HBO's Succession - Season 2 and Beyond

Yeah Matsson’s kill list is presumably still active.

lol no I am not reading about real-life Roys, jesus

“Succession” — the show charting the relentless infighting, deceit and unhappiness across generations of the powerful Roy family — may be over. These challenges, however, remain very real for the ultrarich and their heirs, mental health professionals say.https://t.co/jmkoqSplNx

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) May 31, 2023

won't someone please think of the ultrarich

when Ken gets up to the railings in Battery Park it suddenly it feels as if he's not on solid land but a boat, it all feels like it's lurching, the waves look choppy.. v unsettling

in the nyt interview with Jeremy Strong he said he actually attempted to climb over that railing with the intention of going into the water but the actor who played his bodyguard stopped him

reading about that guy's m.o., i'm guessing he insisted on drinking the garbage plus saliva smoothie instead of swapping out with a stunt smoothie.

yes he did

this is a good interview

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/30/arts/television/succession-jeremy-strong-kendall-roy.html

sorry here's a gift link: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/30/arts/television/succession-jeremy-strong-kendall-roy.html?unlocked_article_code=5NnbcK3gXvVmqbCABgheXzhLCC-FPndBTbxNHePvJqNk3KOqZ3MRo1jWllDxDBL1GxwFA-oFBknqye2jVBg_GWE7zSXILQZoinDrOZk8bO0uSX2xEcLKMOp-zbAr5RWKK_rVAx8dqvfy6hXB7FNawNUWJlo3XKNlyPXLCSdzHV53Z3BQymR9LYTTFwh3SichpXi2U2Nnhy_EV8HmkRPfNwVBS8B-redc0xjvGNoxV5khxaoAsXDcia3G1wL18KhH4HTK8m4GwGmuk2vHGK7teWxXnhMCKDlAqP-KdUW8tcwlu-bqfFgTDhQ2FQy0dKHMGCA0IUJ-745T9eQJmewmWq4Vgc2Mobr6piLe1YgxkKX3Xz2B41Q&smid=url-share

reading about that guy's m.o., i'm guessing he insisted on drinking the garbage plus saliva smoothie instead of swapping out with a stunt smoothie.

― Philip Nunez, Wednesday, May 31, 2023 3:01 PM (twenty-one minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

yes he did

― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Wednesday, May 31, 2023 3:02 PM (twenty-one minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

On the one hand it seems like an insupportable amount of work and he seems exhausting, but then whenever I hear him interviewed, he's so full of praise for everyone around him and seems so happy to be doing the work that, eh, I just can't not like the guy. Of course, even as I type this, I know I'm going to regret it because it'll turn out he's an absolute monster in some yet to be specified way.

favorite shot of the episode was kendall sitting in the big boy CEO chair right before the board meeting, laptop open but at the login screen. kend... you will never log in

jeremy strong seems very annoying as a person/actor but it's hard to argue with the results

I'd agree but in that vein, I think the footage of him trying to jump over rails and the other actors eyerolling at him would be more interesting than what gets cut down into the show. I'm definitely down for a re-release where they make it more of a reality show about making Succession.

Also apparently the actress who plays Shiv can turn off/on the drama/accent on a switch and it'd be great to see what was on the show as a mega-intense moment sandwiched with the actress going, "was that good, cause I really have to take a shit, now" while Kendall's actor is still stuck in Kendall mode.

Also re: accents, it's weird that All-American Culkin comes across of all the cast as having the most affected fake-American way of talking, but I guess that's just how Culkins talk?

Maybe the bodyguard actor was the true method actor in that last scene...perhaps the actor would have happily let him into the ocean, but not the character.

the fact that you can hear sarah snook using all of her might to pronounce “range rover” with an american accent pic.twitter.com/RqElUnR43M

— shiv roy’s earlobes 🍒 (@leylanocontext) May 3, 2023

Haha. I'm always freaked out by hearing Tom's irl British accent, even though his American one isn't very naturalistic.

There is a real oleaginous "robot trying to be a real boy" aspect to Tom's accent and mannerisms -- I think I would have preferred him to Brent Spiner in reprising Data in the last Picard season. He kind of even looks like younger Data!

