I adored Shiv. All the sibs were utterly damaged by Logan who himself was product of abuse. Shiv had been hard-wired not to love in the traditional way because she'd never known love from either parent. Her feelings for Tom confused and probably frightened her. She showed him love in the way her Dad did to her - the "kicking the puppy to see if it comes back" analogy. In the end, before Tom was even announced, she finally laid herself bare with the most honest, human feelings that come to most people organically during that phone call to Tom on the plane. Their version of a marriage might be somewhat salvageable because she did so before his Succession.
(I know it's only a TV show so I say this whimsically) but my heart ached for all of them in how they arrived at their particular versions of interpreting, showing and even feeling love; albeit in their own, twisted ways. Roman had to be physically hurt or humiliated, Connor never expected to be a recipient of it, Shiv had to be as brutal as possible and Kendall mistook the need to be CEO as the only way to protect and provide for his family as this was the sentence that his Dad always threw out to them; "Everything I did, I did for my children". It never occurred to him that a night in eating pasta and watching DVDs with Rava and attending his kid's school recitals would have actually been everything he could do for his children.
Shiv was the most unethical and horribly evil character on Succession.
People keep rooting for her because she's a woman but she betrayed her own gender by tracking down Kira, the sexual harassment victim who was set to testify before Congress and blow a hole in the side of the Roy ship that they wouldn't be able to recover from, and using every Shiv weapon in her arsenal that we've all become so familiar with, she manipulated this woman into stepping down. She didn't use intimidation or threats or any of the vulgarity that might have been employed by her father or her brothers. She was as insidious with this victim of harassment and abuse as she's been with the
Succession audience: seducing us with competence, sanity, and a (relatively) friendly face.
She's the one who wants to clean house at Waystar, after all; bust every man in management ranks who did wrong, and remake the company her way.
Exactly one week after we all cheered her on for so effectively maneuvering Rhea Jarrell in front of a firing squad and keeping her position of power in her family intact, it's illuminating that it's Shiv and not Rhea who steps out of that car to meet Kira, ready to silence a troublesome whistleblower by any means necessary.
Shiv has time and time again, proven she's the scorpion and the only man to truly understand and be with her is Tom because he understands she doesn't know how to love or show any kindness.
Reference if people how forgotten -->
