The start of episode 4 of the final season of HBO’s Succession, titled “Honeymoon States,” brings us some surprising realizations for the Roy family. Everyone is in the midst of grieving, some faster than others, but on top of it all, Shiv gets a call from her doctor that seemingly isn’t about a new thing that she’s dealing with.
The timeline on Succession isn’t the easiest to follow along with. We’re never quite sure when something is happening, and now we have a lot of math to start mathing, because Shiv (Sarah Snook) is pregnant. During the start of the episode, we see how each of the Roy kids is coping with the death of Logan Roy (Brian Cox), and in the process of it, Shiv gets a call from her doctor. Dr. Sharon Hasford tells Shiv that everything is going great after their last talk and that she is doing great. And that they’ll see each other again for her 20-week check up.
Now, I had to go to Google because I am not yet a woman with children, and according to Novant health, up to 26 weeks into your pregnancy, you go to a checkup every 4 weeks—meaning that Shiv is roughly 16 weeks along and seemingly hasn’t told anyone yet, which is well within her rights given everything going on and her relationship problems with Tom. But no one knows, especially not her brothers or Tom
For years, fans of the show and the characters themselves have speculated on when Shiv was going to get pregnant (which is an issue we’ll talk about later), but first … some questions.
Is Tom the father?
Back at the start of their relationship, pregnancy didn’t seem like something in the cards for Shiv. She was a lot less of someone who wanted to be married and have kids, and it was something that clearly weighed heavily on Tom (Matthew Macfadyen) throughout their marriage. When he thought he was going to jail for his work at Waystar Royco, he even asked Shiv about having a kid before he got locked up.
It’s been on their minds, and now it does seem like this is the product of their marriage. But Shiv hasn’t told him. It’s clear in her body language, the way Tom reacts to her falling, and just how they have been towards each other overall. It all screams Shiv knowing while Tom does not.
Shiv never had to get pregnant
I don’t understand why Shiv and her body has been a constant conversation. Questions over whether or not she’s pregnant have surfaced every season. On the one hand, it’s not a bad thing that she’s having a baby in season 4. What Shiv wants to do with her own body is her own choice. But it’s the constant theories over whether or not she’s pregnant that I don’t really love. Now, that’s over, and she is.
And it does come at a time when her brothers are undermining her and keeping her out of the public eye of the company. They’re claiming to her that the three of them are going to lead Waystar Royco together, even if it is Kendall and Roman who are named in charge. But that, on top of her being pregnant and being alone in it, is all piling up in a way that is going to have an interesting fallout by the end of the season, I think.
So yes, Shiv is pregnant. Yes, it seems like Tom is the father, but there is definitely more to all this that we’re going to have to learn about as the season progresses.
(featured image: David M. Russell/HBO)
