Do Tom and Shiv Stay Together in 'Succession'? Many Hope Tom Turns Against Her

Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers for those who aren't caught up with Succession.

In HBO's satirical drama Succession, almost all relationships are incredibly toxic. When it comes to dating and marriage, they're more for business propositions and less about "true love." Sure, there's been one couple that's stayed together since the very beginning of the series, but they have never had a solid foundation.

Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen) and Shiv Roy (Sarah Snook) have a very rocky relationship. As the series continues, fans of the show notice their connection lessening by the episode. It seems that their marriage is heading for mass destruction, so do Tom and Shiv stay together? Or, does Tom finally ditch his selfish wife and focus on his own life for once?

As Season 3 of Succession continues airing new episodes, the likelihood of Tom and Shiv making their marriage last is next to none. Throughout their entire marriage, Tom has been the punching bag for Shiv and her billionaire dynasty. In the past, he would've done anything for her. But now, Tom is becoming a powerful and strategic man who no longer trusts or admires his self-centered spouse.

For the past three seasons, Tom has endured bullying from the entire Roy family, including Shiv. Not only did she tell him about her multiple affairs and wanting an open marriage on their wedding night, but she felt the need to get frustrated with him when he continuously brought up her infidelity. Gaslighting: 101 right there!

Also, in the Season 2 finale, Logan brought up the concept of making a "blood sacrifice," meaning only one person goes down for the cruise scandal and the rest get away scot-free. Unfortunately, many pointed fingers toward Tom and said he was the most logical choice. Does Shiv stand up for her husband? Nope, she stuck with her family and called Tom "like family … but also not."

Though Tom does treat others below him rather awfully (#JusticeForCousinGreg), he doesn't deserve this treatment. He's done all he can for the business and continues to do so, as seen in Season 3. Early in the season, we see Tom offer to go to prison for Logan. Wait, why the heck would he do that? Well, we know why.

While many believe Tom is seriously considering going to prison for Logan, that's not the case at all. Tom has no intentions of taking the fall and going to jail for Logan and the Waystar family. In actuality, Tom is testing his marriage with Shiv and seeing how loyal she is to him.

When Tom first brings up going to prison, Shiv is all, "Honey, no, you can't do that, it's too dangerous." However, she soon changes her mind and says, "But it is smart..." and considers the plan "punchy." Rather than looking surprised, Tom is disappointed. Wouldn't you be if the one person that's supposed to have your back betrayed you?

The Succession subreddit is all for this theory. Many users are chiming in on their thoughts of Tom this season, feeling as if he will turn against Shiv and Logan at some point.

One user wrote, "He was testing the waters both with Shiv and Logan. He expected both of them to say, 'Enough. No one is going to jail — I promise you that!' Except, he got the opposite reaction from both of them: 'Oh, thank you for being willing to go to jail if it comes to that.'"

Another fan under the subreddit said, "[Tom] should continue to play possum, gather up as much intel as he can and then have his lawyer contact DOJ for a deal. Immunity on the document destruction in exchange for spilling his guts. A membership on team Kendall along with that. In my perfect fantasy, Tom will serve Shiv divorce papers on the same day his DOJ deal goes public."

With the rest of Season 3 ahead of us, we'll continue to see how Tom and Shiv's relationship plays out. All we know is that we hope Tom can somehow break free from the Roy family and take Greg along with him. Neither of them yearns to be disposable pieces in their familial mayhem.

New episodes of Succession air Sundays at 9 p.m. EST on HBO and HBO Max.