“You can’t make a Tomelette without breaking some Gregs”
May 29, 2023 5:00 AM Subscribe
Succession Finale Ends With a Roy Family Bloodbath, and a New CEO [Vanity Fair] [Series/Finale Spoilers] As the smoke clears from Succession’s fourth and final season, here’s who wound up on top.
Some moments & stray observations that broke my heart & my brain:
• Roman's twisted little smirk at the bar.posted by Fizz at 5:13 AM on May 29, 2023 [4 favorites]
• Tom's extended palm in the car, waiting for Shiv's hand to join his. (They are like two giant planets crashing into each other)
• Shiv putting it all on the table: “I love you, I really, I love you—but I can’t fucking stomach you,”
• Kendall being the very definition of cringe, yelling at his most desperate hour: “I’m the eldest boy! I am the eldest boy.”
• Greg & Tom fighting in the bathroom.
• “face eggs” ... Caroline, what a gift of a character.
• The board room where everyone voted and then the real boardroom where everything fell apart!!
mfs be like "This #SuccessionHBO finale is CRAZY!!!" (spoilery images in replies)
posted by fight or flight at 5:15 AM on May 29, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by fight or flight at 5:15 AM on May 29, 2023 [5 favorites]
Such a great finale. Feel free to also join us over on Fanfare where we've been obsessively loving this show every episode! (The discussion there assumes you've seen the episode, full of spoilers.)
posted by Nelson at 6:03 AM on May 29, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by Nelson at 6:03 AM on May 29, 2023 [5 favorites]
The using of phones without cases made my hair stand on end all seasons long.
posted by BostonTerrier at 6:24 AM on May 29, 2023 [15 favorites]
posted by BostonTerrier at 6:24 AM on May 29, 2023 [15 favorites]
Family... Too busy to catch the last tow episodes, yes, due to family commitments. Perfect, except without the limos and helicopters.
posted by sammyo at 7:35 AM on May 29, 2023
posted by sammyo at 7:35 AM on May 29, 2023
We've seen the cycle of abuse from Logan's own childhood, to him abusing his kids, to his kids abusing each other, but something about watching Kendall basically squeeze the remaining life force out of Roman just to make another power play just gutted me in a way that will stay with me for a long time. Seeing the reward for his cruelty evaporate within minutes was epic storytelling. Magnificent conclusion to a great TV drama.
posted by tonycpsu at 7:52 AM on May 29, 2023 [9 favorites]
posted by tonycpsu at 7:52 AM on May 29, 2023 [9 favorites]
This is entirely-too-reductive of a take, but ever since this show began it's blown my mind that HBO went to the guy who co-created Peep Show and fuckin' The Thick of It—the co-writer of slapstick Islamic terrorism farce Four Lions!—and went "hey how would you like to write a glossy and hyper-expensive prestige drama," and the guy went "sure, but only if it can be about what King Lear would've been if all the kids were really fucking dumb," and HBO went "hell yes"
like, the British comedy-loving teenage fanboy I used to be, the one who kept going "these writers are the BEST they're SO SMART they should write ALL THE TV ON THE PLANET," is still slightly disbelieving that one of those Brits (and his unbelievable writers' room, obviously!) actually got that chance, and delivered a show that was this goddamn impeccable
(also god bless this show for introducing Jeremy Strong to the discourse, he is the sweetest little theatre major and I want him to start a dramaturgy podcast ASAP)
posted by Tom Hanks Cannot Be Trusted at 7:52 AM on May 29, 2023 [19 favorites]
like, the British comedy-loving teenage fanboy I used to be, the one who kept going "these writers are the BEST they're SO SMART they should write ALL THE TV ON THE PLANET," is still slightly disbelieving that one of those Brits (and his unbelievable writers' room, obviously!) actually got that chance, and delivered a show that was this goddamn impeccable
(also god bless this show for introducing Jeremy Strong to the discourse, he is the sweetest little theatre major and I want him to start a dramaturgy podcast ASAP)
posted by Tom Hanks Cannot Be Trusted at 7:52 AM on May 29, 2023 [19 favorites]
I'm not a fan of downer endings, so I didn't really enjoy how Succession ended. Don't get me wrong, things ended up the way they most likely would have in real life. But I didn't enjoy seeing Kendall just get ... thwarted like that. Especially since that's what's been happening the entire show. I think I would have much preferred sort of a "monkey's paw" scenario where he gets what he wants, but it doesn't turn out to be like he expected.