#Succession Fans
Am I the only one that thinks they cloned #StarTrek's Data (@BrentSpiner) and to make Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen) pic.twitter.com/KE0LSOgRdY

— Simon McManus (@SiMcmanus) October 6, 2021

He’s become what his father wanted, which is being able to dominate and having the moral callousness and flexibility to do whatever it takes. I feel like he’s ready to become the C.E.O., in the tragic math of that.

wow he has really drunk the Kendall Kool-ade. every actor roots for their own character no matter how impotent or depraved and clearly j strong goes further than most but it’s incredible to me that he thinks this

I just read it as him saying that in order to be the CEO of this terrible company he had to fully manifest this terrible person and now he's done it, I don't think it's at all something he considers a positive.

There is a real oleaginous "robot trying to be a real boy" aspect to Tom's accent and mannerisms

I enjoyed Tom's weird laugh after telling Matsson "I can sing for my supper" and then immediately pivoting to his pitch.

really liked the scene at the beach, ken symbolically being the first to take the plunge, making power plays next to the threat of death at the hands of the majestic sublime or your siblings... take your pick. totally different context i know but real the long goodbye vibes for me.

Love Macfadyen as Data, lol

lol strong obviously doesn’t think his character is virtuous, but he does apparently think he would make a god ceo, that kendall has become the man logan wanted him to be..

this will sound very whatever, and everyone is prob aware of this now already but:
strong hasn’t formed that many oblique opinions ~about~ the character of ken because he was trying very hard to think ~as~ the character, so for example in a weird way he totally thought ken was the best choice for the job because thet was what ken believed

so he’s kinda shattered by the finale himself too

it’s a lot

but he’s so fucking great

Yep I love him. Greatest expressions in the whole show.

My favorite Kendall expression is when he thinks someone is trying to play him and he just stares at them with this half-smile, like he's trying to mind-fuck them. It's a good example of a low key ken try-hard thing.

Now I'm having fun imagining him taking the Jon Hamm post-Mad Men career route and only doing the broadest of comedy roles.

My favourite Kendall Roy faces, in no particular order:

A lifetime of suffering
https://media.tenor.com/RJnIIG2XuSYAAAAC/kendallroy-succession.gif

I promised myself I wasn’t going to cry
https://64.media.tumblr.com/4e6eb0e8192771ff57d096dfa68dd84e/780fac89e31d549c-a1/s540x810/092b449ebc7e2c79bb30d1bded64ec4a42bd5c45.gif

thinking about smoking horse again
https://media0.giphy.com/media/fQx9bHb2IQLRbSojSJ/giphy.gif

And so on

acting with his face eggs

Maybe I missed it but who did Kendall call to get confirmation re: shiv being boxed out by Mattson? "If it's true don't say anything" or whatever.

Greg?

Greg called him and then Kendall hung up and called someone else right?

i assumed ebba

she's the one who's been leaking matsson's secrets to kendall for the past few eps

it was karolina or whoever it was that was drafting the press release?

I was going to take a guess it was ebba but didn't know if anyone was IDed as the source

It had to be Ebba because he knew Shiv had been removed from the press release - and I think they got a copy of the draft release right? Ebba would have been the one with that document.

All true. But the article doesn’t point out that the brilliant cast is made up completely with theater veterans - all extraordinary - and expert at sustaining long dialogue heavy scenes through multiple takes, keeping them alive, playful, and intense. https://t.co/dqm5yw8blX

— Robert Falls (@RobertFalls) May 31, 2023

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-05-30/papa-eldercare-startup-faces-abuse-claims-by-seniors-caregivers

>> https://archive.is/el0u7

trigger warnings

Took me a second to get why that's in the Succession thread, but ah Living-Plus. Well Logan did say it would be like cruise ships on land, and we know what happened on the cruise ships.

I watched the finale last night:

I think Mattson and Mencken are doing a deal - Mattson's call to Shiv about a US CEO implied M + M had a subsequent discussion - that cuts out all of the Roy children.

