HBO's Succession - Season 2 and Beyond

I finally got around to watching this show. holy fuck, so good.

The idea that anyone thinks Logan and Kendall colluded in thge last episode is absurd for all the reasons that vox article lays out; people are ruined by other TV shows I guess. This show is more like Mad Men than Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad.

The masterstroke of this show is that it can make me feel sympathy for completely loathsome people. Fuck, even Tom is sympathetic in that last episode. I'm quite glad Kendall did what he did though. He's the only person I'm rooting for and the only person who probably actually has a soul.

https://ew.com/tv/2019/12/11/succession-cast-entertainers-of-the-year/

CULKIN: There are some funny fan theories [about the finale]. I’ve been taking general [business] meetings and finding out halfway through, “Oh, the only reason why you wanted to take this meeting is so you can geek out about the show and give me your fan theory.” I had this one meeting where the guy had friends who had a fan theory that he thought was bulls—. When he told me [their theory], I said, “Yeah, that’s bulls—.” He goes, “Do you mind if I take a video of you saying it’s bulls—?” So I took a video of me saying it’s bulls—, and when I left I was like, “Oh, I feel like such a whore.” His theory was that all the kids were in on Kendall’s decision.

Forgive the thread spam, but I wanted to note that this show's 2019 season is nominated in the 2019 ILX TV poll:

ILX's Best Television of 2019 Poll / VOTING AND CAMPAIGNING THREAD / Voting Ends January 31

If you like this show and you'd like to see it have a good showing in the poll (running in February) all you need to do is submit a ballot including it and your other favorites (4 minimum, 25 maximum, organized by your favorite to least favorite) to forksclovetofu at gmail by end of day today. It'll take five minutes; get to it!

Finally got around to binging this. Great finale. Honestly they could end the show right there if they wanted to.

The wayward son finally learning that he can only earn his father’s respect by becoming his enemy...that’s such a satisfying trajectory.

Same here - finally binged watch this whole series over the last couple of weeks. So so good. Amazing pacing, each episode seems to end on the sweetest of mic drops.
Curious about Greg's narrative arc in all this - did he turn because of his moral queasiness and/or granpa Ewan's threats? Or did he just realise that he was destined to remain expandable Greg sprinkles?

Greg.ory, please.

Curious about Greg's narrative arc in all this - did he turn because of his moral queasiness and/or granpa Ewan's threats? Or did he just realise that he was destined to remain expandable Greg sprinkles?

― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Tuesday, February 11, 2020 3:37 AM (seven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

a combination, i think, plus some affection for kendall, the only roy who treats him kinda like a person.

Greg may turn out to be the secret protagonist.

i ran through both seasons of this as my first dedicated quarantine watch and i'd just like to echo a vital post above...

sails out, nails out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1kjQOrVL5c

https://open.spotify.com/album/74qSRQ7rIF8OrHAK5UptdA

Beats ghostwritten for his boy DJ Squiggle.

Maaaaan
I just watched the whole thing
It is so good, I actually want to watch it all again so I can memorise it all

I would love to see how the writing process for this show works. It's so tight and so much not said/shown/seen yet really coherent. How do you decide the Congress hearing is where you decide to drop in the amazing Tomlette/Gregs line?

Also:
-"Why is Greg here?"
-"I always ask that."

Greg could've been such a one-note character but he is great. Sneaky little dork.

This show has kinda ruined TV for me. It’s so fucking good.

can’t remember which tv critic it was, either MZS or alan sepinwall, who said Greg is basically George W Bush: seems totally clueless and out of his depth but actually really crafty and self-serving. he’s going to end up on top for sure.

Yeah, Greg is great. Borderline insufferable but still on the right side of the line. As I think I already said upthread, he makes such a fantastic comedy duo with Tom.

Not seen this discussed too much, but I'm a big fan of Peep Show and imo loads of the lines stand out to me as ones that could be Peep Show lines. (Maybe more in s1, or perhaps at that point PS was more familiar to me than the Succession characters, who take a little while to 'get')? E.g. 'That's not very weddingy' vs 'That wasn't very Christmassy'. Most of the stuff Tom and Greg say (the doggy bags not being pre-pooped, etc). This is no criticism btw, it's a great next development for people like me craving the next 'white toast is the treat' -style insight into peoples' psyches.

Oh apparently I missed a reference to 'Stefan Strauss' in Succession - disappointed in myself *adopts permanent Kendall face*

Interesting article: https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/reviews-recommendations/tv/succession-jesse-armstrong-hbo-brian-cox

"You don’t hear much about syphilis these days. Very much the MySpace of STDs" another line you'd totally hear from Mark Corrigan.

