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Succession Season 3: Part 3

Has anyone mentioned they think the plot isn't progressing enough?

by Anonymousreply 600December 9, 2021 12:16 AM

Prior thread

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 1November 25, 2021 2:25 PM

To r599 from prior thread.

“So, what’s your deal? Most people here want to fuck me or kill me. How about you?”

That's literally Mencken's first line to Roman, I don't see what you are even arguing. I don't think Roman and Mencken are going to start fucking or anything, but the writers were clear with purposely introducing a homoeotic nature to their interactions.

by Anonymousreply 2November 25, 2021 2:30 PM

From the last thread -

[quote]Logan's like to Shiv "are you part of this family:"

He pulls this shit on Shiv all the time, too. A few episodes ago, when he pulled her into the study for a one-on-one, he moaned, "sometimes I wonder if you even like me", because she didn't blast Kendall hard enough. He dangles this idea of her being his favorite and then pouts when she doesn't throw herself at his mercy all the time. Although this happens often in dementia cases, I'm sure, I still find it fascinating that when Logan slips into his confused states he always mistakes Shiv for Marcia.

by Anonymousreply 3November 25, 2021 2:31 PM

There's actually a great New Yorker article about it. Static plot, and the author posits Succession is more like a sit-com with amusing recurring tropes.

by Anonymousreply 4November 25, 2021 2:57 PM

A lot of criticism of the Sopranos at the time (and of Mad Men) focused on the introduction of plot points that went nowhere ultimately, like the big Russian in the Pine Barrens episode.

by Anonymousreply 5November 25, 2021 3:09 PM

We gotta nip that Sopranos talk in the bud now, we don't want a repeat of the last thread with someone posting a million old Sopranos articles. Fuck that noise.

by Anonymousreply 6November 25, 2021 3:12 PM

The writing is so good that i haven't been concerned with the plot at all. Perhaps we don't need a plot.

by Anonymousreply 7November 25, 2021 3:12 PM

R3 I do think (maybe hope?) that it is Shiv who finally brings Logan down. Clearly he fucks with her more than the three boys... I think he has a problem with women, etc. She's jumped and said how high every time he's needed her. It would be a great satisfaction to see her demolish him and take over.

I think it's 27% likely to happen.

by Anonymousreply 8November 25, 2021 3:37 PM

As noted in the previous threads, even on sites where you most of the readers are hetero, people are talking about the sexual tension between Roman and Mencken, so it's not a Wishful Thinking By The Gays kind of thing.

They have teased Roman's sexuality the whole show: is he bi, gay, ace, all of the above, just fucked up from being abused?

by Anonymousreply 9November 25, 2021 3:43 PM

There was that time it looked like Roman desired the homosex with his personal trainer in Season 1.

by Anonymousreply 10November 25, 2021 3:45 PM

I thought it was also interesting that Mencken asked Roman who'd take over when Logan got tossed overboard, and when Roman said that that wasn't happening anymore, Mencken said something like, "Oh, sure, yeah, stick with the line." So does Mencken think Logan is toast?

by Anonymousreply 11November 25, 2021 4:51 PM

R10, after Gerri did some opposition research on Roman in season 2, she asked him, "Is it true you used to get jerked off by your personal trainer?" So he might've actually acted on that.

Plus Roman seemed very "cozy" with Lawrence from Vaulter and Lawrence's boyfriend at dinner in season 1, when he was courting them ahead of the no-confidence vote.

by Anonymousreply 12November 25, 2021 4:55 PM

Culkin is great casting, I suppose, in that there is literally nothing sexual about him. He could be either, both or neither. I tried to watch Igby Goes Down the other night (not nearly as good as I remembered it being) and watching him with Amanda Peet and Claire Danes is just plain weird. His energy was, and remains, weirdly pre-pubescent.

If they ever do a live action Bojack Horseman (please Netflix, DON'T do a live action Bojack Horseman) he’d be great as Todd.

by Anonymousreply 13November 25, 2021 5:01 PM

Is it wrong to hope that Kendall is the one who takes down Logan?

I know what an entitled creep Kendall is, but Logan really messed him up. We've seen the way Logan has been treating Shiv, making her jump through hoops trying to please him. I imagine Logan treated Kendall like that since he was a little boy. Kendall can barely function.

