It's a small thing, but when Shiv is in Troubled Fetal Position when her dad is in the hospital, Tom holds her hand quietly (repeated at the end of Austerlitz). For all his sucking up to his wife's abusive father, he does give her stability.
While their relationship goes sour, Shiv appreciates Tom's proposal, and he picks her up in a spinny hug.
Rava comes in because she couldn't sleep, sees her ex-husband looking all sad and small and can't help but comfort him. While there's a blip in a hug from her gets a Raging Stiffie in his touch-starved brain, she does help, and they walk off holding hands.
When reading Logan's planned obituary, Roman notes that it says nothing about either of Logan's first two wives, and suggests that that should be fixed. It's a small moment, for sure, but oddly sweet, considering Roman's complicated relationship with his mother and later dismissal of Connor's mother (and her mental health issues).
In "Sad Sack Wasp Trap", Roman and Kendall have a sweet scene where Kendall reassures Roman (in need of praise) that he’s doing okay, and Roman gives Kendall (massively touch starved) a kiss on the head.
Everyone makes fun of Connor's relationship with Willa at Thanksgiving, since she's a call girl who is very clearly not into him but needs his money to further her playwright career. Roman joins in with a jibe at dinner when Connor announces he's "taking the next step" (he and Willa are just moving in together) but when Connor doesn't get it, Roman merely offers a sincere "happy for ya, man" which Connor happily accepts.
While Kendall was already plotting to oust Logan, the breaking point in his defense of his father is clearly the moment Iverson gets slapped by the old man. He's openly furious in a way he never allows himself before.
After Roman suspects Kendall has been using again, he tricks him into revealing his location (promising to not come and get him) before immediately leaving to rescue him.
Kendall and Shiv prove they care about each other too, Shiv angry that her dad planted stories about Kendall being high after firing him, and Kendall calling Logan out on calling his daughter a coward until she cries.
After the awful of Logan threatening his daughter, Connor giving Kendall a hug and telling him he loves him is very sweet and very needed.
For how many times Stewy has fucked Kendall over, he’s willing in "Prague" to be even deeper into Waystar if it means his friend will just take the money and escape his abusive dad. Turns into a Tear Jerker when Kendall actually tries to follow that advice and get out two seasons later, but Logan tells him he’s not going anywhere.
On the eve of Shiv's wedding the siblings (except Connor) share a genuinely sweet hug. And even then, Shiv had planned for Connor to be there, showing that the siblings do care for each other.
Greg privately revealing to Kendall that he copied evidence of the cruise ship scandal. Kendall is momentarily stunned before quickly expressing his delight that "Greg the motherfucking Egg" is smarter than everyone thought. It's perhaps one of the only bits of respect Greg is ever given and, brown-nosing or not, Greg is clearly pleased that someone knows he’s not just a screw-up.
As horrifying and tragic as Kendall's Accidental Murder of the waiter is, the fact that he immediately tries to dive down and rescue him when they crash into the water shows that for how horrible a person he is, Kendall doesn't wish death on anyone, and genuinely wanted to save his life. As Roman later puts it in the Season 3 finale, Kendall's actions would almost be heroic were it not for him abandoning the car to try to save his own skin.
Kendall dancing with Rava and their kids at Shiv's wedding, especially when his daughter hugs him. Granted, it comes right after Kendall commits manslaughter, but it's still a sweet moment, and one of the few times we see Kendall get to be a dad.
Season 2
While they also call him out on being a self-interested narcissist who ruined the wedding, the confrontation in the first episode has Shiv and Roman worry about Kendall, even more when he's an Extreme Doormat who doesn't fight back, and tell him their father will use and discard him.
Shiv and Kendall share a sweet moment in “Vaulter”, she admitting she liked the company, and while she still can’t get him to admit what’s wrong, she at least gets a smile out of him.
Logan traps his inner circle into a vicious witch hunt to find out who spoke to biographer Michelle Pantsil, with seriously nasty consequences for whoever the culprit might be. It's Greg, of course, whose stupidity caused him to meet with Pantsil, a fact that only Tom knows. With Tom, Greg and Karl all down on their knees as Logan's "boar(s) on the floor", the self-serving and weaselly Tom manages to summon the courage to actually *protect* Greg, despite there being zero benefit to him whatsoever and the threat of further humiliation. It might be the most selfless thing Tom has done in the course of the show, and it was all for his hapless little buddy, Greg.
Gerri helping a hungover Roman do up his buttons after his humiliating dressing-down from Logan in "Hunting," showing that deep down she actually does care about him.
Shiv goes to confront Kendall about his subservience to their father, but on seeing his Broken Tears hugs and comforts him instead.
She appears to get his feeling about only existing for his dad's benefit, and gently asks if he wants to talk. He can't, but tearfully thanks her, and she curls her hand around his.