I guess one thing I found interesting is that it isn't hubris that dooms Kendall in the end; it's entitlement. After Shiv does her heel-turn in the conference room, I think there is an alternate scenario where he could have won her over. But instead of taking her concerns seriously and trying to convince her, he just asserts (in various ways) that "this is the way it's meant to be." Which isn't a convincing argument, especially since that's been his line this entire time.
posted by panama joe at 8:02 AM on May 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
I guess one thing I found interesting is that it isn't hubris that dooms Kendall in the end; it's entitlement. After Shiv does her heel-turn in the conference room, I think there is an alternate scenario where he could have won her over. But instead of taking her concerns seriously and trying to convince her, he just asserts (in various ways) that "this is the way it's meant to be." Which isn't a convincing argument, especially since that's been his line this entire time.
posted by panama joe at 8:02 AM on May 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
Speaking of the writers' room, though, Lucy Prebble tweeted her introduction to the novelized season 3 scripts, and the way she describes the writers' process really underlines how much emphasis was placed on genuine collaboration; both (showrunner) Jesse Armstrong and (primary director) Mark Mylod have gone out of their way to stress that collaborative process, including not only the writers but the actors themselves, whose feelings about their characters were often allowed to direct the course of the show.
(Among other things: James Cromwell was responsible for Ewan's political bent; Jeremy Strong had a direct hand in everything from which salads Kendall ordered to how often his assistant Jess was in the room with him; Kieran Culkin occasionally argued about what his characters would do and when; and Alexander Skarsgård pulled a chunk of Lukas Matsson's wardrobe directly from the clothes he wore to set.)
It's really lovely to see a creative work treat all of its participants as genuinely important parts of its process. It's always struck me how the British comedy world frequently diffuses credit onto a variety of names: The Thick of It would always cite 4-5 separate writers per-episode rather than divvying those credits up. That ethos felt like it carried over into Succession, and it feels like a delightful rarity to see it in an American prestige drama.
posted by Tom Hanks Cannot Be Trusted at 8:03 AM on May 29, 2023 [15 favorites]
(Among other things: James Cromwell was responsible for Ewan's political bent; Jeremy Strong had a direct hand in everything from which salads Kendall ordered to how often his assistant Jess was in the room with him; Kieran Culkin occasionally argued about what his characters would do and when; and Alexander Skarsgård pulled a chunk of Lukas Matsson's wardrobe directly from the clothes he wore to set.)
It's really lovely to see a creative work treat all of its participants as genuinely important parts of its process. It's always struck me how the British comedy world frequently diffuses credit onto a variety of names: The Thick of It would always cite 4-5 separate writers per-episode rather than divvying those credits up. That ethos felt like it carried over into Succession, and it feels like a delightful rarity to see it in an American prestige drama.
posted by Tom Hanks Cannot Be Trusted at 8:03 AM on May 29, 2023 [15 favorites]
It is said in the passive voice that art holds a mirror up to humanity, and it's pretty a damning indictment of humanity by the writers, that Tom has the most successful outcome of the players and is also, somehow, the most honest person in the room. He is what he is, and what we are, probably.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 9:52 AM on May 29, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 9:52 AM on May 29, 2023 [4 favorites]
Here's a music video edit of Succession, the romcom starring Tom and Greg.
posted by Nelson at 10:08 AM on May 29, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by Nelson at 10:08 AM on May 29, 2023 [6 favorites]
i’m a caseless iphone user. it’s called dressing for the job you want. i’ll be ceo of royco soon
posted by dis_integration at 10:22 AM on May 29, 2023 [18 favorites]
posted by dis_integration at 10:22 AM on May 29, 2023 [18 favorites]
Ditching a Phone Case Is the Latest Symbol of Stealth Wealth
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 10:30 AM on May 29, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 10:30 AM on May 29, 2023 [5 favorites]
quick someone check if tom has an iphone case
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 10:45 AM on May 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 10:45 AM on May 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
I am babbling up a storm about Succession over on FanFare, but: a thing I've kept coming back to, as we've been talking about this final season, is that Succession does have character growth, but it's of a perverse nature. Everybody on the show is the person they're always going to be, but they don't know it. The narrative arc of Succession is towards them all coming to terms with who they are.