I imagine that Shiv was a pampered princess growing up, until just recently as she's stepped into Kendall's shoes trying to prove herself as the heir apparent.

by Anonymousreply 14November 25, 2021 5:02 PM

Excellent call on Culkin-as-Todd R13! (

by Anonymousreply 15November 25, 2021 5:08 PM

In this very amusing podcast the issue of Roman and Mencken’s smoking hot chemistry is discussed. It’s by a husband and wife and one thinks they could fuck and the other one doesn’t.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 16November 25, 2021 5:29 PM

Are we going to see any more of Marsha’s son who she got the job at Waystar in Europe?

by Anonymousreply 17November 25, 2021 8:48 PM

Maybe we’ll see Marcia’s son in the Italian episodes.

by Anonymousreply 18November 25, 2021 11:14 PM

Why are you obsessed with Marcia's son being on the show r17? Marcia herself is a fairly minor character at this point. This is already a sprawling cast of characters as it is.

by Anonymousreply 19November 25, 2021 11:35 PM

Culkin could never be Todd lmfao, he's supposed to be young

by Anonymousreply 20November 26, 2021 3:40 AM

I do think that the most interesting possibility (to me) is Tom taking out Logan. Is there not something poetic when the lamb who walks himself to his own slaughter then turns around and terminates his executioner/father/deity/abuser? I also think it represents Tom’s liberation from Shiv, the woman who asked her husband to sacrifice his own freedom, the woman who sold out both herself, her marriage, and her spouse, the woman who was peeved when her husband dared to repeat his sense of doom, she can’t be bothered with his obsessing over doing hard time! I am not classically trained in literature or playwriting, so I don’t know if my concept is Shakespearean enough or not. But I do think looking at the “old bard” or whatever might help us predict this season. If the knife comes from Tom and he rebels against Waystar, Logan, Shiv, and the family, it does feel transformative and redemptive, which I love. I cannot imagine *any* other character on that show who is redeemable. The Roy children do not seem to posses any ethics, morals, or sense of purpose beyond their own ambition and greed. Tom is the only one who offers himself on the Waystar altar; he even agrees to take on additional charges as a fall guy for Greg. He is the only character to fall on his sword, even if his motivations aren’t completely pure, the fact is that he will lose his freedom which is the ultimate sacrifice.

by Anonymousreply 21November 26, 2021 4:10 AM

[Quote]The Roy children do not seem to posses any ethics, morals, or sense of purpose beyond their own ambition and greed.

Well Shiv's discomfort with Mencken was a moral stand r21, it is part of what made it an interesting episode because of rare that is. Of course she caves in the end though, because her ambition overrules morals.

by Anonymousreply 22November 26, 2021 4:15 AM

Hmmm 🤔. You have a great point. I guess I would argue that I don’t believe her motivation is altruism. She fought that to defend and protect her brand. Tom’s willingness to sacrifice himself felt much more authentic to me, not that he didn’t have multiple motives that weren’t all “pure” that at its most basic level, Tom is doing this for love. Though if I’m wrong, we will know soon enough.

by Anonymousreply 23November 26, 2021 4:28 AM

I had to stop and start the ep a couple of times, but didn't Menken (sp?) say at that shit about Log and Fox News, I mean ATV, being the favourite channel in the nursing home? That was one pause in the show for me, because I assumed Logan would go off on him in the ballroom.

I do see the pattern--as others have pointed out--of Logan going along with most any convoluted idea of Roman's. Then he'll shut down Shiv, holler at her across a public space, and degrade her into appearing in a photo she didn't want to participate in. Roman is the youngest, correct? I know he acts the youngest, but I believe Shiv is at least a couple of years older than him.

And yes, the sexual tension with Menken and Roman was obvious from the start. It may just be that they're both that fucked up that they'll fuck anything that moves. Btw, where was Geri this ep?

by Anonymousreply 24November 26, 2021 9:13 AM

R24 here, sorry...that should've read:

"I had to stop and start the ep a couple of times, but didn't Menken (sp?) say all that shit about Logan and Fox News, I mean ATV, being the favourite channel in the nursing home?"

by Anonymousreply 25November 26, 2021 9:15 AM

He did R24

That was one of the elbow-in-the-ribs ironies of the plot, that in the end, neither one would care what they actually thought of each other, if they thought they could team up to win, and that Mencken had no real morals either, he was happy to become Logan's bitch

by Anonymousreply 26November 26, 2021 10:03 AM

Advancing a theory that Tom may have already flipped for the Feds and is maybe wearing a wire. He's really leaning into the prison stuff (methinks the lady doth...) and he knocked back Shiv's advances. Just a thought.

by Anonymousreply 27November 26, 2021 10:08 AM

The Tom/Greg sacrificial lamb scene - I had been thinking all along that Greg was the character with the most potential to turn “good,” but asking Tom to eat his prison time, while understandable, was morally weak and taking advantage of what Greg can tell Tom’s feelings for him are (even if they’ve soured a bit). I think the writers are leaning into a Redeemed Tom story.

