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Succession Hbo - Blog Posts
i can't stop thinking about how the show portraits Roman's intimacy issues in a way that feels too close to home when it comes to SA and how it affects your relationship with sex and being intimate in the future. He can only link feelings of pleasure to shame, such as when him and Tabitha try to have sex in s2e5 (you can literally see it on his face that asking her to "play dead" is something that makes him ashamed, but it's the only way he can manage to do it. If there's an element of wrongness there) or the times where he gets turned on by Gerri degrading him and can only manage to feel pleasure from it.
I haven't finished the show yet but, from what I've seen online, I believe the writers will not expand or explore that. However, I still believe his fixation with "taboo sex" (from constantly joking about it to performing) plus the issues with actually doing it and some jokes here and there about being abused as a child, is not there merely for laughs or as a proof he's "a creep or a weirdo" (plus, it's canon that Roman often says stuff that actually happened with a joke tone, so people can't tell it's real)
...or I might be projecting, idk
(also, the whole thing with Logan putting Shiv's hand under his pants due to the "confusion" morphine caused him is weird af. More people should comment on that)
hbo’s succession is an insane fucking show because remember when they said “he never saw anything he loved that he didn’t wanna kick just to see if it would still come back” and when they said “life’s not knights on horseback. it’s a number on a piece of paper; it’s a fight for a knife in the mud” and when they said “you know this is just fun, right? there’s no god, there’s no anything. there’s just people in rooms trying to be happy” and when they said “what could you possibly kill, that you loved so much, it would make the sun rise again?” and when they said “i love you. i can’t forgive you” and when they said “i wonder if the sad i’d be without you would be less than the sad i get from being with you” and when they said “the good thing about a family that doesn’t love you is that you learn to live without it. you’re needy love sponges and i’m a plant that grows on rocks and lives off insects that die inside of me” and when they said “we think these grand horror things, at times like these, these ice shelves are gonna come at us in the night and take our heads off. its not true. he was an old bastard. and he loved you” and when they said-
Over the seasons, tom has definitely proved himself to not just be the love struck country mouse trying to make it in the big city and to find his place in this family. His flown under everyone's, especially Logan's radar for most of the series except when the siblings feels they can use him to their advantage. i feel like he is going to take advantage of the fact that all the kids have fallen out of Logan's favor for the running of waystar or at least for one of the top jobs and take him and his loyal servant/ friend/ confidante Greg with him. Tom has proved himself loyal when he offered himself as sacrifice for Logan and the company, something that all three kids have failed to do throughout the seasons. (Kendall many times, shiv considering a (fake) job offer from Raya, Roman when he told Tabitha to make contact with Naomi about the Peirce deal and possibly tanking it. it might not have been a betrayal but it was in Logan's eyes. I also think that Roman messing with Gerri was a betrayal to Logan). Tom has also proved that he values the company and the shareholders over his personal relationships by him giving up Shiv and the boys in the last season. Whereas Shiv couldn't do the same with Tom at the end of season 2. Tom has played the game very well. His smart, educated and experienced (Shiv is smart doesn't have a lot of cooperate experience, especially runny a multi-billion dollar conglomerate), his loyal and devoted and 'kinda family'. Logan is vulnerable (him and Marcia aren't as solid as before, his kids are out, the company is going through a very public merger and the world is speculating about his age and health) Logan is in desperate need of some more allies in his corner and Mr wambgans is smart enough to see that.
Shiv failed to reward Tom's loyalty and devotion throughout the shows either with her expressing her love and deeper feelings, requesting an open marriage the night of their wedding, keeping him in the dark about her own moves in the company and the moves of others, not showing her concern for him going to prison and telling him that 'she doesn't love him'. Unfortunately in the world of Succession it's defiantly not straight forward as now Logan will reward him in the way he wants. I for sure think Logan will fuck both him and Greg in the next season, i also think either tom or greg will try and fuck over the other. Logan doesn't reward loyalty unless the reward also benefits him as well. I see this with Frank, Kendall's godfather, who has been loyal to Logan for many years and rewards that when they need him for something but the moment his useless Frank is told to 'Fuck off'.
Tom is in a great position at the end of season three, even though his head of Cruises, his position in the family and kinda at 'the seat with the big boys' as put in season, is largely because of his proximity to Shiv. I do wonder that even though tom betrayed Shiv for Logan, i wonder even still Logan might to be 100% about rewarding the man who hurt his only daughter. Logan is not perfect and maybe seeing their marriage possibly sour in the next season, might also sour his tolerance for Tom and his presence. i feel like Logan's got a few more shit cakes for tom to eat, especially with the merger with gojo coming up.
The thing is, they're all reflections of Logan. Kendall, Shiv, Roman, they all are different refracted images of him, in ways that can make them cruel and in ways that can make them entitled and angry and childish, and yes, in ways that can make them a candidate for CEO.
But the problem is, they're broken mirrors. Logan made sure of that. They're shards of glass scattered on the ground, with Logan towering above them. This makes them sad, confused people incapable of maintaining relationships, and also, makes them disqualified for ceo.
Then there's Tom. Sure "the guy has issues" but really? He's fine. And the issues he has? Logan has no real emotional power over him.
So while the kids were crafted into these distorted, fucked up versions of Logan and then stuck in a blender for 30 to 40 years, Tom was able to walk in, unaffected, and take on aspects of Logan of his own accord.