Tom is a social striver hellbent on acquiring power who nonetheless thinks of himself as a loving, even happy-go-lucky husband. Time and again, he hunts for a way to find himself giddy over Shiv; time and again, that's bled out of him. In the end, only his true nature remains: obsequious, but vicious, capable of tenderness only towards that which he thinks of as his property (i.e. Greg).
Shiv sees herself as the sane, intelligent, moral alternative to her siblings. Over the years, her system of ethics is exposed as just another performative way of positioning herself as superior; her supposed business savvy repeatedly leads to rugs getting pulled out from under her. She, too, is left in a state of near-paralysis: she can't even leave Tom, because she made Tom what he now is and he's the only person who will have her.
Roman, as got pointed out in the final episode's behind-the-scenes, starts out as a freewheeling playboy and ends up as a freewheeling playboy. At the start of the show, however, he aspires to being taken seriously, to winning approval from his family; at the end, he is relieved to be free of it.
Kendall was only ever a myopic CEO cosplayer. But every season, he reinvented himself, rewrote the narrative, and every season, it was exposed as bullshit.
Logan saw himself nothing but as a market force, and a market force he remained.
I think the logic of each individual season holds up on its own, and is far more intricate than it appears to be, but this final season made its structure clearer than any: Logan's death frees his children of the chaotic turbulence his presence added to their life, and they're given a chance to pull themselves together and become the things they imagined they could be without his meddling. Only it turns out that they are who they are of their own volition: they were shaped by their father's abuse, yes, but they were just as shaped by their own enormous privilege, by their entitlement, by their conviction that they deserved all this, and by their refusal to give it up. That Logan dies and nothing changes is the most damning sentence they could receive.
posted by Tom Hanks Cannot Be Trusted at 10:50 AM on May 29, 2023 [18 favorites]
Tom is a social striver hellbent on acquiring power who nonetheless thinks of himself as a loving, even happy-go-lucky husband. Time and again, he hunts for a way to find himself giddy over Shiv; time and again, that's bled out of him. In the end, only his true nature remains: obsequious, but vicious, capable of tenderness only towards that which he thinks of as his property (i.e. Greg).
Shiv sees herself as the sane, intelligent, moral alternative to her siblings. Over the years, her system of ethics is exposed as just another performative way of positioning herself as superior; her supposed business savvy repeatedly leads to rugs getting pulled out from under her. She, too, is left in a state of near-paralysis: she can't even leave Tom, because she made Tom what he now is and he's the only person who will have her.
Roman, as got pointed out in the final episode's behind-the-scenes, starts out as a freewheeling playboy and ends up as a freewheeling playboy. At the start of the show, however, he aspires to being taken seriously, to winning approval from his family; at the end, he is relieved to be free of it.
Kendall was only ever a myopic CEO cosplayer. But every season, he reinvented himself, rewrote the narrative, and every season, it was exposed as bullshit.
Logan saw himself nothing but as a market force, and a market force he remained.
I think the logic of each individual season holds up on its own, and is far more intricate than it appears to be, but this final season made its structure clearer than any: Logan's death frees his children of the chaotic turbulence his presence added to their life, and they're given a chance to pull themselves together and become the things they imagined they could be without his meddling. Only it turns out that they are who they are of their own volition: they were shaped by their father's abuse, yes, but they were just as shaped by their own enormous privilege, by their entitlement, by their conviction that they deserved all this, and by their refusal to give it up. That Logan dies and nothing changes is the most damning sentence they could receive.
posted by Tom Hanks Cannot Be Trusted at 10:50 AM on May 29, 2023 [18 favorites]
quick someone check if tom has an iphone case
Tom uses a Samsung S21 or S21 Plus.
posted by mmascolino at 10:52 AM on May 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
Tom uses a Samsung S21 or S21 Plus.
posted by mmascolino at 10:52 AM on May 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
omg
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 10:59 AM on May 29, 2023
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 10:59 AM on May 29, 2023
If God (Steve Jobs) had intended IPhones to have cases, they would have built them with cases.
posted by beagle at 11:54 AM on May 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by beagle at 11:54 AM on May 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
the guy who co-created Peep Show and fuckin' The Thick of It—the co-writer of slapstick Islamic terrorism farce Four Lions!
