An ode to Shiv Roy
Sarah Snook is pretty much impossible to ignore lately. Whether you’re a hardcore Succession fan and you’re freaking out about the staggering amount of Emmy nominations and wins that the show has collected (18 the former and 9 the latter, if you live under a rock), or you recently saw An American Pickle, or you’re just curious to see what she’s going to do next. The Australian actress’ presence in the industry is felt and she’s not going anywhere.
Sarah, 32-year old Sagittarius from Adelaide, has been working across creative genres from cinema to TV and some theatre since the late 2000s, starring in movies like Steve Jobs (2015) and The Dressmaker (2015) and TV series such as The Beautiful Lie (2015) and Black Mirror (2016). But since the premiere of Succession in 2018, we can’t (well, I personally can’t) get enough of her and her vicious character Shiv Roy, who has been my favourite character on television in the last year; probably because I’d love to possess her wardrobe and her insane instinct to kill when it comes to business and personal power gain.
Siobhan ‘Shiv’ (a nickname that explains itself pretty quickly) Roy almost remains a bit of a mystery during the first season of Succession. She’s too busy minding her business outside of her father's kingdom, working as a political advisor for a man that virtually (and not) wants to annihilate her father's empire while running for President of the United States; so, it’s safe to say we don’t really get to know that much of the real Shiv, but rather a toned down version of her, operating for someone else.
The actual fun starts at the beginning of the second season, at the Summer Palace, when for the first time, Logan is having a heart to heart conversation with his youngest daughter about the future of the company, offering her the job that everyone seems to want but no one can actually get. Here we finally see, through Shiv’s eyes, that this is what she always wanted and it is the absolute pivotal point for her character arc; from now on it’s serious business or death.
Now that she’s in the game, the rules are different and Shiv knows it. It’s been a minute since we saw the extra-large wool sweater and blue baseball cap combo and her kicking Roman’s ass in the very first episode. Pretty much everything in her wardrobe is very relaxed, not indicative of Shiv’s true nature at all. Let’s not forget she’s a political consultant at this point, her job is to enlighten someone else's persona, not hers.
If first season Shiv’s attire was more tame and non-reflective of her actual style, the second season really brings out her identity. With an endless succession of backless dresses (that will have you wonder the law of gravity), monochrome high-waisted realness and a power haircuts that, looking back at Shiv’s personality traits and actions and the major turnaround in season 2, kind of reminds of a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde scenario.
Haircuts aside, I'm pretty sure that Shiv’s best accessory to this day is Tom Wambsgans, her slightly older, gold-digger, puffer jacket-wearing husband. Their relationship actually fits so well into the Roy’s family dynamics you would think they’ve been together forever. She could easily do without him; the more I think about it the less I understand why they’re together, but it’s absolutely mesmerizing to see Tom come and go as Shiv’s pleases and for her not care in the slightest what Tom’s actual feelings are until it’s too late. I think he fully qualifies as the best accessory to any power-hungry CEO’s wardrobe.
Of course, alongside her closet, her attitude is changed along with the relationship with her family. She’s now seeking power; she no longer wants to be an outsider but wants to get on top of the family food chain. During this process we finally get to know the real Shiv and realise that although she might be the more liberal one of the bunch, her moral compass is still slightly off. Probably less off than her dad or her brothers, but still. She never pretended to be something she wasn’t, she was just waiting for the right moment to show her true colours and what better occasion than a bloody family race to the throne.
Even when she’s dealing with the Waystar witness, you know that what she’s doing is right but is it really the right way of doing it? Shiv doesn’t care for now. As long as the plan works, every Roy knows that collateral damages happen all the time. Shiv can thrive in a room full of testosterone, where she proves to be the smartest one numerous times with her intricate and carefully crafted plans. There’s a reason why Logan appoints her as his successor at some point, right?
Regardless, what really makes Shiv one of the best characters of recent (maybe ‘recent TV’ would sound better?) TV is that as much as she’s determined to succeed, she also has lots of blind spots and her fearlessness does backfire (in major fashion) every now and then. If there’s one thing that her and Logan have in common is that they’re both ruthless and calculating as much as very irrational at times, causing them to spectacularly fail at plans they themselves devised.
Nonetheless, it feels like Shiv has a je ne sais quoi that’s more than rare in a patriarchal society dominated by mere masculinity. Remember when Peggy Olsen started working at Sterling Cooper Advertising as Don’s secretary? Or when Claire Underwood had to literally wait for her husband to die (metaphorically and not) to gain political power? Or when Carmela Soprano was fighting for her own self-expression while trying to keep a family together in one of the most toxic environments ever existed? You get my point.
Every time a character like this surfaces on the screen it’s a win, and Shiv comes out as a monster who would do anything to get what she wants proving that it’s not always necessary to compromise for power, one can just go and get it, end of story.
