my beautiful nothing girl who hollowed herself out into a plausible-looking shell and won something completely meaningless at the cost of everything that makes a person real. the kids have always been nothing and bullshit and they could never escape it to become full people but tom was a full person who made himself into nothing and bullshit successfully. we know so little about who he was before because none of it matters, none of it is something he wants to matter. that's how you get yourself in the right place to be given power even if it's never going to make you happy. he could never be happy anywhere else either. shiv asks if they can have a real relationship now that they've seen the worst of each other but she still can't be real and honest about her emotional wants or needs even as she asks and tom just isn't a real person anymore to have that relationship with. she rests her hand on top of his but doesn't clasp it. Tom...
