minefield and Alex agrees. Allison attends the meeting and witnesses Michener refuse to rescind his domestic policies to appease the Regional Leaders. When Kara tells Allison, Michener, and Alex that Barnes knows CNO Chandler is on the Nathan James from one of the Regional Leaders, Allison demands to know who leaked it but Kara says she doesn't know. Allison says they can't risk a confrontation with the Regional Leaders right now and Alex agrees. When Alex advises the President to give them something, Allison asks what Michener will give them and he replies nothing, except his middle finger. When Kara later reports to Michener and Allison that theNathan James escaped the minefield, all three celebrate. (“Minefield”)
Allison helps keep track of the islands the Nathan James has searched for Takehaya and his pirate crew. When the Nathan James thinks the pirates are located on Kumonosu Island, Allison asks Kara if they are certain and Kara responds that they aren't but they are confident. Michener gives them to go ahead to investigate and wants updates every thirty minutes. Allison reports to Michener that they found the pirate encampment but it seems to be abandoned. Michener asks her for advise if they fail, Allison reassures him they will make it and softly kisses his hand. When the Nathan James is ten minutes late to report for its second check-in, Allison reassures everyone that it doesn't mean anything and there is probably a good explanation. (“Dog Day”)
Allison is present when Barnes reveals Michener used his influence to get his son airlifted from a Red Flu hot zone to a safe zone he was running and believed he killed. When Barnes questions Michener's mental state when he took the oath of office Allison, Michener and Kara all kick him out in anger. Allison then asks Michener if everything that Barnes said is true and he confirms it. Allison later watches as Michener apologizes to the nation about derelict as a result of this. (“In the Dark”)
After Michener supposedly committed suicide, Shaw tells Rivera that Vice President Howard Oliver is in Panama and getting on a flight back to the US and should arrive in St. Louis in four and a half hours. When asked by Rivera, Shaw tells him that Judge Watkins is with Vice President Oliver, giving him the oath of office and later tells Kara to get all their background and intel on Peng and the Asian players so Oliver can catch up on everything before speaking with the regional leaders. Shaw and Kara later share a drink in Shaw's office and Shaw reveals Michener tried to kill himself before on the Nathan James and was saved by Chandler, with only the senior leadership knowing about it. Michener told her when he could finally trust her and says she is telling Kara this to get her to stop beating herself up about Michener's death to blame Shaw as she knew what he was going through. Kara asks if they were in a relationship and Shaw silently confirms it with Kara saying she is sorry for her loss.
When newly sworn in President Oliver arrives, Shaw welcomes him home alongside Rivera and Kara as he gets settled. Shaw is present during the briefing on the Nathan James' mission to investigate Wu Ming's family for information on why Peng manipulated Takehaya to go after them and later attends Michener's memorial service, saying afterwards to Kara she wasn't a fan of Rivera's eulogy. After returning to Oliver's officer and the regional leaders demand that Michener's domestic policies be reversed immediately, Shaw, to Kara's shock, says the policies are doing more harm than good.
When Kara confronts her, Shaw states they need to keep the country to together and if Michener couldn't make the policies work than Oliver can't either. Kara criticizes Shaw for letting Oliver give the regional leaders control of local militias without consulting Chandler, Shaw states he is miles away and they need to be able to call their own shots if they can't control their own regions. Kara tries to state Michener wouldn't allow his policies to be reversed, Shaw angrily states Michener took the easy way out and it is his own fault if his policies are reversed because he didn't stay. Shaw attends another meeting with the President and Rivera but without Kara this time. (“Sea Change”)
Shaw is present when Chandler explains over the phone that Peng is manufacturing an anti-cure weapon to use against the neighboring countries on a campaign of extermination. Shaw later accompanies Rivera to see President Oliver in the Oval Office and apologizes to Kara for being cutting out of the loop lately and is trying to get her bavk in while stating they all still want the same thing, even Rivera. Shaw later attends a meeting alongside President Oliver and Rivera as Kara informs them that Chandler found evidence of the missiles and that they are on a Chinese Destroyer heading to Korea through the Formosa Strait.
