Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for the series finale of SuccessionThere are plenty of things that a turtleneck can do. They keep necks warm and shield others from a sneeze in a pinch. But in this case, when paired with a blazer, a turtleneck can almost get you appointed CEO of Waystar Royco, which, in the world of HBO's Succession, is one of the most powerful media conglomerates in the world.
Succession's Shiv Roy (Sarah Snook) could play her family just as well as she could pull off a turtleneck, but ultimately, her guise wasn't strong enough to nab her the spot of CEO at Waystar Royco. While some were quick to assume that Shiv was never going to be seriously considered for the role of CEO because she was a woman, it wasn't that fact that took her out of the running. She had zero leadership experience when it came to business and was practically the opposite of a feminist role model for women.
Shiv Roy's Resume Is Inferior to Roman and Kendall's
Let's be real, here: if Shiv were to hand us her resume, what would actually be on it? "Political consultant"? A faux role at her father's company? And...what else? Great slinger of insults? That's probably the most important one on the list, honestly, but either way, her experience doesn't equal the mental bandwidth needed for leading the absolute media giant that is Waystar. While there were certainly better picks for the role than Kendall (Jeremy Strong) or Roman (Kieran Culkin), at least they had some relevant experience in the business working directly under their father, Logan Roy (Brian Cox). On top of that, they actually cared (somewhat) for the company, while Shiv simply used Waystar as a fallback option when her political consulting career didn't work out.
Shiv never really cared, either. And that's okay! Just because your family is in a certain line of business doesn't mean that you automatically have to be interested in it. The problem only arose when Shiv put on this façade and pretended that she did, indeed, care about Waystar, when in reality, she was only concerned with the power that came along with being in charge. She would surely "yadda yadda yadda" quite a bit of the business talk to appear as if she was dialed into everything, but upon further investigation, it was just a front to convince others that she was in it for the long haul when, like a lot of the characters on Succession, she was only ever in it for herself.
Is Shiv Roy a Feminist? No, She's a Menace.
It's fairly easy to blindly assume that the only woman in the room must be a feminist, but when it comes to Shiv Roy, things are quite the contrary. Whether unconscious or not, Shiv has steadily built up a shield between herself and other women throughout her years as a Roy. In living through the various bouts of criticism that Waystar has faced over the years, her walls have been trained to immediately rise at the smallest instance of an attack, and with guns blazing, she's ready at a moment's notice to defend her family—regardless of them being wrong or right. Somewhat surprisingly, the most diabolical Roy is Shiv.
Shiv has found herself on more than one occasion doing what's least expected of a fellow woman in certain situations. For one, she actively pursued, frightened, and silenced a woman, Kira (Sally Murphy), who was planning on testifying before the United States Senate about how she was sexually assaulted as part of the Waystar Cruises scandal. And if that wasn't enough, Shiv really etched her name into the stone of disservice to women by coming up with a plan for Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård) after he had repeatedly sexually harassed his head of communications, Ebba (Eili Harboe).
In short, Shiv was never there for other women when they needed her most. She could've easily become the hero that we all wanted her to be by stepping up in those situations, and by showing that she had a heart. But on every occasion where she could've proved that not all the Roys were heartless, she chose to sink into those unseemly depths, and in doing so, she became a woman who always quite conveniently looked the other way.
'Succession's Series Finale Sealed the Deal on Shiv
That trait carried Shiv through the entirety of the series, straight up until the very last scenes in Succession's series finale. Instead of changing the tide of the Roy family, she conformed and ultimately became the one thing that she never wanted to be: a woman who stood next to a man. In essence, she became Marcia (Hiam Abbass), along with every other woman (including her own mother) who silently stood next to Logan Roy. When it became clear that Shiv wasn't going to be taking on the role of CEO at Waystar, she had no other choice but to blow up the entire situation for everyone, including herself. If she couldn't be CEO, neither could her brothers. Now that Tom's in the driver's seat at Waystar—and that she's pregnant with his child—the vicious cycle trucks on.
And in an odd sort of way, it's sad to see this woman who had originally had all of these political aspirations become someone so far removed from the pluckier woman we originally meet in Season 1. For a while in the beginning, Shiv seemed like the only saving grace of the family: she was working hard for liberal senator Gil Eavis and was vehemently opposed to her family's morals—and she wasn't afraid to be loud about those facts in her family's presence. There was always a part of us that wanted to see her break free from the constraints of being a Roy, but there's an addictive quality to being inside the family that's tough to kick.
While each sibling ended up leaving Waystar at some point over the last four seasons, they always eventually crawled right back into the arms of the company—and their father—once the dust had settled. Maybe the Roys weren't meant to ever leave Logan's shadow. But in classic Roy fashion, Shiv came crawling back for one last go at it, except this time, she's more so in the driver's seat than she ever has been in the past, with no one in mind but herself.