Roman and Gerri are Succession‘s true tragic romance
Forget Tom and Shiv. Slime Puppy and the Mole Woman are the real Romeo and Juliet of Waystar.
TV Features Succession
Episode seven of the fourth and final season of Succession officially blew up the series’ greatest romance. No, not Shiv Roy (Sarah Snook) and Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen), though that balcony bout between the estranged-with-benefits spouses was catastrophic enough that we can’t see the couple walking away from it in one piece. (It also all but guaranteed the two actors a matching set of much-deserved Emmys.)
No, the quarreling lovers in question aren’t technically lovers at all—certainly not in the biblical sense, nor in the logical one: Roman Roy (Kieran Culkin), the youngest son of Logan, a thirtysomething Jagger-Tarzan swinging through trees and clumsily sending dick pics at boardroom tables, and Gerri Kellman (J. Smith-Cameron), the 60-plus-year-old General Counsel of Waystar, forever even-keeled, excellently coiffed, and extremely dangerous. The Rock Star and the Mole Woman should never have happened, and very nearly didn’t, until the palpable, oddball chemistry and real-life offscreen friendship between Culkin and Smith-Cameron prompted the writers to lean into the wonderful weirdness between their two characters.
A bit of biting banter in season one (“I’ve always thought of you as a stone-cold killer bitch,” Roman tells Gerri in the show’s second episode, to which she quips: “Who says you don’t know how to flirt?”) shockingly segued into shame-kink phone sex in the second season. By that season’s midpoint, “Tern Haven,” Gerri was locking Roman in her hotel bathroom and breathily calling him a “rotten little nothing” through the door while he beat it all over her bathrobe. He would propose marriage, or the closest version of matrimony Roman could muster (“You kill me. You chop my dick off, you know, something. I’m kidding, but you know what I’m saying: You eat me, I eat you—like they do in Germany”), by the season’s end, a proposal Gerri neither outwardly accepts nor entirely dismisses.
Succession season two would prove to be the honeymoon period for the doomed duo, with their batty foreplay growing less psychosexual and more professional going into the show’s third edition. (I mean, only slightly more professional. Roman does offer a not-entirely tempting proposition—“I’d lay you badly, but I’d lay you gladly”—to Shiv’s godmother in the season-three premiere.) Despite the considerable age difference and the ever-shifting power imbalance (things get even messier between them when Gerri becomes Waystar’s interim CEO), the two actually do work well together, regularly shielding each other from the corporate line of fire and often proving to be the only person with whom the other character can be remotely vulnerable. They’re two weirdos who secretly get each other, while secretly getting off on each other.
That clandestine alliance could have actually had legs, could have cemented them into a power couple, the stuff of legend—he, all youthful bravado and snarky boundary-pushing; she, all shoulder-padded capability and quiet ruthlessness—if not for those damn dick pics. Logan (Brian Cox) is, mortifyingly, on the receiving end of the unsolicited sext that Roman meant for Gerri and, with Shakespearean scorn, disapproves of the match. (“She’s a million years old; it’s fucking disgusting!” Dad roars.)
Like the Bard’s most famous pair, Gerri and Roman’s forbidden-love connection proves to be the downfall of both characters, and season four is rife with angst for Tumblr’s favorite Succession twosome (okay, second favorite, after whatever the hell you want to call Tom and Greg). In a punishing bit by Logan, Roman is tasked with firing Gerri in episode three, “Connor’s Wedding,” effectively having to choose between his father-boss and his mommy-domme. Still plagued with “Are you a sicko?” shame, Roman sides with the former, leaving Gerri with a lower lip trembling in rage and him clearly wishing he could drink poison instead.
Even though—spoiler alert!—Logan dies mere moments later, seemingly leaving Gerri in the clear where Waystar is concerned, the “romance” of the Slime Puppy and the Mole Woman is too tainted by tragedy, by betrayal, by reputation and responsibility to continue. There was no way these two would have ever been able to ride off on a company yacht together, Roman making jerk-off jokes to a bemused Gerri while they sailed into the sunset. When Roman fires Gerri a second time, for real, in episode six, it isn’t business strategy that fuels him. It’s heartbreak. Like Juliet and her Romeo, these two lovers will remain forever apart, separated by death—Logan’s, sure, but also the death of what once was and what might have been.
“I could have got you there,” Gerri gnashes at Roman in episode seven, taking as much cheerless solace in a martini as Shakespeare’s heroine did a dagger. “But nope,” she scoffs, turning her back to him and disappearing into the night. For never was a story of more woe.
