It’s a small detail but in s4 (and especially after Logan dies) Kendall, Shiv, and Roman all start masking less, they start showing more visibly autistic and adhd behaviours, because their free now
Autism and adhd run in the Roy family no one can change my mind on this
im so terribly self indulgent when it comes to autistic shiv but just in the way of prattling.. to me (one of) the core tenets of shiv's character is that she is necessarily fundamentally alienated from emotional sincerity and honesty and this in part comes from 1) the very hostile sexist environment she was raised in that insisted on reducing her to a trophy, logan's trophy, at a very young age 2) logan's involvement 3) caroline's lack thereof, despite shiv's repeated attempts to connect with her into adulthood and 4) her only path to success (read: survival) being to prove them all wrong.
so she constantly plays a part all through s1--the part of the distinguished professional who just happens to be the daughter of Logan Roy--as well as s2 and s3--but this time the prodigal daughter returning to emblazon a new path beyond her father's footsteps--in a way that she becomes what she Wants. not in that she achieves her goals, but in that she grows to define herself and her relationships by how well they fit into the persona of whom it would most benefit her to become, if that makes sense.
and tom is such a key part of this--the secret sauce, even, if you will. i don't even think she realizes just how much she grows to genuinely love him and depend on him until the beach scene in s2--it's so easy to read her response to him asking "is this real" before their wedding as cruel but to her it's genuinely baffling, because the validity and significance of that as a factor that has never occurred to her. like maybe this is projection dialed up to a 110 but i do think shiv assumed tom knew it was more about being A Couple than about love, if that makes sense. (which is probably why autistic shiv is so closely tied to lesbian shiv in my head--it's about choosing the assigned roles so you can pretend you had agency in conforming, that it works for you because you let it, it's about faking and masking to make it in a space that's inherently hostile to you and your needs and after being forced to playact at "normalcy" for so long you've lost sight of if there's ever a real person waiting underneath or if you're just an onion all the way down. anyway!)
also shiv's relationship with perceiving and being perceived--how she offers to share her struggles with marcia if marcia can reciprocate, the few bathroom scenes she has scarcely involving mirrors--is SO interesting to me. she uses perception as a weapon and is hyperaware of how the same can be done to her..something something the rejection of being Seen and hence being Loved at the cost of a shot at being respected!! when sarah snook said shiv is uncomfortable with vulnerability and flexibility bc she isnt secure in herself!! the invisible and visible barriers of being a girl and knowing you don't fit in the boxes you should + the invisible and visible barriers of being a woman and having to figure out the boxes or risk ridicule
this is getting SO long and increasingly incoherent but i couldnt end without adding autistic shiv makes even more sense in the context of autistic kendall. for one thing, the mirrors--shiv desperately rejecting a parental figure and being the only person she needs while kendall desperately needing to feel, well, needed--but also kendall is everything shiv has learned not to be and his failure to mask is an integral part of that! it's not a coincidence that logan asks shiv for affirmation when rava says iverson needs time to adjust before he comes to dinner, and the unsaid relief of "at least it wasn't me," when logan tears kendall down for things shiv contends with herself only grows louder each time imo
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