HBO's Succession - Season 2 and Beyond

In particular, I got my wish on this and am glad

What I want to happen is for the election to recede into the background for the rest of the show because, like so many other things that seemed momentarily of import, the Roys don't actually care about it. Like, there will be a couple of lines of dialogue in one of the final two episodes where somebody mentions that a court ordered a revote and Jimenez won.

What I don't want is for the show to end on Roys Realize Too Late That They Ruined America And Are Bad

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Tuesday, May 16, 2023 2:23 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

It’s kind of poetic that the final scene of substance in this show had

- Kendal lying about the killing
- Roman taking potshots about adoption/sperm donors
- Shiv realizing that her gung-ho attitude was generated by her desire to be shitty to Tom

Definitely made me feel content to consign these shitheads to my mental trash folder, thank you writers!

I can't comprehend finding these characters hard to identify with!

this was the right ending despite a couple of false notes

For fun, shall we?

Winners based on how much they got what they wanted: Logan > Mattson > Tom = Shiv > Greg > Rome > Ken.

And then there's Con going to Slovakia while Willa gets her luxury condo.... maybe Willa was the winner after all?

Def implied that Mencken is gonna lose.

Just saw an article mention ken and roman's hug as a sweet brotherly embrace. Wasn't there more to it? I thought ken purposely squeezed roman's head to open up the wound to deflate roman's idea that he looked good and it could have been him.

I saw it the way you saw it.

yeah same

yeah not sure what that article was thinking

I thought Rome’s smile as he sat at the bar implied he was happy all the Waystar shit was going to be over for him and the Roys. He couldn’t vote yes to the deal himself or admit to Ken he wanted out. I think Rome was a winner. Only Ken looks devastated at the outcome.

Tremendous finale. It felt like 10 episodes; all the character arcs replayed at high speed.

Re hug - I also got a sense that Roman was deliberately mashing his injury into Ken’s shoulder, felt in keeping with his love/pain vibes

Fuck can’t believe it’s over, what a ride

Yeah, it seemed like Rome was leaning into it, not that Ken was forcing it (while obviously letting it happen)

xps yeah i do think Roman came out of this kinda okay - like obv fucked up but glad to be out of it for sure

what happened to Pearce Media in all this - weren’t they committed to buy? felt that thread just disappeared

this episode combined all the elements about the show that i loved; having it bring the siblings together, seeing them share time alone together in a fun/stupid/affectionate way; of course having them completely fracture apart publicly; plus the tom & shiv seam running through the whole center — yeah i don’t think i could have asked for a better finale to give me those deep character moments you really want

roman with Peter’s Cheese though
my god that was funny af

The scene with Tom and Shiv at the end. The way he turns his hand - it’s like a dagger. I definitely saw that as a tragic blow to Shiv

this really was a show about what bad parenting can do, even with money.

omg the non-clasping of hands was genius

her hand just rests in his open palm like a dead fish, like an offering

and she’s just there, now being “received” so passively by Tom, the king and you know how much he is going to wring out of this now, and how much this will fuel her

it felt suitably terrible & i loved it

the clip of logan at dinner was really lovely

ugh i loved that so much

What I loved about the dinner clip was clearly Connor, the kid the other three considered an also-ran to the throne, pushed aside in their quest for power, the one who felt unloved and exiled, was so comfortable and at ease with Logan at that moment, and the others didn't have that.

At least we never saw it

otm

god what a finale

roman saying “we’re all bullshit” my favorite character ever

ken ends up basically where he was at the start of the show—undermined, no one having any confidence in him at all—which feels very right

such an incredible unravelling, right before your eyes in real time

this was the right ending despite a couple of false notes

Tom “fits easily into whatever pattern is successful”. I think the ending suggests permanence but who knows, he’s shown enough desperation to push through that the siblings just didn’t have because of their inability to put their own shit aside for even five minutes.

Kendall becoming unkempt right at the death and staring out at the water with its suggestion of submerging and never returning is GREAT.

Some other things I liked:

- -Jerk dungeon and he’s been pity-spanked
- Shiv basically calling Tom an inanimate carbon rod lmao (I mean she isn’t wrong but that’s why Matsson chose him, he’s a tool and he knows it)
- Czechoslovakia it
- “You don’t like to fail a test do you Siobhan” basically all the Tom/Shiv moments in this are great
- Roman wanting Shiv but not Kendall to come to him, later on Kendall hugs Roman and literally reopens his wound while doing so, I love how they are written, what a clown car of fuckups
- 200k Greg
- The Hundred reference!
- Creamy margins & the Living + pitch, somehow this managed to only be the second funniest scene in Caroline’s place
- Roman imitating Kendall after an unsuccessful murder attempt was incredible, and yet only the second best Roy impression this episode
- Meal fit for a king
- Freeze the knobbies
- The scent of the siblings in the kitchen is great. Easily one of my favourite scenes in the whole show ever. They go from serious and contemplative in the ocean to larking around like kids and it wasn’t enough because they lost that bond between them in pursuit of fuckery. I laughed so much when Caroline came down to tell them to be quiet and when Roman was licking the cheese, it reminded me very much of me and all my own siblings when we are all in the same place at the same time and revert to kid stuff. It was one of the realest scenes in the whole show and I’m so happy we got to see it.
- Willa’s cowprint couch
- SILENCE IN THE COURTYARD - is this something kids say in America? This is a school type chant that you’d say as a child, as I learned it, we did it as:

Silence in the courtyard, silence in the street
The biggest fool in Ireland is just about to speak
Speak, fool, speak
Speak after me

Tom in control of Shiv at the end. This reminded me of the repeated hints we’ve got this season that Tom targeted Shiv in her weakest moments, even when they first got together, and that he is happiest when she’s pliable. It was ice-cold.

