Brilliant analysis as usual. You helped me to see Shiv in ways I hadn't before. It was heart-breaking to see th eway she reached out to Tom in that awkward, tentative way to see if he was open to rekindling their relationship, and then him failing to give her what she was looking for. But it was tender the way he told her a car was waiting for them, a signal that he was open to them trying to save their marriage. And then the tentative, non-committal commital in the way their hands lay there together. A maybe, we'll see, but I still don't trust you. At the beginning of the show I could never see what she saw in Tom, the fool, the bully, the brown-noser. But when thye were in the room alone, his love for her was touching and tender and seemed very real. He was, perhaps, the only one who seemed to love her unconditionally. All the kids were looking for that and Shiv was the only one who found it in this disaster of a man, who could be tender and true when it was just the two of them. I never thought she really loved him. But she loved that he loved her, and I think she wanted to love him like that but was afraid to. That semi-hopeful moment in the car was was perhaps the only way to end this show on a semi-high moment. The marriage may survive, there was a child on the way, and they both had the capacity to love it.
Love your comments here. I think you’ll appreciate this interview with the director. I think he brought a warmth and empathy to the series that Armstrong seems to lack. Brilliant writer. But cold. Mylod isn’t: https://youtu.be/zS86kV8vUyg
Great commentary. To me the last episode was unforgivable in being boring and poorly produced. The only thing which occured ro me was that Tom was the metaphorical gun over the fireplace - their secret weapon which must be fired by the end. But an unforvingly boring one, certainly not Shakespearean. Like making one of his fools king. But then……
Right with you in the folks assuming Shiv doesn't make an informed decision or has given up agency. Great time with you with this show! Keep it up, keep it all up!
Sorry, couldn't leave without one more comment on the melt-down scene in the boardroom. I totally got why Kendall followed Shiv instead of allowing her a moment. How could he, or anyone, allow hher a moment to perhaps decide against him, when she had promised to vote for him, and this might be his last chance to convince her to stay on board when everything he had fought for his whole life depended on it. While we may quibble with how the man-baby handled the moment, he was true to his character, but what Shiv and Roman did to him was shockingly cruel. They both turned their knives on him in High-Logan fashion. Shiv calling him a murderer? Betraying the trust he gave his sibling in a truly heart-breaking moment of confession? He did not murder anyone. At worst, he walked away from an accident where someone died and hid his involvement. And he did dive down again and try to help the man get out (didn't he? Or am I disremembering this?) This was shoving the knife in where it hurt the most. And then Roman topped that by saying Kendall's adopted children weren't real Roys, and that Logan never considered them as such. But that Shiv's child (who wouldn't carry the name Roy at all) would be a real Roy. They both were taking away from him at the moment of his triumph his life-long dream, and then twisting the knife by calling him a murderer and saying his children weren't real. It was truly brutal and so Logan-like. They became their father at last---not serious people, but seriously cruel to one they said they loved.
Great conclusion, Susan, and I agree with almost everything. Except that scene in the car with Shiv and Tom. Tom didn't invite her in, she was there before he opened the door. Why? She doesn't make concessions or beg him to take her back. The conversation is just as stilted and vague as it ever was.
Was that because we aren't supposed to know what happens to them? Maybe. That hand thing was weird, too. Tom puts out his hand, rather imperiously, I thought, as if daring her not to take it and never looking at her. She hesitates then meets it half way. Not quite a handhold but a concession, nonetheless.
I think she wants her baby to have a father. She can't bear the thought of raising a child herself without a father figure, and, as odious as Tom is, he wouldn't be a Logan to their child.
She's going to be filthy rich now and doesn't really need him. She hates the company for what it is, and it'll be worse now that a Trump-like president will be expecting favors. And she has to know Tom the toady will deliver. She'll be watching her father's company slide even farther down the Right Wing rabbit hole.
So I'm still up in the air about that ending. I don't know what she's up to. And maybe that's exactly the way Jesse Armstrong wanted it.
Thanks for restack! And for the additional perspectives on what are admittedly ambiguous scenes. One correction, though: Tom DOES invite her in. In the room where they are celebrating Matsson’s acquisition, he gestures Shiv over and says (softly) that in 20 minutes there will be a car there.
Perfect, Susan. You do understand Shiv much better than her creator.