Also, I just love Tom.

by Anonymousreply 28November 26, 2021 10:36 AM

“Greg” was on TikTok yesterday complaining he didn’t get any people texting him Gobbles. I said it was because he was suing PETA and thought my comment would take off, but it’s remained fallow.

by Anonymousreply 29November 26, 2021 11:03 AM

Probably something to do with the fact that he's suing Greenpeace, R29, not PETA

by Anonymousreply 30November 26, 2021 11:05 AM

Yes there was sexual tension. My SIL watch and discuss the show. I asked her “Did you sense any sexual tension between Roman and Mencken in their scenes?” and she looked at me like I had five heads. “Uh, duhhh! Are you kidding?”

It’s as subtle as a sledgehammer.

by Anonymousreply 31November 26, 2021 12:07 PM

Shiv is the youngest r24.

by Anonymousreply 32November 26, 2021 12:07 PM

There is also a sizable age gap between Con and the other three.

He appears to be in his mid-50s and Kendall, the second oldest, is turning 40 on Sunday.

by Anonymousreply 33November 26, 2021 12:52 PM

If Conner is that much older than Kendall, then why wasn't he groomed to be the heir apparent growing up as Kendall was?

I would love a little back story about Conner.

by Anonymousreply 34November 26, 2021 1:26 PM

My made-up-backstory is that Logan was just getting the company up and running when he married his first wife and had Con. He was probably working all the time and not around when Con was little. Then, Con’s mother had her breakdown around the same time Logan’s company took off like a rocket, and Logan decided he wanted to wipe the slate clean and start over as a husband and father with a much more hoity-toity wife befitting his newly rich lifestyle, and pretend his first iteration of his family didn’t happen. Lady Caroline had a title but not much money, so she and Logan combined forces.

It’s to Con’s credit that he seems to have put the work in to stay somewhat close to his dad and build relationships with his step-siblings. If he was old enough to take Roman on a fishing trip then he would likely have been a tween/teenager when his dad left him alone with a mentally ill mother.

by Anonymousreply 35November 26, 2021 1:32 PM

Gerri wasn’t there because it was a Republican fundraising/crown anointing event, not Royco business.

I miss Marcia’s appearances because she is an interesting character. Honest, upfront, and unemotional about her calculating. The Roy siblings are just little bees buzzing around, annoying and ineffectual.

The remarriage of Logan’s second wife…I hope there’s a good reason to insert this into the story. I thought the scenes with her last season were the weakest and least interesting. She’s never mentioned as an offhand line of dialog. The only impression I have of her relationship with her children is “neglectful”.

by Anonymousreply 36November 26, 2021 1:34 PM

[quote] I thought the scenes with her last season were the weakest and least interesting.

I really liked them, because they showed total emotional emptiness that was as cruel as Logan’s attitude toward the kids (if not more!). Her putting off talking to a clearly-upset Kendall was like a cold slap in the face.

by Anonymousreply 37November 26, 2021 1:37 PM

R37, the remarriage has been used as a setting for the finale to bring all characters together again and apparently there are some big events taking place there.

by Anonymousreply 38November 26, 2021 1:45 PM

Thanks R35. That makes perfect sense.

by Anonymousreply 39November 26, 2021 2:01 PM

[quote]who asked her husband to sacrifice his own freedom

Except she didn't. Tom offered himself up, and after a few minutes of listening to him talk about his plan, she conceded it might be a smart move. Shiv was willing to give up her brother to 'save' Tom, when she asked her father on the yacht for the skull to be anyone but him. Judging by Tom's face during the prison suggestion, he was hoping she would adamantly refuse. But Tom does this a lot. He is the most passive aggressive character I've ever seen. I adore Matthew McFadyen as Tom. His performance is sublime and he utters some of the most hilarious lines with such finesse its a joy to watch. But Tom is a creep.

I'm rewatching S1 and his character is so off-putting, but I am reminded how he very clearly bullied Greg into getting rid of those documents so he wouldn't have to deal with them. He [italic]should[/italic] eat the time for Greg, its because of him Greg is in this mess to begin with. Let's not forget he emailed Greg 67 times to find out if he had done the deed, which Senator Eavis used to great effect. Tom was a buffoon during those congressional hearings, crumbling under the most basic scrutiny and then whining that 'they came at me from every side!'. Not really.

I am more of a Shiv. She is used to seeing her father's manipulations, so Tom going on and on about prison is visible to her for what it is - a blatant passive aggressive tactic designed to get Shiv to declare her undying love for him. All of the things that Tom does which are "supposed to be a nice thing!" are so tonally off. I see my sister pull this shit all the time, and I had an ex who would do this woe is me act on me. Kendall was right - Tom needs to fucking grow a pair. He goes on and on about prison because he wants everyone to know that he is suffering for them. It reminds me of S2 when he and Shiv go over to Roman's for dinner with Tabitha, and he's got his neck wrapped in a scarf and talking in a very affected rumble and Shiv points out that he wants everyone to know that he's sick. She was dead on. When Shiv came to Argestes and surprises Tom in the club chatting with a colleague, later Shiv says to him that she saw them and wanted to tell the woman to 'back off, bitch, he's mine'. Tom got positively giddy. That is exactly what he wants, his woman to fight for him. Every time they're sitting around a dinner table, if Shiv doesn't immediately protect Tom from others withering judgement then he complains to her that she needs to lighten up on him.

