Succession recap: Three brilliant speeches try, and fail, to put Logan Roy to rest at last
An over-long penultimate episode is sometimes torn between the present moment and setting up the finale, but Succession's writing has never hit harder
TV Reviews Logan Roy
We concern ourselves, tonight, with the triangulation of Logan Roy’s soul.
Succession doesn’t use flashbacks. It’s something I only really noticed on my second run through the series: For all that these characters are defined by the wounds of the past, we in the audience never get to visit it. The show’s cameras—directed tonight by series MVP Mark Mylod—are, instead, permanently fixed in the never-resting now. If it’s not here, it doesn’t exist.
Which means that if we want to get a glimpse of Logan Roy at his own funeral, we have to do so by inference. The old man might be in the box, but his spirit can only be found on a map whose perimeters are sketched out by the things people say about him tonight—most notably in three beautiful, blistering speeches that try to answer the question: Exactly what kind of monster was Logan Roy?
In the words of brother Ewan—James Cromwell showing up, as he so often has on this show, to bring a little fire and brimstone down on the heads of the sinners—Logan was a tragic monster, a haunted child who responded to demands for silence by becoming the loudest bully in the room; feelings of powerlessness by becoming high priest of a cult of power. There’s a wonderful tenderness with which Ewan condemns his brother, simply outlining the ways he not only committed evil, but encouraged a love of evil acts in others. He tells no untruths—and, in fact, all three funeral speeches tonight are scrupulously honest, which is part of what makes them such a fascinating exercise in writing from series creator Jesse Armstrong. “He was mean,” Ewan concludes. “And he made but a mean estimation of the world. And he fed a certain kind of meagerness in men.” People weep, shake their heads—and, in Greg’s case, give some mealy-mouth congratulations. Nobody denies that it was true.
Next up is Kendall, who subs in after Roman—having convinced himself that the funeral would be his moment to dazzle the world with the brilliance of Logan Roy’s youngest son—collapses at the pulpit like so many delusions of “pre-grieving.” In Kendall’s telling, Logan was a vital monster, a massive, ugly, powerful heart pumping lifeblood through the American corpus. And if Kendall’s efforts to give “the other side” of Logan end up describing the capitalist hellscape his father helped create as a kind of paradise, that’s sort of the point: If Kendall is ever going to love himself, as a creation of Logan Roy, he’s going to have to embrace everything that Logan created in his image. “And now people might want to tend and prune the memory of him, to denigrate that force,” he concludes. “That magnificent, awful force of him. But my god, I hope it’s in me.” And then he damns him, in a way that Kendall, and Logan, would both view as praise: “He was comfortable with this world. He knew it, and he liked it.”
Finally, Shiv gets up, tearfully describing the very human monster at the center of her, and so many others’, lives: The boogeyman whose children lived in fear of him—but who nevertheless always played outside his office in the hopes of catching a glimpse. Sarah Snook plays the speech perfectly, no bombast, no persuasion for anyone except herself; unlike Ewan and Kendall, Shiv seeks to claim no territory here, save what exists in her own heart. (Later, she will approach Logan’s oldest friends, demanding they tell her whether it’s safe to carry forward some part of his memory with pride or warmth.) Logan’s love was one of his most potent, cruelest weapons, but it was also shocking, genuine, beautiful; how many times did we watch Brian Cox suddenly turn it on, and see people who knew better, time and time again, melt beneath the warmth of that sun? “Goodbye,” she finishes, after taking a moment—reflected in the faces of Gerri, Karolina, those who’d know—to let Logan’s treatment of women face a moment of proper scrutiny. “Goodbye, my dear, dear world of a father.”
But even away from the spotlight of the speeches, tonight’s funeral outlines the man Logan Roy was, by the ways people unconsciously commemorate him: Shit-talking, glad-handing, and the endless pursuit of the deal. “Church And State” is a bit of a monster itself in that regard, simultaneously serving as both “The Funeral Episode” and “The One Before The Big Finale,” duties which sometimes sit ill-at-ease with each other. Armstrong’s script has to simultaneously examine the Roys as they are, in this pivotal moment, and set them up for the knock-down, drag-out fight over the Matsson sale next week, two narrative masters operating at sometimes frustrating odds with each other.
It doesn’t entirely work, honestly: The funeral speeches make for such a gripping emotional climax—with the scene between the four kids at the actual burial as a funny, strangely sweet dénouement—that the realization that there’s still another 15 minutes of politicking left to go afterward makes the episode feel strangely lopsided. My suspicion is that Armstrong is trying to make a case here that there’s no moment so holy that real life won’t intrude on it; the actual effect, though, is a sudden dip in energy that only picks back up with the episode’s ugly climax, when Roman tries to scream the world into submission and ends up pummeled to the ground, instead.
And yet, the moment-to-moment of “Church And State” is so strong that its more structural defects are easy to ignore. This is an episode filled with funny, profoundly human moments. Like Connor revealing that their dad’s gaudy tomb represents no loftier ambitions than Logan’s unstoppable desire to screw another guy over at market. Or poor, awful Peter Munion trying to soft-launch himself as “Daddy” to the deeply unamused Roy kids. Or, god help me, Caroline Collingwood and Marcia Roy evoking genuine tears from me with acts of kindness(?) and empathy(?!).
When Caroline first approaches Logan’s final mistress Kerri (who brought a lawyer to the funeral, in case the widowed Marcia tried to bar her from even attending), my stomach sank; what game was this inveterate drama hound going to pull? But this is Caroline’s brutal love of honesty at its best: Collecting her “own” Kerri, Sally-Anne, on the way to the front row, she asserts to Marcia that every woman who managed the trick of loving Logan Roy deserves their chance to say goodbye to him. When Marcia not only relents, but acknowledges Kerri’s genuine heartbreak with a moment of comfort, it doesn’t change anything between them—part of the point of this episode is that none of this changes anything, because the world keeps spinning—but it is a moving point of human connection, a moment of solidarity between the survivors of Logan Roy.
Meanwhile, the man’s other survivors are forced to contend with a new source of gravity in the room: Jeryd Mencken, who is now, depending on what news you watch, the President-Elect of the United States. Not to belabor this point, but the Mencken material in “Church And State”—good as it is—feels strangely separated from the funeral plotline, centered as it is mostly on the reception afterwards, which is almost entirely focused on setting up the stakes for next week’s finale. (Among other things, Mencken’s enthusiastic response to Kendall’s eulogy doesn’t feel totally natural with the coolness with which he treats him at the reception; given that Armstrong has talked about tinkering with the structure of this season while deciding whether it’d be the show’s last—and the fact that this episode is an extra ten minutes long—it almost feels like these two moments could have come from two different episodes.)
Justin Kirk still moves smooth as semi-fascist silk, though, as Mencken settles comfortably into his new position of power—including openly denigrating his “friend” Roman for his display of open emotion during the funeral. As the parasites flock to him (and the show implicitly suggests that there’s not that much difference between Kendall and Greg and Connor in this moment, all begging Mencken for scraps on the strength of what they did for him yesterday), the potential new president sets up the terms for next week by giving tacit permission for Matsson to go forward with the Waystar acquisition—as long as an American CEO, i.e., Shiv, stays in charge. And that, apparently, is where we’ll start next week: The final grudge match between Shiv and Kendall for the title of Daddy’s Best Baby, Roy V. Roy.
But we don’t end tonight with either of our major combatants. No, we end as we (basically) began, with Roman The Showman. Kieran Culkin is heartbreaking throughout this episode—whether falsely pumping himself up for his “big speech” at the beginning, or collapsing into tiny-voiced sobs when forced to confront the fact that his dad is really in that box halfway through. Or when he can’t even bring himself to enter the tomb, admitting he couldn’t even really breathe when Logan was around. Or at the reception, when he’s too broken to push back on Kendall’s put-little-brother-back-in-his-box assertions that he “fucked” the funeral speech. (An ugly assessment borne out by the mocking of that moment we glimpse around the room.) And, oh, he’s especially heartbreaking in the end, tonight, as he screams at protestors who he’ll never really grasp that he unleashed on the streets of New York, all but begging them to kill him. Roman begins tonight convinced that he’s the second coming of Logan Roy. He ends it lost in a world where the only person who really mattered to him, apparently, has ceased to exist. Time only moves forward, after all, and no matter how hard we look for him, Logan Roy is well and truly gone.
Next week, we find out exactly who he’ll take with him as he goes.
Stray observations
- So many wonderfully scuzzy little notes in the practice version of Roman’s speech we get; especially the “we” when he mentions satellites, gently skipping over what actually happened when Rome tried to launch one.
- Kendall gets his first tantrum of the day in early today, threatening to lay down in front of Rava’s car to keep her from taking the kids out of the city to avoid unrest caused by Mencken’s “win”; New York bracing for the blowback of what the Kids did last week is an undercurrent throughout tonight’s episode.
- Tom pops in and out of the episode, consumed by ATN’s handling of the Mencken material. He still gets a chance to say some very Tom stuff, though! “I’m tarred with the Mencken brush, so I may as well get my goodies. There’s no point in joining the party unless you get your little dacha.”
- Roman is in fine form after Shiv reveals she’s pregnant: “Is it mine?… I figured you’d just been eating your feelings. If I see you breast feeding, I am going to have to jerk off.”
- Jess Watch: A big one, as Kendall stumbles into finding out she’s resigning. Fascinating, ugly scene; we know Ken’s gonna pop, regardless, but the one moment of pure honesty in Juliana Canfield’s eyes, the contempt she never shows breaking through, when he asks “Is this about Mencken?” hits so hard.
- Tragically, we never get to hear Connor’s Willa-penned, “formally inventive” speech for his dad, beyond Shiv noting that, “I think that this eulogy is going to leave us open to legal action.”
- Frank’s total indifference to Roman’s overtures is so good. “Sure. Life is short. We should all love one another.” Peter Friedman: Low-key MVP throughout this one.
- It takes Matsson zero time to try to use Shiv’s pregnancy against her, but she ably deflects, declaring herself a “hard bitch” who’s “not widely liked.”
- “I loved him, I suppose. And I suppose some of you did, too, in whatever way he would let us, and we could manage.”
- God, Caroline’s little face when Kendall gives their dad complete credit for making the Kids.
- “He was hard on women…he couldn’t fit a whole woman in his head.”
- There are a ton of good lines at the burial: “Cat-food Ozymandias,” “I’m intrigued to see how he gets out of this one.” Maybe the Roys at their funniest and best.
- I suspect that might be a series wrap on Hiam Abbass. “He broke my heart. He broke your hearts, too.” What a wonderful, tricky character Marcia has been over these four seasons.
- Energized by his speech—and news of Shiv maneuvering for CEO—Kendall recruits his own little dream team, bringing on both Hugo and Logan’s old body man Colin. (There’s no way Andrew Dodds doesn’t come up somehow next week, right? It’s too potent a bomb in Shiv’s arsenal not to go off.)
- “Whole new Tom. You would never have dared not to come to his funeral when he was alive.”
- “The people at the hotel know me…and I hate it.” How do these awful people keep breaking my heart.
- Meanwhile: If Matsson double-crosses Shiv and names Greg as his puppet CEO, somebody owes me $5.
274 Comments
I think that was probably Kieran’s finest moments of the series. From his meltdown on the podium to the ending with him looking to take a beating, this was Roman’s episode.It was a little distracting though to see Sarah noticeably thinner in the reception scene (earlier in her pregnancy, I suppose), though I guess with filming schedules that cannot be helped.I did lol at Greg wedging his way in between Menckin and Kendall though. He’s got some great timing.
That whole episode, I just winced every time Greg opened his mouth. He’s cut from the same mold as Tom, but Tom at least has the barest ounce of (something like) loyalty to balance against his opportunism. Greg is pure opportunism at its most bald-faced and grasping.
He’s “grown” by learning that its all about transaction with this brood. He’s pretty bad at it and has no chill.
Tom also has a career of corporate maneuvering to draw from so that it’s not SO overt. Greg is just pure clueless pandering.
I sincerely fear Culkin may have stolen Bob Odenkirk’s Emmy tonight.
Poor Bob Odenkirk. He’s becoming the Susan Lucci of the Primetime Emmys.
He’s probably okay for the Emmy. In order for Culkin to win, HBO (er, excuse me, “Max”) will put him in the category of supporting actor or reassign Succession from comedy to drama—or vice-versa.
Poor Bob Odenkirk. He’s becoming the Susan Lucci of the Primetime Emmys.
You can say that 20 more times.
Is this season eligible for the BCS Emmy, or is it for the next cycle?Exactly what I feared would happen when people were saying “It’s ok, they’re eligible again” when nobody on BCS won anything last time out.
I’m still giving it to Odenkirk.