I've said it before, Greg is the secret protagonist.

Yep

I don't remember the first ep of S1 but isn't Greg the first character that we meet/follow ?

i think given the opening of the series it is BEYOND OBVIOUS that the plan is for greg to end up running the company

I thought that but Season 2 focused quite heavily on humanising Roman, particularly the sexual abuse subtext, and embedding the idea that he's smart enough to do it if he grew up and applied himself properly. Greg's machiavelianism feels heavily telegraphed which makes me think it isn't going to be him after all.

The other weird thing about Greg's character is that in contrast with everyone else on the show he appears to have zero interest in sex.

He's basically a 10yo (very tall) dorky kid.

Greg is the Candide character, we can't focus on him for too long because he's only barely there. He does seem fated to Chauncey Gardener his way to the top though.

I find it excruciating that S03 has been delayed and live in fear that the castmembers will no longer be available when filming is set to resume

I haven't seen Peep Show but many of the zingiest lines in Succession seem to come straight out of The Thick of It, so Armstrong clearly has that identifiable style.

Watch Peep Show!

I see Greg as more of a secret antagonist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wU_Fom02PIw

I caught season 2 before season 1 which was dumb but two things from s1 I don't think were mentioned itt - Tom walking in on Shiv wrestling Roman and doing an immediate 180 was a fantastic made for GIF moment and later when they all go to Conor's ranch both Conor and Roman make this sheepish 'hi...' at Karolina implying they both have some probably-not-good past with her but no more is made of it. Roman watching the satellite blow up in the bathroom at the wedding also so good.

I just binged both seasons in less than a week and I feel like i want to cry / eat lobster / snort rails of coke / fly in a helicopter


- kendall ie jeremy strong fuck that dude kills me with his acting so amazing just jaw on the floor

all the intersibling/familial history stuff is so good & well acted/written

- all the shared moments between the siblings are gold & so real. those “are you ok. no really” moments of protectiveness/love in such a love-starved family are so good.

- same vein: when logan backhanded roman & kendall sprang at him DONT YOU TOUCH HIM felt very true to life w abusive parents etc. theyve clearly been through some awful shit (the story shiv tells of logan beating roman for 5 minutes because he ordered the lobster at a restaurant when they were kids)

- kendall wanting to come clean to his Mum when she’s clearly never been that for him (or any of them) & she uncomfortably puts him off & then fully peaces out the next morning to avoid it completely. Just gutting. you see the kid & the adult simultaneously in his face but also it is so obvious on that moment that he’s so broken that he cant stop doing it to himself

also

my fav scene in the whole show😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭#SuccessionHBO pic.twitter.com/uIqS6d4yOa

— Ken △⃒⃘dams (@_Abudejain) August 28, 2020

yay Veg!

- kendall ie jeremy strong fuck that dude kills me with his acting so amazing just jaw on the floor

a million times this

I've finally persuaded my husband to watch it, so I'm watching it with him (sacrifices!). We've just watched one of my favourite episodes of season one, where Tom takes Greg out for the evening to show him how great it is to be rich, and it's not really that great because they are separated from everybody else. This is definitely one of those shows that improves on a rewatch because you know what's coming. All those great and scary things you talk about, for example.

season 3 when

There might be a few things getting in the way of filming right now.

That should do a special zoom episode.

they really shouldn't

Sarah Snook has been stuck living on a friend's sofa in a Melbourne flat for six months. Even if HBO were able to film her with a drone during the one permitted outside hour of exercise per day, she's not going to have Shiv"s requisite hair & makeup.

Well I assume the scripts will be pretty tight by the time they get to filming at least.

guys i feel so lost what the fuck do i even watch now. i almost want to drag my tv out into the street, what good is it anymore honestly

I have not watched all of TV but I feel confident in saying this is the best thing on TV.

They should really do a zoom special.

Sorry, Microsoft Teams.

On the plus side, I feel this is one show which could actually weave the covid crisis into its storylines in a satisfying way.

Armstrong has said he has no intention of doing pandemic storylines iirc

(presumably they'd have to throw out his entire plan for S3 and any further future for the show to do so - but if there's no plan beyond S3 yet, I reckon it would indeed provide great potential plot directions once we have some idea what society will look like beyond this)

obvs veg is being hyperbolic but for those who have not yet read the thread
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