During the feared shooting at ATN, Logan is hurried to a saferoom and for once, he does actually seem to give a shit about his children. His immediate concern is to ask if Kendall's okay, and the hug he gives him when he appears seems genuine.
Shiv and Tom go to separate safe rooms, and despite their already very strained marriage, they're both mainly worried if the other is okay.
After Logan backhands Roman in "Argestes," Kendall immediately jumps to his defense, shouting at Logan to never touch him and then immediately going to check on him, as does Shiv. It goes to show the siblings really do want to protect each other, as Kendall stood up to Logan after episodes of humiliating subservience, and Shiv had been sparring with Roman just moments before.
This might be a more layered moment than it appears, too. It's been mentioned more than once that Logan has been physical with Roman before. Why this only seems to have been Roman, why it started and why it's stopped isn't clear. But Shiv mentions it, so it's not a secret amongst the family. But the fact it's not a sudden or new development and Kendall's specific wording raises questions about the history of abuse in the family.
In the otherwise awkward moment of Kendall anxious he’s going to interrupt his dad in a Primal Scene (probably not for the first time), he and Roman snark a little and Roman looks unironically pleased that his brother has some life in him for once this season.
While he still can't bring himself to confess what he did, Kendall is clearly distraught at meeting the waiter's family, and looks around the house to find childhood photos of the dead man. Later on, he secretly goes back to the house in the middle of the night and slips an envelope of cash through the mail slot. It's obviously no substitute for a beloved family member, but it's clear Kendall is trying to do something to make things better.
Roman repays Kendall in the second season finale, standing up for him when it's announced that he's taking the fall for the cruises scandal.
When they first see Roman back from the Hostage Situation, Shiv and Kendall make the usual shitty sibling jokes, but when he’s not in the mood for them, they sincerely apologise and check up on him.
During the cutthroat meeting in the season finale, where everyone seems to be trying to sacrifice everyone to save their own skins (even Shiv sells out her husband Tom), it's lazy, irresponsible Roman who comes to Gerri's defense, instinctively before he's come up with a plausible reason. (And though it takes him a couple seconds, he does come up with a reason and it's rock-solid.)
After being told Tom’s not happy being with her, Shiv begs her dad to not let Tom take the fall. Tom never finds about it, and it fucks over her chances to be CEO, so it's a What You Are in the Dark moment for her.
Shiv and Roman praise Kendall for the speech in DC, and when he’s ready for an insult about his drug addiction, it never comes, and they mean it sincerely.
Season 3
In 3.02, while he covers up with jokes and trashing him (but also bringing donuts he likes), Roman seems genuinely upset that Kendall was Obviously Not Fine and didn’t tell them how he was feeling. Shiv too, who also decided after humiliations from Lisa and her family, to go seek comfort from her big brother.
In "The Disruption", while it's a Tear Jerker that Roman couldn't muster up one happy memory with his father for an interview, he did use a story about how Connor took him fishing as a kid. The image of Connor acting as a great big brother to the otherwise neglected Roy kids really warms the heart.
In the same episode, Roman refuses to sign Shiv's letter exposing Kendall's mental illness because despite the fraught relationship between the two brothers, it makes Roman "unwell" to co-sign a statement openly revealing the depths of Kendall's mental illness and substance abuse and calling hopes for his recovery "misplaced." Because Kendall is still his big brother ("He taught me to aim my pee-pee in the toilet").
It’s ruined later of course, when they both kick each other, but when Shiv tries to tell Kendall they want the same thing, but she has to stay and fix the company, he does feel sorry for her, because she’s in his broken role from last year. She also accepts his apology for saying awful things to her last episode.
While they’ve been on the outs, and said party ends badly, Roman and Shiv come to Kendall’s birthday party and they all have hugs, with him being really happy they’re there. Shiv especially calls back to the hug in “Safe Room”, telling him to give her a hug before he starts weeping.
For all their disagreements, rivalries, vitriol, and betrayal, "All the Bells Say" features the Roy siblings sitting down and genuinely trying to connect with each other. Connor, Roman, and Shiv hold an (albeit disastrous) intervention for Kendall and, later on, Kendall manages to confess to his role in the waiter's death. While their attempts are clumsy, Shiv and Roman genuinely try to comfort Kendall and raise him from his depression. Through their support, Kendall manages to rise himself out of the dumps and the trio combine forces to take down their father. Even if the scheme ends in failure, the siblings finally discover the power in numbers and unity with each other.
Kendall admits that despite going about it very badly and a lot of spite and masochism involved, he still wanted to get himself and his younger siblings out from the toxic mess that is their family.