The issue for Culkin is that him, Strong, and Snook might get nominated for Best Actor (like last year when Cox and Strong were nominated), so that might split the vote.
While you should never say never, I can’t imagine a show like Better Call Saul get perhaps 50+ Emmy nominations over 6 seasons and not winning a single one. Odenkirk wins it off the strength of the series finale alone
“The issue for Culkin is that him, Strong, and Snook might get nominated for Best Actor”
Snook might take issue with that.
No mention yet of his frantic Citibike ride. My first LOL of the evening.
Also that brief shot showed a cop bicycling in front of him, so it could have been purely coincidence due to the heightened police presence, but I’m going to go with the much more hilarious interpretation that he somehow obtained a police bike escort for his big ride to the funeral.
It was a little distracting though to see Sarah noticeably thinner in the reception scene I can assure you, you are the only one that noticed that.
“It was a little distracting though to see Sarah noticeably thinner in the reception scene (earlier in her pregnancy, I suppose)“
Oh, fuck off.
GoJo is completing the deal and then it’s the Menken choice for CEO. The kids end up completely fucked, most likely after the will is read, where we finally see the rise of Greg to his natural position as a true #2 doing Matsson’s bidding
As someone who hated Greg for all of Season 1 and found him amusing but still pretty aggravating for the rest, I fear you may be right. The possibility is certainly getting narrative support.
Honestly Ewans speech was good and James Cromwell was so amazing that for me his speech just over wrote Shiv’s and Kendalls. Ewan was a man who hated and loved his brother and now he has to bury him and Ewan was the eldest. He did it so well MVP for me
That speech demonstrated why at the end of the day why he still preferred Logan over the kids and the rest of the family. Logan was awful, but that was because of their hard upbringing and wartime experiences. Logan’s kids have no reason to act the way they do. Also liked how Ewan made it clear his disgust towards all of them for helping prop up Mecken among other things which enraged Roman. He didn’t allow the siblings to BS everyone how great and awesome their dad was. Great moment for a character we haven’t seen in a while. I hope he shows up in the finale to vote against Kendall or lead Greg away by pinching his ears or something.
Their parents are the reason they act the way they do.
I mean, they do have an excellent reason to act the way they do: They were raised by Logan. But Ewan justifiably hates all the monsters, big and small, Logan has made.
They don’t actually and that’s the point. Yes, they were raised by people like Logan and Caroline, but as far as his POV, and he’s kinda right, they were never as extremely abusive in every way as Ewan and Logan’s aunt and uncle seemingly were. They never had to grow up under extreme hardship and poverty and had a great life of comfort and privilege, but still turned out to be helpless morons. Ewan speech was a thinly veiled attack on the rich and capitalism and this generation. That it makes you into this entitled and horrible person without any real reason which fits with Ewan’s beliefs and personality and why Roman and the family didn’t want him up there and were tut-tutting him when he was speaking. They knew he was going to say that.
Well certainly. It’s not like his speech was subtle. My point is that he’s not shocked and horrified by what the kids are. I’d say he just groups them among Logan’s sins/monstrous accomplishments. Logan made mean, vapid children just like he made a mean vapid world.
No, again, he is shocked but not surprised that they turned out that way. But again, he blames American capitalism more than Logan which is the point. Logan only acted that way to the kids because that’s how he was raised. The kids despite their self-awareness, still continue to act like spoiled, entitled morons, and that what angers Ewan.
Logan is vicious and domineering because of how he was raised. The kids are selfish and vapid because of how they were raised. He’s not an idiot. He understand both elements.
Nope. Again, he blames their selfish and vapidness on their wealth and privilege. Not necessarily on Logan. He’s disappointed that they are not better people because of their money.
You know…. You often make good and salient points. But you also WAAAAAY more than necessary act the antagonistic shitbird. There is no need to be so “No, you’re wrong and you should feel bad” about every f’ing interaction you have here.
These are all valid and interesting interpretations but Ewan is a fictional character so it’s a little silly for anyone to say with absolutely certainty what Ewan thinks, unless perhaps they’re Jesse Armstrong.
And he doesn’t let the trauma excuse the behavior. Reasons aren’t excuses. And Ewan sealed the deal by even implicating himself and seeing how alike he and Logan were.
That speech wasn’t directed at the other characters, or even the audience at least in the context of the storyline of the show. It was an editorial against Rupert Murdoch.
Justice for Connor Roy. He was the only Roy who didn’t even get a chance to give a speech and He was the ELDEST SON. JUSTICE FOR CONNOR ROY.
I would have liked that, and it might have even been something if he made a fuss about it. But what I like even more is how he didn’t. How chill he’s become. As he said in 4×03, he knows his dad didn’t like him, and in turn Connor can’t be bothered to care as much anymore. He has accepted his lot in the Roy life, and is more or less content- which really can’t be said about any of the other kids. And he sort of gets his own moment, in his own way, to take the lead, when they visit the mausoleum.
“he sort of gets his own moment, in his own way, to take the lead, when they visit the mausoleum.”Thinking about the stuff with his ranch, his quick purchase of the penthouse from Marcia during the wake, and Logan apparently bragging to only him about the mausoleum deal, real estate deals seem like the one way in which Connor was able to connect with Logan.
Connor Roy was interested in politics from a young age!
I love that he tried twice to step up and offer to deliver the eulogy and was essentially ignored both times.
Marcia really summed it all up, that Logan broke all their hearts. I think there’s some very layered themes around gender this season and the ripple effects of extreme repression. This is a wasteland of broken people and the only way any of them know how to “act” is through capitalism, which is so devoid of what actually builds our worlds. And there’s this mirrored double standard applied to Shiv being emotionally unavailable and at the same time Roman being too vulnerable. Marcia, Kerry, Caroline and the other woman sitting together gave a lot to the audience of each of these women’s histories with very little words.imo it makes more sense for Menchken to align with someone like Mattson who actually understands where technology is at today. However, I think Shiv is miscalculating how much of a voice she’d really have as CEO answering to a fascist like Menchken and someone as amoral as Mattson, but that’s the hubris of all the kids. Maybe it’ll just be Menchken and Mattson riding off into the sunset.
Capitalism isn’t the problem. Communism has led to multiple revolutions.
Capitalism is a massive problem. You can’t look at the inequality it creates and not think “that is seriously wrong”
You know what creates far m0re inequality? Communism. Many countries function quite well on Capitalism. The US just does it worse than most Capitalist countries.
I don’t know how you can watch this show and think capitalism isn’t a problem. It’s literally what the show is about. Capitalism has killed and abandoned people just the same way as any other system.
The show is centered around a Billionaire and his spoiled rich kids. Capitalism is not the same as Communism. Just stop
On the other hand, capitalism is the philosophy that led to communism.
Do you even understand what the word “facist” means?
Do you?
“However, I think Shiv is miscalculating how much of a voice she’d really have as CEO”
I mean, she’s never going to be CEO…
Also I do think Kendall is sort of felt justified in saying Logan created them because well from the siblings point of view Caroline sort of left them. Like when Kendall wants to confess his own mother makes an excuse to leave. Shiv doesn’t want to tell her own she’s pregnant because she doesn’t trust her. Roman is the only one who tries and even then he’s distant. Like the siblings have a love hate relationship with Logan but they pretty much gave up on Caroline.
I don’t know if Caroline is any worse, she seems to be her own brand of abusive. She just isn’t the “sun” the same way as Logan is (i.e. being a global figure so the kids can more easily let her go).
She just cold and completely detached. She doesn’t strike me as someone who has (or at least will admit to having) any real emotions whatsoever.
Also Mencken is feeling like a top dog now. He no longer has to beg. Now he wants people to offer something. Kendall isn’t offering anything and Roman his favorite turned out to choke in big moments so he can’t trust Roman anymore to properly help him.
Yep. And then Matsson offers him something (or is at least conciliatory enough to suggest he could have some future value to Mencken). So there’s a new Number 1 Boy for Mencken now. The Roys should all be afraid.
I don’t 100% understand what is going on with the election. Just because ATN called the election for Mencken doesn’t mean that Mencken won. Why do the Roys all feel like Mencken owes them something for this?
Because their call made it possible for him to claim victory despite the uncertainty. They helped him, in other words, control the narrative. In modern politics (and even in most older political modes) this is more than half the battle. And given the uncertainty of the results, they really did stick their necks way out. Tom, for instance, is already facing some of the blowback for that decision.
The idea is that the premature call in Wisconsin will give Mencken a leg up in the court proceedings, because ruling for Jimenez would be “overturning” the election.I agree it’s a little flimsy, but let’s see what happens in the last episode. It seems awkward that the final outcome of the election can’t really known unless they do a flash forward or something.
The idea is that the premature call in Wisconsin will give Mencken a leg up in the court proceedings, because ruling for Jimenez would be “overturning” the election.The thing is that the call doesn’t matter in any legal sense.
A news network calling an election has no force of law. Who wins the election is entirely dependent on the vote count and later the certification of the votes by the state. The reason why Mencken wanted it called was because there’s a chilling effect on later voter turnout if a state is called early (in other words, people who would otherwise get to the polls later in the day might decide to stay home if their preferred candidate has already lost). An early call can’t compel the state to close polling places early, or start/stop the vote count. Because of that, Mencken wouldn’t use ATN’s call of Wisconsin in court: it’s irrelevant. In fact, one of the issues in Florida in 2000 was that networks called Florida for Gore before all of the polls had closed (some were still open in the panhandle, where the time zone is CST and not EST), which might have chilled some late turnout. It was significant because the Panhandle is overwhelmingly Republican. So, if Mencken mentioned the Wisconsin call, Jimenez’s team would point to the chilling effect that an early call would have, opening up more litigation.
Given that the fire destroyed a whole bunch of ballots (and that fire likely compelled other polling places to either close early or institute stricter security measures that could slow down the pace of voting), the legal fight as to whether extend voting past election day (which can be done, but only by an individual state, or by Congressional action), how to handle the destroyed ballots, and so forth, would be long, arduous, and would run into a whole bunch of federal and Supreme Court roadblocks.
The reality is that there’s three hard deadlines when it comes to counting and certification of votes: Dec. 14 (when the electors of the individual States give their votes to the state legislature) and Dec. 23 (when the states send their votes to Congress). Jan. 6 is when Congress (namely the VP, in their capacity as President of the Senate) counts the electoral votes and certifies the next President and Vice President.
Now, each state has individual rules in regards to reporting vote counts on a county-by-county basis. That can give a significant amount of wiggle room, as we saw with the 2020 election where many counties in swing states didn’t have their full vote count until nearly a week after Election Day (and these were states where news media had made calls rather early, most famously in Arizona). As far as I know, there’s nothing that would conflict with a state waiting until as late as Dec 13 to do a full count of their votes, and in a situation like the outright destruction of a voting precinct and hundreds of thousands of votes, the litigation alone would take that long (such as Florida in 2000, where the Supreme Court made their decision on Dec. 12, just two days before the Dec. 14 deadline).
I’ll have to rewatch the episode, but I believe that something interesting could be at play. The electoral count was split 262-263 in favor of Mencken before Arizona got called for Mencken. Wisconsin has 10 electoral votes. Take away those 10 (since Wisconsin law stipulates that all absentee ballots must be counted before an election can be certified, so Shiv wasn’t making that up), and Mencken is now down 262-253. Here’s the thing: the Electoral College requires an absolute majority of electoral votes to decide the next President, not merely a majority of the counted votes. If no one crosses that 270 threshold (even if they have a majority), then the President is voted on by House, and the VP is voted on by the Senate. The rub is that the House vote isn’t decided by individual members, but by state legislatures, so you could have a situation where a House dominated by one party still loses the Presidential election because the opposing party dominates state legislatures (which was the case up until last year, when Democrats controlled the House, but Republicans controlled the majority of state legislatures).
So, there’s a possibility that due to litigation in Wisconsin, we simply won’t know who would be President without a time-skip to at least Dec. 14, and all of the backroom dealing with Mencken could be for naught if Wisconsin doesn’t (or legally can’t) certify their election results by that deadline. That time skip would be a bit jarring in reference to the pace of this season, but I can’t imagine a situation where they’d purposefully write an entire episode built around an election that will be contested in the courts, just to have it play absolutely no role when it comes to the Waystar-GoJo deal and the relationships between the Roy’s, Matsson, Mencken, and/or Jimenez. It would definitely be a subversion, but not a very satisfying one.
For the reasons I had mentioned in my earlier post, it’s less to do with influencing votes since the majority of polls nationwide are closed by the time elections are usually called, and more to do with compelling and pushing the losing candidate and side to concede and quit, even if votes are still being counted. Gore did initially concede to Bush before he withdrew it. Mencken and ATN were hoping that Jimenez would give up and concede before the votes in Wisconsin were processed.
