HBO's Succession - Season 2 and Beyond

they couldve been on the call too

the Shiv/Tom argument was an all-time great scene, what a show. The writing but especially that acting.

I'm not comfortable making predictions about this show, because they so rarely come to pass. I'd like to think that they're not obviously telegraphing what's going to happen in the last three episodes.

I have no predictions besides the end of Hamlet ending where everyone dies or whatever. I don’t care about who wins, I just care that the ending makes sense.

I get how Greg ending up on top would be poetic, but I feel like it's now too late in the show's run for that ending to feel logical.

I actually hope for the worst ending for Greg. 😊

kendall ending up on the throne is consistent with the shows general fatalism

still rooting for everyone to end up in prison

I think Kendall will end up on the throne but at the cost of doing irreparable damage to his relationship with the siblings, thus becoming Logan. And perhaps with something going south with the company, leaving him with a pyrrhic victory.

I’m also leaning toward Greg having to fire Tom, thus finally reversing their relationship power dynamics. My partner wondered if Tom will kill himself, or at least, do something to blow up the deal/ATN as he goes down in flames.

I have never empathized with any character on this show more than Tom being extremely tired and kicking everyone out of the party.

I think Kendall will end up on the throne but at the cost of doing irreparable damage to his relationship with the siblings, thus becoming Logan.

Early the episode there was the crazy scene between Kendall and Rava. Irreparable damage to his kids probably forgone conclusion. Had to lol at Kendall saying he's doing it all for his kids as he walked away from Rava.

Yeah that was a brutal perspective on his recent "winning" streak.

Just to confirm - Tom still doesn't know that Shiv is pregnant, right?

Also for a show where food is usually not meant to be eaten or enjoyed (is it considered a running gag to keep meeting in fancy restaurants and then leaving in five minutes?), those miniature burgers with American flags looked pretty good, ngl.

Just to confirm - Tom still doesn't know that Shiv is pregnant, right?

― Random Restaurateur (Jordan), Monday, May 8, 2023 1:50 PM (five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

don't think so. there were some pointed barbs about her unsuitability for motherhood that even an angry tom probably might not have said if he'd known

those lines came off as especially cruel

Nate looks like a grown-up brother of Fred Savage, a lost Savage, a Brendan Savage

My partner wondered if Tom will kill himself, or at least, do something to blow up the deal/ATN as he goes down in flames.

I did briefly think Tom might jump off that balcony last night.

Probably out of character but they had been hammering home how tired he was, he was expecting to get "shitcanned" in the morning and then Shiv's cutting barbs on top might
have pushed him over the edge.

haven’t seen the latest ep yet just wanted to say that my read of karl’s power play on kendall last ep was that he successfully prevented kendall from saying the big numbers, but that didn’t stop the logan roy edit/deepfake of doubling earnings. but karl’s like, this old guy who probably doesn’t even know what a deepfake is, when he sees that clip he’s probably thinking oh, maybe logan really did approve of these revised projections, would make sense as he alludes to all the times logan bent him over backwards when talking with kendall.

gotta say, all the corporate hijinx about boards and tanking the deal kind of stretch credulity but i’ll let it slide

feel like roman’s humiliation fetish is spotlit too much tho, they need to dial that back

― 龜, Monday, 8 May 2023 16:19 (three hours ago) link

dont agree with this interpretation at all. Karl is *not* the voice of reason who gets kendall to dial it back -- he's part of the trick the show plays on *the audience*, where you're set up to think that Karl is the adult in the room / trustworthy authority figure and Kendall is losing it. But in fact, Karl was wrong and Kendall was *right*. We take the side of Roman, Shiv, Karl, everyone who thinks Kendall is going off and being a dork again, and despite that, he trusts his own vision *and it works.* He is going off the fake numbers, but if you can sell people on the vision the numbers will be there.

its the same logic around AI -- will AI be our future? well, when people invest billions of dollars in it, it will be, because so many resources are going towards it. Whether or not it actually would be without that investment doesn't really matter.

isn't that the whole thing with GoJo, but it's fake Indian money and Matsson's vision "works?"