Not forgetting Fresh Meat, where Oregon basically Succession's everyone she lives with and Vod is a female Superhans/Roman...
posted by Ardnamurchan at 12:10 PM on May 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
Not forgetting Fresh Meat, where Oregon basically Succession's everyone she lives with and Vod is a female Superhans/Roman...
posted by Ardnamurchan at 12:10 PM on May 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
Ditching a Phone Case Is the Latest Symbol of Stealth Wealth
There are meals are Shake Shack that cost less than getting your iPhone screen replaced, assuming you bought AppleCare+. Which in itself is about two Shake Shake meals.
Even if you threw your phone into the river every 3 months, you could get a brand new phone for about one Shake Shack meal a month.
posted by Back At It Again At Krispy Kreme at 1:12 PM on May 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
There are meals are Shake Shack that cost less than getting your iPhone screen replaced, assuming you bought AppleCare+. Which in itself is about two Shake Shake meals.
Even if you threw your phone into the river every 3 months, you could get a brand new phone for about one Shake Shack meal a month.
posted by Back At It Again At Krispy Kreme at 1:12 PM on May 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
I'm not a fan of downer endings, so I didn't really enjoy how Succession ended. Don't get me wrong, things ended up the way they most likely would have in real life. But I didn't enjoy seeing Kendall just get ... thwarted like that. Especially since that's what's been happening the entire show. I think I would have much preferred sort of a "monkey's paw" scenario where he gets what he wants, but it doesn't turn out to be like he expected.
"Succession" but everyone just succeeds equally and has a nice time tbh
posted by Mchelly at 3:01 PM on May 29, 2023 [3 favorites]
"Succession" but everyone just succeeds equally and has a nice time tbh
posted by Mchelly at 3:01 PM on May 29, 2023 [3 favorites]
I have been on the Wambsgans wagon since season one and therefore I am extremely pleased with how this worked out.
"Where's Karolina?"
posted by chavenet at 3:14 PM on May 29, 2023 [8 favorites]
"Where's Karolina?"
posted by chavenet at 3:14 PM on May 29, 2023 [8 favorites]
Well, it's been a great run: if it is to be said, so it be. So it is.
My favorite moment of the series: Tom eating Logan's chicken. Just a truly great visual.
I wish the writers had given us reassurance that Mondale the dog was going to be ok.
posted by fortitude25 at 6:12 PM on May 29, 2023 [6 favorites]
My favorite moment of the series: Tom eating Logan's chicken. Just a truly great visual.
I wish the writers had given us reassurance that Mondale the dog was going to be ok.
posted by fortitude25 at 6:12 PM on May 29, 2023 [6 favorites]
If God (Steve Jobs) had intended IPhones to have cases, they would have built them with cases.
Remember the iPhone iteration which was discovered right after launch not to function properly without its case? And which resulted in a high level executive responsible for design being fired by Jobs?
I had trouble just now googling up the story, but I seem to remember problems receiving a weak signal unless it was in the case.
posted by jamjam at 6:31 PM on May 29, 2023
Remember the iPhone iteration which was discovered right after launch not to function properly without its case? And which resulted in a high level executive responsible for design being fired by Jobs?
I had trouble just now googling up the story, but I seem to remember problems receiving a weak signal unless it was in the case.
posted by jamjam at 6:31 PM on May 29, 2023
My favorite moment of the series: Tom eating Logan's chicken. Just a truly great visual.
That was great but I think the best thing that happened in the show was Roman accidentally buying Logan the wrong SPL team.
posted by the duck by the oboe at 7:07 PM on May 29, 2023 [3 favorites]
That was great but I think the best thing that happened in the show was Roman accidentally buying Logan the wrong SPL team.
posted by the duck by the oboe at 7:07 PM on May 29, 2023 [3 favorites]
And now for all your listicle enjoyment and/or arguments, Rolling Stone presents ‘Succession’ Characters Ranked From Least Despicable to Most
posted by revmitcz at 8:28 PM on May 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by revmitcz at 8:28 PM on May 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
I had trouble just now googling up the story, but I seem to remember problems receiving a weak signal unless it was in the case.
You’re probably thinking of the iPhone 4 and the free bumpers.
