There is no one on this planet who knows how to work the system more than Sarah Snook's Shiv Roy in Succession. Do you need a quick PR spin for your liberal presidential candidate who's found himself in a tough spot? Shiv has you covered. What about a media titan who's been making questionable business decisions because of a urinary tract infection? Shiv's already handling it. And how about a CEO who sexually harassed one of his employees by sending her multiple frozen bricks of his blood through the mail? Yep, Shiv's got a plan for that, too.
Jesse Armstrong's Succession is packed to the brim with power players, and while some are flashier than others, Shiv easily puts the rest to shame when it comes to being the sleeper cell juggernaut of the bunch. Unlike Kendall (Jeremy Strong) and Roman (Kieran Culkin), who are more easily swayed by the emotional parts of life, Shiv is practically unshakable, holding her own like a buoy in rough waters. Though she's touted her liberal leanings in the past, her actions don't always stay true to those beliefs. (Most times, they're actually quite the opposite.) And while her inconsistency and selfishness in regard to her political beliefs might make her a questionable human being, it also makes her one of the most valuable power players in the business.
Shiv Roy Has a Controversial History With Sexual Assault and Harassment Victims
While we've been pretty preoccupied with the unlikely events Season 4 of Succession, it's still important to glance back at the past and reflect on everything that's gotten these characters to their current positions of power. It might seem like eons ago, but we can't forget Shiv's speckled past when it comes to dealing with victims of sexual assault and harassment, namely in Season 2 with the Waystar cruises situation that landed practically the entire Roy family in a Washington, D.C. court.
When it hit the news that Waystar had been covering up multiple reports of sexual assault, sexual harassment, and even death, many company higher-ups had to testify in front of Congress, including the bumbling Tom (Matthew Macfadyen), Greg (Nicholas Braun), Kendall, and Logan (Brian Cox). One victim in particular, Kira (Sally Murphy), found herself in the cross-hairs of Shiv, who decided to make it her mission to silence her as she would be a key witness in the testimony. In Washington, D.C., Shiv showed up in Rhea Jarrell's (Holly Hunter) place for a meeting with Kira, and even after the victim expressed how uncomfortable she was with this sudden change in plans, Shiv still pressed on, playing the "I'm the good guy" type of role.
In a conversation that lasted five whole minutes on the screen, you can tell by the look on Kira's face that Shiv had completely scared her into silence. Shiv pretended to be on her side, even going so far as to completely denigrate her entire family—specifically her father—just to seal the deal. And when Kira told Shiv that she wanted to tell her own story and make a real impact, Shiv frightened her by explaining how the press would completely flip her story around and call her a "slut." And on top of that, for the rest of her life, this story would have her name all over it. For Shiv, this was all just child's play, and later on, she would take this same training and put it into use once again, just a few seasons later.
In Episode 5 of Season 4, we witness Shiv have a lengthy conversation with GoJo CEO, Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård), where she offers him quite a bit of expert advice on the best way to deal with Ebba (Eili Harboe), his head of communications and ex-girlfriend. Upon breaking up, Matsson decided to send her a few bricks of his own blood "as a joke," though it ended up not being received in a joking matter at all. Instead of calling him out for his obvious sexual harassment, Shiv provides him with quite a few different ways of handling the situation (her "three-point PR plan" as she puts it) and encourages him to follow through on her advice.
Not only is this dangerous to both Ebba in Episode 5 and whatever future victims come Matsson's way, but for Shiv, it also shows a pattern of complete disregard for sexual assault and harassment victims. She might come off as having the victim's best interest in mind, but in reality, she's manipulating the situation to help either herself, her family, or whoever she's currently working for at the moment.
Shiv's Ever-Changing Ideologies in Life and Business
When we first meet Shiv, she is by far the most left-leaning of the bunch, practically patting herself on the back every time she walks through the door for working under the presidential campaign of Senator Gil Eavis (Eric Bogosian). It seemed like she genuinely enjoyed being the only one out of the family to rid herself of conservative values, and thus become the black sheep of the family. However, just like her title-only position as President of Domestic Operations, her political beliefs are really just a constantly-shifting façade that changes with whatever serves her most in any given situation.
While she had been immensely loyal in the past to Eavis, she practically switched on a dime for her family's favorite presidential candidate, Jeryd Mencken (Justin Kirk), once she pivoted her career from politics to Waystar. Given that Eavis had always been extremely vocal about his dislike for Waystar, Shiv basically abandoned Eavis and whatever political prospects Shiv claimed to have had in order to sink her teeth back into the family business.
Even after everything we've been through in the last few episodes with the major plot twist of Logan's death, Shiv is still looking out for herself and herself only. In Episode 5 of Season 4, we see her begin to get a little too cozy with Matsson after offering him that advice about the whole brick-of-blood situation. Later on in the episode, she surreptitiously sends a photo of Kendall and Roman's reaction from their private plane after receiving a higher offer with the Waystar-GoJo deal, a pretty awful breach of privacy (and family trust) on Shiv's part.
With that tiny snapshot, Season 4 is now shaping up to be quite the trust test when it comes to who Shiv deems worthy of her loyalty. And right now, only one thing is clear: Shiv Roy will continue to do whatever's best for Shiv Roy.