The thing about Gore and Florida is that Florida was called before the polls closed, and was called for Gore. The news retracted it, then called it for Bush. That’s when Gore initially conceded, then when the news retracted it again (“too close to call”), Gore took back his concession.
Further, just like a news entity calling the election, a concession has no force of law. It’s something that is usually done as a courtesy, but if it were to come out later once all the votes are counted and certified that the person who conceded actually won, the person who accepted the concession has no legal recourse.
When it comes to the specifics the Succession episode, there’s no way that Jimenez was going to concede (not that a concession would matter, legally). Why? Because of the Milwaukee fire and the 100,000+ absentee ballots being destroyed. Calling Wisconsin and Arizona was not designed to compel Jimenez to concede. If anything, it was to set up Jimenez to look like a sore loser (and one without a mandate) if and when he challenged the results (specifically in Wisconsin) There’s a historical example of how an early concession can screw over candidates:
The 1980 Presidential election which resulted in a Reagan landslide over Carter. Carter conceded the election rather early (before 10pm EST), not taking into account the time zone differences. This resulted in many Democrat voters in California deciding to either stay home or leave polling places, which directly resulted in down ballot Democrat candidates losing their elections due to the depressed turnout from an early concession (which can have the same chilling effect as an early call).
Simply put, without Wisconsin (or until Wisconsin tabulates and certifies their ballots), neither Jimenez nor Mencken gets those 10. This would result in neither Jimenez nor Mencken reaching the 270 required, hence why Darwin was uncomfortable with calling the entire election (if they call it, assuming Wisconsin for Mencken, then the courts throw it out because of the destroyed absentee ballots, ATN has a lot of egg on their face for being the first).
But that’s the point though and always how it’s been throughout history. That the losing candidate and side will throw in the towel and concede the election, but some polls can be still open, and votes are still being counted. Sure, there’s no way that Jimenez was going to concede, but that’s not what ATN and The Roys are thinking and want, and that’s the point. They’re basically saying: “See! The Wisconsin votes are lost! You lost! Concede already!”
We might be talking cross-purposes here.
Jimenez wasn’t going to quit. ATN calling Wisconsin and Arizona (and thus the election) for Mencken was designed to curry favor for him since they believe that he’d be more apt to kill the Waystar-GoJo deal than Jimenez would (especially since they already know that Shiv is in with Matsson).
There’s also the fact that I was responding to Egerz and not you, and didn’t at all see your original post, hence why there might be confusion. That being said, the media’s “call” isn’t followed in any sort of legal process. Just because the calls tend to be rather accurate means absolutely nothing in regards to the FEC following the lead of the networks and news outlets. So while they can certainly attempt to wag the dog, at the end of the day, neither network calls nor concessions matter when it comes down to the brass tacks of collecting, counting, and certifying ballots and electoral votes. A concession doesn’t end or stop the electoral process. A network call doesn’t end or stop the electoral process.
Mencken asked for ATN to call the election and in exchange, he wouldn’t kill the deal, not that they would preemptively do it to curry favor with him. Yes, concessions have no legal basis, but it’s the traditional and psychological impact on the opposing side and election that Mencken is looking for. Remember, Gore did initially concede. That’s the idea. He and the GOP want Jimenez supporters to mindlessly accept the ATN and media results, and that he can paint them (with ATN’s help) as against democracy and supporting instability if they continue to resist.
Mencken asked for ATN to call the election and in exchange, he wouldn’t kill the deal, not that they would preemptively do it to curry favor with him. It’s the opposite. Roman and Kendall want the deal to be killed because they want to maintain control of Waystar. Mencken will kill the deal, not let it go through. That’s why Roman and Kendall were talking about bringing up regulatory kerfluffle once he’s President. Shiv is working with Matsson in order to have the deal go through, and install herself as CEO, which would screw over Roman and Kendall. Hence why in this last episode, she pitched the idea to Matsson and Mencken (who ended up changing his mind about killing the deal because he saw how Roman acted at the funeral and sees his a nutcase, and he thinks Kendall isn’t a true believer and won’t play ball like Roman would).
Mencken met with Roman and asked for their implicit and explicit support, and in exchange, he’d kill the deal once he was President. You have it exactly backwards, I’m afraid.
You’re talking after their deal. Not before, because you’re still missing the point which is Mencken wanted to manipulate the media, public, and Democrats in his favor and distract away from Wisconsin, and getting the Dems to symbolically throw in the towel by an early election call is one of it.
Okay. Either you’re not actually watching the show, or you just don’t understand the nature of the Waystar-GoJo deal and why Roman and Kendall want Mencken to scuttle it.
Take care.
I understand the show and the deal just fine. It seems that you don’t seem to understand or comprehend what I am and others here are even saying and why specifically Mencken wants to use ATN in regards to the election. But whatever. Believe what you want.
Mencken switching his loyalties that quickly was one of my favorite parts of the episode. He doesn’t care what they did for him yesterday, it’s what they can do tomorrow that matters. And he sees them as playing the losing hand against Matsson and Shiv.
It was absolutely brilliant.
It showed perfectly how deluded Roman (and to a lesser extent, Kendall) were to the political realities. They truly believed it was a wag-the-dog situation, where their support for Mencken with the early Wisconsin and Arizona calls would result in his unabated support once he’s in office. What they didn’t realize is that he’d play ball with ANYONE who helped him get elected. He gave Logan the Coke he wanted back in season 3 as a way of playing ball; he sounded-out Roman in the bathroom and realized that if Logan began to balk, Roman would be his way in; he realized that Kendall would be too flaky and would suffer from analysis paralysis when it came time to make the big decisions (hence why he never gave Kendall the time of day); lastly, he realized that he was holding almost all of the cards in regards to the deal, so if he could benefit by having a combined Waystar-GoJo in his pocket, along with the political boon of having a white, female CEO in a notoriously male-dominated industry (him reaching across the aisle), that’s where he’d go.
In the end, he understood a political reality: people care more for the politician than they do the media who support the politician. Right-wingers might like Fox News, but they like Trump more, and even if they watch Fox News, if someone like Tucker Carlson ran against Trump, Tucker would get trounced (which is why you almost never see major media personalities hopping into the political fray as candidates). Further, Mencken, as President, has a great deal of regulatory and financial power over Waystar, with or without GoJo. He could mobilize the FCC and FTC as regulatory bodies against what they say and do on air. He could mobilize the SEC as a regulatory body against what they do on the shareholder and money-raising side of things. Lastly, he could mobilize the DOJ’s antitrust dvision as a legal body against what they do on the corporate structure side of things.
Major media companies realize that the best thing they can hope for from a President is continued access, that’s it. Policy matters, at best, are secondary or tertiary. They want access, and want to avoid regulation, and it’s very much the dog (in this case, Mencken as President) wagging the tail (Waystar or Waystar-GoJo), not the other way around, and it was framed perfectly to convince people who don’t know the law to convince them Waystar making the early calls in Wisconsin and Arizona was/is at all legally binding in any sense. In fact, I believe Mencken realized he was in a win-win-win situation no matter how Waystar acted.
1. If he doesn’t get the calls he wants, and ends up losing, he still overperformed given his background and sudden rise, he owes nobody anything, and he presumably returns to his previous elected position as the obvious frontrunner in 4 years (dependent on whether or not he’s from one of the 5 states with “resign-to-run” laws).
2. If he doesn’t get the calls he wants, but ends up winning anyways, he now has Waystar over a barrel and can essentially get them to kowtow to whatever his demands are. At the end of the day, Waystar wants access, and now access is much more expensive because they didn’t do what he wanted. In my estimation, this is what Mencken secretly wants.
3. He gets the calls he wants, but ends up losing. This is the situation he presented to Roman when they met in Mencken’s hotel room. He will value their support, and will essentially be “Waystar’s President”, and will use their continued support for the next 4 (or however many) years until he runs for President again, assumes higher office (he’s a Representative, so a run for Senate or Governor), or simply wants to make a bunch of money as a talking head or lobbyist. For someone plucked from relative obscurity as recently as last season, to becoming the GOP nominee for President (regardless of winning or losing), that’s a huge jump in a very short span of time.
4. He gets the calls he wants, but ends up winning. This is what overtly wants, and what Mencken states he wants, but is relatively wishy-washy about it. Mencken doesn’t want to feel like he owes anybody, and since Waystar is in a state of disarray because of the power struggles following Logan’s death, along with the impending GoJo deal, he realizes that he’s in much more fortuitous position in terms of negotiating power and outcome than any of the Roy’s. If he wins, he’s President, and can tell any of the Roy’s to fuck off. If he wants to play ball, he’s still President, and he now has a huge media conglomerate in his pocket because their access to him is the most valuable thing they have.
To use some writing parlance, it’s a perfect example of a Xanatos Gambit, where all of the potential decisions by entity A will result in them benefiting, regardless of the actions by any other entities involved in the decision-making or outcome processes. As a student of politics, Mencken, a mere Congressman, getting the GOP nomination is so rare, that in-universe, I truly believed that he was of that mindset laid out above. There’s also the possibility that Jesse Armstrong (and the other writers) just didn’t realize how rare it is for a Representative to ever get the nomination of either party for President, let alone win (for example there has only been one President who came directly from the House of Representatives: James A. Garfield. The closest other two have been Abraham Lincoln, who served a single term as Representative, then spent the next 10 years as a private lawyer and Republican non-elected leader before winning the 1860 election, and Gerald Ford, who was House Minority Leader when he replaced Spiro Agnew as VP (after Agnew resigned), then became President when Nixon resigned.)
In fact, since Garfield, only one member of the House of Representatives has even ended up being the nominee for President from either major party: William Jennings Bryan (who’s more known for being an attorney than his rather brief electoral career). Aside from him, it’s either been governors, Senators, former generals, judges, cabinet members, ambassadors, or private individuals (only two: Wendell Wilkie in 1940, and our most recent former President in 2016). Interesting little tidbit for us political science geeks.
Hey! William Jennings Bryan is an ancestor of mine! House of Reps represent! Let’s just not talk about the Scopes Monkey Trial.“To use some writing parlance, it’s a perfect example of a Xanatos Gambit, where all of the potential decisions by entity A will result in them benefiting, regardless of the actions by any other entities involved in the decision-making or outcome processes.”
Spot-on. Mencken already won even if he loses this particular race. If he loses after ATN called Wisconsin for him, he can play the Trump “stolen election” victim card for four years, and milk that for support and publicity all the way through.
Assuming their in-world SCOTUS mirrors ours, it’s the opposite of flimsy. I’d say it’s a certainty.
What’s flimsy is the conceit that ATN’s call of the election will determine the outcome.“America Decides” is staged as a morality play, with Kendall as the “Everyman” torn between Shiv’s angel and Roman’s devil on his shoulders. By the terms set in the story, Kendall’s ultimate decision will determine the fate of the election and possibly democracy.But one story issue here is that, in order for Kendall’s moral choice to carry such weight, the series must posit that ATN’s authority to control the narrative is absolute.Ken chooses Option A (giving into Roman’s Devil), in which ATN calling the election for Mencken will change the course of history and make him president. He was always going to choose Option A, because the writers have been working towards that outcome for years.But what if he’d chosen Option B? Presumably ATN would withdraw its call of Wisconsin, declare Arizona for Mencken, and go with an election night narrative of “no decision,” allowing the rest of the process to play out in the courts.And the problem is, if they’d gone with Option B, I believe Mencken still wins. In our reality, the court battle over 100k provisional ballots to decide the next president would be understood in starkly partisan terms. Democrats would want new provisional ballots to be mailed out, and Republicans would want to certify the vote without those ballots. Conservative judges would side with the Republicans. SCOTUS would rule “tough shit, the numbers are numbers.” The Wisconsin state legislature would likely appoint its own slate of Republican electors regardless of the outcome of the court cases.So the story’s conceit is a little broken, because while I think the nightmare election night scenario is plausible, I don’t think ATN could really have the power to determine the outcome. Republicans would seek to overturn the election no matter what ATN was saying.
ATN can’t determine the outcome, but even if Mencken ends up losing it sets him up in a position of power as the jilted candidate who was screwed over by The System. I.e. Trump keeping his base jacked for two and a half years so far with the stolen election narrative.
My guess… They won’t reveal who’s eventually president. Of course we the audience care, but it’s not the point or the story being told. The finale will be the resolution of the Matsson deal and which kid (if any) is left standing. Maybe they’ll do a flash forward epilogue but Mencken eventually winning or losing is a sideshow.
You saw what happened in 2020 when the GOP got mad when the media called it for Biden. Or in 2000 when they got mad at the media for calling it for Gore. And the infamous “Dewey defeats Truman.” It’s the same thing. Succession is pretty much warning us what the GOP will try to do that next year when FOX and the right-wing media will prematurely call it in order to push the AP and the rest of the media to do the same thing, and push Biden to concede.The Federal Election Commission do not formally and officially announce and declare winners on election night. There actually isn’t anyone that actually does that in any formal and official capacity and never has been throughout our history. So that’s where the media, specifically the AP, steps in and makes that declaration, and the AP and media call has always been accepted by everyone and always has been traditionally. After the media’s call, the election usually stops by the candidates conceding, calling up the opponents, etc.