In the same episode, Connor calls out his younger siblings for sidelining him, especially when Shiv refers to Kendall as the "oldest son". Despite this, he reassures them that he still loves all of them, and the next day, he hugs Shiv and sincerely tells them that all is forgiven. Considering how disagreements with Logan tend to pan out, this scene is further proof that Connor is much more of a father to his younger siblings than his dad ever was.
Roman in particular is shown to have taken Connor's words to heart. When he, Shiv, and Kendall are on their way to confront Logan, Roman is the one who calls Connor from the car and clue him in to the plan. Even though the issue at hand applied only to the three of them, he still took the time to bring Connor into the fold so all the siblings would be on the same page.
The actors and creators all confirming/talking about how this is the first time since they were teenagers that the trio haven’t been their father’s attack dogs, and that Shiv is holding her brothers up while Kendall has no faith in parents anymore, but is there to comfort his younger siblings who have come to realise that too, only makes it better. Even if the unity doesn’t last, this was real.
Season 4
The opening scene of the season has a sweet little moment where Shiv greets Roman with a kiss on the cheek, and he responds with an air kiss. Despite there being the regular Roy sibling sniping, it's still nice to see them being genuinely affectionate.
The siblings reacting to Logan's death and trying their best to comfort each other is a genuinely heartwarming example of the people they could have been without Logan's toxic influence — and, despite that influence, can still be on occasion.
As scheming as he gets with Greg later, Tom is as gentle as he can trying to tell the siblings that Logan isn’t doing well and is probably not long for this world.
Connor and Willa's talk before the wedding ceremony shows how much their relationship has evolved: Connor apologizes for "stealing her away from the world" by having her move to New Mexico with him, and she admits that while the money was a major factor in her staying with him, she does care for him beyond that. They go on with the wedding, cheered on by a handful of remaining guests, and warmly embrace at the altar.
When Kerry breaks down in sobs at Logan's wake and is coldly turned away by Marcia, backed by an unsympathetic Greg, Roman of all people is remarkably kind to her, helping her gather her things when she drops them and promising to check to see if Logan said anything about her in his will. He's also apparently put off by how no one else came to help her.
Later in the series, when Connor is offered an ambassadorship in exchange to telling his voters to vote for the GOP candidate in the election and thus swinging it to them, he takes Willa's wishes to not live in the less-than-comfortable or stable countries he's been offered seriously and factors them into his decision. Admittedly, this is a pretty low bar to clear, but it's hard to imagine any of the other Roys putting someone else's wishes as equal to or above their own interests and ego-validation, even their own spouse.
Caroline, of all people, taking Kerry and one of Logan's other mistress Sally-Anne (whom Caroline's introduces as her "Kerry") to the front pew next to Marcia. If she's doing this out of spite, it's to spite Logan's spirit. At the same time, it's genuinely because she understands there is a solidarity between them as women who both suffered under Logan just as they loved him. Even after her bitterness, Marcia comforts Kerry.
Caroline looks genuinely saddened to see her son Roman break down and looks as if she doesn't know what to do.
Despite the awful things they’ve said to each other over the last few episodes, Tom seeks out Shiv to talk to her during the funeral reception. When he admits that between Logan dying and the election he hasn’t been sleeping, Shiv gently tells him to go back to their apartment to get some rest, implying that there may be hope for their relationship yet.
In the finale, as soon as Shiv realizes that her plan to be appointed as Waystar-Gojo CEO is ruined due to Mattson's scheming, her brothers drop whatever bickering they had prior and come together as one unit to try and collectively prevent Waystar from falling out of the family's hands. Shiv and Roman even come to terms with accepting Kendall as the sole unified CEO in an effort to present their side as strong as possible, and the rest of the evening is spent playfully "crowning" Ken with a midnight snack session in Caroline's kitchen. If Succession has shown nothing else, it is that in spite of the Roy children's own twisted natures in a chase to gain more power, they do care about each other above all else.
Whilst claiming Logan's belongings at the apartment, the trio find that Connor has put on a home video of a dinner party attended by Logan, Connor and a few of the old guard. It's a genuinely sweet video with Logan at his most human - calling for Karl to sing and Gerri to recite a funny poem, as if these are party tricks he's seen before and appreciates. The siblings all sit and watch in silence, enjoying this moment of sincerity from their dad and allowing themselves to truly miss him.
Doubles as Tearjerker, because the implication is that they've never seen this side of him.
In the same video, Kerry laughs and rests her head on Logan's shoulder, looking very comfortable and happy. She truly did love him.
In the finale, despite Greg's flip-flopping between sides to try to keep his job in the company, Tom reassures him that he will still have his job, and "claims" him with one of the stickers from the roll that Connor gave to those wanting to claim Logan's belongings; there is palpable relief on Greg's face as Tom sticks the purple circle on his forehead.