Just to return to Succession, I’ve never watched it, assuming it’s about dismal people being awful to each other. Reviews seem to suggest it’s that, but dramatically satisfying. Is that accurate, or is there more to it?
posted by zamboni at 7:02 AM on May 30, 2023
You’re probably thinking of the iPhone 4 and the free bumpers.
Just to return to Succession, I’ve never watched it, assuming it’s about dismal people being awful to each other. Reviews seem to suggest it’s that, but dramatically satisfying. Is that accurate, or is there more to it?
posted by zamboni at 7:02 AM on May 30, 2023
> Just to return to Succession, I’ve never watched it, assuming it’s about dismal people being awful to each other. Reviews seem to suggest it’s that, but dramatically satisfying. Is that accurate, or is there more to it?
Dismal people being awful to each other, but it's also really funny. It's kind of like dramatic prestige Arrested Development? If was just serious awfulness I would never have watched it. It's mostly very funny with some sad bits thrown in.
posted by dis_integration at 7:19 AM on May 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
Dismal people being awful to each other, but it's also really funny. It's kind of like dramatic prestige Arrested Development? If was just serious awfulness I would never have watched it. It's mostly very funny with some sad bits thrown in.
posted by dis_integration at 7:19 AM on May 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
assuming it’s about dismal people being awful to each other
That's precisely why I didn't start watching the series in the first couple of seasons; I wasn't in a place to find that entertaining. But then I got curious and started watching, and it's so well written and engaging, I found it to be more palatable than I'd expected, and I truly enjoyed it.
(Honestly, for me, it's always a relief to encounter an adult drama that doesn't rely on guns to tell a story, so it also has that going for it. No fucking guns.)
posted by heyho at 7:23 AM on May 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
That's precisely why I didn't start watching the series in the first couple of seasons; I wasn't in a place to find that entertaining. But then I got curious and started watching, and it's so well written and engaging, I found it to be more palatable than I'd expected, and I truly enjoyed it.
(Honestly, for me, it's always a relief to encounter an adult drama that doesn't rely on guns to tell a story, so it also has that going for it. No fucking guns.)
posted by heyho at 7:23 AM on May 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
Just to return to Succession, I’ve never watched it, assuming it’s about dismal people being awful to each other. Reviews seem to suggest it’s that, but dramatically satisfying. Is that accurate, or is there more to it?
That's what it is. I made it to the end of the first season, and couldn't take anymore, but not every show is for everyone.
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:21 AM on May 30, 2023
That's what it is. I made it to the end of the first season, and couldn't take anymore, but not every show is for everyone.
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:21 AM on May 30, 2023
Thanks, everyone!
(While I probably don't need to add this disclaimer, my passing on Succession is not a value judgement, and I'm glad for everyone that's enjoying it. As The_Vegetables says, not every show is for everyone, and this one is not for me.)
posted by zamboni at 8:46 AM on May 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
(While I probably don't need to add this disclaimer, my passing on Succession is not a value judgement, and I'm glad for everyone that's enjoying it. As The_Vegetables says, not every show is for everyone, and this one is not for me.)
posted by zamboni at 8:46 AM on May 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
Just to return to Succession, I’ve never watched it, assuming it’s about dismal people being awful to each other. Reviews seem to suggest it’s that, but dramatically satisfying. Is that accurate, or is there more to it?
It's not about them being awful to each other, exactly. Which I know is such a fine hair to split, but I think there's a distinction which explains why so many people had the experience of finding the few few episodes intolerable, then "seeing the light." (Or longer: Alan Sepinwall, who's been recapping/reviewing TV longer than just about anybody, says it took him two seasons to wholly come on board.)
Succession, at its root, is a very dysfunctional love story. It's about very broken, damaged people trying to connect with one another, and just not being able to, because each person can't help but rip out every other person's sutures. The awfulness is there, but, weirdly, most of the awfulness within and between the central family has a kernel of love to it: loving in a terrible way, or even making some twisted plea to be loved, albeit expressed through viciousness, cruelty, and rage.
What Succession does extraordinarily well, especially considering its subject matter, is keep itself focused on the fact that nearly everyone in its main cast, in their particular way, is coming from an incredibly tender and emotional place. They're all incredibly thin-skinned, they've all been extraordinarily hurt, and they can't keep hurting one another. And while most of the things they say and do to hurt each other are blisteringly, awfully funny, and while they are fundamentally incapable of giving each other enough room for anyone to ever be made better or heal, the show finds this exquisite separation between the relentless cruelty of the characters and the show's own eye, which is shockingly compassionate and tender.