42 Comments
Gerri was only into the sexual part of their relationship briefly. Then she starts to date someone else who Roman continually threatens. Most of the dick pics are unwanted. Gerri tells Roman this explicitly. She is being harassed, and she can’t come out publicly because 1) it will make her look weak, 2) she knows she works in a company where she will be blamed, and 3) it will look especially bad since she just guided the company through a shitstorm of sexual assault allegations.
Uh, how does getting unsolicited dick picks from the son of the founder of the company and current Co-CEO make her look weak and her get blamed?
Facts don’t matter; Waystar controls the narrative no matter what ‘facts’ Gerri has.
Yes, and are you seriously saying that Waystar’s board of directors, or even Kendall and Shiv will be okay and fine with of son the founder of the company and current Co-CEO sending unsolicited dick picks to the general counsel during a major merger/sale? That’s the “narrative” Waystar will want to “control.” The public will find what Roman did repulsive and will effectively destroy his reputation.
Have you been watching the same show as me? Shiv was HORRIBLE to Gerri when she found out about the dick pics, just like she was horrible to the rape victim who was planning to testify before Congress. It’s not that Shiv and Kendall are fine with it, they are happy to use the situation to their own advantage. Only now that Gerri is completely out of the company can she control the narrative. As long as she wanted to stay in, she had very few options.
The public will find what Roman did repulsive.Can I live where you live?
You mean you don’t live on Planet Earth where cyberflashing as its now being called is actually against the law in some cities, states, and countries?
lol. Just because something is against the law doesn’t mean rich people don’t get away with breaking it.
You have to remember that every C-level executive in a company like Waystar has a vested interest in said company before they cash out; naturally, they’ll minimize the company’s exposure to protect both (A) their own interests and (B) other employees who still have to work there at day’s end. They won’t ‘shame’ their company and even if someone else does, they’ll come up with a great viral news story to kick an issue like Roman’s to the curb.
Yes, they’ll minimize the company’s exposure to protect both their own interests and other employees by kicking Roman to the curb and dismissing him as a rouge, pervert that was quickly dealt with before he was able to cause more damage to the firm’s reputation. Again, when Kendall is trying to rebrand the company as cooler and hipper, you really think he’ll like and want a scandal like this to ruin the image of the company? How do you think Nan Pierce who Shiv wants to work with will take it? That’s why they’ll gladly toss Roman under the bus, in order to save face. Also, cyberflashing is now a crime in some states now. Gerri can actually have legal grounds to sue Roman and Waystar if it’s found he violated the law. There have been C-level executives, like McDonalds for example, that resigned or fired by their board of directors for having consensual relationships with employees.
I mean, this is a company that has managed to get past women being murdered on their cruise ships with no one facing jail time and are still worth a tech billionaire’s overpriced buyout offer. I don’t think it’s impossible that they could make a sexual harassment issue go away.
They weren’t going through a major change in leadership and a company sale at the time. And also, Gerri and Logan were the ones who help plan and execute that cover up. Now that it’s Gerri the victim here and doofuses like Kendall, Shiv, Roman, and Karl in charge. And without Gerri’s and Logan’s brains and steady hand, they won’t be as lucky this time. Also, given Kendall’s willingness to backstab his own sibs to advance the company and himself, one can see him tossing Roman under the bus in order to save face.
ATN is like their world version of Fox News, I think. I think they could say anything about Gerri (probably anything, period)-and their viewers would believe it. Even if noone else did, it might hurt her enough that she doesnt feel its worth it.
I think from now until the end of time, whenever I hear the phrase “control the narrative” I’m going to remember Roman’s line: “I bet that’s what he yells when he comes.”
I could totally see how they’d do it-ATN says shes a lying old slut, and their dumb viewers eat it up.
Because she works for a highly toxic organization. I’m sure you noticed the way Shiv treated her. Shiv used Gerri’s own harassment against her. Even Roman had to ask his dad not to fire her (before he did fire her, that is) for committing the crime of receiving pictures of Roman’s dick. In Waystar/Royco land, you can never admit to being a victim of anything. It’s a terrible place full of terrible people.
None of this is relevant to the point I’m making which is what the public and more importantly to the Roys, what the shareholders and board of directors think. Saying again, the son of the founder of the company and current Co-CEO sending unsolicited dick picks to the general counsel would be a public relations and investor nightmare. Especially as they are trying to sell and rebrand the company as something more cool and hip. The Board of Directors in order to save and maintain face and prevent a massive stock sell off which would kill the deal, will demand Roman resign to save face.
Bro. The front runner for the GOP is Donald Trump. He just lost a civil suit that that accused him of sexual assault. There are audio recordings of him saying truly vile things. Like…are you really this naive?
At worst what would happen to Roman is that they would probably hide him from the public eye, use their major media corporation to slowly rehab his reputation him (probably lie and say he had a drug addiction like Kendall) and then be back in the fold.