The writers are very effective at guiding our sympathies but Tom is not on a redemption arc. And I agree with R37 - the scene with Kendall and Lady Caroline in particular was really powerful and said volumes about her relationship with her children.

by Anonymousreply 40November 26, 2021 2:02 PM

Agreed R37-- good synopsis

It would also seem that the kids lived with Logan in NYC growing up--they've mentioned Kendall went to Buckley-- unless Lady Caroline was living in NYC at the time too.

by Anonymousreply 41November 26, 2021 2:26 PM

Reading theories and imagined scenarios here is more interesting than what's actually happening on the show this season. Maybe the writers should visit this thread and shamelessly pilfer from it?

by Anonymousreply 42November 26, 2021 2:46 PM

R42, so true. I’ve watched every episode and learn more from reading this thread. I’m watching now more to keep up with this thread rather than enjoying the show.

by Anonymousreply 43November 27, 2021 3:44 AM

Skarsgard is apparently playing a character who’s even richer than Logan.

So Logan said that Peter Munyan aka The Seat Sniffer has been hanging around Caroline for forty years. And Kendal is having his fortieth birthday party on Sunday’s episode. Hmmm. They wouldn’t really go there, would they? That would be a tad too Falcon Crest-ish, I should think.

by Anonymousreply 44November 27, 2021 4:55 AM

I know I'm probably alone in this, but I can't stand Skarsgard. He stinks up everything he's in. He always the same character with same piercing stare and same obnoxious smirk. I'm not looking forward to his contribution to the show. I don't understand why this show needs to start with the stunt casting. That's a sign of jumping the shark.

by Anonymousreply 45November 27, 2021 1:22 PM

You might be right, R45, but I’m so hypnotized by his face that I’m unable to fairly evaluate his acting talent.

by Anonymousreply 46November 27, 2021 1:46 PM

How is Skarsgard stunt casting r45?! It's just casting. He is not Brad Pitt.

by Anonymousreply 47November 27, 2021 4:35 PM

Peter "Seat Sniffer" Munion is played by Pip Torrens who is almost always given deliciously snide roles (see: The Crown as HMQ's secretary Tommy Lascelles). I cannot wait to see him and Harriet Walter together.

by Anonymousreply 48November 27, 2021 6:42 PM

Peter Munyan, according to the Google page Roman went on, is CEO of the Lavender Hill care home chain. Haha.

by Anonymousreply 49November 27, 2021 7:43 PM

According to one of the writers on Twitter, Kendall sings at his birthday party.

by Anonymousreply 50November 28, 2021 4:10 PM

[quote]Roman is the youngest, correct? I know he acts the youngest, but I believe Shiv is at least a couple of years older than him.

Shiv is the youngest Roy child.

by Anonymousreply 51November 28, 2021 4:16 PM

Pip Torrens was also on Poldark playing the mean, mercenary uncle? of George Warleggan.

by Anonymousreply 52November 28, 2021 4:18 PM

These characters are fictional, not real people.

by Anonymousreply 53November 28, 2021 4:27 PM

[quote] These characters are fictional, not real people.

OMFG, you are right!!!

Mind officially blown!

by Anonymousreply 54November 28, 2021 6:34 PM

No one here thinks they are real people.

by Anonymousreply 55November 28, 2021 6:35 PM

I do not get the sympathy for raging cunt Shiv on this board - Tom is a far more redeemable character than her. I don't think he or Kendall are ever going to be traditionally redeemed (no one on this show is a good person), but they are far more sympathetic than most characters. Tom is passive-aggressive, but Shiv is an outright cruel bitch.

Greg is, IMO, secretly the least moral of them all. At least Shiv has a semblance of loyalty to her father, if no one or nothing else. He has no attachment to anyone and is happily goading Tom along into getting fucked over for him.

by Anonymousreply 56November 28, 2021 6:41 PM

I think Tom finds out he’s not going to jail during tonight’s episode and takes ecstacy and drops dead during Kendall’s singing. And Kendall is pissed.

by Anonymousreply 57November 28, 2021 6:47 PM

Don’t forget about Logan doing a waterskiing jump over a shark R52. It’s groundbreaking.

by Anonymousreply 58November 28, 2021 6:52 PM

If Tom takes ecstasy at the party, he’s going to be headed straight to Greg for a kiss

by Anonymousreply 59November 28, 2021 6:53 PM

Yes, r56, Greg's likability is based solely on his naiveté, which, in this instance, is another word for stupidity. He really doesn't seem to care much for anyone other than himself. He knows he should care about others; he wasn't raised by wolves. But push comes to shove, he's reliably looking out for #1.

