No, Shiv Roy is not a feminist – she’s a satirical embodiment of the toxic ‘Girl Boss’ business woman

The internet can be a strange place when it comes to TV reactions. Twitter is where nuance goes to die, where ‘hot takes’ are king and misunderstandings are rife. This is no more prevalent than with Succession, HBO’s Emmy-award-winning satirical comedy-drama series about morally corrupt billionaires. The show, is a damming comment on capitalism, billionaires, and American corporate society. Yet, some fans seem intent on missing the point. Like, recasting Shiv Roy as a feminist icon, when she is the opposite.

Succession, created by Jesse Armstrong, finished on Sunday after four seasons. The show is, in my and many others’ opinions, one of the best pieces of TV ever created: the humour, the writing, the outstanding cast performances, the way it holds up a mirror to the worst bits of society. The finale was masterful, and served as an important reminder that no one ‘wins’ when the 1% rule media and society. Ending in a spectacular self-sabotage from Roman, Kendall and Shiv, where none of them came out as the successor to Waystar Royco. Instead, Shiv’s husband Tom Wambsgans was appointed CEO by Lukas Matsson, and the kids walked away having ‘lost’. That is, if you count walking away with billions as losing.

A very bombastic-side-eye take has developed since the show ended, which is to cast Shiv Roy as a victim of this story, and spin it as a tale of a Girl Boss who lost to misogyny. This, I’m afraid to say, is not it.

Twitter user @catholicguilter, whose display picture is Shiv, tweeted that “Shiv’s arc was actually fucking terrifying. I’m sick to my stomach. All she’ll ever be: a mother and a wife. That’s everything she ran away from when she first decided to distance herself from her family and go into politics. I feel physically sick.” Another fan captioned the final scene of Tom and Shiv touching hands with this quote “Often father and daughter look down on mother (woman) together. They exchange meaningful glances when she misses a point. They agree that she is not bright as they are, cannot reason as they do. This collusion does not save the daughter from the mother’s fate.” @sumlyn_7 joined the Shiv-was-wronged camp tweeting that “Tragic moment for women, who watched Shiv be a gladiator for four seasons only to end up this.”