Yeah, because the Democrats are so honest. I mean that Durham report totally confirmed Trump used Russian interference right? Oh wait, that reported proved that there was NOTHING to the Russia angle except that it was a made-up lie by Hilary’s campaign to smear Trump. Try again.
As we saw in 2020, whoever creates the narrative first, wins. Truth be damned. And, as others say here, any court action against Jeryd could be spun as a “coup.” As he mentioned on election night, he wants any loss framed in a very specific way.
I don’t 100% understand what is going on with the election. Just because ATN called the election for Mencken doesn’t mean that Mencken won. Why do the Roys all feel like Mencken owes them something for this? Seriously? With all the different real world examples of similar “things” in recent elections? You don’t get it?Come on.
“Just because ATN called the election for Mencken doesn’t mean that Mencken won.”
Just out of curiosity, what were you doing for the several months following the 2000, 2016 and 2020 elections?
Because something something the narrative? I dunno, I like to let the plot just sort of wash over me with this show. It’s just a means to understand the motivations of the characters, so I try not to think about it too much.
The Logan move would’ve been to call it for Mencken, then immediately start running stories casting doubt on his victory. Then, he could offer Mencken a change in narrative for his support. Of course, none of the kids thought of this.
Color me shocked (not really) when he told Kendall he’d “see what he could do” about blocking the Waystar takeover. I have no idea how Kendall was dumb enough to ever trust this slimy turd to actually hold him accountable for his promises, and it’s going to cost him next week.
For an episode that was so frequently cringe inducing and painful, I don’t think I have laughed out loud as much. Fade just a moment from the broadcast and you missed some serious zingers. I thought the tone was set with Kendall being so brutal to Jess the assistant. And then the damn broke, Greg ever the toady little fuck telling his grand dad “That was a good hard take you gave”. Shiv at the mausoleum “dad in a bidding war with Liberace and Stalin?” and “can’t wait to see how Dad gets out of this one” . But the jokes flying about Roman’s breakdown hit the bullseye that fast clip on Instagram hearing his weeping only an hour or so later was bullseye perfect.And all this during some searing moments in play. This show is the best scripted show since MAD MEN. Consistent and mesmerizing. Going to miss it.
I continue to be stunned at how Armstrong and Co. can put out such consistently stellar writing and direction each and every episode. Seriously, I can’t think of an episode this whole series that was a misstep. The characters are so finely drawn and fully realized, and that’s so, so hard to do consistently across multiple seasons. I think about a show like Ted Lasso, which I’ve been critical of the last two seasons because of the unevenness of it’s characterizations. Sometimes people on that show behave out of character because they have to serve the needs of the plot. But not on Succession. That never happens. There’s never a moment where you see the writers go, “Oh shit, we’re backed into a corner. We’ll just have so-and-so do XYZ and that’ll do it. It’ll be clunky but it will get us from point A to point B.” Nope. Each character is only ever 100% themselves. That’s a staggering level of mastery when it comes to writing.
Kendall becoming the perfect contemporaneous speaker on two separate occasions is quite a feat of writerly BS. The character is cracked. And the writers need him not to be, so……
I can see how you could make that argument. I guess to me, Kendall’s one innate talent is bluster. He’s empty inside—devoid of the things that made Logan an effective leader—but he’s mastered the empty rhetorical performance and rising to that moment. (At least he is when he’s not cycling. I think the series has made a pretty good case for his undiagnosed bipolar disorder). So I could see how he might be able to eulogize his father in that moment, although maybe not that neatly. I agree that it was a very “writerly” speech. But overall, I don’t think being able to rise and address a crowd like that as being outside of the scope of his character. It’s certainly more his milieu than any of his other siblings, Connor’s “formally inventive” eulogy aside.
I also imagine him in the limo mentally running through his justifications of industry after that encounter with his ex-wife. So he was primed to go full Atlas Shrugged.
I agree – and I have to ask, is your handle a reference to The World According to Garp?
Absolutely not. Beware of the Undertoad. Wink emoji.
Sadly, not even Roberta Muldoon can defend one from the Undertoad.
FWIW, I also fucking hate bullshit complaints like that. Maybe I’m coming in too hot on this response, maybe it’s engaging with dumbshits about the WGA strike, but who fucking CARES if a speech a character gives in an important storyline reads like it was written? Because it fucking WAS written. Like… step off the dick of the writers taking a moment of fucking artistic license, ya know?
lol yeah I mean, it’s a fucking TV show. It’s heightened reality. It would be pretty fucking boring if all this dialog was realistic.
I don’t know. Contemporaneous speaking isn’t exactly the sole dominion of philosopher kings. I really disagree with the idea that it’s some kind of over-the-top mesmerizing talent.
Consider the fact that Kendall has been telling himself narratives like that basically his entire adult life—”What does my father mean to me, what does he mean to the rest of the world?”
And the fact that, failson as he is, he’s at a point in the C Suite where making big grandiose speeches are part of his core competencies, and yeah, it’s not THAT amazing a speech. Sure, it’s still a bit cleaner than it would be in real life, but it didn’t break my suspension of disbelief.
I think it is not fully accuaret to call him a failson. Even if others do (in teh show even).Roman? Yes, a failson. But Kendall actually worked, for a long time, in the Asian markets, etc. So he has worked in the biz and was not just handed the keys.
I mean, it’s very plausible that he’s had, like, elocution lessons or whatever. He’s always wanted to be the Successor, so it would totally make sense for him to have studied how to speak extemporaneously. Not to mention he’s been Logan’s protégé (more often than not) his whole life, so he’d be in rooms to witness enough off-the-cuff speaking to learn what works and what doesn’t.Also as someone mentioned in another thread, he’s probably been fantasizing about this speech in his head for a decade or more. Seems likely he’d have a few “workshopped” turns of phrase at hand for the occasion.
I’ve read this opinion several times in this comment section and also on Episodic Medium, and I just can’t agree. Kendall, even with all of his childish behavior and self centeredness, is pretty quick on his feet and very clever. On this particular occasion, he most likely voiced ideas that he has internalized over the years. He knows who his father is (was) and he was conflicted about it, but his need to be like Logan overshadowed his ambivalence.
I think Kendall has actually shown some natural public speaking ability on a few occasions throughout the series (like his Senate testimony on the cruises scandal in season 2) so it wasn’t entirely out of character. I think we sometimes conflate his public speaking ability with his inability to connect with people on a personal level. He can deliver some polished corporate-ese but struggles in one-on-one settings (like when trying to cut a deal with Nate a few episodes ago). Two totally different skillsets imo.
“Perfect” is being pretty generous. Neither speech was perfect, they just didn’t suck very much.Kendall has been in the professional world for a good long bit, specifically as compared to his sibs. He was poised to take over S1E1, let’s not forget that. The charecter is almost as healthy as we have ever seen him actually.Enjoy the finale.
One thing I thought about his suddenly becoming great at speaking is that he doesn’t have the spectre of an alive Logan Roy hanging over him. Maybe he feels like he can finally exist without fear of being brutally smacked down at any moment.
Put up or shut up, friend. Are you a writer? If so, credentials. If not, stfu forever about shit like this. Oh, was it “writerly”? Probably because it was written.Like the character hasn’t demonstrated on several occasions that he can pull some oratory wizardry when he has to…
He also apparently beat a cocaine addiction that had him leaving rails on his kids’ ipads by…. getting back into drinking and cocaine. I guess the plot needed him to not have a cocaine addiction.
I think that is probably a lot easier when every single character can do or say anything at any time, as long as it furthers themselves.
I don’t actually think that’s what the show has set these characters up as. They’re not wild cards in that way; they are limited people who act within their limitations of character. Yes, they’re grasping and conniving and their wealth insulates them from many consequences, so they often say outlandish things. But they’re also fundamentally incapable of a lot of things—walking away chief among them—and the writing has thus far been pretty good about staying true to those things. We’ve seen across the series times when characters behave in ways that they know are damaging to their positions because that’s who they are and they can’t help it. They have fatal flaws that the series is mindful of: Kendall is incapable of supplicating himself to his father, for example, and tends to self-sabotage by believing his own delusions of grandeur. Shiv continually falls for her father’s manipulations—she can’t not believe him—so she’s stuck in a push-pull relationship with him. And Roman is the stunted product of abuse and trauma, and that limits how he engages with the world in ways that traumatize and isolate him further (although he has been the most dynamic character across the trajectory of the show when it comes to growth—if that’s a word you can use with regard to any of the Roys). Throughout the show, the characters operate within these constraints, in my opinion, and these strictures do represent lines that the writers do not cross. They cannot do or say anything. They can say outlandish things, but they are almost always done within the believable parameters of that character and their character flaws/limitations. I think the argument that any character can do or say anything probably applies the most to Roman, but even with him it’s limited. He uses shock value throughout the series to diffuse tension, to set other people off kilter, and to deflect attention from himself/his shortcomings. To an extent it is compulsive in that he can’t stop himself from doing it, but it’s also tactical, deployed for a purpose, so I think it makes sense.
Not just the zingers in the script, but the reaction shots in the congregation (audience?) during the three speeches and one pathetic breakdown. Some of the facial expressions were punchlines in their own right, from Menken and Madsson and the olds in particular. Brilliant stuff. Perhaps the funniest episode yet.
Fun facts: The cemetery scene was filmed at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. The mausoleum was for millionaire William Bateman Leeds, known as the Tin Plate King. He died in 1908 and his body was eventually moved to Indiana in 2003 leaving the mausoleum empty and available for purchase for $4 million.
4 million? That’s a good deal.
Apparently reselling mausoleums is a thing. As the article I read said, it’s not “used”, it’s “previously owned”. It was designed by John Russell Pope who designed the Jefferson Memorial, National Gallery and National Archives building in DC. Included 10,000 square feet of land around the mausoleum. Space for eight. Can’t imagine you could do that for anything close to $4 million in New York today.
My favorite laugh moment that is also a little terrifying is when Tom tells Shiv that “It’s getting a little Tiananmen-y out there”.
It’s so good. Also very similar to Conner’s “a little car-bomby” line from a week or 2 ago.
Love this show, and Mad Men, but I don’t know. Better Call Saul has some incredible writing.
AS soon as I posted I actually thought……..you know, Saul…………but I didn’t want to be too wordy but you’re right
I loved that Roman bought the mausoleum on the cheap after the previous owner defaulted.
Err, Logan that is.
Interesting that last week ended with Shiv in the dumpsters and Roman gloating, but this utterly flips it.I don’t think any of them “win.” Trusting or relying upon Menken isn’t smart. I don’t buy Kendall’s speech. He’s never been that convincing when thinking and orating on his feet. Otherwise, great episode.
I read Kendall’s speech as the writers intentionally wanting it be flat. The Logan the kids knew was nothing but a business. They don’t know the version Ewan knew, nor the one the wives and mistresses knew. it’s ultimately a bleak legacy made of tangible things, that gives no real lasting impression of who Logan was.
Beyond that, I’d argue that each episode since Logan’s death has shown Ken moving ever so incrementally into his element — slowly and unsteady, sure, but still becoming the “killer” that Logan never thought he was capable of being.
Yes! The way Kendall kept mentioning “the money” over and over again. Logan’s kids didn’t actually know him. They knew him as a business, they knew how to strategize for his attention and short lived approval. But they didn’t know him. Ewan KNEW him and that’s why his presence always has them shook. Ewan is the clearest reminder of who Logan actually was. That’s why I loved how they kept going back to Roman’s face during his speech. It’s like Ewan’s speech was the first rock to shatter Roman’s delusions about his father and himself, who he actually is and who he spent the last couple of episodes pretending to be. Finally taking in the casket pushed him over the edge.
To be fair to Kendall, that was a tough to follow after Roman’s breakdown and especially Ewan’s speech. Kendall or even Shiv for that matter couldn’t just go up there and spew their usual corporate BS talk after Ewan set the mood and tone like that.
Totally agree. You could hear the writers typing in that scene.
It annoyed me because Kendall isn’t meant to have composed the speech beforehand, but then he gives like an abridged Ayn Rand speech completely off the cuff. We’re supposed to feel like the writers labored over the speech, but that Kendall the character didn’t. And instead it felt like he’d spent all week writing and rehearsing it for this contingency.
And instead it felt like he’d spent all week writing and rehearsing it for this contingency.I think that was the feeling that the writers wanted you to feel.