Tom, perhaps because he's staring into the abyss this season, has become the most surprisingly human of any of them. It'll be interesting to see if he holds onto that humanity in the future (providing he avoids jail).

by Anonymousreply 60November 28, 2021 6:55 PM

R60, Greg is just looking to make a lot of money with having to do very little. It's always been about money with him. Pushed by his mother, he thought all he had to do was get a job at Waystar, based on who his grandfather is and he'd be an instant millionaire. He's not and never will be one of them. He'll always be on the fringes. Tom may have married into the family, and he knows how to play the corporate game, but when it comes right down to it, even he is an outsider.

by Anonymousreply 61November 28, 2021 8:50 PM

What is it with Roman flirting with supposedly other straight guys in bathrooms all about?

by Anonymousreply 62November 29, 2021 1:49 AM

This was a weird filler episode. We get it, they are all miserable, unhappy people.

by Anonymousreply 63November 29, 2021 2:03 AM

Bad episode.

The point was they were acting like small children; but instead of letting us just figure that out, they had to keep underlining it over and over again, even to the point where they kept literally SAYING that to one another.

by Anonymousreply 64November 29, 2021 2:05 AM

This week’s was less frightening than last week’s, but even more depressing. Tom may be the one to off himself, not Kendall. The sudden lean in to Tom/Greg sexual tension (one-sided) is strange, and it almost seems like they’ve swapped out Gerri and Roman for that. I guess Gerri is being responsible and not messing around with her mentee.

by Anonymousreply 65November 29, 2021 2:21 AM

What was the, I’m supposing, kid’s sleeping bag or comforter, Kendall was wrapped up in at the end?

by Anonymousreply 66November 29, 2021 2:25 AM

Rava's new boyfriend is some sort of professional athlete? I didn't understand that.

I hope everyone noticed that the plot STILL has yet to advance this season.

by Anonymousreply 67November 29, 2021 2:30 AM

Here are the plot advances I see:

- Kendall is out of the running for “child to take over the company.” He may or may not be able to come back to the family.

- The shareholder vote was averted and Stewie’s group bought/financed (?) Waystar Royco. That ties up a plot from Season One.

- Greg is cut out of his grandfather’s will, so Logan has become his only hope of riches.

- Waystar’s cable channel has gotten in bed with a fascist Presidential candidate.

- Tom (the Wet Sequoia*) has a thing for Greg and has abandoned his long-running effort to have anything resembling a real relationship with Shiv.

The only plot point that hasn’t changed is one of the children taking over for Logan, and that won’t happen until the end of the show.

*I laughed at Tom saying he won Shiv over with his jackhammering. I wonder if she’s been faking her interest in him their whole relationship.

by Anonymousreply 68November 29, 2021 2:39 AM

Loved this episode - especially how baby-like Kendall has gotten.

Also, the Tom and Greg lean in was not sudden at all - at least since the castrate and marry scene, and much further before that if you read into their interactions early on. Tom does too much weird shit for it just to have been standard bullying - I think he's been into Greg since the beginning. I've also said from the beginning Tom and Shiv never had a "real" marriage - he was with her for social cachet and she was with him because he was a stable doormat.

by Anonymousreply 69November 29, 2021 2:42 AM

Gay moms and wheelchair kids.

God help me, I love this show too much.

by Anonymousreply 70November 29, 2021 2:45 AM

So is Mattson going to insist - after the asking price for his company skyrockets because of Roman's play for him - that if they want to buy it that Logan will have to be out? Is that what the shareholders are voting on with Logan out of the room?

by Anonymousreply 71November 29, 2021 2:50 AM

Logan not allowing anyone to succeed him is not the only thing that has remained static. As with the beginning of this season:

*No one has gone to prison, though it was constantly said that someone would have to.

*The serious legal danger Waystar Royco's in remains unresolved.

*Logan is still with Marcia, Conner is still with Willa, Kendall is still with Naomi, and Shiv is still with Tom. Roman remains impotent but remains pretending to still date Tabitha.

All that's really happened this season has all been with Greg: his grandfather is disinheriting him (although that could always be reversed), and he finally got a date.

by Anonymousreply 72November 29, 2021 2:55 AM

I’m out. It’s just too depressing and everyone in it is disgusting on so many levels. They should all die in a fire next episode. I’ve cancelled it and HBO now entirely. The world is dark enough without this shit show.

by Anonymousreply 73November 29, 2021 2:58 AM

[quote] *The serious legal danger Waystar Royco's in remains unresolved.

