HBO's Succession - Season 2 and Beyond

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
Top 77 Television and Streaming Video Series of 2019

those are great takes, vg. the brilliance of the show is in finding and shining a light on the remaining slivers of humanity and vulnerability in the characters. it's tough for me to imagine the next time i'll like a show this much.

i heard an interview w Alan Ruck on the succession podcast, and he had the greatest take on Connor

he said Connor doesnt read anything new that forces him to form an opinion. he would read old works of literature like Marcel Proust’s “Remembrance of Things Past”, works are already accepted by others as being great, so he doesnt have to decide or do the work.

I found this highly amusing & otm

https://i.imgur.com/6JJrC0k.jpg

lmao accurate

lol

Okay, I haven't read the entire thread here, since I still have the last two episodes of Season 2 to watch, but I'm really surprised by how much I'm enjoying this. In a show full of embarrassing people doing awful things, Kendall's rap was amazingly awful. I kind of want a sitcom spin-off with Tom and Greg as roommates.

And for all of Roman's great lines, I don't know why this one killed me:

https://64.media.tumblr.com/71e62b7ea5c46fb1c4e0c51131c52b3a/58cdc6427a781182-19/s500x750/b8bfd6be753fb09d68fcca84cb1ba80ba928959c.jpg

"Excuse me, what are Greg sprinkles?"

Also, loved this little exchange:

Shiv: This. Oh. So you've been stewing on that?

Tom: Why yes, I have been stewing on it.

Kendall's rap was amazingly awful

The best part was you could see the cut to Greg being really into it a mile away but when they actually did it still paid in full.

otm!