It's a show about the worst people in the world, but it's possible to feel genuine feeling for... pretty much all of them, really. And I think that people's turning points with the show often come about when they realize that it's doing more than just sneering at these people, or glamorizing their behavior.
Because Succession has this tenderness, but it's also unerringly clear about two things.
First of all, yes, these people are rich and powerful to the point where they're essentially inhuman. Among themselves, there's a painful humanity, of course. But their power and reach is so extraordinary that they are, in every possible way, fucking up the world—and not even out of overt malice, usually (though they're capable of sadistically reveling in the awful things they find themselves doing). They simply value the fact of their own power more than they value anything else, and will shed any other values or ideologies or moral stances if it means preserving their own empire.
Second—and this is the crux, really—these people are really fucking dumb. They are profoundly incompetent people. Minus Logan, the father, who's at least got a feral kind of cunning to him, the closest anybody gets to "competence" is knowing how to suck up and stay out of the way. They have this power, they often feel deserving of it, but they're total idiots; it can be assumed that anything they actively set out to do is doomed to fail, even if they'll never really face "consequences" over any of it.
Between those two poles lies tenderness and humanity, albeit expressed in endlessly mean ways. And Succession makes it possible to ache for these people, even to hope they'll find a way towards happiness, while reminding you that they're blights on humanity (and pretty dopey ones at that).
The surface level of the show is all slick business maneuverings and Machiavellian power schemes, and those can be pretty gripping—YMMV, I love 'em and plenty of ardent fans do not—but they're pratfalls more than genuine political machinations. They're constructed as deviously as they are to expose the fact that they revolve almost entirely around overconfidence and goof-ups and sheer dumbness. And that's what completes the Succession turducken: these clever, amoral maneuverings exposing the blithe dumbasses beneath them all, underscoring how profoundly pathetic and miserable and incapable of caring about one another they are, making you feel for the wretched hell they're trapped in, then cycling back around again and reminding you that these people aren't only each other's hells, they're also setting the world on fire. Those business deals they're too dumb to execute successfully will, no matter the outcome, impoverish the world around them. And the power that's corrupted them all is also the source of their miserable existence, but they love it too much to notice the way it's dooming them all. It's a Greek tragedy, only every single one of them is being punished by the gods.
It's all masterfully put together, resulting in the weird paradox that Succession is at once a series of hairpin turns and remains weirdly in the same place, for the same reasons that it's simultaneously a very funny comedy about terrible idiots getting what they deserve and a heartwrenching tragedy about people who were doomed to be Tantalus, so to speak, since birth. Which is to say, it's a show about family dysfunction, about generational trauma, and about the notion that the accidental circumstance of your birth might curse you to a misery that you'll never get away from, even when you're born into what looks, on paper, like the single cushiest position on the planet. It's a show about how none of these people deserve what's happening—even while, at the same time, they absolutely deserve this and worse.
posted by Tom Hanks Cannot Be Trusted at 9:43 AM on May 30, 2023 [10 favorites]
It's not about them being awful to each other, exactly. Which I know is such a fine hair to split, but I think there's a distinction which explains why so many people had the experience of finding the few few episodes intolerable, then "seeing the light." (Or longer: Alan Sepinwall, who's been recapping/reviewing TV longer than just about anybody, says it took him two seasons to wholly come on board.)
Succession, at its root, is a very dysfunctional love story. It's about very broken, damaged people trying to connect with one another, and just not being able to, because each person can't help but rip out every other person's sutures. The awfulness is there, but, weirdly, most of the awfulness within and between the central family has a kernel of love to it: loving in a terrible way, or even making some twisted plea to be loved, albeit expressed through viciousness, cruelty, and rage.
What Succession does extraordinarily well, especially considering its subject matter, is keep itself focused on the fact that nearly everyone in its main cast, in their particular way, is coming from an incredibly tender and emotional place. They're all incredibly thin-skinned, they've all been extraordinarily hurt, and they can't keep hurting one another. And while most of the things they say and do to hurt each other are blisteringly, awfully funny, and while they are fundamentally incapable of giving each other enough room for anyone to ever be made better or heal, the show finds this exquisite separation between the relentless cruelty of the characters and the show's own eye, which is shockingly compassionate and tender.