I don’t know whether this is true in the world of the show, but in reality, the kind of conversation Gerri described would be a strong signal the threat of DOJ has passed. They will pay a huge fine but that’s it.

by Anonymousreply 74November 29, 2021 3:00 AM

I love this show and have rewatched it a ridiculous amount of times, but I have to admit, R73, even I felt like this episode - coupled with the last one - was just too fucking depressing for me. Midway through, I realized I wasn't enjoying it. Seeing Kendall spiraling out is just too painful.

And at this point, I feel like they are trolling the tom/greg shippers. They wanted to get the fraus diddling themselves or something. I usually take the relationships in prestige shows at face value. We've had this odd way of Tom belittling his underling, comparable to the bullied kid going home to kick his dog, but now apparently, Tom has developed a real fondness for him and seems to regard Greg as a real friend. But the romantic undertones are just getting so blatant. I was really expecting Tom to try and make out with Greg when he was going on about asking out Comfrey.

by Anonymousreply 75November 29, 2021 3:06 AM

Is it possible that Roman’s penis is disfigured in some way, or just so completely the opposite of a mighty sequoia that he doesn’t want anyone to see it? Could he be intersexed?

by Anonymousreply 76November 29, 2021 3:07 AM

Tom was barely holding himself back from aiming his lips at Greg’s like three different times this episode, I foresee an extremely cringeworthy and sad scene at Lady Caroline’s wedding.

by Anonymousreply 77November 29, 2021 3:10 AM

I don’t think Roman’s issue is physical, or else they’d have had Tabitha say something about it in one of her moments of sexual frustration. He craves being demeaned or being thought disturbed—his idea of a good sexual moment with Tabitha was asking her to pretend to be a corpse he could rape, and he gets off on Gerri calling him a sick puppy.

by Anonymousreply 78November 29, 2021 3:13 AM

I don’t get any sexual attraction from Tom to Greg. That is purely power dynamics and they are both family outsiders.

by Anonymousreply 79November 29, 2021 3:14 AM

Tom genuinely loves Greg (and was indeed jealous Greg wanted to ask out Comfry), but I don't think it's sexual. He loves Greg because he can abuse him almost as much as he wants, but Greg never deserts him. He feels secure in Greg's presence the way he never can with Shiv or any of the other Roys. He's probably the closest thing Tom has ever had to a genuine friend in his entire adult life.

by Anonymousreply 80November 29, 2021 3:20 AM

I don't think Tom is supposed to be a repressed gay man, but I think Roman is. We know he can't have regular sex with women, and Shiv said something about it this episode when insulting him. We also had the scene last episode with eyefucking Mencken in the bathroom in Richmond and the scene this episode with him looking at Skasgrad pissing on his phone in another bathroom.

by Anonymousreply 81November 29, 2021 3:24 AM

Roman taunting Kendall to hit him and Kendall looking sad called back to Logan backhanding Roman and Kendall jumping in to protect him. Roman is really doing an Icarus right now, so I expect Logan to smack him down again soon.

by Anonymousreply 82November 29, 2021 3:31 AM

People are so desperate for gay content that they're projecting sexual tension between two men where there is none. Really pathetic. None between Roman and Mencken. None between Greg and Tom. Just like there's none between Macron and Trudeau.

And from the prior thread - No. Gus Fring wasn't gay. Not mentioned once. The creator said that was his original intention but the actor talked him out of it. It's pathetic how DLers are willing to settle for crumbs. Tension between heterosexuals always culminates in full-blown passionate sex scenes, but in (mostly imaginary) gay cases, they're happy for it to be implied so subtly that 99% of the audience doesn't notice.

by Anonymousreply 83November 29, 2021 3:34 AM

How has Logan managed to arrange the financing to buy back Kendall's share in the company -- if Kendall owns $2b worth of stock he's a rather significant shareholder, since the company's market cap seems to be in the $90b neighborhood -- while also exploring acquisitions of GoJo and PGM (which he tried to buy last season for north of $20b)?

by Anonymousreply 84November 29, 2021 3:55 AM

You are a weird one to be so obsessed on that point r83. Yes you are right, nothing is ever gay or homoerotic unless it has the subtly of a sledge hammer and they are sucking dick on screen. Gus and Max were clearly a couple bros who were total pussyhounds.

by Anonymousreply 85November 29, 2021 4:06 AM

[quote]We know he can't have regular sex with women, and Shiv said something about it this episode when insulting him.

This isn't the first time she's insulted him about it this season - think back to episode 2. The sibs know Roman has a sexual dysfunction. I've been thinking Roman really did suffer sexual abuse as a kid with the way he callously joked about it too much, and his obvious distress over the dog pound memory. He was so fucking vicious this episode, and the relentless way he hounded both Ken and Shiv was almost intolerable, that I feel like he absolutely was abused. That was just too fucking raw. Roman doesn't care, he'll say anything to get daddy to love him. I am starting to wonder if something happened to Rome while he was in military school. The humiliation kink, the inability to have sex without some kind of "wrongness" to it. I don't know, the kid is a fucking sociopath.

by Anonymousreply 86November 29, 2021 4:08 AM

Jeremy Strong has a nice tone to his singing. He was trying to sound off-key because he's playing Kendall, but I could tell that he has some singing chops.

by Anonymousreply 87November 29, 2021 5:00 AM

Jeremy Strong is not at all a handsome man, though. He is very lucky he has this role--this may be the only lead role he ever gets to play on television.

by Anonymousreply 88November 29, 2021 6:31 AM

It’s getting tiresome. Even in spite of the set pieces it’s bloodless.