Gerri will lose her job (which seems important to her) and hopefully get a pay off in a settlement. But long term consequences for Roman? Laughable to say that would happen.
Welcome to corporate America.
It shouldn’t but it does sometimes. In my own experience as a woman you get told either to stand up for yourself or stop being so sensitive. So if you won’t stand up for yourself you are weak and blamed for saying nothing. And if you say something you are weak for not dealing with it yourself and blame for causing discord.
What does this world salad even mean?
I would love to live in whatever world you do where victims of sexual harrassement, especially female victims, don’t get blamed and ostracized, both professionally and publicly, for being sexually harrassed. Especially when they are not a perfect victim with a spotless past (as Gerri absolutely is not).
Because patriarchy
ATN is basically Fox, right? They could tell their viewers Gerri is a lying old slut, and they’d totally buy it.
My take is she was never into the relationship but (as she confirmed last week) she saw an opportunity to mastermind Roman taking over. But she probably moved on when it was clear he was too fucked up for that.
It was never going to work, because, as Logan put it, Roman is not a serious person. Whereas Gerri is a serious person. So serious that she is the company’s savvy general counsel (on her own merits, and not because she is a Roy), proved to be competent as interim CEO, and should have been reappointed to the CEO role after Logan’s death. She’s probably the sharpest, most competent person in that whole company, and it’s frankly a travesty that someone like her has to kowtow to the Roy boys. It was therefore never going to work out between her and (nepo baby) Roman.
Yeah a competent GC who has already proven she can handle crisis would be the perfect person to keep things on even keel until the sale could go through. One of the sources of constant enjoyment for me throughout the show’s run is how delusional the three kids are about the ability to run a global media empire. Gerri may not know much about making executive decisions regarding news and entertainment, but she does know how to keep an enterprise together and navigate the corporate environment.
But anyway, my point is that this article paints the relationship as consensual. For the most part it was not.
Yeah, it wasn’t. It’s clear what Roman got out of it: he’s emotionally fucked up and has eroticized sexual disempowerment as a kink because of the ways his family punishes vulnerability or emotional honesty.But Gerri doesn’t *want* random dick pics on her phone. She doesn’t want to be Roman’s mommy-domme. Maybe she indulged it for a bit, possibly as a vent for her frustrations with the entire Roy family. But it feels insane to characterize it as some romantic Missing Piece for her. She’d probably prefer a normal relationship not built around toxicity, and a normal job where the CEO’s weird son isn’t insulting her and then sending dick pics in a meeting.
I’m not even sure she was indulging, I think she may have just seen an opportunity. Considering how much time she’s spent at this toxic company I would expect Roman wasn’t the first man to harass her. She probably learned how to navigate these situations to her advantage in a time where reporting it would get her nowhere. Maybe she thought putting up with Roman’s nonsense would lead to her “getting him there”, which only would have been beneficial to her. But Roman was too much of a fuckup for even that to work.
It was really strange how many people wanted them to be a thing together.
On a show of highly unbelievable goings-on, even for a satire, the Jerry/Roman relationship was one of the most unbelievable.
The more I think about these kids, the more I think that they were so vulnerable to being fucked up by Logan because they’d already been fucked up by Caroline. Roman clearly sees some kind of mother figure in Gerri, smooshed horrifyingly with a potential sexual partner. Shiv is terrified of motherhood because she sees the potential to become her own mother, who seems to have treated her as competition for Logan’s affection. Kendall just needs some parental affection, and it’s clear that he’s dedicated himself to getting it from his dad because it’s a non-starter with his mum. Ironically, although Connor had his mother taken away from him and committed, he’s escaped Logan’s malign influence somewhat by having at least one parental figure he cares for.
One thing about the final season is I’m not going to miss AV Club’s obsession with these two. I don’t think it was ever as big a part of the show as they tried to make it.
Ha, this
No, obviously not. They just noticed the chemistry and had fun with it. Why not.
When she says “I could have got you there” in the most recent episode, I love how ambiguous that line was. Could have gotten you to the top job in the company? Could have gotten you off? yes.
That’s one of my favorite things about the writing. It’s funny, coarse, smart and often makes you do a mental double take, in terms of what the characters say and what they mean, when they speak.
Tom and GREG is ‘Successions’ greatest tragic romance. I completely stand by that opinion. I will say, I enjoyed (and still do) the Roman and Gerri relationship. I judge the relationships within the fiction of the show, never with the standards of reality.
I know AVC has been leaning more and more into its chud tendencies in recent years, but glorifying sexual harassment is… well, maybe not a new low for you guys, huh.
Hey, some actually good writing from the AV Club! I knew (some of) you still had it in you.
“Mole-Woman”, was that a prejorative that Roman used?