The Succession Finale Gives Shiv And Tom The Ending They Deserve
This post contains spoilers for the "Succession" series finale.
Do Shiv and Tom truly love each other? It's a complicated question. Early in the season, I attempted to answer this question in the affirmative, claiming Shiv's big problem is not that she doesn't love Tom, but that she doesn't know how to show love. Not only are insults her love language, but her upbringing in a sexist corporate world have made her afraid to show any vulnerability to any man who can potentially hurt her. She prefers a man she can take for granted because the alternative is a man who has control over her, and that's terrifying.
Meanwhile, Tom sure seems to love Shiv, except for the obvious signs over the years that he's mainly into her for the money and power. He basically outright admits this in "Living+," and the honesty is something Shiv appears to appreciate. The transactional nature of their relationship is depressing, sure, but this season's many sweet moments between Willa and Connor make a case that transactional relationships aren't inherently soulless. Maybe there's still something there with Shiv and Tom, beyond their own material self-interests. As this finale shows, there's at least enough there for Shiv to let Tom be the most powerful, influential person in their relationship, even though she easily could've stopped him.
The central irony of their relationship
Back in season 1, Logan summed up Shiv and Tom's relationship in a cruel, yet insightful way: "You're marrying a man fathoms beneath you because you don't want to risk being betrayed," he says, and he's not wrong. The line was made painfully ironic in the season 3 finale, when Tom did in fact betray Shiv, and he did so in Logan's favor.
For a moment, halfway through season 4 when Shiv and Tom seemed to be making amends, it seemed like the show had paid off that season 1 line as much as it was going to. The worst betrayal Tom could do was now behind Shiv, many of us thought, so now they could maybe move forward. But it's only in this finale that the full irony of their relationship has become clear. Shiv married Tom because she thought he was the opposite of her father, but now he basically is her father. First she was the daughter of a powerful, manipulative CEO, and now she's the wife of a powerful, manipulative CEO. In a lot of ways, this is Shiv's worst nightmare come to life.
So, why'd she let it happen? All she had to do was say no at the board vote, and Tom would never be in control. She'd finally get her proper revenge for his devastating season 3 betrayal. So, why didn't she?
A questionable decision
The reasonable answer is that it was purely a question of material gains. If Shiv had voted yes, Kendall would be in charge forever, whereas now she's still involved in the company through marriage, and neither Kendall nor Roman can ever get in her way. She may have ruined her relationship with Kendall (and if that ending is any indication, she may have driven him to his death), but at least she's now the most powerful of her four siblings. (Possibly second most powerful, depending on whether Connor's ambassadorship pans out.) The second potential answer is much sappier: maybe she did it out of love.
After all, there are rare but powerful moments throughout this show where the characters get to display genuine feelings for each other: Shiv comforts Kendall in season 2; Kendall dances with his family in season 1; the siblings comfort Roman after his funeral breakdown. And despite their many fights this season, Shiv's conversation with a tired Tom at the wake last week was sweet, even though she seemingly had little to gain from being nice to him.
These little moments in "Succession" seem to impart a surprisingly uplifting message: In a life where greed and corruption poison all your relationships, genuine love can still occasionally slip through, even if you're trying your hardest to shut it down. The Roy siblings all try to be the corporate killers their father wanted them to be, but they still care for each other even as it'd be easier not to. By season 4, Shiv and Tom have seemingly burned all their bridges, to the point where it'd make sense for them to cut all ties from each other, but somehow there's still something there.
Where do Tom and Shiv go from here?
Shiv and Tom's final scene is them in a car together. The atmosphere is a little cold and quiet, but Tom silently offers her his hand, and she takes it. Well, kind of: she sort of noncommittally lays her hand on top of his.
It all raises the possibility that the Roy-Wambsgans marriage will survive at least a little while longer. Shiv may not be thrilled by the idea of Tom being more powerful than her now, but she's accepted it and has decided to stand by him. Does she stick with Tom out of love or out of her desire for power? We'll never know the exact ratio — it's probably skewing towards the latter — but I like to think it's a mix of both. It probably helps that she knows how expendable Tom is to Matsson, so this power imbalance might shift back in her favor not too long from now.
Why does Tom offer his hand to her? It might be because he's always loved her, or it's because he knows it was Shiv's vote that sealed the deal for him. As much as the two have hurt each other throughout the show, Tom, in these final moments, knows that he owes her big time. After four seasons of feeling like Shiv would betray him at the drop of a hat, here she came through for him in a way Tom's never expected. There are no big romantic gestures in "Succession," but Shiv's decision is as close to one as this show's ever going to get. Yes, odds are that Tom and Shiv's marriage will turn out exactly like Logan and Caroline's, but for now, at least, they've got a fresh start.