HBO's Succession - Season 2 and Beyond

i was worried he was going off the Howard Hughes "way of the future" deep end for a second there

top. the show is not about who will take the iron throne, it's about these kids dealing w/deep trauma.

Oh wow, trishyb, I'm sure that's it! And definitely does look like what they attempted to replicate on short notice.

LOL

the kids had shitty childhood but they are definitively not dealing with it, and while its def a big part of the show i dont think thats really what its about or at least not entirely

Of course they’re dealing with it. They’re not dealing with it well. They’re dealing with it by developing drug problems/scheduling their crying/being unable to express conflict in a normal way.

im skeptical of trauma narrative and analysis it just feel reductive, biopic material, tho obvs yeah their relationship to their bad dad is extremely central, but theyre their own guys out here being terrible oligarchs too

the power grab stuff isn't the backstory exactly, it's just really informed by everything the kids are going through, every step of the way and with every relationship they have. which is why the show is such a deep well imo. so in that sense it's not exclusively about the trauma, but it's also infiltrating everywhere in their lives.

they're not automated bots, at the mercy of a pre programmed algorithm their dad activated obv

logan had a seemingly extreme rough childhood, and you could say then his various abuses of his children is the continuation of the circle of abuse, which on some level it absolutely is, but also the show is always kind of messing with you provoking you to think of the kids as victims while showing you that theyre definitively not, theres a lot of that sort of thing going on like on the other hand making you want their comeuppance which will never come because theyre untouchable

rubbing it in our faces that were all so habituated to consuming various familiar slop, and we deserve it lol

watching everyone jockey for power is definitely a large part of the show's entertainment value, even if the interpersonal stuff and the traumatic subtext is what elevates the show above its peers. i can't imagine having a real rooting interest for any of these goons, but i enjoy some of those power rankings (hunter harris's are the best) because these arbitrarily shifting dynamics are very important to the characters themselves

im sure ive said this a number of times but nothing has ever happened on the show the perceived power is meaningless, logan dying is the only real event

provoking you to think of the kids as victims while showing you that theyre definitively not

they are definitely victims, just victims with an incredible amount of power over nearly everyone in the world. i think the guiding theme behind succession is how these deep-seated personal issues become everybody's problem when you give them an unimaginable amount of money.

so yes, they're victims, but if you feel bad for them, you're the sucker

Connor probably is the healthiest somehow, his romantic relationship is weird and on some levels vv fake but she also actually seems to genuinely like him on some other levels.

his relationship w/Logan was healthier too, in the relative sense. Logan always seemed more dismissive and exasperated by him rather than outright contemptuous and in constant battle. and Connor clearly handled his passing a lot better, but he had learned to live without him already.

i think the guiding theme behind succession is how these deep-seated personal issues become everybody's problem when you give them an unimaginable amount of money.

― ludicrously capacious bag (voodoo chili), Tuesday, May 2, 2023 2:08 PM (nine seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

idk they never show the everyone whos problems theyve become obvs theyre implied but its almost always offscreen

i feel bad for the succession kids! they are trapped in hell

i do feel bad for them. i think the pull of the show is having some empathy for their situation, bc you can see exactly how it fucks them up every step of the way. and of course absolute power corrupts, unimaginable wealth corrupts. it doesn't make them, as currently presented, good people. the tragedy is maybe they could have been at one point (the slim hope is someday maybe they could be but...seems unlikely right)

actually the one time the show felt a bit out of character was the very last scene of the very first episode, taking us away from the corridors of Roy power and into the home of the family who was working at their softball game, the million dollar bet kid watching TV etc. but it did give a sense of where the creators are coming from; those people don't care about anyone but themselves.

theyre in hell voluntarily

one thing i really like about this show is that its not just a character study, not just a black box where the social stuff is incidental, i have on occasion intersected with the super wealthy and theres something that they just absolute nailed there, kendalls performance particularly, its not just a set for a psychological drama its trying to depict a real thing

theyre in hell voluntarily

― lag∞n, Tuesday, May 2, 2023 11:16 AM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

and they've also been surrounded by this hell for their entire lives, and it is thus their entire lives, and i don't think they have a conception of life without it idk, not even shiv who clearly(? maybe i'm wrong) attempted to defect

idk they never show the everyone whos problems theyve become obvs theyre implied but its almost always offscreen

Oh yeah, maybe nothing really happens or changes in the eye of the hurricane, but we know that these machinations are rippling out to become the rest of the world's problems.

it's like an abusive relationship, obviously you can just leave... but can you??? xp

"like"

Shiv was in one-foot-out-the-door defection/rebellious mode at the beginning of the show but then as soon as the power play long game started in earnest she was back in.

def, but i also wonder about that "bad place" she was in when she met tom

im sorry the kids are a sell for me i dont like them theyre not serious

its not just a set for a psychological drama its trying to depict a real thing

― lag∞n, Tuesday, May 2, 2023 2:20 PM (0 seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

but in a very stylized way where everyone talks like a high end insult comic, pretty cool

def, but i also wonder about that "bad place" she was in when she met tom

im sorry the kids are a sell for me i dont like them theyre not serious

― lag∞n, Tuesday, May 2, 2023 1:24 PM (seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

logan is right, they're not serious (logan...lagoon...hmm...), but their wealth makes it so people have to take them seriously. that's a big problem.

the poor numbers guy, he really was trying to warn Kendall

also idk but i think part of what makes the show compelling is the fact that these are people who are damaged in very human and touching ways, the awfulness is a symptom of the disease of their upbringing and their struggles with it, still trying to impress their awful and now-dead dad, chasing favor they'll never earn. i don't marvel at their pathetic-ness or evil, i want them to make it out of there somehow. a lesser show would just be a bit more gleeful at the prospect of their downfall, or reveling in sociopathic power grabs. it's a better show because while there's comedy to be mined from their amateurish endeavors and awkward interactions, it's ultimately not wholly mocking them or funneling them towards their deserved comeuppance. that's why for all its humor, it's a tragedy.

this, also whomever said Kendall gets quieter/goes inward instead of getting louder was otm

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/may/02/succession-20-greatest-characters-ranked

Stewy below the likes of Hugo and Kerry is ridiculous

what a silly article. gerri is a much better character than shiv and kendall, yes

Logan’s youngest, smartest child and only daughter is shrewd, shark-eyed and fatally underestimated.

Who's youngest, Shiv or Roman?

I thought Roman was youngest.

roman is middle i thought?

re: latest episode, every time the show makes kendall do a base jump onstage in front of an audience it's a miracle, you legit have no idea how it's going to go. jeremy strong is amazing.

Shiv is the youngest, that's why Logan called her pinky. Fourth child/fourth finger.

i thought it was cause shes pink in color

Pinkish would make more sense in that case

i thought pinky bc she’s a redhead

I love Kendall's faux tough guy stuff. "can pinky dance?"

It's been so long since the fact Kendall has children has in any way been acknowledged

They're almost like Chuck from Happy Days at this point

I wouldn't be surprised if he's not allowed to see them.

i do miss rava, the only normal person on the show

feel like in one of the previews we see rava in an episode later on in the season. . . Kendall runs into her and says "I'm doing huge things*"

*Mind cocaine

wonder how iverson is doing