Is it really beyond the pale to think that Kendall wouldn’t expect Roman to crash and burn? They didn’t know Ewan was going to speak; they didn’t know Connor wanted to speak; and Kendall has witnessed Roman spiralling the last few days leading up to the funeral. I would expect Kendall to have something for a contingency, especially considering that both Matsson and Mencken would be at the funeral. If Rome stumbles (like he did during the shareholder’s conference), Kendall picks up the slack.
I also think people forget that Kendall was a part of the business for far longer than Roman (and certainly Shiv). He’s been around empty platitudes for years. It’s not unlikely that he’d pick up a handful by mere osmosis, even in a situation where emotions are running high.
he also, more often than not, rises to the occasion in these situations, especially when everything else is falling apart. like, all that stuff we saw him go through BEFORE the funeral fuelled that.
He pulled a decent performance out of a terrible start at the company investor day, so this wouldn’t be completely out of character. It may also be how he’s thought about his father since he was a kid.
Kendall seems like one of those people who fantasized about his father’s death because he viewed that as the last obstacle to being charge but because the fantasy seemed fairly out of reach he didn’t really think about the feelings he would have about it. He probably had like five different versions in his head for years all of them reflecting the current state of his relationship with his father.
I don’t buy Kendall’s speech. He’s never been that convincing when thinking and orating on his feet.Fair point, but I just read it as a toned-down version of his usual business BS doublespeak speeches. After all, he’s been working to inflate the value of a flawed product all season: Living+, his dad…makes no difference to him in the moment, as long as his audience buys what he’s selling.Oratory digression: I am not, by any means, an expert at giving speeches—I gave so many over the course of my education and I still get anxiety before giving a speech—but, in my experience, if you’re going to speak extraneously, you should never have more than one or two notecards, because you will almost certainly get lost shuffling them during your speech and you should be limiting yourself to the most vital points regardless. By the time you give your speech, you should know the finer points well-enough that you don’t need some exhaustively-detailed notecards anyway.And never use manuscript or memorized style, unless something equivalent to the fate of nations hangs in the balance.
She got the line of the night IMO “I am intrigued to see how he gets out of this one.”
I’ve thought from season 1 that it would somehow someway be Greg who “wins” in the end and that possibility seems clearer now than ever and it may very well kill any appreciation that have for this show.
Good speeches, but I found the episode a little flat. After the tremendous feel-bad energy of last week, and the presumed fireworks to come in the next, this felt like a holding episode between the two. The only thing that really changes the calculus in an 80-minute ep is Mencken’s reveal that he isn’t going to hold up his end of the bargain with Kendall/Roman, but since a) that hasn’t happened yet because he isn’t president yet and b) we’re still not sure that he will ever be, it’s trivia to a certain degree.I’ll mirror that I wish we could have learned what was in Conor’s speech. After his concession speech/rant the week before, and Shiv’s reaction to whatever he had down on his phone, I wish we could have had some insight there. I thought after Roman broke down that Conor was going to end up on stage and blunder into revealing a few tasty details that he shouldn’t. Which honestly feels a bit more Succession than Kendall and Shiv pulling off great speeches. Kendall already got his home run speech this season, so it felt like a repeated beat.
I agree.
Aside from Ewan’s speech and Caroline being Caroline, this was very much the falling action (and as good as Kieran Culkin is, I didn’t buy his crying).
As I was saying to someone earlier, I can’t imagine that they’d write and make notable what will clearly be a contested election (arguably on the level, if not more contested, than 2000 and 2020), only to have Mencken easily be declared winner by the courts via time-skip and have him be the arbiter of the deal. There’s also the fact that there’s still nearly 3 months until Jan 20th, so while they’d know who the President is going to be by then, they’d have to slow-roll the deal to get to that point. Because of that, I wonder just how long the finale is going to be in both our time, and whether they do a single big time skip, or incremental ones throughout the episode. A contested election and a mega-merger requiring multiple regulatory approvals tend to take a lot longer than the length of the episodes we’ve had this season, and it would be jarring to have to condense that into a single episode that also happens to be the series finale (assuming HBO doesn’t back up the Brinks trunk for a 5th season or a movie).
Thank you for this write up. This is what’s really bugging me going into this last stretch. It seems so unbelievable to me that the show could possibly just end with us presuming Mencken won and us taking it as fact when that’s just not the case. I hope we get some closure on if Jimenez drops out or something because otherwise the vote isn’t going to feel consequential.
Hopefully now people can shut up about Shiv I and the notion that she is some freedom fighter against fascism. She literally says “I’m flexible” to Mencken in this episode. Kendall will be CEO in the end but the family will be destroyed. Although watch it be Tom, with Greg leading ATN.
I honestly don’t think any of the kids ends up atop the company, regardless of whether the deal goes through or not. I think both sides of the deal—Matsson and/or the Board—have seen their unsuitability. If they haven’t been preparing to look outside the Roy family for the next leader of Waystar, they’re dumber than the show has let on. But maybe that’s just wishful thinking on my part. I want to see the kids out, and I would love to see GoJo dismantle Waystar piece by piece, because that really would be the fitting end to Logan’s story: That his failure to stabilize the company beyond his tenure leads to the destruction of the only thing he truly cared about—the company and his legacy.
I’m with you. None of the kids are going to come out of this winners. Each have proven themselves unsuitable and untrustworthy to both sides at multiple times, and they’re all going to be passed over once the deal goes through no matter who wins. They’re just being used for now while they still have influence. Once the sale goes through and that’s gone, they’ll be too.
Yup i don’t think it’ll be any of them. But I hope they lose it in a spectacular way. In a way that says This is It, no scheming, planning or strategy is going to fix this. It’s over. They’ve spent their entire lives being Possible Future CEO of Waystar and I want it over in a way that makes them confront that they’ll now need to be something else, and figure out what that is. It seem all the other people around them (minus Hugo) are moving on. Gerri, Karl, Karolina and Frank mostly kind of observe with passive amusement. Marcia has accepted his death and moved on. Connor moved on. He didn’t even make a huge scene about not giving a speech. His dad is gone, he has nothing to prove to anyone anymore. But Roman, Shiv and Kendall, who have less sense of self than any of the aforementioned people, have nothing but this and keep fighting the fight. I hope the end leaves them finally accepting and letting GO. This dream is over. Find a new one.
Yes, she literally says a thing that will get her on his good side so that she can be in charge of Waystar.Like… yes, she is mercenary. She is no angel BY FAR. But you’re also taking this very weirdly personally, like the very idea of Shiv having a sociopolitical position that’s at odds with her professional ambition is some kind of curse set upon you by some Shiv standom or something.Settle down, Jerry. Why don’t YOU shut up about Shiv?
“Settle down, Jerry.”
Oh good, a fucking cunt has slithered out of the woodwork to be a piece of shit. Thanks?
Yeah exactly. I mean, I’m willing to believe that Shiv has a LITTLE bit of a conscience and has genuine sympathies towards the Democratic party. But she’s also always going to look out for herself when push comes to shove.I hate to say somebody is watching TV wrong, but viewers identifying with her as some crusader against tyranny are just not following the text.
What’s sad about this episode is that this is the first time I have felt anything positive for Roman–this was the first time he expressed a single decent human emotion. Then of course he is mocked mercilessly for that very thing.
There also was that time on the yacht when he was expressing how terrified he was when taken hostage. He was mocked mercilessly for that too.
Thank you for reminding me about that. I had forgotten.
And that is pretty much why Roman is Roman.
Now he knows how the servant’s kid in the pilot felt. Fuck him.
I feel like he has shown lots of human emotion this season as compared to the previous 3 seasons. But your overall point is correct.
So we’re just gonna ignore how he acted towards Kerri when everyone was being a dick to her, crazy though she may have been? Or how friendly he was with that guy in the training class? (Sure, also obnoxious in his Roman way.)The show has demonstrated on several occasions that Roman is not some one-dimensional snickering cartoon villain. None of them are, and I wish people who hate watch the show would get past that idea.
“Or how friendly he was with that guy in the training class?”
Yes, let’s shower him with praise for…. *looks up the good things that Roman did for the guy* …for being paired with someone and not murdering that person?
“Then of course he is mocked mercilessly for that very thing.
Yes, because he is a complete piece of shit who does exactly that to everyone else.
FUCK Roman and FUCK anyone who feels sorry for him.
I’m tarred with the Mencken brush, so I may as well get my goodies. There’s no point in joining the party unless you get your little dacha.Some of these rants on this show make me feel like they’re speaking in code. Maybe I’m just supposed to be baffled by their elitist speak.Jess WatchI’m late to the series and the AVC reviews, so why do we have a Jess watch? I get that she’s a tertiary character that we can sympathize with and serve as an audience surrogate, but she’s no Mail Robot.Meanwhile: If Matsson double-crosses Shiv and names Greg as his puppet CEO, somebody owes me $5.I think you might have nailed it. For the entire run, I’ve wondered why they’ve kept him around. Sure, Tom wants him around because he’s the only family member who is beneath him and his punching bag. But otherwise, he’s fairly useless and is just around to see how much the most “normal” family member of this second generation will degrade himself.
Oddly, the relationship between Tom and Greg is one of the most popular things about the show. Don’t underestimate the value of “The Disgusting Brothers,” or whatever it was that Greg called them.I think one of my favorite sequences of the entire series was that time that Tom was throwing water bottles at Greg when they were in a “safe room” because of a shooting.
“Gregglettes”
I was saying something similar last night. We don’t know what happened on that night out with Greg. I think it comes back. He’s either the huge fall guy, or he just bumbles upward
A “dacha” is a summer home or cottage in the Soviet Union. Members of the party who pleased Stalin might be awarded one, although they might be executed the next year. It’s a tricky game trying to please despots.
…and it continues to this day. I’m surprised someone wouldn’t get the dacha reference. Perhaps I’m old.
Same here, comrade. Then again, one of my high school social studies electives was a Russian Civilization class.
you are vastly overestimating the average knowledge base of any american reader of tv reviews and/or TV Viewers for non-PBS programming, is all.
I am also old, which is probably why I got the reference. The Soviet Union fell when I was in college. I don’t think it would be as much common knowledge now unless you are a student of Russian and Soviet history, which is fair. There are many things to know about the world, and it’s hard to keep track of all of them. That said, I thought it was a very amusing joke.
I wasn’t old enough to know about CCCP policy workings when the Soviet Union fell, but feel like anyone reasonably well-read on global events knows that a Black Sea dacha is a reward for loyal senior party members.
The whole Jess Watch thing is omsething the writer came up with amuse himself. It makes absolutely no sense.
“Tarred by the brush” is a reference to the practice of tar-and-feathering. It’s a punishment where boiling pitch would be brushed onto someone’s skin and chicken feathers would be rubbed into it. What Tom’s saying here is that since he’s already tainted by the association with a despot, he might as well seek some material benefit from it.
It’s not derived from tarring-and-feathering at all. This idiom for “tainted by the same association” is a metaphor based in ancient cattle and sheep farming, wherein cuts and sores on the animals were sealed and treated by brushing tar over them. The implications are also that tar was recognized as “impossible to remove”, the treated animals were distinctly recognizable as a set, and it’s inky and dark black so therefore “bad”.
The more you know! Thanks!
Why did we have a Mail Robot watch? I’m not particularly fond of these. Especially when The Americans had so clearly moved away from the FBI office work to keep its focus in the field. At least there’s more of a case for Jess.
Some of these rants on this show make me feel like they’re speaking in code. Maybe I’m just supposed to be baffled by their elitist speak.Part of it, presumably, is a kind of verbal one-upsmanship, to show off how much cleverer, worldlier, sophisticated, and educated they are compared to each other and to those lower than them. That is probably why Tom also does these little referential “flexes” when addressing Greg.The other part of it is probably the writers showing off. I’m late to the series and the AVC reviews, so why do we have a Jess watch? I get that she’s a tertiary character that we can sympathize with and serve as an audience surrogate, but she’s no Mail Robot.I’m not quite sure, but I suspect it is because Jess is largely an innocent caught in this vortex of awfulness. I mean, she gets paid (presumably well) to suffer all of this,so her hands are not totally clean, but I guess the writer of these reviews just hopes she manages to get out before she becomes truly corrupted.
Jess Watch is because a) I like doing at least one little bit like that to add structure to the Strays, especially since I have a bad tendency to over-stuff them and b) I just like her! She’s a small spark of humanity in a show filled with assholes, she’s in almost every episode, and Juliana Canfield does great work with very little.Also: I did link to the historical context for Tom’s “dacha” line in that observation; I had heard the phrase before but wasn’t super familiar with it. Behind the scenes: At first, given Mencken’s whole vibe, I thought Tom was making a really horrifying Nazi/holocaust joke and saying “Dachau,” so I’m glad I triple-checked!
