‘Succession’ Viewers Were Taken Aback By One Character’s Bizarre Confession But Love How A Roy Sibling Handled It

Last week on HBO’s Succession, our miserable little bunch of characters — Roy family members, Waystar Royco employees, and various hangers on — attempted to get over Logan Roy’s death. More than that, they all maneuvered to figure out who was in charge until sealing the planned sale, and although the underlined-and-crossed-out debate still rages for viewers and for Kendall Roy’s inner self, a consensus sort-of materialized.

Kendall’s in charge with backup from Roman and Shiv getting the shaft (after we learned about her pregnancy), and the audience awaited evidence of whether Kendall would step up as a Killer. He proclaimed his intent to “bleed the Swede,” but things didn’t go so well when the group interfaced with Lukas Matsson. In fact, the situation was downright awkward with Matsson referring to the Roy siblings as a “tribute band” and dude-faking everyone out.

Everyone except for Shiv, that is. “F*ck him and his dude bluff,” she declared, right off off the bat. Later, Kendall and Roman’s meetings with Matsson left the deal in a precarious place (and potentially off the table, though he came crawling back), and god only knows if Shiv’s conversation with Matsson added to Roman’s display. However, we do know that this conversation included quite a confession from Matsson. He’s been attempting to romance his head of comms, but undoubtedly, he’s been skeeving her out because he sends her his blood. Wait, what?

This could partially be a True Blood callback, sure, but it’s also downright unsettling. Shiv, however, handled the subject calmly and even advised him to cut that sh*t out because it’s bad PR (“Deniability is difficult, given she has so much… of your blood”). It’s kind-of a killer response. And let’s just say that people loved this — the Swede is bleeding himself — even while they recoiled.

There’s something there between Shiv and Matsson. Attraction and maybe even a little bit of respect? That is, if Matsson even remembers much of what they discussed when he spilled his guts to her about spilling his blood.