I will be thinking about this ending for a while. Felt narratively satisfying.

Oh and eephus you deserve a shoutout for correctly flagging exactly how the election plotline would play out. After a few episodes of the biggest picture, the show zoomed right back in again and showed us everyone’s pores and wrinkles in the highest definition. It was classic.

The misogyny towards Shiv was real in this episode.

Matsson is bothered by the puppet cartoon.
He tells Tom straight up he wants to fuck Shiv, and we already know he’s compromised himself by shitting where he eats at least once.
Kind of crazy that she ends up extremely rich but the show tells us explicitly she is subordinate to her husband, who is a guy in a suit who could be (and lbr, will be) fired at any time.

I think I wrote before I didn’t care for the whole pregnancy subplot but it made perhaps somewhat sense that she would be drawn back towards Tom because of it.

Also, Roman just casually bludgeoning Kendall with Logan’s comments about his children was incredibly cold. And I think it touched a nerve with him, because we’ve never really seen Kendall give a fuck about his children, even when their wellbeing is threatened by his own actions. Bleak!

Final shot of Roman, at a bar in a nice place with a great looking martini, bruised and bloody but still breathing. Made me think about some earlier line of Tom’s about how the Roy kids would always be ok, and that’s it.

I was only sorry Greg wasn't totally fucked, but that is, as I have pointed out before, my animosity towards the actor. Obviously it's in keeping for Greg to remain as Tom's pain sponge and so it's pain sponges all the way down.

I think he seemed pretty fucked, basically as you say

the disgusting brothers are the one true family

Good ending. The most objectively plausible of the possible outcomes. Loved Peter and his pal trying to pitch the kids on their scheme. More substantively, I liked Shiv’s complex motives for changing her vote (again) — yes, jealousy, and bound up with stuff with their dad, but also fundamentally she just knows Ken’s a lightweight try-hard who is always ultimately gonna mess up. And she also thinks Tom is actually competent.

Mostly I think she did everyone a favor, probably including Ken. They all just walk away rich.

Plus she has to reckon she can exert some influence over Tom, even if it's only on small things. So she still has some voice at the company.

Loved Peter and his pal trying to pitch the kids on their scheme.

I love how their mother is so awful that she would set up that whole trip just so her husband's rubbish friend could pitch her kids, and when Roman shows up in bits, she sees this as her way to get the other two to agree to come. She is the absolute worst.

He lives in Monaco, he has to be careful about his days!!!

Meanwhile poor Colin, reduced to trailing around after the failson. Maybe we can imagine a future blackmail scheme where he threatens to out Kendall over the dead waiter.

Kendall with his feet on Logan's desk, cosplaying daddy, pushed Shiv over the edge.

i did not take shiv’s decision as having much, if anything to do with tom. she decided she preferred everyone losing over kendall winning.

Shiv made the choice that benefited her, sure she’s personally unhappy but she’s near to the centre of power now, so.

not seeing a real great future for their relationship with the power dynamic permanently flipped but yes she can tell herself for now that she didn’t lose

shivs motivations are pretty murky, seems like she had a strong i cant do this moment in the board room, mightve not been strategic or thought out at all, maybe just didnt feel right, so shes like i need a moment to gather my thoughts, and kendall follows her and totally validates what her gut was telling her

What do y'all think peter's friend's pitch was?

not seeing a real great future for their relationship with the power dynamic permanently flipped but yes she can tell herself for now that she didn’t lose

Siobhan, do you remember when we first, uh, knew one another? The first time in France when I flew to you? And it was that very difficult time for you. And I'd sent you... all those handwritten notes. And then the first time that you were wearing that very... fine silk shirt. And I put my arm around you. I said, I kept asking, "Do you like this? Do you like this?" And you said, eventually, "I like it all."

tom genuine feeling towards expensive things, a fine silk shirt, is such a good lil detail

kendall down by the river thinking about how if shiv was first to vote maybe he wins

What do y'all think peter's friend's pitch was?

from what i could tell it was something about care homes of not-great quality?

We snuck off on the middle of the afternoon to watch this. fantastic ending, so glad we got a bit of time with Caroline "hearty fare, small rations" or whatever it was. Don't think Shiv ever anticipated having the deciding vote - it was delicious to see. Kendall absolutely screwing it for himself with her, he's fundamentally awful and deluded to the end.

Half worried we'd see either Ken get food poisoning with that concoction, or see his body falling past the boardroom at that final signing. Glad it didn't go there.

hadn't really thought about it before but Rome being a dick highlighted it - Shiv's baby/ies will be the only blood succession line to Logan.

would've loved more Gerri tho