It's a show about the worst people in the world, but it's possible to feel genuine feeling for... pretty much all of them, really. And I think that people's turning points with the show often come about when they realize that it's doing more than just sneering at these people, or glamorizing their behavior.
Because Succession has this tenderness, but it's also unerringly clear about two things.
First of all, yes, these people are rich and powerful to the point where they're essentially inhuman. Among themselves, there's a painful humanity, of course. But their power and reach is so extraordinary that they are, in every possible way, fucking up the world—and not even out of overt malice, usually (though they're capable of sadistically reveling in the awful things they find themselves doing). They simply value the fact of their own power more than they value anything else, and will shed any other values or ideologies or moral stances if it means preserving their own empire.
Second—and this is the crux, really—these people are really fucking dumb. They are profoundly incompetent people. Minus Logan, the father, who's at least got a feral kind of cunning to him, the closest anybody gets to "competence" is knowing how to suck up and stay out of the way. They have this power, they often feel deserving of it, but they're total idiots; it can be assumed that anything they actively set out to do is doomed to fail, even if they'll never really face "consequences" over any of it.
Between those two poles lies tenderness and humanity, albeit expressed in endlessly mean ways. And Succession makes it possible to ache for these people, even to hope they'll find a way towards happiness, while reminding you that they're blights on humanity (and pretty dopey ones at that).
The surface level of the show is all slick business maneuverings and Machiavellian power schemes, and those can be pretty gripping—YMMV, I love 'em and plenty of ardent fans do not—but they're pratfalls more than genuine political machinations. They're constructed as deviously as they are to expose the fact that they revolve almost entirely around overconfidence and goof-ups and sheer dumbness. And that's what completes the Succession turducken: these clever, amoral maneuverings exposing the blithe dumbasses beneath them all, underscoring how profoundly pathetic and miserable and incapable of caring about one another they are, making you feel for the wretched hell they're trapped in, then cycling back around again and reminding you that these people aren't only each other's hells, they're also setting the world on fire. Those business deals they're too dumb to execute successfully will, no matter the outcome, impoverish the world around them. And the power that's corrupted them all is also the source of their miserable existence, but they love it too much to notice the way it's dooming them all. It's a Greek tragedy, only every single one of them is being punished by the gods.
It's all masterfully put together, resulting in the weird paradox that Succession is at once a series of hairpin turns and remains weirdly in the same place, for the same reasons that it's simultaneously a very funny comedy about terrible idiots getting what they deserve and a heartwrenching tragedy about people who were doomed to be Tantalus, so to speak, since birth. Which is to say, it's a show about family dysfunction, about generational trauma, and about the notion that the accidental circumstance of your birth might curse you to a misery that you'll never get away from, even when you're born into what looks, on paper, like the single cushiest position on the planet. It's a show about how none of these people deserve what's happening—even while, at the same time, they absolutely deserve this and worse.
posted by Tom Hanks Cannot Be Trusted at 9:43 AM on May 30, 2023 [10 favorites]
I like King Lear, and Succession is King Lear rewritten for the modern age. (You can pick out the references.) Despite my love of Shakespeare homages, I thought I was burned out on nasty media stories. But I finally got drawn in and I found it very watchable - smart and human - in fact, really human. High quality writing, beautiful shots, good pacing, lots of humour. Over the series I liked how the lackeys came to life in the background and when (spoiler) Jess quit after the election I was like:... yes!
posted by warriorqueen at 11:59 AM on May 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by warriorqueen at 11:59 AM on May 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
Is “the filing cabinet guy” supposed to be a reference we get?
posted by Ollie at 4:06 PM on May 30, 2023
posted by Ollie at 4:06 PM on May 30, 2023
I just can’t buy that Stewy just comes on board with an okey-doke at the end. That was just too neat. I might have missed something but I didn’t see any way that Stewey wouldn’t have loved being the spoiler and gone to party with the Swedes. Mailing blood - that’s up his alley.
Everyone knew the boys were empty suits barfing word salad, and if Shiv couldn’t permanently outfox them she doesn’t get the crown either. Matsson’s declaration that interfacing with American politicians was a solved problem that needed no Roys told us everything. No way anyone besides Ewen votes their way.
