“Will Tom and Shiv Make It?” and Other Succession Related Questions

I have been rewatching Succession from the beginning, both to see how well the series hangs together as a whole and to remind myself of the antecedents of key season 4 plot points from the earlier seasons. I’m almost to the end of season two and thus far I am blown away; the earlier episodes are much better than I remember, and the developments of season 4 are forecast and foreshadowed in very careful ways. The question that occupies me tonight is this: Does Tom and Shiv’s marriage survive, say, the next five years, or should we consider them done by the end of the finale?

But first to digress and answer Abigail’s question… Succession certainly falls comfortably into the family of Golden Age Shows Built around Anti-Heroes. If you’ve had enough of that, fine, no problem, move along. The question of whether Succession introduced anything new is interesting but it’s not the whole story; new good guitar rock doesn’t necessarily need to say anything New in order to be good, listenable guitar rock. But to the extent that Succession has something new and different to say about the genre, it is in that Logan Roy is the logical culmination of the anti-hero in a way that moves beyond Tony Soprano, Walter White, Don Draper, and the litany of anti-heroes who populate The Wire. These other shows took the time to humanize their anti-heroes. Tony Soprano had his ducks; Walter White had Jesse; Don Draper had Peggy and a variety of other things that made him feel human. It would be wrong to call these redeeming factors because they do not redeem, but they certainly do humanize. Logan Roy has none of these things. He is brutal and capable and vulnerable in ways that do not render him the object of sympathy. Without prejudice, he does horrible things to the people who love him (and that he loves) and to people who do not love him. And yet… those that he hurts love him deeply, even as they hate him. And this love, and the deep loyalty it generates, is ENTIRELY believable. Logan Roy is more believable than any of his counterparts despite not having any of the humanizing components that the others have, which frankly now feel like so much window dressing on horrible people.

An aside; a friend once asked whether I find Tony Soprano or Walter White more terrifying and without hesitation I answered the latter. Tony Soprano has a great many ways to destroy his enemies but he lives by a set of rules that came before him and that he believes in. Walter White does not struggle to find either the means or the motive to kill anyone he likes. The only character more frightening might be Marlo from the last two seasons of the Wire, but we get very little time with Marlo and never quite get insight into what makes him tick. An aside within an aside; I think Tony Soprano would love every moment of Succession. I don’t think that Logan Roy would ever bother to watch a minute of the Sopranos, or Breaking Bad, or Mad Men.

If there’s a new character (as opposed to a variation on a theme) that Succession introduces to the genre, it’s Tom Wambgans (Roman Roy is pretty fucking useless but he’s not quite as unique). I did not see this fabulous interview of Nicholas Braun and Matthew Macfayden in the immediate wake of the Succession finale, but it’s quite good on the Tom-Greg relationship. Scion of a prominent Minnesota family, Tom successfully courts Shiv Roy and eventually rises to control of the Waystar-Royco empire, under the supervision of Lukas Matsson. Along the way, Tom sucks up to literally every authority figure he encounters along the way, including Shiv, both Roman and Kendall, Matsson, and especially Logan Roy, even as Logan points out that Tom is “fathoms below” Shiv and positions him as the fall guy for the company’s cruise ship scandal. Tom doesn’t miss a beat; he betrays Roman and Shiv and Kendall to Logan because he judges the latter most likely to win (“I’ve seen you get fucked a lot, and I’ve never seen Logan get fucked once”) and endorses Matsson’s plan to shiv Shiv even after Lukas points out that he wants to fuck Tom’s wife. We’ve had bootlicks before (some of Tony’s lieutenants, Pete Campbell) but Tom makes a lifestyle of it and manages to rise to the top. And for all of the cringe associated with Tom’s public persona, he is very often the only professional in the room, something that Logan, Matsson, and even Shiv eventually recognize.

The marriage with Shiv is not an exception to this. Tom’s own wedding is an exercise in humiliation; Shiv explains to him that she’s not a good fit for a monogamous marriage AFTER the concrete plans have been made. When she lies to his face about Nick and he absolutely knows that she’s lying to his face but respects that she’s willing to lie for him. And of course Shiv betrays Tom immediately, without hesitation, after he confesses his role in the cruise ship scandal. Tom returns the favor twice over, betraying Shiv to Logan and then again to Matsson… but only after Shiv has signaled to Matsson her willingness to see Tom thrown aside.

It’s quite a marriage. And the only thing that makes it bearable (from an aesthetic perspective) is that they share some of the tenderest moments of a distinctly non-tender series. Their argument on the balcony in season 4 is very nearly the only time in the entire series that two people have actually said what they think. Tom has a rare display of backbone and real pain… but the only character he’s ever shown even a hint of these things before is Shiv. But there’s genuine affection in the earlier seasons, often in spite of Shiv’s preference for treating Tom like a placeholder. There’s also genuine affection in season 4, manifested by Tom’s decision to call Shiv after Logan’s collapse and then later by their partial reconciliation in the days following Logan’s death.

But the biggest part is this; the fundamental issue that divided Shiv and Tom has been resolved. This isn’t simply a question of power and glory. Tom is no longer “fathoms below” Shiv, a judgment of Logan Roy’s that was uncharacteristically off the mark. Tom is one of the most powerful men in the world, even if he achieved that power by stabbing his wife in the back twice. Whenever someone marries outside the group (class, ethnicity, religion) it generates tension; family and friends expect, implicitly for the most part, that the relationship will fail because the outsider will fail the group. For Shiv, Tom’s ascension represents vindication of the decision she made back in season 1. A husband/brother-in-law is a kind of brother, and Tom just beat out Connor, Roman, and Kendall for the top spot. It’s hard to say how Tom’s preternatural instinct for submission will work out when he becomes King of the World. Tom is not unaccustomed to authority; his constant but measured abuse of Greg and his competent management of ATN make clear that he can succeed in a position of leadership. Matsson seems the sort to get bored with his new toy, giving Tom plenty of space to carve his own path. Tom will also come under enormous pressure to remain with Shiv simply for the purposes of legitimizing the succession (that word again!). As long as he remains Shiv’s husband he is the most logical heir to the empire of Logan Roy.

Tom, in short, has become one of a handful of the most powerful men in the world. He managed this because of Shiv but also in spite of her. I think… that the betrayals, combined with Tom’s success, will in a strange way actually win her respect for him. And because I believe that Tom fundamentally wants to be with Shiv, I think that her acquiescence to Tom’s rise will provide perhaps the only avenue on which their relationship would have worked out. And, in the very short term, it’s the easiest thing to do. They can go home and lay down together and not talk and perhaps think about their baby. They are entirely capable of being a couple if they each have no good reason to push the other away, and for a time at least the baby will occupy enough attention to let them forget how they’ve treated one another.

And those are my thoughts on Tom and Shiv. Yours?