the responses iâve seen to shivâs ending seem very quick to write her off as just another sad victim of the cycle, which isnât without truth BUT!!! that is not even remotely the summation of shivâs story.
i donât think she votes yes to âsave kendallâ or to try to finally set her brothers free. and i donât think her main concern was that ken was becoming their dad. she absolutely noticed and didnât love it, but that was not her motivation in betraying him. she was thinking about herself.
itâs tempting to make a martyr out of her as she is the only female child and we see her suffer the onslaught of misogyny that comes with that. but to make her into a saintlike figure who got beat takes away the power and intelligence behind her decision.
at this point sheâs stuck between two non ideal choices, but she recognizes that they have accidentally made her the single most important player in the game. because while she canât have the outcome sheâd prefer, she has the power to decide the fates of everyone else. the written off lone woman now holds in her hands the fate of every man in her life.
so she thinks about the long term benefits of both options and realizes that one side leaves her completely without any leverage.
her brothers have proven to her multiple times in the last few days alone that they will cut her out and walk all over her the first chance they get. siding with them leaves her nothing to bargain with. she would just have to hope that ken would actually take care of her. and that level of vulnerability is not only unacceptable to her, itâs stupid. and shiv fuckin roy is not stupid.
so she thinks about the other side and about what she actually wants for her life. and against her better judgment, itâs becomes unfortunately clear that she wants tom. the way she wants him is not altogether loving or even good but it is necessary to her. she sees relationships as having winners and losers and she chose this man specifically so that she could be confident in her ability to win. except now heâs grown some balls and made himself unavailable to her.
she may not like the way her husband is evolving but she already placed her bets on him, so sheâs sure as hell not losing to him now. thereâs also a part of her that feels intrigued by this new man sheâs married to. itâs interesting to have a sparring partner in him instead of having to looking for excitement outside of their marriage.
so for maybe the first time ever, she processes what tom has said to her and thinks about what he actually wants.
he needs her to prove that she cares. he needs to know that she is capable of sacrifice. if she canât find it within herself to do this for him, then she will lose him, and by extension, she will lose.
siding with tom gives her the opportunity to once and for all make a grand-stand gesture of love, but more importantly, it creates leverage for her. never again will he be able to hold the moral high ground over her head. never again can he say she doesnât love him. never again can he call her selfish or uncaring. above all, he can never betray her again, because she just removed all of his moral justification for turning on her. he doesnât realize it yet, but sheâs just taken back all the power in their relationship. just in a more subtle way than sheâs used to operating.
and just like that, she has the ceo of a multi billion dollar company in her pocket, while situating herself as the only descendant of logan roy to still be playing the game, having removed her brothers from the equation permanently. she may still be far from the top but sheâs creating a path for herself to climb.
so yes, sheâll let tom play king for a day, and sheâll have his baby and say âcongratulations,â and play the gracious wife, but tomorrow is a new day with lots of room to maneuver. and when her husband puts out his hand, sheâll place her own on top. but she wonât grasp it because she doesnât need to.
tangentwithtanner
janainaart
blakekathryn
ellievsbear
gummygunk