That bit aside, all the players stayed true to form, there were no transformations, and that was pretty satisfying. Thank you to the writers for giving us zero redemptions and the actors for leaving nothing on the field.
posted by drowsy at 7:31 PM on May 30, 2023
Everyone knew the boys were empty suits barfing word salad, and if Shiv couldn’t permanently outfox them she doesn’t get the crown either. Matsson’s declaration that interfacing with American politicians was a solved problem that needed no Roys told us everything. No way anyone besides Ewen votes their way.
That bit aside, all the players stayed true to form, there were no transformations, and that was pretty satisfying. Thank you to the writers for giving us zero redemptions and the actors for leaving nothing on the field.
posted by drowsy at 7:31 PM on May 30, 2023
when (spoiler) Jess quit after the election I was like:... yes!
For a long time, she kinda took the money, like everyone else on the show. In earlier seasons she procured Ken's drugs. I think she only quit because USS Kendall was sinking, letting a ghost death pirate ship helmed by Mencken rise above the surface.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 11:07 PM on May 30, 2023
For a long time, she kinda took the money, like everyone else on the show. In earlier seasons she procured Ken's drugs. I think she only quit because USS Kendall was sinking, letting a ghost death pirate ship helmed by Mencken rise above the surface.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 11:07 PM on May 30, 2023
Is “the filing cabinet guy” supposed to be a reference we get?
I was wondering about that, too! Was it a reference from a previous season that I just forgot about? I figured it either meant a coworker of Rava's (someone she may have mated with "on top of a filing cabinet") or some kind of filing cabinet magnate. It appears some people online think "the filing cabinet guy" might be a sperm donor, i.e. maybe Kendall is infertile?
Also, do we ever find out why they never had biological children? Didn't stay together long enough? Or a desire not to continue the Ken's genetic line?
posted by panama joe at 11:42 PM on May 30, 2023
I was wondering about that, too! Was it a reference from a previous season that I just forgot about? I figured it either meant a coworker of Rava's (someone she may have mated with "on top of a filing cabinet") or some kind of filing cabinet magnate. It appears some people online think "the filing cabinet guy" might be a sperm donor, i.e. maybe Kendall is infertile?
Also, do we ever find out why they never had biological children? Didn't stay together long enough? Or a desire not to continue the Ken's genetic line?
posted by panama joe at 11:42 PM on May 30, 2023
I'm almost 100% it's meant to mean a sperm donor. It makes sense in the context of being just a person whose file they picked at an office somewhere.
Using "filing cabinet guy" to mean someone Rava cheated with would just be baffling to me - given all the possible ways to fling that back at Kendall, that's as cruel as they were able to do? Not buying it.
posted by augustimagination at 12:46 AM on May 31, 2023 [3 favorites]
Using "filing cabinet guy" to mean someone Rava cheated with would just be baffling to me - given all the possible ways to fling that back at Kendall, that's as cruel as they were able to do? Not buying it.
posted by augustimagination at 12:46 AM on May 31, 2023 [3 favorites]
I just can’t buy that Stewy just comes on board with an okey-doke at the end. That was just too neat. I might have missed something but I didn’t see any way that Stewey wouldn’t have loved being the spoiler and gone to party with the Swedes. Mailing blood - that’s up his alley.
I feel like he would want to be on the winner's side. At the start of the vote, Kendall looks like he'll actually come out on top. Maybe Stewy could defect to Matsson and change things --but he couldn't expect to have as much influence over Matsson as he could over his old pal Kendall.
(That's my Watsonian take. The Doylist one is that they weren't going to make Stewy or Sandi or Ewan a big thing because the ultimate focus in the final episodes needed to the siblings' choices. Personally, I long for a 2008-style web video where Greg has been tasked with sussing out Ewan's vote.)
posted by grandiloquiet at 2:56 PM on May 31, 2023
I feel like he would want to be on the winner's side. At the start of the vote, Kendall looks like he'll actually come out on top. Maybe Stewy could defect to Matsson and change things --but he couldn't expect to have as much influence over Matsson as he could over his old pal Kendall.
(That's my Watsonian take. The Doylist one is that they weren't going to make Stewy or Sandi or Ewan a big thing because the ultimate focus in the final episodes needed to the siblings' choices. Personally, I long for a 2008-style web video where Greg has been tasked with sussing out Ewan's vote.)
posted by grandiloquiet at 2:56 PM on May 31, 2023
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