Connor’s camping trip was raised again. The writers told Alan Ruck from the go his storyline would become more complex as the seasons progressed. So either he and his whore will go to the White House or he will be revealed to have molested Roman or he will have knowledge of Mo molesting Roman.

Also Shiv looked as flabby as Geri in that green dress.

by Anonymousreply 89November 29, 2021 6:49 AM

Will Roman’s apparent inroads as the chosen child and his gloating about it, coupled with learning that Kendall’s kids are under surveillance, be enough for Shiv to finally rebel?

Probably not.

by Anonymousreply 90November 29, 2021 6:49 AM

It looks like Roman is not going to retain his "chosen child" status for very long... according to the previews for next week, he got played yet again.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 91November 29, 2021 7:23 AM

[quote] Hmmm 🤔. You have a great point. I guess I would argue that I don’t believe her motivation is altruism. She fought that to defend and protect her brand.

Exactly. She’s repulsed by Menken because hashtag Nazi brings bad publicity and she, for some as far unforeseen reason, is considered the “likeable” one .

by Anonymousreply 92November 29, 2021 7:58 AM

Seven episodes in and this is the longest windup ever.

Prediction: Logan will die. I'm only predicting this because Cox just came out with his memoir. Either his number is up, or he has realised the series has crested.

by Anonymousreply 93November 29, 2021 9:25 AM

[quote]Prediction: Logan will die. I'm only predicting this because Cox just came out with his memoir. Either his number is up, or he has realised the series has crested.

You might be correct - not only did he come out with a book, but he's done a lot of media - sometimes being very saucy - so he might realize this is the end of the line & he's going out with a bang. Whatever the case, I very much hope the writers will reward our patience this season

by Anonymousreply 94November 29, 2021 9:39 AM

R81 Repressed gay men just don’t get off on older ladies like Gerri calling them filthy little piggies, sorry.

by Anonymousreply 95November 29, 2021 10:37 AM

R88 The fuck he isn’t a handsome man.

by Anonymousreply 96November 29, 2021 10:38 AM

Talking about the camping trip is just funny. Connor is such a dumbass that it was a big deal for him to play big brother and take the kids camping. That’s all I get out of it. I don’t see whatever happened to Roman ever being explicitly spelled out or even being incredibly ominous. We do know that Logan hits him and they don’t have a mother. That could be enough.

by Anonymousreply 97November 29, 2021 10:48 AM

The “Compliment Hallway” was a laugh out old hysterical farce. It’s brilliant that something that’s supposed to make insecure wealthy people feel better about themselves

does exactly the opposite.

The entire premise of the party, keeping the sibs out of the treehouse and foreshadowing of flames was excellent.

I also loved how Roman said “fake Jesus” right after his brother decided to nix getting on the cross, lmao

by Anonymousreply 98November 29, 2021 10:56 AM

Roman is the most like his father on the level of personality — mean-spirited, foul mouthed, amoral about business. Yet he lacks his father’s actual power. No wonder he feels impotent.

It almost seemed like Tom was disappointed at the end that he’s not going to prison. At least it would have been a quick route out of his failed marriage.

Given that Kendall’s big play has fizzled, he once again seems to be spiraling and they are headed back to England for their mom’s wedding, you have to wonder if his accident and the dead waiter will come back into play.

by Anonymousreply 99November 29, 2021 1:09 PM

I thought the wedding was in Italy? What do you think the Birthday episode’s budget was? Luckily, because of Covid they probably got those Hudson Yard locations for cheap and didn’t have to film around the schedule of other events. I’m not familiar with the interior of the Shed, how much of those other rooms beside the stage were the Shed?

by Anonymousreply 100November 29, 2021 1:14 PM

At the end of the episode when Roman tells his detail that he’s going to walk home, my immediate thought was he wants to go get that tight ass fucked in some back alley.

by Anonymousreply 101November 29, 2021 1:49 PM

The wedding is in Italy.

by Anonymousreply 102November 29, 2021 2:15 PM

Roman has yet another weird bathroom scene with another man - this time watching the other guy piss on his cell phone. Are these quasi-sexual bathroom encounters going to be a regular feature of the show?

by Anonymousreply 103November 29, 2021 2:21 PM

Ok sorry, the wedding is in Italy. But Kendall will be thinking about what happened the last time he saw his mother.

by Anonymousreply 104November 29, 2021 2:21 PM

We'll look back at this show when it's over and most will agree that Season 2 was peak Succession.

by Anonymousreply 105November 29, 2021 2:46 PM

[quote]Roman has yet another weird bathroom scene with another man - this time watching the other guy piss on his cell phone. Are these quasi-sexual bathroom encounters going to be a regular feature of the show?