I wear google glass to my theranos job because investment alone makes the future

let's not quibi

greg is the only character that takes me out of the show. way too goofy. why is he even there?

he is cousin greg

he looks like he cares, but he really doesn't

I felt weirdly proud of Connor for eventually refusing to concede.

i like connor and his hooker wife

Yeah I think Willa has been the most triumphant character of the season on the whole! Unlike anyone else she seems to have transcended her fucked-up family and figured out what she wants and how to have it in a way that makes her happy and doesn't fuck over other people.

isn't that the whole thing with GoJo, but it's fake Indian money and Matsson's vision "works?"

― mh, Monday, 8 May 2023 20:41 (yesterday) link

Well yes, exactly the same — if he was able to sell people on the fake numbers and the buyout went through, he would have pulled it off. But if other people find out about it and make hay about it, that becomes less likely

I wear google glass to my theranos job because investment alone makes the future

― Enumerated funks of Walsh, Joe. (Sufjan Grafton), Monday, May 8, 2023 4:22 PM (seven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

You say this like it’s contradicting my point when it’s supporting it. Living + isn’t Google glass because people actually seem to believe in it, but because “the financials were right”

*not because “the financials were right”

Google glass not the best example, but there are cases, as in theranos, where the tech or idea is fundamentally snake oil. Billions and belief cannot make such cases "our future".

"is the compound above ground?!" an incredible moment

that whole scene where connor is negotiating his ambassadorship was amazing

my prediction is that greg is going to have a major downfall of some kind. the show obviously believes that power corrupts, and greg is the one character who started with absolutely no power and has gained power and become more evil through the show. so probably at the end he's going to be in an even higher position of power but there will also be some evidence of his future destruction, idk. i don't really like trying to guess what's going to happen.

when matsson said “I’m about to take a shit in your husband’s mouth and I’m pretty sure he’s gonna tell me it tastes like coq au vin," the closed captions had it as "coconut."

greg's going to fire tom

that would make sense. but the show has done a good job of avoiding the obvious moves so far, so i hope to be surprised. like i guess this was the election episode? i wonder if we'll see mencken again at all (though i noticed that justin kirk was in the closing credits, maybe just because his image was on the election map at the party)

ha i heard it as coconut

i watched the preview and next week looks like it's all in the ATN studios and is during election eve

shiv's instinct for self-immolation right when she's on the cusp of getting everything she wants is truly something to behold. she has mattson in the palm of her hand, he tells her she can have "anything".. does she say "keep tom at ATN and give me 80 zillion dollars?" fuck no, a) she literally never thinks about tom and b) that would be too easy. she says something like "i'm shit hot and i'm ready to go". okay tom cruise. suddenly the mood shifts. mattson's like, who is this dingdong. she had him. she had him right. there!

she’s not as smart as she thinks she is

Oh right...was she implying that she wants executive-level position in that moment? And it seemed like that's not what he was planning on. That's how I took that scene anyway. But why else would she have been working as his agent this whole time, just because she wanted the deal to go through?

Pretty sure Justin Kirk was in the "this season on Succession" preview at the end of episode 1.

i think the issue is that she is not asking for anything specific. it kind of seems like she doesn't know what she wants.

compare with gerri who was very specific about what she wants and what the consequences will be if she doesn't get it

Agreed. I think he might have been amenable to a specific pitch or negotiation, but that's not what she gave him, which makes him doubt her usefulness.

Good point, that has been the whole theme of her character after all.

xp

I read it as she wants to be his number two. She would really like to be CEO, because the brothers wouldn't let her do that, but I guess Mattson is going to do that? She did say "I've got the name..." It hadn't occurred to me that this was him saying "I won't fire your husband if you just ask me not to."

well he said she could ask for anything, he put the ball in her court, and she had... nothing. betraying her brothers for nothing!

shiv doesnt understand how the business works and everyones been telling her that the whole time and she doesnt listen

I don't know that Shiv yet has the leverage to get what she wants from Mattson. She's keeping him in the game. She's done enough already to save Tom's neck, but that's not what she's after. If she took it, Mattson would have something over her. Instead she's holding out for more, and it's fucked her relationship with Tom.

I think she's perhaps fucking up her life, but I'm not certain she doesn't know what she wants and how to get it. Maybe.