I’m late to the series and the AVC reviews, so why do we have a Jess watch? I get that she’s a tertiary character that we can sympathize with and serve as an audience surrogate, but she’s no Mail Robot.A quirk of the show is that a character that normally has no speaking lines and is barely on screen is anything but invisible because Jeremy Strong has a habit of insisting that Jess be in many scenes because Kendall would be so dependent on her. And there are of course a lot of weird and amusing things Kendall has her do because he’s Kendall.
I like Jess. She’s been loyal to Kendall, taking care of business, etc. I was an Exec Asst to a couple CEOs so I know what the job entails, other than procuring cocaine for my bosses, and at no point did we help to throw an election to a fascist.I just started a rewatch of The Americans and the last episode I watched featured Mail Robot. Poor Martha, she has no idea what her future is going to be.
It remains wild to me this show is ending forever in one more episode. To go out on a high note after just four seasons is something that seldom happens anymore. I’m going to deeply miss the show but enjoy getting to rewatch it all.
I don’t know why, but statement “He was comfortable with this world. He knew it, and he liked it.” was a way more terrifying summation of Logan Roy it had any right to be.
One of the things that struck me during this episode is just how thoroughly alone Roman is. While it’s true that neither Kendall nor Shiv have deep friendships that we’ve seen, we’ve gotten a sense of relationships they have cultivated outside of Waystar. Both have been married; both have occasionally called upon people in their wider social circle (Kendall in the business world, Shiv in politics). Roman has no one, and there’s a stuntedness to his development that his siblings don’t have as much of. His attempts at connection are juvenile or inappropriate, and they drive people away. For me, this episode really hammered home just how central Logan was in Roman’s life, and how completely unmooring the loss of Logan has been for him. It was eerie to watch him prep for the eulogy in that sterile apartment all by himself. And there was a moment when his siblings propped him up that you felt he was less alone, only for the show to yank that away with Kendall’s “You fucked it” gut punch. And where does that leave Roman? Alone, walking down a cordoned-off New York street toward a mob he helped incite. And once there, surrounded by people, he’s just as utterly alone as when he started the episode. It’s so, so sad. I never imagined that I would feel bad for Roman after his repugnant behavior in the election night episode, but here I am. Damn it. I do feel for the guy.
This is a great point – I never realized how Roman never has had any friends on the show. Tom had the fly guys, Kendall had people – there were people at his birthday party, Shiv had Nate and Co. and hell Connor at least has Willow and the weird Pierce guy. Roman had Tabitha and Gerri and the guy from RoyCo management training.
Yeah, and Tabitha disappears, ne’er to be seen nor heard from again, after season 2. RoyCo Managment trainee guy, we hardly knew ye. So all he really has is Gerri, and that relationship is so twisted and unhealthy. It’s not a friendship. Roman is completely the embodiment of Logan Roy’s ethos of “he never saw anything he loved that he didn’t want to kick to see if it’d still come back.” After a lifetime of that, Roman’s understanding of relationships and love is wrapped up in pain and isolation. It makes sense that he would be the one to fall apart like he has this entire season—he goes through denial, then he tries to “become” Logan (by firing Gerri and the studio head), then he tries to surpass Logan (by exerting pressure on the election), only to realize that none of those things will fill the Logan-shaped hole left within him. Who is Roman Roy if he’s not being defined through his (abusive) relationship to his father? Even he doesn’t know.That moment of understanding happens when he’s at the lectern, and it was incredible to see Kieran Culkin play it. At the same time, you knew that the support from his siblings wouldn’t last because they’re all too opportunistic to let a moment of weakness go unexploited.
Another good point. The interactions that Roman had with people, were always slightly sexualized. I’m specifically thinking of his conversations with Mencken and with Mattson. He seems unable to separate sexuality from any of his interactions.
“RoyCo Managment trainee guy, we hardly knew ye.”
Don’t worry, he ended up in a plum job in the Macro Data Refinement division.
Oo, sounds mysterious and important!
OMG, you’re right. I didn’t make that connection at all! Zach Cherry is so good in Severance.
Roman baldly chose his dad’s approval over Gerri, and she rightly never forgave him for it.
Kendall had Rava and his kids but he royally screwed that up. But he doesn’t have friends. We see this when he slips back into addiction. When he goes to those random people’s house to do meth. At his birthday party which had a lot of celebrities and no friends. Where he tried and failed to find the gift his kids made him, the only meaningful gift there in a room of superficial bullshit. Where his girlfriend at the time even gave him…. a watch that she put 0 thought into because besides drugs she had no idea what he actually liked. Where he wasn’t even sure if his siblings would even come (since he basically threw the whole party to impress them) and how hurt he was when he realized they were there for Mattson not him. Kendall crying sitting on the floor confessing to his siblings about the waiter “It’s fucking lonely.” I’d say Kendall is just as alone but by his own fault. He COULD have Rava and his kids but he cared more about his dad’s approval than them. Shiv COULD have Tom but similarly put her aspirations and relentless need for paternal attention first. Rome always had no one. He almost had Gerri. She “could have got him there. But nope. no”
I have to fully disagree about other characters having friends. Tom has moved past his friends because they don’t share his obsession with being rich and eating expensive food and wine. And Tom basically forces Greg to be his friend through their transactional relationship. Kendall definitely doesn’t have friends — just lackeys who party with him. He reaches out to Rava, his ex, whenever he needs to confide to someone about something big in his life because he has nobody else, and he’s always holding out hope that maybe they might get back together. Just think about how weird it was in Season 3 that he sets up shop in Rava’s condo and then has Naomi Pierce come over to hangout. Naomi is ultimately just someone he parties with — they don’t have a substantial relationship.
How did Roman “incite” those criminals who were rioting in the city streets? I didn’t vote for Biden but when he won I didn’t take to the streets and riot. That’s not free speech. That’s just a crime.
Me on the other end of the spectrum hoping a protester would curb stomp him. Culkin is amazing, though. Especially the “is he in there” line.
I’ve just felt so very bad for the guy this whole season. He was a royal shit last episode and I had mistakenly thought he might just stay on that course for the rest of the season. Then, with this episode, he’s right back to being the runt of the litter, Little Lord Fuckleroy, once again…and I’m right back to feeling terrible for this guy who was making wildly inappropriate incest jokes earlier in the episode (and, ya know, undermining democracy in the previous one).A friend network is probably part of it, even if Shiv and Kendall’s “friends” are probably friends in the sense you maight call people following you on LinkedIn “friends”, but, it is a thin bulwark against social maladjustion, at any rate. To me, I also see coping strategies as another difference. To be fair, both Shiv and Kandall have experienced dark moments of the soul, but they typically seem to rally back quicker, because they have these fallback strategies that, even if they don’t dig them out of whatever hole they find themselves, at least allow them to feel in control. Shiv just get sneakier and exerts some soft influence where it counts; Kendall doubles down on his business doublespeak (often laced with whatever futurist/tech/trending nonsense he recently read about) and/or exerts whatever power and money he has at his disposal to will his version of reality into existence. Roman’s only coping mechanism seems to be a willful, vulgar, inappropriate nihilism: telling mean jokes about and being shitty to people because nothing really matters. Sure, Roman has fun as a go-between for a bad-faith political operator (he’d probably prosper as a pundit/speaker at a political convention/podcaster/Youtuber), but it’s not solid ground to land when he plummets, as we saw with Mencken’s post-funeral heel-turn (that presume, I suppose, that he wasn’t already a heel). And it definitely doesn’t seem to be giving him what he so desperately craves: to be taken seriously, to be given just a measure of respect.
The way Gerri looked at him from the pews. Ooof. He really burned a bridge.
In his behavior around Mencken and in his reactions to his siblings and his father’s death I see Roman as in the DEEPEST denial. About *everything*. I don’t think that he’s genuinely a fan of the kind of fascism that Mencken represents but he refuses to acknowledge that there ARE actually consequences for that kind of choice. He only sees the upside. The satellite launch disaster was an early indication of this problem. He does not understand the reality of consequences. He’s in denial about his father’s death. He’s in denial about the horrible right-wing lunacy that his political machinations could reinforce. He couldn’t accept Gerri’s refusal to be fired quietly and the reality of his legally fraught workplace sexual harassment. He couldn’t even acknowledge Kendall’s warning that Shiv was making a deal between Mattson and his boy. Deny deny deny.And yeah, I think that’s a little tragic.
I like this take a lot.
Funny, I had the opposite reaction watching him get elbowed and writhe around on the street from the result of his fascist tendencies. I felt a perverse gloating pride that he finally managed to get knocked down by the very problems he helped to create.
I am kind of wondering if Stewie is somehow going to end up the winner in all of this? I can’t explain why I feel that way.
I am kind of wondering if Stewie is somehow going to end up the winner in all of this? I can’t explain why I feel that way.
Good lord, Ken’s eulogy was terrifying. It boiled down to “Dad did capitalism really well and that’s what made him great.” It really didn’t contradict what Ewan said at all, just took a different spin on it.I’ve been waiting for Roman’s fall to come since Logan died, and here it was. That was brutal, and Culkin’s performance was so impressive.
Some of the show’s best moments are when Roman’s snarky indifference slips just enough for real emotion to slip through.
When Kendall tells Roman that he “fucked it” at the reception, he was talking about bribing and calling the election for Mencken (something about firing Jerry too, which seemed random) – not the funeral speech.
This is what I thought too! That he was clearly talking about Mencken. In that same talk he says “I should’ve stopped it so it’s on me too” or something to that effect. They’re definitely talking about Roman putting all his eggs into Mencken and shoving the election call through just for Mencken to immediately ice them out.
Yeah, I think it was also highlighting yet another instance of Kendall passing off responsibility (just like he has been in his recent interactions with Rava). He’s ultimately just as responsible for the decision/fucking it as Roman.
Yeah the fucked it part wasn’t necessarily calling it for Mencken, it was doing it without finding a way to keep control of the situation and then seeing the tables immediately turned.
I love that Logan both bought that giant mausoleum and then only shared it with Connor of all people.
You saw it a bit with the ranch episode, too. Logan may not have liked Connor very much but he DID seem genuinely impressed with Connor’s real estate savvy.
Meanwhile: If Matsson double-crosses Shiv and names Greg as his puppet CEO, somebody owes me $5.I’ve been saying this for a while now – the actor playing Greg said in an interview that he gets to drive his own Ferrari on the show, so I actually do think something along those lines will happen.
A Master Class in EVERYTHING – writing, direction, acting, editing, LOGISTICS.. My God, pulling off that funeral in NYC with the entire cast present was absolutely brilliant. My wife and I were “Hands down, best episode.” Did they somehow film this “Survivor” style? With multiple crews doing multiple scenes at the same time, keeping out of each other’s shots? I cannot imagine pulling that together as well as they did.KC gets an Emmy for this for sure. The way the writers built up his character’s denial-bravado only to absolutely crush him on the alter was just amazing – and his acting, equally so. (I remember a guy similarly melt down on stage during a business presentation over 30 years ago- SO painful)
The pregnancy announcement in the limo almost looked like a KC outtake they left in – he JUST about breaks the wall stares right in to the camera, but so glad it was there and played out like it did. Hysterically funny and well-played by all three. So many lines like that in this episode…..
Only misstep to me was force feeding Shiva (sp?) and Kendall’s daughter drama in to the last two episodes. Just didn’t land at all. The could have devoted those minutes to something pertinent IMO. It’s not like they have time to develop a custody battle now… Maybe they were throwing script-bones around this last season to give talent a final chance at some screen time – which is pretty cool of them to do.
I thought the Keri appearance at the funeral was a little off in tone, mostly because of her self-promotion and naked aggression against everyone in earlier episodes, especially Greg. It made it jolting to see her as genuinely remorseful, sympathetic figure at the church and earlier at the mansion. But, the ultimate resolution between those four women just a moment later was absolutely BRILLIANT.
As for the ultimate outcome; IMO, due to there only being one episode left, only the Board rejecting the deal and anointing Kendall has a possible finality to it. Mencken can roll on Roman and Kendall for Shiv’s proposal to approve GOJO, but technically he’s not even POTUS yet. That would leave it all dangling for many months in reality. But, that would open a window for Greg to shiv Shiv and become a moronic figurehead CEO for Mattson (maybe blackmailed because of the infamous night out.. but that’s a lot to stand on that was never actually shown, so I don’t think they go there). Therefore, I think they resolve the arc of Kendall rising to power after his many missteps, rather than pull a contrivance out of the script-writer’s ass. This show has been better than any HBO series at avoiding BS contrivance just to push a plot. Gonna miss this one a lot.
