Editor's note: The below contains spoilers for Succession Season 4.Succession loves to give us teams to root for and against in the Roy family, but since Logan’s (Brian Cox) death, it has seemed like the rivalry would leave the family and shift to an external threat: The Roy kids versus Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård). Logan is what united Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Roman (Kieran Culkin), and Shiv (Sarah Snook) together in the first place, as they shared a combined hatred for his actions by the end of the last season. But with the show’s main antagonist/protagonist out of the picture for good, and without a common foe to focus on, the Roy kids are drifting apart with their different ideas on how to run the company. As a result, their alliance is dissolving quicker and quicker by the episode as Succession Season 4 builds to another Roy family civil war. “CEBros” Kendall and Roman are committed to keeping Waystar Royco and ATN to themselves and while they say Shiv is a part of the deal, she doesn’t trust them. When she realizes she isn’t going to get any leverage with her brothers, she decides to forge a new path and has ingratiated herself with Matsson.
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Is Shiv Playing the Lukas Matsson Angle for Her Own Benefit?
After Matsson shares maybe a little too much about himself in Norway (watch out for those blood bricks, Shiv) the two got to know each other and seemed to form an odd relationship. This is confirmed by the beginning of Episode 6 when she meets with Matsson on her private jet. Matsson has some questions about the Living+ launch, questioning why Shiv and the boys would push the launch forward when he has no intention of keeping the program.
Shiv rightfully calls this presumptuous, as he doesn’t own any piece of Waystar Royco yet, but agrees they are only moving forward with the launch so it doesn’t appear that they are just “minding shop” before his takeover. Matsson continues to tell Shiv that while he likes her, there are several rooms he doesn’t want to ever have to go into within the company and subtly suggests that Shiv looks into said rooms for him. Essentially, he is trying to enlist her help and be his “girl on the inside.” Shiv doesn’t commit to anything, and she mocks Matsson by calling him the “boy on the outside” before dismissing him. However, she’s intrigued and follows through with his request, contacting him at pivotal points throughout the episode to keep him in the loop.
Shiv Is Also Rekindling Her Relationship With Tom
But Matsson is just one in a list of Shiv’s interesting relationships. Of course, we can’t forget about Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfayden). Since Tom’s betrayal of Shiv at the end of Season 3, a lot has happened between the couple. Most notably, they are not a couple anymore, having both agreed to a divorce. The thing is, Shiv is currently pregnant with Tom’s child, unbeknownst to him, and in the midst of their failed marriage their relationship seems to be getting stronger. From Tom comparing Shiv’s earlobes to “barnacle-meat” before flicking them in the last episode to Shiv suggesting they play “Bitey” during a very public social event, the childish acts seem to be re-igniting a spark between the two. Shiv’s violent flirtations eventually send them to a bedroom, where Tom finally clears the air about his betrayal in the Season 3 finale. It’s the closest they’ve been this season, and though their relationship is highly volatile and dangerously toxic, they seem to be happy in each other’s presence.
During his confession, Tom divulges to Shiv that his allegiance lies with the job and more importantly, money. So when Shiv gets a call from “The Striking Viking” (Tom’s nickname for Lukas), she has what could be classified as a "lightbulb moment." She plays it close to the vest in her standoffish way, asking Tom if he is in favor of Matsson. Tom admits that Matsson is his only viable option as he believes he’ll be fired if Kendall, Roman, or even Shiv assumes power. Shiv tells Tom she has a “connection” with Matsson and hasn’t decided exactly what to do about that just yet, but the fact that she is sharing this information with Tom before her brothers is more telling than Shiv may realize. Perhaps Shiv has come to the realization that she has a better chance of allying herself with the combined forces of Matsson and Tom, leaving her brothers (who already seem to be cutting her out) to crumble under their ambitions.
What Is Shiv's Real Play Here?
Assuming the GoJo deal goes through, she’ll get a top spot next to Matsson within the merged companies. And on top of that, Shiv is rekindling her relationship with Tom, which works on two fronts — it’ll make the issue of her impending motherhood significantly easier with her partner on-board, and since they both back Matsson, she can enlist Tom's help to make sure Matsson pulls the deal off. Shiv’s alliance with Tom is confirmed by their final scene of the episode where they share a car together and agree to jointly host the election party along with mentions of strategizing.
If Shiv continues to collude with Matsson, alongside Tom, they are far and away stronger than Kendall and Roman’s shaky alliance. As it stands, the CEBros are already on their own paths of self-destruction. Living+ may have ended on an unexpectedly triumphant note for Kendall, but it only highlighted that he is drifting further from his partnership with Roman, who has his own issues. Roman is toeing the line between grief and power, flying off the handle and firing important figureheads left and right (including Gerri for a second time) in a desperate attempt to establish a shred of the dominance his father held. Separated, the boys stand even less of a chance to defend the company from Matsson, and with Shiv on the Swede’s side, it’s game over for the Roy boys, united or not.
Kendall and Roman are so caught up in their own shenanigans that they are bound to be blindsided when Shiv shows her hand. Disillusioned into believing Shiv will go along with their rule and not seek power for herself (she is a Roy, after all), they assume they don’t have to worry about her as a threat. And they certainly aren’t scared of Tom whatsoever. Their entire focus is directed toward Matsson and ousting him from the deal. Kendall isn’t aware that Matsson’s antisemitic tweet-bomb during his Living+ presentation was a direct correlation to his contact with Shiv and both he and Roman remain in the dark about their relationship. Her influence and inside knowledge give Matsson the upper hand, even if his insensitive tweet backfired. Shiv may be keeping her options open, and odds are she’ll turn against Mattson to make a final power grab for herself, but for the time being her new alliance with Tom and The Striking Viking proves the most deadly collaboration of the season. And as we learned from Logan, it takes a killer.
New episodes of Succession Season 4 premiere every Sunday on HBO and HBO Max.