It's interesting, because Logan hated him until season 3, but then he was able to offer himself up as a sacrifice and appear more clear headed than Logan's emotional, needy children. And while his parents are at least well off, he's more of a "self-made man" than the kids could ever really be, which reflects Logan's fight to the top.
He's a smaller mirror, he may not hold the depths of Logans twisted nature (not yet anyway) but he's a clear, unbroken mirror. In raising his kids for the crown, Logan disqualified each of them, but the new, more distant son could be everything he wanted in a successor.
Kendall also seems to be the only sibling who hasn't spent much time living outside of new York as an adult (except spending 6 months in Shanghai for waystar, but I think that was to prove to his dad he can still do the work after rehab) I think his dad maybe dangled the carrot of the future CEO in front of his face for so long and kept him close for most of his life. They way that Logan goes about Kendall's addiction both from the little we get about his past and how he takes the relapse throughout the seasons; in the back of my mind I think that logen didn't really have too much of a problem with the drugs as long as Kendall wasn't dead or embarassing the company (either from not being able to work or a very public part lifestyle). Other than that aslong as he did what logen wanted him to do, it wasn't a big deal. I mean logen pulled Kendall out of rehab after less than a day in s2e1 because he needed him to appear on TV.
There's also been a lot spoken of logens possessiveness, both of the company be built and the people around him. Kendall for the longest time being his most likely heir to his empire; he kept him close and under his thumb protecting and maturing what could be his biggest investment. I also think logen battled with the letting go of his other baby, waystar to someone who definitely hasn't work as hard as him. Handing other the empire he built from the ground up to some rich kid who was handed everything. In season 1, I saw him fight tooth and nail to keep waystar under his full control even if it meant burning Kendall and once he did then he went back and got his 'kendall'.
Ugh ugh ugh Logan's way of always sending Roman off somewhere to keep him occupied, like St Andrews or LA or management training or the deal with Eduard where he got held hostage and so on, while he keeps Kendall up in a tower with only him for company, and I'm imagining them as kids with Roman intruding on their "special moments" together and Logan being like, "do you mind? Fuck off."
So every Roy kid is fundamentally, inherently gay in a straight relationship is what I'm getting after watching the pilot of Succession for the first time. And Roman is the Bunny Corcoran of the show.
Finally started watching Succession and the way I never even knew they HAD an older brother even though I’ve seen about every spoiler for the show is so unbelievably hilarious
kendall: 1
roman
shiv
Kendall Roy: Not Strong Enough (Always an Angel Never a God) by boygenius
happy shareholder sunday
Shiv and Logan: Fathers Don’t Know What to Do With Their Daughters
“unpainted door”, poems 1962-2012, louise glück / “retired janitors of idaho”, 3x05, succession, (2021) / evansville, @filmnoirsbian / “shit show at the fuck factory”, 1x02, succession (2018) / “retired janitors of idaho”, 3x05, succession, (2021) / @apollomusing, link / “chiantishire”, 3x08, succession, (2021) / “origin story”, desireé dallagiacomo
tom wambsgans line deliveries that are always rotating in my head
I kinda love how succession makes it clear. that everyone involved is a fuckin loser… logan? pissin’ on the floor as the opener to the series AND he’s short… Marcia? made a speech to rhea about how when people fuck her husband she gets them back … and then … she didn’t get her back …cringe . Caroline? British. connor? paid for love and his own family wont visit his bitch ranch so he tries to run for president and no one in the family supports him and no one in real life even gives a shit. Kendall? wanted to crucify himself and sing publicly at his 40th birthday……. said ‘the shiz’…. Roman? No friends, can’t fuck. Shiv? No friends, can’t dance, gay husband, got fired from her job working for her dad’s enemy after her dad somehow won him over better than she could … Greg? Called his mommy to tell her he got fired… bought a watch he couldnt afford to impress comfrey and called her fair maiden… Tom? ….need i say more…. it’s just funny that they’re like the wealthiest family in america and they collectively have about four friends and are all Really socially awkward and embarrassing
Yeah, but merger of equals? Like… No such thing. Always a top dog, right?
SUCCESSION ↳Prague (1.08) | Chiantishire (3.08)
this episode really gets you to sympathize with basically everyone except logan. you see that roman and connor actually care that the letter would hurt kendall and therefore abstain from signing it despite the possible wrath of their father. you feel for how embarrassed and upset and angry shiv is after she is undermined yet again and her big moment is stolen from her by a strategic nirvana song. you learn that connor stepped in to take his younger brother on a fishing trip that roman has had to substitute for a happy memory of his father because he never gave him any. you feel bad for kendall as he hides himself away in a server room while the whole world reads an incredibly hurtful statement from his own sister. you’re made to watch as roman tries to improve his father’s image by expressing affection publicly (something he was asked to do) before logan himself calls him a slur for it. even tom has his moments, as you worry about his potential incarceration and see the increasing loneliness he feels after greg doesn’t show up and his wife appears to be at least partially in support of him taking the fall for her father and heading off to prison. idk man you can just see they’re all just sad and scared and want love from people who do not know how to (or won’t) give it to them.
SUCCESSION (2018—)
SHIV & WILLA in HUNTING
his dramatic ass…
Ken's difficult life..
Logan's favorite boy
Some succession characters as Twitter posts :)
More coming soon ‼️