Another fun fact: Brian Cox said in an interview he was on set for the funeral scene to throw off any internet gossip. He said they were supposed to even film a scene with him but they ran out of time.His real wife played Sally Anne.
i told my wife I was going to wait to watch until she woke up (she fell asleep 2 mins in) but I kept saying “Ok one more moment…” and then got 1:13 hrs into it and couldn’t stop. It was one of the best hours of TV I’ve seen in many years. I said “I felt like I was at my own uncle’s funeral or something and it was brutal, funny, sad, ugly and impossible to stop watching.” I literally had tears in my eyes and couldn’t stop laughing from one moment to the next. Incredible stuff.
I think over time it will go down as a legendary episode of television. So much went so right in what had to be extremely difficult conditions and limited time to film.
“Did they somehow film this “Survivor” style? With multiple crews doing multiple scenes at the same time, keeping out of each other’s shots?”
Per the post-show featurette, yes.
I think his wife’s plan to take their daughter and leave the city was meant to be shorthand for “do you not understand the potential severity of all this??” Ken doesn’t notice until after that stores are boarding up windows, etc.
Also finding it a little hard to believe the GoJo subscriber numbers thing would just blow over. It might not be the headline of the day given the election chaos but the markets surely would react.
For sure. Just look at any company dependent on subscribers like streaming companies. Misses on subscriber growth or subscriber loss is met with big movements in stock price.
I’m not sure it will be blown over in the finale. This show is too smart for that.
“Also finding it a little hard to believe the GoJo subscriber numbers thing would just blow over.”
Who says it’s just going to blow over? The episode ends the day the numbers were released.
Sure, but the stock dip wouldn’t be as severe (or long-lasting) if it doesn’t become a big headline-grabbing scandal. It’s mitigating damage, not eliminating it entirely.
There’s a reason bad news is always buried late on Friday afternoon. It allows time for reflection to be acted on Monday instead of immediate knee-jerk response. Yes GoJo is going to take a hit but it won’t be as severe.
My one criticism of the show is that it seems to always ignore what happened in previous seasons. Ken getting appointed to interim-CEO after all of the crap he pulled in previous seasons seemed like a stretch, but I went along with it. Given that Ken is angling to keep the job permanently, you’d think Shiv would dredge up all of that bad stuff, and she could threaten Ken to go public about the dead waiter. And while Ken is delusional about his own abilities, I just assume that there’s no way the board would make him permanent CEO given that they all know about his frequent drug use. But I don’t think the show wants us to assume that.
I don’t think the board is fully aware about Kendall’s drugs and parties like you think they do.
Also, the reason why the dead busboy issue hasn’t come up is because they will all get in trouble and go to jail too for assisting in the cover up.
Last season Shiv put out a statement about Ken snorting coke off his kids iPad and implies that his unusual behavior was the result of continued drug use. Remember that the statement was so harsh that even Roman wouldn’t sign it? That alone should be enough for the board to never make him permanent CEO.Ken openly talks about having been in rehab and being an addict. It’s well known. Plenty of people in the company know he went to rehab after Shiv’s wedding.
And Gerri and Frank would know everything that’s not reported outside of the family. Shiv and Roman didn’t help cover anything up — they were told about the murder by Kendall long after the fact. First, Shiv doesn’t have to go public with it — just threaten Ken the same way his dad did. And if she did go public, she can just say that she took her time because she didn’t know if it was a true story or the rantings of someone who had tried to kill themself the day before, but after spending time looking into the matter, she realized it was true. And then she lawyers up. Maybe she gets a slap on the wrist, but her brother’s aspirations are immediately derailed.
they were told about the murder by Kendall long after the fact. First, Shiv doesn’t have to go public with it
You know this is still a major crime, right? It’s misprision of a felony. It doesn’t matter what Roman, Shiv, or anyone say and does. It’s accessory, conspiracy, and obstruction charges for literally everyone involved, who knew about it, and covered it up. That’s why no one is or will be snitching on Kendall. They’ll get in trouble too.
Oh come on. They’re rich. They can higher the best lawyers to help get them out of legal trouble. And they can appeal to the public about not wanting to snitch on their sibling.
By your logic, Bernie Madoff should’ve gotten off the hook then. Again, not how it works in real life.
Bernie ripped off a bunch of really rich people, including members of his own synagogue. Not a group that was going to let it slide one iota.
Kendall did not murder that kid and you all need to knock it off with that bs.At worst it was involuntary manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident/death.That kid jerked the wheel and that is why they went off teh bridge.Go re-watch it.
It would feel a bit “oh, that’s the moral lesson of the show? Don’t let people drown?” if Colin goes rogue, narcs, and that’s it for Kendall, which is pretty naff. Much like Boardwalk Empire’s surplus final season, where it turns out Terrence Winter’s period drama was all window dressing for the thought-provoking thesis of….don’t sell kids into sex slavery. Thanks Terry, I hadn’t considered that. Jesse Armstrong is too canny to fall into “the past will ALWAYS catch up with you,” because he knows that isn’t true in real life. Look at Ted Kennedy (though, in some ways, the rest of his life was it’s own punishment). I could see this dirt screwing up Ken’s relationship with the board or maybe leaving him Corlelonely at the top, but if he ends up in cuffs, it’ll be a hell of an 11th hour shark jump.
I think Ken recruiting (or trying to recruit) Colin in this episode is going to lead to something regarding the waiter. I don’t think that’s going to stay buried, but the show does seem to trust us enough not to bring up past events when they aren’t currently relevant.
i think they’ll pay him to take the fall somehow, he gets out of the loop/makes his pension/plays the part but secures his future fully. And the kids reign with no consequences.
One of the most fun parts of this show has been that none if these kids is actually qualified to lead a global media empire. Not by a far stretch. I think Shiv is the most emotionally suited to it and Ken has a modicum of experience, but neither adds up to CEO material. They’re all delusional.Unless Matsson buys the company and makes Shiv CEO. Her flipping the script on her brothers coupled with Mencken’s mercenary attitude towards his relationship with ATN puts her in the best position for sure. Not gonna happen, but she at least got the upper hand on the other two.
5 mil, good deal.
“Meanwhile: If Matsson double-crosses Shiv and names Greg as his puppet CEO, somebody owes me $5.”Sure, as long as you can find a single person who hasn’t put their money on Greg.
My wife and I have the same long odds bet on Greg’s triumph
I assumed that Matsson’s use of “american CEO” meant that he was selecting Kendall. It was a slippery way to make Shiv think he was picking her for now, but he wasn’t.Kendall’s speech had a solid Neitzschean vibe. No wonder he appealed to the fascists in the room.
I don’t think it’ll be Kendall. Matsson hates Kendall and Kendall has been trying to sabotage his sale this entire time so it wouldn’t make sense for Matsson to then make him CEO. I don’t think it’ll be Shiv either because one thing we can always count on is Shiv getting played. I don’t think it’ll be any of the main 3 kids.
Matsson’s use of “American CEO” meant that he was still being cagy about it being Shiv (because he is absolutely going to shiv her), but no way he’d go with Kendall. If this means anything at all, it’s a doorway for him to pick Greg, the most perfect puppet non-person there’s ever been.
Tom (or any of the old guard) makes more sense than Greg. Matsson needs a puppet CEO that doesn’t look like a puppet CEO. Greg is so obviously a helpless stooge, he’d be a terrible choice for the role.
One episode left and still have no idea how they are going to wrap this up. I keep thinking after every episode that it feels like another season is needed but maybe that is just because I want more.
Shiv going full Judo on Ken and Roman this episode was fantastic.
Watching Roman lose it at the funeral was just *chef’s kiss* Loved it.
“…unlike Ewan and Kendall, Shiv seeks to claim no territory here, save what exists in her own heart.”I didn’t see it that way at all. I thought it was Shiv’s attempt to wrestle some glory/power back from Kendall after he clearly knocked it out of the park with the attendees. She tried to connect her feelings of her dad to those in the crowd (“I’m okay. We’re all okay” or something to that effect) but it was a dud. “Goodbye, my dear, dear world of a father,” was laughable.
This has equally become Kendall, Shiv and Roman’s show. I think the writers were just giving us some insight into how each kid is experiencing the death of Logan in tremendously different ways because the neglect they each feel is from the same man but in different ways. It would have been a miss by the show if Shiv didn’t share.
She only spoke because Roman shit the bed, Ken gave a pretty good speech after to “save” the “funeral” and then she need to show everyone she was also a player by speaking. Too bad her speech was really “not good: and fell pretty flat. Specifically as compared to Ken’s.Pinky is going down next week. Brace yourself.
Your read is correct. She def was trying to get her own bit of “power” by getting up to speak. She wasn’t even “supposed” to speak to begin with, but after Roman shit the bed, there was massive damage control. Ken’s speech was good, and she needed to show she can also be “good” in the big moments, etc. And yes, her speech was not great, fell very flat, etc. She coulda/shoulda used her Dad’s nickname for her (Pinky) as that would have provided some human touch.
I don’t know why everything everyone does on this show has to be some “move” or “power play” or something according to some viewers. Shiv’s speech struck me as entirely earnest. Even moreso given all the conversation about her own impending child and the subtle cues about HER mother’s inability to properly parent. Shiv is playing the game, sure, yes, absolutely. But she’s also reckoning with the idea that she’s going to have a kid. (And I don’t think it’s any accident that she gets to hear about Rava’s decision about the kids.) So of course the enormity of her father (“world of a father”) is what she talks about.Like… Do we accuse Roman of manufacturing a breakdown, too? No. It was a genuine thing that happened to him. Why wasn’t Shiv also genuine?
exactly, the level of misogyny is unreal. Is Shiv a good person? No. Is she being held to a different standard than her other siblings simply because of her gender? Yes.The writers seem very aware of this in the last season, and I think have really rose to the challenge of showing how Shiv needs to operate different because she’s treated different.
BORING Shiv can be an a**hole and cruel and viscious too- just like Dad raised them all (or didn’t, you know). The misogyny is part of the recipe for her. And she leans into it, embraces it, chews it up and spits it back into all the boys faces constantly. Point being, she isn’t and shouldn’t held to any different standard than her brothers- they’re all just broken, empty, heartless, greedy, power-hungry monsters, even when they’re sad little kids crying over their daddy dying. Like most humans end up when they look up one day and their parents have passed on and they’re left to grapple with the legacy and imprint and influence that they had their whole lives/existence, even when they’ve spent their entire life fighting that influence.
“Shiv’s speech struck me as entirely earnest.”
Oh, come on…
“I don’t know why everything everyone does on this show has to be some “move” or “power play” or something according to some viewers.”Not everything, but this seemed like one to me.I think there were parts that were genuine, but the attempts at connecting with the folks in the crowd seemed forced and not really relevant to her feelings about her dad. “Dear, dear” also add a layer of concoction to what she said. He may have been her world in a sense (they were all dependent upon him), but he wasn’t dear and I don’t really see much to support that it was her description of their relationship either.Roman’s breakdown didn’t serve him in any way. It did nothing to advance his own interests or give the other side (which is what the kids kept saying they wanted). Kendall’s speech did accomplish that. I never got the impression Kendall or Shiv were really happy about Roman doing it so this was both of their chances to take control. Kendall and Shiv both had elements of truth to their speeches, but I thought both were more about winning than about grieving.
media literacy is the lowest it’s ever been
yeah, that was as concoted-for-my-public-image-and-reputation-and-eventual-ascent-to-the-throne a plan as what Roman THOUGHT he was doing before he actually got up there and saw King Daddy in the Box.I find Shiv to be as calculating, sharkish and cruel as ANY of her brothers (except Con, who I’m still pulling for a surprise eke-out-win in the end) and I think while the emotion got to her in the church, she was always planning-and was always going to end- the eulogies with her own devestating appearance and one-up whichever of her brother’s ended up making a halfway decent speech. She had to- it was one of her last opportunities to dazzle Mattson and in turn, win over Mencken and the Powerful Overlords to Come.
Ok I could totally just be full on BS theorizing at this point but was I the only one who thought that when Mattson had shiv on the phone he was making eye contact with someone else? Like his gaze seemed to be fixed on a specific thing especially as he said “American CEO”. Perhaps he was looking at a certain egg…?
OK is this show actually any good? Or is this just a hype train show? I watched the first episode and it was very meh.
It reminds me of the Sopranos. It’s technically a drama, not a comedy, but it’s often very very funny, and all the characters are terrible people. It picks up steam at around the 5th episode. If you get much past that and you still don’t like it, it’s probably not the show for you.
“Okay, let me ask whether this show is any good in the comments section of the penultimate episode.”You’re a smartie.
Do you think I read the article?