Now I am thinking Tom is going to be the Amercian CEO and Greg will be his hatchet man. This fits in with the theme of this season, that the Roy children are "not serious people" and would be the choice that inflicts maximum damage on the children. They've always treated Tom as a bit of a joke. The M + M marriage also continues this seasons theme of the undue influence of tech/social media on politics where the show's 2020 stands in for our 2016.

There is only a single episode left, correct?

― il lavoro mi rovina la giornata (PBKR), Tuesday, May 23, 2023 7:26 AM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

Mostly otm, though the show wasn't really concerned with politics beyond a few isolated moments and background radiation. I thought the show did a great job of making Tom's rise seem plausible. He played the game well, always choosing the right horses to back at the right time - Shiv, then Logan, then Mattson.

Yet, the finale (and final season) was all about the three main Roy children having to internalize that their Father was right - they "are not serious people".

Roman is the least confident of the three, least believes his own shit, so he's the first to realize it. The funeral made it apparent. "He fucked it". It's not going to be him. He also is the first to realize, in the scenes at their mother's place, that it's not going to be any of them. He goes along with Kendall's play, but it's half-hearted as shown by his half-hearted "No" vote at the board meeting. That look on his face in his final scene in the bar is relief - he remembers he is rich af. He's going to be the happiest of the three in the future.

Shiv had a hell of a ride this episode. It's both harder and easier for her to accept it's not going to be her. It's Tom, someone who she mostly considered beneath her, so it is devastating. But she has had to fight against the misogyny of her father, brothers, and the business world, so she's used to it not being her on some level. It was always unattainable for her. She might be the most pragmatic of the three. I don't think Shiv chooses Tom > Kendall - I think these were two separate, late, and impulsive decisions. The Kendall decision is based on the sibling rivalry dynamic and her realization that Kendall doesn't have it, will never have it. The Tom decision is very last minute. When Tom says he has a car coming in 20 minutes right after the deal signing/celebration, she shakes her head "No." She must have reconsidered. Maybe it's a last play. Maybe it's her going back to Tom at another weak point in her life. The punches she's taken were stronger than the ones Roman had to take. I don't know that she's going to be happy, but she's used to settling in her relationship with Tom and at least she's settling for a (temporary) winner now, not a loser.

Kendall, you sweet dumb boy. His pitch to the board was basically, "I'm Kendall Roy" and in the sibling argument just after, his argument is the same: "I'm the eldest boy!" His desperate lurching at anything - denying his one moment of truth about the accident - just shows that he is the one most bound to the idea of being Logan's successor. It's in his blood, which means he has the hardest time accepting it's not going to be him. He likely never will. He will continue to waste his money the rest of his life trying to prove it could have been him. Good thing for him he's so rich it will never hurt him.

just realised this morning that shiv and rome whipped up a literal poisoned chalice for ken. this was probably obvious to others.

meal fit for a king seemed like a call back to games they played in their childhood like boar on the floor

meant to add: that final shot with Kendall was so great - he has his father's bag man, but he has no use for him. Kendall isn't serious enough for anyone to want to do anything to him.

Yeah, my reaction during the kitchen scene was “You don’t want to drink that the night before a board meeting.”

I still can't fathom the mentality of "sure, I'll just nip down to Barbados the night before the most important board meeting ever". What if there's a storm or your plane won't start and you can't get back? Haven't these people seen The Devil Wears Prada?

I guess that's super-rich people for you.

think my favorite thing about the boardroom meeting was that if Kendall had pre-arranged the seats so that shiv would have voted earlier, she'd have much less leverage. logan would have taken that into consideration.

everything about that meeting showed how bad Ken could be. The cockiness especially.

I still can't fathom the mentality of "sure, I'll just nip down to Barbados the night before the most important board meeting ever". What if there's a storm or your plane won't start and you can't get back?

yeah you'd think Kendall would have learned his lesson after that happened to him in the first season

'I still can't fathom the mentality of "sure, I'll just nip down to Barbados the night before the most important board meeting ever"."

it's like a 5 hour flight, I can't even figure out how they got there so quickly even with private jets.