While observing their three Navy Destroyers plot a course to intercept, Shaw witnesses all three come under attack and lose contact with them just as Kara tries to warn them. Shaw and President Oliver walk in just as Rivera finishes talking with Chandler. Rivera tells them Nathan James survived the attack, the Shackleton was sunk, and Hayward badly damaged, with it's crew and Commanding Officer Capt. Joseph Meylan aboard the Nathan James. Rivera asks Chandler how this happened and Chandler believes that their communications are compromised and until it is resolved they will be at emcon alpha one and hangs up. When Allison and Oliver walk in, Rivera tells them he was on the phone with Chandler and reports everything Chandler told him with Kara adding they went radio silent believing their communications were compromised. Shaw follows the President as he leaves in frustration.
When President Oliver suggests sending their Marine Recon Division to Asia through Pearl Harbor to help with search and rescue operations, Shaw closes the doors and bluntly tells him that won't happen and tells Oliver to sit down. Oliver tries to fire her and have her escorted out before Shaw revealing she had the White House put on lockdown since the disaster at sea under his authority and reassigned Secret Service agents loyal to her on his security detail. Shaw then reveals to him that she is working with the regional leaders, Manuel Castillo, Roberta Price, Albert Wilson, and Randall Croft in leading a coup d'etat. Shaw intends to have the centralized America demolished and let each region govern themselves. Shaw justifies her actions as best for America and democracy isn't an option at this point. Shaw then reveals she just had Senator Beatty and Secretary Rivera killed and warns him not to contact any of his family or allies. If he does, Shaw will have him killed, just like she had President Michener killed. Shaw then leaves Oliver's office so he can mull it over.
Although it is not directly stated, it is also revealed Shaw is Peng's mole who supplied him with the location of the Nathan James on four separate occasions: Vietnam on the night of Takehaya's attack, Shanzhai while searching for info on the hostages, Kumonosu Island after it was determined to be Takehaya's hideout, and the Formosa Strait after determining Peng would send the Sea Dragon through there to attack Korea. (“Paradise”)
Shaw stands to President Oliver's left at a press conference and has him basically rescinding all of Michener's domestic policies and promotes the National Guard to active service to help the regional leaders quell riots. When reporter Barnes asks why Oliver is rollbacking the policies, Shaw stops Oliver from answering saying he isn't taking questions and takes over the podium, sending Oliver inside. Barnes questions these drastic changes from President Oliver's previous stands and from Michener's, Shaw simply states Oliver is his own man trying to make America stronger. Shaw then adds that daily addresses to America by the President will be discontinued in favor of weekly briefings worked through her office and leaves without answering anymore questions.
Shaw gets a call from Kara in her office and Shaw asks where she has been since they have been calling her all morning. Kara reveals that she saw Rivera and Beatty get shot in the Capitol Parking lot and knows there is a mole in the White House. Shaw pretends to be surprised by this and continually asks where Kara is and only gets it after promising to come personally as Kara tells Shaw she only trusts Shaw to meet her. Kara gives her location to Shaw, but Shaw sends Agents Raife and Powell to pick her up instead.
When they call Shaw to tell her they couldn't find her, Shaw orders them back while Price comments that Kara is smarter than she looks for using herself as bait to prove Shaw is Peng's mole. Price asks Shaw how much she knows and Shaw tells her it doesn't matter since Kara doesn't have any proof and when asked about releasing Rivera and Beatty's deaths, Shaw says she will leak the information later as she didn't want it complicating the earlier press conference. When Price mentions Chandler, Shaw says she has it handled but Price doesn't believe her so Shaw says they all wouldn't have their power without her. Price infers that she and the other leaders and the real power in this partnership and leaves Shaw's office.
Shaw comes to Oliver's office and brings him an arrest warrant for CNO Chandler on false charges, relieving Slattery of his command and to head back to San Diego. Oliver says no one would sign this and Shaw tells him he doesn't have a choice and threatens to kill Oliver's family if he doesn't comply. Oliver asks what happened to their plan and Shaw tells him there are forces beyond both of them and Oliver retorts that those same forces are helping Peng exterminate entire races of people. Shaw reveals they wanted his help killing Chandler and she and the regional leaders didn't know what Peng was planning. Oliver tries to convince Shaw to help him stop the regional leaders' plans, but Shaw simply tells him to sign the warrant and he reluctantly does. (“Scuttle”)
Shaw has Oliver meet her in his office and says she prefers he wore a gray suit instead of the brown one and Oliver says this is the last bit of presidential power he has left and is wearing the brown suit. Shaw asks if he has had a change to read the speech she wrote or not and when he mentions it will destroy America, Shaw retorts that the virus killed America and she is saving what is left. When Oliver throws the speech away and knocks over a lamp, Agent Powell asks if Shaw is okay and she tells him she is fine. Shaw assures that if he reads the speech word for word there will be a place for him in the new order, both personally and financially. When Oliver asks what will happen if he doesn't, Shaw simply whispers in his ear to wear the gray suit, which he does.