Jeremy from Peep Show’s reaction
a bit late to the game, huh? There’s this dope new show called THE WIRE you might be interested in checking out, if you’re trying new stuff
Who says I have to watch a show on anyone else’s timeline?
shut the fuck up loser
I for one, liked the post-funeral and getting back to business. I want this Matsson deal buried so I was seeing red. After all they did for him, Menken immediately flaking on Ken once he got what he wanted, is the most Trump-y he’s felt so far and it made me so mad, lol. It’s interesting from a story standpoint because it feeds into some of the criticisms about how deals in Succession feel pointless or don’t matter. But at the same time, I think it continues to say something about these kinds of characters and this kind of world. Then there’s Roman hitting the streets. He was upset, and it seemed at least to me like he went out there to cheer himself up (catch his initial smirk at seeing all these pissed off protesters. He’s feeling better already!) He really does hate these people- maybe as much as he hates himself. Jumping in there, looking for trouble, is Self-Destruction 101 and I couldn’t even begin to unpack it. But what a striking moment to come at this point here at the end. Correct me if I’m wrong, but is this the first time any of these characters have actually engaged with what’s going on in the outside world?
There was also the time Kendall smoked meth at the wolf house with the boys from the bar.
I felt Mencken flaking on Ken and Roman was meant to be an object lesson for them in how politics and leverage work. Ken was all “Okay, we did what we said we’d do. Your turn.” Mencken showed he’s a political shark who knows you never give up your leverage.
Meanwhile: If Matsson double-crosses Shiv and names Greg as his puppet CEO, somebody owes me $5.I know this show plays it a little fast and loose, but naming an unknown low-level employee with no business experience as CEO would be a jump-the-shark moment. Shareholders and board members would be pissed, there’s no way Greg would give investors confidence, etc. The share price would plummet.
Yeah even if Mattson buys the company, it’s still part of a publicly traded business in GoJo. The market would tank the combined companies’ shares if Mattson installed that goober as CEO after spending however many billions buying it.
I really thought they were going to go with that Nazi guy getting punched in the side of the head, with Roman – instead it was…eh, Kind of self-destructiony?
An Emmy for Kieran Culkin, please. He’s been great this season and so good at making us feel, gradually, that THIS was coming. As soon a Ewan started his speech, he was a child again. Impressive and heartbreaking stuff. Also, I just watched the finale trailer and I have chills.
“Dischord gets my d*ck hard.” Is just good writing.Roman worked overtime to be inappropriate, desperately so. This performance was truly great at showing a person slowly, then suddenly, collapsing under the weight of their supposed indifference.See, even Logan was afraid of something. Being buried in the ground. (I’m guessing that overseas trip as a child didn’t help.) If we looked past Greg’s bumbly speech patterns and just looked at his actions I’m not sure he’s any less capable than any of his family members. He’s been underestimated since day one and hasn’t slowed down a bit.As Logan and Kendall have proven, having children cannot fix you. I don’t have tons of hope for Tom and Shiv. I would have thought Matsson and Jeryd would be easy friends. Matsson has espoused some pretty right wing leanings in the past (anarchist, just like libertarian, is code for conservative who wears a hoodie). Surprised he has to work so hard to overturn the Roy kids. If Jeryd’s smart, he’d do well to hitch his wagon to GoJo.The weakest spot was the street demonstrations. I think Good Fight did this better, with a building, creepy sense of doom as demonstrations grew and became violent. (Seriously, the final season of that show has done the best job I’ve seen of capturing the disintegration of the republic. I will never stop repping GF.)
I recently got Paramount+ and you just sold me on watching The Good Fight. Thank you!
This makes me happy. I love it so much and think it’s a bit of a buried gem. It starts as a creative procedural and morphs into a real-time surrealist retelling of the current moment (Trump years and Covid) and near future (civil war). One of the best.
Shiv seeks to claim no territory here Uhhh, hey Billy, wtf show are YOU watching? She spoke specifically to claim territory. Like how in the hell did you miss that or not pick up on it? She can’t let Ken be the “winner”, she needs a piece too, to show that she can be in charge, etc, etc. That speech was solely for her to “gain territory”. Not some grieving daughter, etc, routine. Jesus man.
I think it is both! Shiv needed to claim territory and used her leverage as the only daughter to do so. However, Shiv is truly grieving even as she is touting her “hard bitch” bonafides to angle a place as CEO.
My reaction to that sentence exactly. She’s overtly trying to fuck her brothers and grab the post-deal CEO position after being boxed out by Ken and Roman from the interim CEO role.
I think the clarity of Kendall’s off-the-cuff / not-really-off-the-cuff eulogy was intended to show his focused rise the proverbial throne, versus his little brother’s babbling meltdown. IMO it foreshadows the completion of his redemption arc all the way to the top of the company. With only one episode left, Kendall is the only one with a definitive path to the title if he sways the Waystar Board nullify the merger.They writers just eviscerated Roman. Shiv is attempting to back-door her promotion under as an actual second-fiddle under Mattson. Greg or Tom would be a complete gimmicky solution, also of only secondary status under Mattson. Gotta be Kendall. The writers have been too honest with their plot development throughout the series. I don’t see them going all Nicole Kidman production at the finale. At least I hope not.
There is a big English waiter-shaped smoking gun which may dispute this take. Personally this program has always managed to surprise me, so I’m still not expecting Shiv to throw him under the bus as obviously as that but I could definitely still see any or none of the siblings as CEO come next episodes end. The scene between Kendall and Colin didn’t read that Colin was on board to me and as for Kendall putting all eggs in Hugo’s trust basket, after an episode that took pains to show just how duplicitous Hugo…Kendall – arguably the “status quo”, defies expectation because of the smoking gun some believe will get uncovered.Shiv – Is in with Matsson and the sudden Mencken sea-change this episode feels like a misdirect but points to Shiv as CEORoman – This program has managed to successfully bring Roman up and down in an episode before and I still see Geri and him finding peace which could lead him to success (admittedly unlikely)Greg – Don’t buy this one but it WOULD be funny if he was the US CEO chosen to appease MenckenFrank/Karl/Geri – I can’t see it, given Frank and Karl seem keen to just take the money and run, but Geri has always been a strong contender*Insert Pierce here* – I know it’s left-field and would require narrative gymnastics but they’ve been off the table, could a Matsson failure and Roy-implosion lead to the Pierce’s ending on top?
I think they put the waiter death thing to bed a few seasons back when Daddy emasculated Kendall over the whole scenario – and he seems to have just “bought off” Colin with that scene this week. There just wouldn’t be much time in one last episode to revisit all that IMO. I can’t recall who else even knew the details. I thought only his Dad and Colin were fully aware, and Dad’s on a slab. And if Colin were to go public, he’d become unemployable in that world.
The Pierce thing would really be out of left field and totally unsatisfying. They wanted to sell and get out of the business AFAIR.
He owns Hugo because the insider-trading fiasco Hugo found himself in a few weeks ago courtesy of his daughter (which was an atypical plot-convenient contrivance they usually avoid in this show).
Only Kendall seems to have a one-episode path to actually “succeed” Logan. Anyone else is set up to become a figurehead second-banana, not an actual successor to the throne, so that would be a bummer solution IMO. Either they all lose that way, or someone takes the throne outright. Not another “Game of Thrones” level crap-out at the end of this show.The Greg thing would be funny because WAY back he and his Mama were approaching it almost like a scam opportunity if he ingratiated himself- but they just kind of let her go and made him in to the legend that is now Greg. He’s one of the best characters they wrote, and perfectly cast.
Very good point on Hugo and the leverage* and while I’m inclined to agree on the Pierces being involved not being preferable, in the narrative of the show the family are currently about to get screwed by the Roys not buying the network for the ridiculous price offered in the early season so there is unfinished business there even if it hasn’t been mentioned since Logan’s death.As for the waiter-murder, you appear to be forgetting the end of Season 3. In Italy at the wedding he fully confessed to Shiv and Roman before the three of them then agreed to team up and take Logan down, he gave them the whole story including Logan tidying it up for him so Shiv and Roman are definitely sat on it and that episode was wayyyyy after the arc involving Logan hanging it over Kendall’s head.I don’t think it would be GoT level crap out to have no Roy on the top (incl. Greg). They’ve heavily foreshadowed that the successors are out of their depth and while I totally agree that they have shown clear signs that Kendall has become his Father’s son in the last 3 episodes, this is a show that has successfully pulled the rug for bait and switches before.*Side note, Hugo and The Leverage would make a totally boss band name
You’re right, I forgot about his blubbering confession to those two, although it would be he-said, she-said with no evidence. If they ALL go down in some fashion then it would be a viable conclusion, since they’re all shits in one way or another. I just hope they don’t pull a ridiculous contrivance out of their writing asses to do it this late in the game. They’ve been exceptional thus far.
Kendall successfully going Machiavellian on his blood relatives is a pretty bold finish, and in character with his own father and the tone of the show. He’s out for Shiv’s head for going behind their backs to partner with Mattson. He just emasculated Roman by grandly rescuing the eulogy and then belittling Roman at the wake with the ”you fucked it” speech. He’s threatening Jess for supposed disloyalty. He’s seemingly bought his protection in Hugo and Colin. He’s declaring war on Rava and emotionally estranged from his kids. He wants custody just to screw her over – not out of an endearment to his children. (I forgot he even HAD kids). Basically all the shit his Dad did his entire life – and it all worked for him because that’s the decrepit world they live in.But maybe the writers do another masterful job like the funeral episode and amaze us with something legitimately out of left field. I can hardly wait. It’s really a brilliant finish to the show. Completely the opposite of the mess that “Barry” has become immediately following it.
Oh no! I’m a season behind on Barry and already worrying but your comment has me real sad.Fingers crossed Succession hits the right beats, be they expected or against expectations!And good chatting!
I want Roman and Gerri to make up. This discord between them is absolutely killing me. Gerri looked genuinely concerned and emotionally impacted by Roman’s breakdown even if she is still enraged by his actions toward her. Roman needs someone damnit!
I’m compelled to kvell over how good the scenes were between the ex-wives and mistresses, with their knowing glances, private empathies and mutual understandings and comfortings, now that “it’s all water under the bridge now, innit?” I *loved* that they has Nicle Ansari Cox, Bryan’s real wife, playing Sallie-Ann the sidepiece.And BTW, the theory that *Greg* would be the one to inherit Waystar has been predicted literally since the pilot, so don’t go strainin’ your wrist pattin’ yourself on the back.
“Or at the reception, when he’s too broken to push back on Kendall’s put-little-brother-back-in-his-box assertions that he “fucked” the funeral speech. (An ugly assessment borne out by the mocking of that moment we glimpse around the room.)” — You got it all wrong, William. Kendall is not denigrating Roman for fucking up the speech but rather fucking up the Mencken bow-down; giving Mencken what he wants without leaving them any leverage to ensure they also get what they want. That’s what Roman fucked up – that’s what Kendall is throwing at him in a manner of guilt-tripping him to help and support him in his battle at the board next episode.
It’s Harriet WALTERS, not Walsh. Somebody fix that caption!
Between this and “The Deuce”, HBO has given me 2 of my all-time favorite TV shows. Which makes their vision of future programing even bleaker.
Kieran Culkin got his Emmy reel on this one. That scene at the funeral when he breaks down was heartbreaking, how does that little shit Roman actually make you feel sorry for him? I thought they would all break down in giggles inside the tomb, it was so ridiculous. So Logan bought the tomb out from under the CEO of Chewy.com?
William. I will see your $5 bet on cousin Greg, and I will raise the bet to $20 on a Trifecta:Bet #1: Matsson shivs Shiv and names Greg CEO. Greg names Jess his Chief of Staff They allow Tom to stay on at 50% of his current salary as an assistant. Tom spends his days as Greg’s b*tch, fetching lattes, dry cleaning, and very nitpicky lunch orders. He hates it but he is unemployable and this allows him to sustain the lifestyle he’s grown accustomed to. Tom spends his weekends trying to attend social events that allow him to pursue wealthy divorcées in hopes of finding a new sugar mommy Bet #2: Matsson has collected dirt on the 3 siblings regarding their various hamfisted efforts to f*@k the Goni deal or skew it to their personal desired outcomes. He leverages this dirt to have all 3 siblings removed from any positions within Waystar. Cousin Greg delivers the news with Mattson standing behind him smirking. The kids are out. Bet #3: Furthermore, Matsson has enough dirt to hold the threat of shareholder lawsuits over the kids’ heads so that he is able to remove them from their board, and force them to give up their future rights as shareholders by requiring them to proxy their voting rights to the “old guard” (Gerri votes Roman’s shares, Karl votes Ken’s shares, and Tom votes Shiv’s shares). The kids are now completely neutered and are truly just trust fund babies going forward. Side bet: a few months down the road the 3 siblings all succumb in a fluke carbon monoxide poisoning accident while sitting around Shiv’s apartment scheming ways to try to recover their Waystar birthright. They show up at the gates of heaven and are informed they will spend eternity at Tern Haven in an executive offsite with Nan Pierce and her entire team – led by the corporate therapist that lost all his teeth at Austerlitz. The End.