LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: The setting for episode 7 of the final season of ‘Succession’ was Shiv and Tom’s Manhattan apartment. The guests ranged from her brothers, Kendall, Roman and Connor, to the who’s who of America’s corporate and political power brigade. There was also an unannounced guest — Lukas Matsson who came in at Shiv’s behest and had been plotting against her brothers with the Swede. Given Matsson is Shiv’s current push-and-pull relationship, Nate, who she was involved in a fling with, also came to the party but only because Kendall and Roman wanted him present for his political connections.
It is indeed Tom’s nightmare to see his wife dealing with two men who certainly do not have her best interests at their heart. When Shiv stands next to Matsson and Nate and hears them talk, Tom’s gaze falls upon the trio, and all color is drained off his face. Nate is her ex-fling while Matsson flirts with her every chance he gets. Both of them are in a position of power and might still have a job the next morning but given the possible restructuring of ATN, the news division of Waystar Royco, Tom Wambsgans, Shiv’s husband, might be fired. And the person responsible for this decision might be Lukas Matsson if GoJo ends up acquiring Waystar. Hell might be a better place for Tom’s character to reside but for now, he has to dive into the ATN trenches again as election day comes up on America's radar. The episode starts on a promising note with Shiv and Tom rekindling their lost fire. Tom even gifts a glassed scorpio to Shiv as a joke to mark the beginning of their reconciliation until the evening arrives and the guest starts to enter their family home.
RELATED ARTICLES
'Succession' on HBO: Decoding the inimitable Roys' language of 'ahhh, ummm, I don’t know’
The naked truth, finally
From the time Tom proposed to Shiv in the first episode of season one, it was clear Tom Wambsgans is a money-hungry, power-grabbing sycophant who will go where the winds of wealth take him. And for Shiv, he was a safe bet, someone who would never question her motives and also wouldn’t abandon her. This was the ground on which their marriage was built. But throughout three seasons and a hefty part of the final season, there have been moments where the duo has confronted, fought, abused, let go, and then come back to each other. Tom betrayed Shiv at the end of the third season by informing Logan about the plan for Roy's children and for the first time, Shiv felt betrayed by the man she thought of never questioning.
If we break Shiv’s character arc down, one common theme emerges. Shiv thinks she’s smarter than everyone, she schemes and plans her moves, the schemes blow up in her face and she goes back to her family and the cycle so continues. At this hour, Shiv's scheme of partnering with Matsson is on the verge of getting blown up. It’s only a matter of time before she sides with her brothers, but ridiculing Tom in the party by parading him as a parasite who will be fired in ATN’s restructuring was pure evil. And eventually, Tom decided to spill the harsh truth of her marriage.
Shiv and Tom's 'real conversation'
At the balcony in their overprized apartment, Tom asks to be left alone but Shiv is adamant to talk. “Can we have a real conversation?” Tom her. But the lid is off and the duo start accusing each other of the most vile things they have done to each other. This is unarguably the rawest conversation between them. Shiv goes all out as she says, “You were only with me to get to power” but Tom replies, “I’m with you because I love you!” Tom reminds Shiv that she was willing to let him go to jail but the final straw was Tom cursing Shiv, "I think you are incapable of love. And I think that maybe you were not a good person to have children.”
Even through the apology, there’s hardly any space left for the duo to reconcile and come back to each other. The writers of ‘Succession’ can have their own show about how they came up with ‘Succession’ but one can only wait and watch what they have in store for Tom and Shiv, who come across as an invisible needle in a haystack of Waystar problems.