Shaw gets Oliver for the speech and reminds him that if he doesn't read the speech word for word she will have him killed, like Michener. Shaw stands by Oliver's side as he starts to read the speech word for word until Barnes arrives and interrupts him just as he is about to finish. Shaw tries to take control of the press conference but Oliver stops her saying he forgot who he was but will change that so Shaw has the Secret Service agents take him inside while Shaw states they will reconvene tomorrow. Shaw heads inside the White House to find President Oliver only to find her agents are dead and the President is being rescued by Kara and her allies. Kara keeps her gun trained on Allison until she gets clear and Allison takes one of the dead agent's comms and radios the President has been taken but despite this Shaw sees President Oliver escape. In response Shaw holds a press conference with the regional leaders where she frames Oliver and Chandler as the heads of a conspiracy to take control of the country and turn it into a dictatorship by killing Michener, Beatty, Rivera and orchestrating Takehaya kidnapping six Nathan James sailors. Shaw then dismantles the American government with the regional leaders taking control, claiming the transition of power to be peacefully (in reality Shaw had the military leaders that wouldn't join them killed). (“Legacy”)
Shaw meets with the regional leaders as they discuss what to do with Beatty's territory since his death. When Castillo says he should take control and Price threatens to have oil shipments to his region ceased, Shaw interjects and proposes sharing the resources evenly. Shaw explains that Castillo will mine the resources with Price providing the oil to do so and Castillo will spread the resources among all the partners evenly and they all agree.
She then takes them to the war room where Colonel Witt tells her the Nathan James is on schedule to dock in San Diego. Shaw then explains Witt will blow up the Nathan James using the centralized weapons system, which Shaw claims is one of the few things Michener did right and call Witt arm the system. Shaw uses her thumbprint alongside Croft to target the "Nathan James" and all of them celebrate their demise within a few hours. After the Nathan James is supposedly destroyed, Shaw meets Price in her office and shares a drink with her as Price congratulates her on finally "killing" Chandler. Shaw brings that St. Louis was supposed to go to Oliver if he played ball and Shaw feels entitled to that now that Oliver is out of the picture. Price tells her to take it up with Wilson since it is his territory and Shaw responds he'll only go for it if she has Price's support since Wilson is scared of her. Price offers to speak to Wilson about St. Louis if Shaw makes sure Castillo delivers his shipment to Price in one piece.
When the train run by Castillo carrying people to Price's territory to work in her power plants doesn't arrive, Shaw gets on video chat with Price and Castillo. Shaw demands to know what happened but when Castillo doesn't have an answer and Price threatens to cut the power to Shaw's region if Castillo doesn't deliver, Shaw tells Castillo to find that train or he will lose Beatty's territory. Shaw hangs up on them and has Witt send divers to confirm the Nathan James was actually destroyed, suspecting Chandler is still alive and responsible. Witt tells her afterwards that the ship destroyed was a Chinese destroyer called the Henan that they must've commandeered and piloted remotely, with Shaw realizing Castillo is already in Chandler's custody by now. Witt calls Chandler a badass before Shaw tells him to shut up and tells him she needs time to think. (“Resistance”)
On a conference call with the regional leaders, Shaw lies to them saying Castillo has a good reason to be late and says her people are still investigating the attack on the train and when they come back they will move forward. Shaw asks Agent Powell if his people found "them" yet and he tells her they haven't but Shaw tells him to keep looking. Shaw has Price flown to the White House and tells her Chandler is alive and the Nathan James was responsible for the attack on the train and Chandler is on the there with Castillo is custody. Shaw says she needs Price to take out Chandler and Price realizes Shaw sold Wilson and Croft out.
