The opening credits
The retro home movies of the Roy children shown in the opening credits have a 70's or 80's vibe in terms of the cinematography and fashions. But the Roys are (Connor excepted) in their late 30s or early 40s in the present day, implying that they were teenagers in the late 90s or early 2000s. Is this anachronism intentional?
- It's not specific home movies, it's to set a vibe. Biggest example being Logan's face never shown but always a looming presence.
Tom's black eye
This is probably more of a "theory" question than "headscratcher", but what's the deal with Tom's black eye in Season 1? He tells Kendall and Roman he got it during sex with Shiv, but his sex life with Shiv seems very dry in general. Proof of
Casual Kink hidden depths, and is that why she rejected Nate when she met up with him again that night? The whole way Tom says it seems so overcompensating that I thought Shiv might've hit him.
- It's an Ambiguous Situation. It might have originally connected to something that was later edited out or got abandoned before it ever paid off. It definitely seems like he's trying to cover something up, whether it's Shiv abusing him or him getting into some sort of sordid misadventure.
- It's totally possible the actor had a black eye in real life, and it either wasn't covering up well, or they decided to Throw It In! for some background story texture.
Kendall's kids
In the finale, Roman tells an increasingly unstable Kendall that neither of his children are "bloodline" Roys —
Sophie was adopted, while
Iverson isn't his (Ken's) biological son. He adds that Logan told him that, and this revelation well and truly pushes Ken's last
Berserk Button, ruining for good his chances of taking over the company. While it's pretty clear that Roman's right about Sophie (who's of a different ethnicity to her parents), what about Iverson?
- The implication is that either Iverson is actually Rava's child from a previous relationship, or he was conceived as a result of Rava cheating on Ken, or they were unable to conceive a child due to Ken having a low sperm count and so used a sperm donor. Since Rava (from what we see of her) doesn't seem like the cheating type, the latter is more likely (maybe they adopted Sophie after a failed round of IVF, then tried again later and it worked). Which makes Roman's comment a very low blow; even Shiv, usually the first to hit below the belt, seems disgusted that he brings that up. Especially given that whenever Sophie and Iverson appeared in the show, they were both treated as though they were Ken's kids — although Logan evidently thought differently in private.
- Assuming, of course, that it's true; Logan could have just made it up. It would be entirely in keeping for a man like Logan to be disgusted with the idea of having a grandson with developmental issues (it's even hinted at in his conversation with Tom in "Hunting" in which he describes Iverson as "broken"); a logical extension of this would be for him to try and distance himself from the boy by claiming that they're not biologically related. Such a claim would simultaneously serves to undermine his "number one boy" behind his back by calling his manhood into question (be it via being a cuckold or being infertile; it would work either way).
