HBO's Succession - Season 2 and Beyond

lol it has always been about republican politics

hard disagree

Feel like now Greg won't inherit and has lost all leverage with his grandpa, why would the Roys still have him hanging around? Why don't they just ditch him? I mean, he's still great comedic value but from a plot perspective, he doesn't seem to have a point anymore.

hbo official podcast had a wild guest this week; anthony scaramucci.

it seemed like it was more of a let’s see what happens than anything

he talked about this wk’s episode (sort of, when he wasn’t aggrandizing himself lol) and it was as bizarrely unhinged as you would expect - within the first minute he desribes the presidential candidacy process as “thoroughbredding” detailing how a donor’s sperm fertilizes a candidate’s egg etc etc and my soul literally shriveled and left my body through the floor

he also loves the word “apotheosis” & hates shiv (likened her to Elektra) in a way that is depressingly revealing & predictable
._.

Feel like now Greg won't inherit and has lost all leverage with his grandpa, why would the Roys still have him hanging around?

During the scene of the family picking a candidate, there were a few odd shots that focused on Greg when he wasn’t at all the focus of the scene.

logan occasionally likes to hear the everyman’ point of view and greg is as close to an everyman as it gets in the roy orbit

agh there are only 9 eps this season!

Feel like now Greg won't inherit and has lost all leverage with his grandpa, why would the Roys still have him hanging around? Why don't they just ditch him? I mean, he's still great comedic value but from a plot perspective, he doesn't seem to have a point anymore.

I think it's partly because he is expendable to them. Kendall's mistake is telling him he intends to burn him, which just pushes him further over onto Logan's side. Logan probably intends to burn him as well, but he isn't going to tell him that.

gregs appeal to logan all along has prob just been to needle his brother

this episode felt particularly nasty and venomous. i don't mind this show when its rich people eating each other but it gets a bit nauseating when it reminds us we are essentially beneath their notice.

sexual tension with roman and hitler youth guy was partic icky.

shit was dark

not dissimilar to the final season of veep, honestly

This episode provided something beyond the recent weeks of glacial brinkmanship that was taking up way too much time imo

I mean, shit is dark. This episode was the first time I felt unsettled by how real it felt to watch these assholes dictate politics.

I mean, it's one think to joke about his pull over "the raisin", but watching them actually court fascists set a different tone.

"thing", thanks autocorrect

that was a very good tom episode

maybe kendall will kill someone at this wedding too

it's a runner that every other season kendall kills someone at a lavish destination wedding

man his birthday party is gonna be off the chain. like when he did his Daddy rap but 10,000 times worse

This episode was the first time I felt unsettled by how real it felt to watch these assholes dictate politics.

Especially when they contrasted it with the trips to Tom's Diner, where the people who will be affected by all this eat their meals, and the atmosphere seemed friendly and low-key.

lol eating dinner food to prepare for prison, they didnt like it!

camel’s labia

I bet that diner was great too. I was thinking a lot about the food, it seems like a majority of their meals are probably wedding dinners more or less, ie bland catered affairs? Logan's salad in one of the eps was very bleak.

I dunno last time I had diner food it was bad. (Wayyyy overcooked scrambled eggs) Totally here for diner food but it can be hit or miss.

Greg is far from an everyman though? He's so obnoxiously out of touch with reality, he acts like a big baby and asks the most stoopid questions. The rest of the family seem much more in touch with the beat of the street?

Is Tom the only one of them who actually likes the finer things that their money should be buying them? I think the dinner with Greg where he made him eat ortolan and drink stupid gold stuff is the only time I've ever seen anyone enjoy a meal in this programme. Usually they're throwing everything out.

Tom was enjoying the display of them being in the position to eat it/ being in the VIP section etc but I don't think he was getting any actual pleasure from eating the food, experiencing the music etc

maybe tom appreciates the finer things cause he didnt grow up with them, tho trying to recall whats been said about his background hes from the midwest right, kendall said hes from away or whatever in the last ep trying to big time him lol didnt work

St Paul, I think, is where Tom is from

do we know anything about his class/cultural affiliations, seems like he grew up well off but not roy rich

I don't know that we know for sure, I always assumed upper middle class - like nowhere near in the league or the Roys, but probably considered "rich" by whatever city/town he's from standards.

there are references to his mother being a bigtime lawyer… in St Paul

ah yeah that's right!!!

i kinda love Tom's story this season, like a lot, probably my favorite

i kinda love Tom's story this season, like a lot, probably my favorite

dang i must like it a lot

agreed, and matthew macfayden has always been good but it feels like he's really working hard for his emmy this year

shiv having no interpersonal skills and not caring about tom going to prison is pretty rough

her impassive “why are you still talking about this” was such a gut punch. But also such a Roy thing, like they all have that innate sociopathic view of everyone who’s NOT them, like Kendall with Greg, “theres no he said she said” ie “stfu we’re burning you stop whining”, Roman in the baseball game stiffing the kid, or Logan’s boar on the floor which is the ultimate metaphor

Tom was enjoying the display of them being in the position to eat it/ being in the VIP section etc but I don't think he was getting any actual pleasure from eating the food, experiencing the music etc

Oh, you're right, that's true.

msot commentary on this show rightly points out that every time the roys are in a place where they're surrounded by opulence and comfort, they seem to find no enjoyment in it whatsoever

"this is water"

What a murky episode, douche levels have been turned up so much this season, great comments above... 'Greg window, minimised' was my fav quip, his eternal family position. Really loving Tom's story line, McFadyen bringing some beaut traumatised faces and gestures....he not going to end it all, is he?? His takedown of Kendall was some brutalised yet calm shizz. Roman as fashist sympathiser rather than just the joker, as mentioned above, is a great reminder about his character. Every time I see him now, I can't help think about the whole 'accelerating the space launch and causing a disaster' story he obviously, as a Roy, just completely moves on from without a second glance. I enjoy the lofty distance they occupy, away from all the 'real' carnage their business practices and personal whims create, it tells the story about the insulating effect of extreme wealth with such economy. Give 'em a break, eh,I mean, they've got presidents to choose...

I liked this Slate article:

The show has been stuck in low-stakes reshufflings for two and a half seasons now. The plot—will the Roys lose some control of their company?—is fundamentally and amusingly frivolous. Billionaires can’t meaningfully lose, so these shifts function as proxy battles for more interesting questions about ego and childhood trauma and hubris and mortality. The fate of Waystar–Royco, as a fictional corporate juggernaut, is little more than a MacGuffin.

But “What It Takes” introduces something Succession has (in its capacity as a sitcom, anyway) studiously avoided: stakes that extend beyond its hermetic corporate world.

Tiny, tiny, subatomic-sized violins: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/22/therapist-super-rich-succession-billionaires

Thanks for sharing. I can see how it could be hard to find sympathy for real-life versions of the Roys but I can honestly say that I can't think of a billionaire who I'd want to swap places with

I also can't think of a single character in the show whose life I would want. None of them seemed happy or satisfied with their lives, even before the legal problems

if someone is unhappy being a billionaire, it would be pretty easy for them to not be one anymore

I also can't think of a single character in the show whose life I would want. None of them seemed happy or satisfied with their lives, even before the legal problems

idk Adrien Brody's character seemed liked he had stuff pretty figured out

honestly, connor doesn't seem too troubled by his lot in life. he's a nationally-ridiculed buffoon, but he has no self awareness, so why should he care?