Brilliant analysis as usual. You helped me to see Shiv in ways I hadn't before. It was heart-breaking to see th eway she reached out to Tom in that awkward, tentative way to see if he was open to rekindling their relationship, and then him failing to give her what she was looking for. But it was tender the way he told her a car was waiting for them, a signal that he was open to them trying to save their marriage. And then the tentative, non-committal commital in the way their hands lay there together. A maybe, we'll see, but I still don't trust you. At the beginning of the show I could never see what she saw in Tom, the fool, the bully, the brown-noser. But when thye were in the room alone, his love for her was touching and tender and seemed very real. He was, perhaps, the only one who seemed to love her unconditionally. All the kids were looking for that and Shiv was the only one who found it in this disaster of a man, who could be tender and true when it was just the two of them. I never thought she really loved him. But she loved that he loved her, and I think she wanted to love him like that but was afraid to. That semi-hopeful moment in the car was was perhaps the only way to end this show on a semi-high moment. The marriage may survive, there was a child on the way, and they both had the capacity to love it.
Love your comments here. I think you’ll appreciate this interview with the director. I think he brought a warmth and empathy to the series that Armstrong seems to lack. Brilliant writer. But cold. Mylod isn’t: https://youtu.be/zS86kV8vUyg
Thank you! I'll take a look at that.
Brava, Susan.
You are exactly right about Shiv. All down the line.
THANK YOU KAY!
Great commentary. To me the last episode was unforgivable in being boring and poorly produced. The only thing which occured ro me was that Tom was the metaphorical gun over the fireplace - their secret weapon which must be fired by the end. But an unforvingly boring one, certainly not Shakespearean. Like making one of his fools king. But then……
I do see your point about Tom, but that job sure isn’t going to be king…!
Nope and Tom is no king. The ultimate manipulation by the king maker Matteson. Only Matteson can be king. The Return Of The Northman.
Right with you in the folks assuming Shiv doesn't make an informed decision or has given up agency. Great time with you with this show! Keep it up, keep it all up!
Thank you Deborah!
I love doing this.
Sorry, couldn't leave without one more comment on the melt-down scene in the boardroom. I totally got why Kendall followed Shiv instead of allowing her a moment. How could he, or anyone, allow hher a moment to perhaps decide against him, when she had promised to vote for him, and this might be his last chance to convince her to stay on board when everything he had fought for his whole life depended on it. While we may quibble with how the man-baby handled the moment, he was true to his character, but what Shiv and Roman did to him was shockingly cruel. They both turned their knives on him in High-Logan fashion. Shiv calling him a murderer? Betraying the trust he gave his sibling in a truly heart-breaking moment of confession? He did not murder anyone. At worst, he walked away from an accident where someone died and hid his involvement. And he did dive down again and try to help the man get out (didn't he? Or am I disremembering this?) This was shoving the knife in where it hurt the most. And then Roman topped that by saying Kendall's adopted children weren't real Roys, and that Logan never considered them as such. But that Shiv's child (who wouldn't carry the name Roy at all) would be a real Roy. They both were taking away from him at the moment of his triumph his life-long dream, and then twisting the knife by calling him a murderer and saying his children weren't real. It was truly brutal and so Logan-like. They became their father at last---not serious people, but seriously cruel to one they said they loved.
Great conclusion, Susan, and I agree with almost everything. Except that scene in the car with Shiv and Tom. Tom didn't invite her in, she was there before he opened the door. Why? She doesn't make concessions or beg him to take her back. The conversation is just as stilted and vague as it ever was.
Was that because we aren't supposed to know what happens to them? Maybe. That hand thing was weird, too. Tom puts out his hand, rather imperiously, I thought, as if daring her not to take it and never looking at her. She hesitates then meets it half way. Not quite a handhold but a concession, nonetheless.
I think she wants her baby to have a father. She can't bear the thought of raising a child herself without a father figure, and, as odious as Tom is, he wouldn't be a Logan to their child.
She's going to be filthy rich now and doesn't really need him. She hates the company for what it is, and it'll be worse now that a Trump-like president will be expecting favors. And she has to know Tom the toady will deliver. She'll be watching her father's company slide even farther down the Right Wing rabbit hole.
So I'm still up in the air about that ending. I don't know what she's up to. And maybe that's exactly the way Jesse Armstrong wanted it.
Thanks for restack! And for the additional perspectives on what are admittedly ambiguous scenes. One correction, though: Tom DOES invite her in. In the room where they are celebrating Matsson’s acquisition, he gestures Shiv over and says (softly) that in 20 minutes there will be a car there.
Ah, I missed that. Thanks.