After activating the system with her and Price's thumbprint, Shaw reveals that they are going to use a drone to sink the ship and personally watch Chandler die this time. As Witt tries to sink the Nathan James, Agent Powell arrives and tells Shaw they found "them" and Shaw smiles and immediately has Agent Costas kill Price and orders him to take care of her and her guards while telling Witt to finish the job. When the Nathan James is hit and uses the smoke from the explosion for cover, Shaw tells Witt to fire into the smoke but he says it isn't that easy and Shaw starts getting impatient. When her agents come under attack she orders Costas to get out there and call in back-up. Powell suggests leaving immediately but Shaw refuses until Chandler is dead and screams at Witt to fire once he has a target. Shaw does eventually retreat with Witt and Powell after Witt sets the drone to auto-target the ship and flees to Price's plane. On arrival to the plane, Shaw lies Price's pilot, saying Chandler's people killed Price and orders them to get her out of there but Chandler's people arrive before they can take off.
Shaw has Ashley call her father, revealing the "them" she had Powell find was Ashley and Sam Chandler, Tom Chandler's children, who she had kidnapped. Shaw takes the phone away from Ashley and offers Chandler a deal so she doesn't get killed: surrender himself to her and let her flee and his children go free. After the exchange, Shaw attempts to flee the country on the plane and tells Chandler she intends to kill him as soon as they land in their new destination. Shaw then tells Chandler she had Michener killed because he survived the attempt in Hong Kong and as long as Michener had faith in Chandler he was nonmalleable. Shaw then explained that her origins and experience over what to her family taught her that the lesson of the plague Michener didn't learn: "there are winners and there are losers and if you want to be a winner you have to fight." As Shaw speaks to Chandler, Tex Nolan sneaks aboard the plane and takes out her guards while Sasha Cooper takes out the pilots with a sniper rifle and the rest of her men surrender to Slattery. However, Tex is shot in the gunfight and dies. Though she appears saddened for a moment, Shaw quickly recovers tells Chandler to arrest her and that someone else will just take her place. As Shaw taunts Chandler that he unleashed the worst in humanity rather than saving the world and the America he knows is dead, Chandler shoots her dead. Chandler is left horrified by his killing of Shaw as he didn't have to do it but admits that she's right in that America has lost its moral values. (“Don't Look Back”)
Legacy[]
Her actions left thousands dead, including President Jeffrey Michener, Senator William Beatty, Secretary of Foreign Affairs Alex Rivera, two men working for Tex, Jacob Barnes, the senior military command of the USA not willing to work with the regional leaders, Roberta Price, Jed Chandler, and Tex Nolan. They also left many survivors, most notably in America emotionally scarred through working with the regional leaders in cutting off the food to most of the population and basically enslaved them all. She even admitted what she did was wrong, even as she claimed she was saving America, but did not care saying if it wasn't her it would be someone else and didn't even take responsibility for her actions often blaming other people, society or the world. Ironically, if her plan succeeded, the entire country would've gone hungry from the Red Rust and died of starvation because America would have been too fractured and isolated to develop a cure.
Peng Wu[]
This section is for people killed or effected by Peng and his men through her deal with him and her leaked information
She negotiated a partnership with Chinese President Peng Wu to turn a blind eye to his actions if Peng killed CNO Tom Chandler. In pursuit of this, Peng had Chandler's plane bombed, killing Valerie Raymond and the three crew members of his plane but not Chandler.
In addition she also helped Peng by giving him the location of the Nathan James on four separate occasions and resulted in loss of life on many sides. The first time she gave their location to Peng he gave the location to Takehaya’s pirates through another pirate Wu Ming. As a result, eight members of a Vietnamese security team, one Vietnamese civilian, Tran Ha Binh, five Japanese pirates, and five members of the Nathan James' crew were killed. AW1 G. Lincoln, Riley, Harris, and DaCunha were killed by Takehaya's men at the party by either shooting them or blowing up the helicopter the Nathan James was using. Lt (jg). Will Mason died of a gunshot he received in the altercation at the party after he was abducted with other crew members after the pirates pumped him dry of his blood. After the party, eight Japanese pirates were killed by Burk and Danny after they escaped being captured and seven were blown up by grenades fired onto their ship by Chandler and Wolf.
The second time, four pirates, including Kenji, and six MSS officers are killed, the third time nineteen MSS officers are killed but the fourth time dealt the most damage to both the Americans and Chinese. That leak resulted in the destruction of two US Navy Destroyers Shackleton and Hayward and resulted in the deaths of three hundred US Navy sailors, including Captain Hicks of the Shackleton. After the Nathan James returned fire, it managed to destroy the missile battery the Chinese were using against them, killing the operators and the Chinese Destroyer Sea Dragon carrying the anti-cure missiles, killing its entire crew.