Let's not forget the bathroom chat with the Saudi guy that Roman was trying to get the sovereign wealth money from. I think the theme here is that a lot of deals are done in a bathroom, especially when its a bunch of young guys with coke-y energy.

by Anonymousreply 106November 29, 2021 2:48 PM

R100, crew friend told me the other rooms for the party were actually sets at the soundstages in Long Island City.

by Anonymousreply 107November 29, 2021 2:58 PM

I liked when Kendall was describing Rava’s ideal birthday event to mock her and you could tell even he started thinking midway through that it sounded nice.

by Anonymousreply 108November 29, 2021 3:00 PM

R106 Backend dealings in the Men’s Room is another way to shut Shiv out of the process and prove to Dad that she’s never going to be an effective dealmaker as Waystar CEO.

by Anonymousreply 109November 29, 2021 3:50 PM

I am now curious if the season will end with Kendall's suicide if it doesn't end with Logan's death. The sign at the entrance to his party--"The Notorious KEN Time to Die"--may be some heavy-handed foreshadowing, and we again ended the episode with him poised alone at the open-air edge of a skyscraper.

by Anonymousreply 110November 29, 2021 6:49 PM

It was actually "Ready to Die," R110 -- and when Kendall had his breakdown in the room full of presents, he said, "I wish I was," and stopped for a bit, before saying, "I wish I was home." It seemed like he was going to say "I wish I was dead," since he'd just told Naomi how he thought "this" was so pathetic and that none of "this" mattered.

by Anonymousreply 111November 29, 2021 6:59 PM

While I realize none of this will actually happen, Kendall should take the payoff, tell Logan & Roman to eat shit & crawl back to his ex-wife to try and repair relations with her & his kids.

But enough of that...is it just me or is Shiv looking a bit portly in the upcoming Italy scenes compared to the way she looked when she got married? Not fat shaming her, just an observation....

by Anonymousreply 112November 29, 2021 7:04 PM

She needs some cushion if she's going to take her husband's massive red sequoia on a regular basis, r112.

by Anonymousreply 113November 29, 2021 7:06 PM

Matthew McFayden is really a hell of a good actor.

by Anonymousreply 114November 29, 2021 7:07 PM

R101 Wow, I didn’t get that. Now if it were YOU deciding to walk home like that, that’s what I’d think.

by Anonymousreply 115November 29, 2021 8:07 PM

He is, and that's why I can't stand Tom. He's not to be trusted and has no spine whatsoever. But Matthew Macfadyen plays him to the hilt.

Conner is the neglected older Gen X kid from a first marriage. He's supposed to be late 40s/early 50s - I believe this was explicitly mentioned in S1 - though the actor himself is in his mid 60s, he looks very good for his age.

[quote] it is Shiv who finally brings Logan down

Anyone thinking Logan will get brought down by one sibling is missing the point of Logan's machinations and subsequent necessary comeuppance: he is a malignant narcissist that has spent his entire life selfishly hoarding his wealth while dividing and manipulating each of his kids to such an abusive degree that they can no longer form healthy loving bonds with each other or anyone else, even though they clearly want to. Kendall and Shiv obviously love each other which is why they are able to hurt each other, but Logan set them up to compete relentlessly instead of be real siblings. They are protective of Roman who loves them all too, but they can't be TOO protective because the extreme amount of damage he bore makes him a loose canon. And they think Conner is a lost fuckup (I still think he's a dark horse figure) but they get why and they don't hate him for it. The Roy siblings will take Logan down together in the end. It's the only satisfying conclusion.

by Anonymousreply 116November 29, 2021 8:09 PM

Connor is the older version of Cameron from “Ferris.”

by Anonymousreply 117November 29, 2021 8:13 PM

Sarah Snook gained some weight. I don’t think it detracts.

by Anonymousreply 118November 29, 2021 8:14 PM

She's a maniac, maniac on the floor

And she's dancing like she's never danced before.

by Anonymousreply 119November 29, 2021 8:24 PM

R118 most of us gained weight last year, and she still looks good, but it almost feels like the costume designer must hate her. The dark blue(?) dress she was wearing a few weeks ago was distracting. Why would a very very wealthy woman wear a dress that accentuates her back fat and gives her whatever the armpit version of muffin top is?

by Anonymousreply 120November 29, 2021 8:30 PM

Because she's rich enough not to care what body fascists have to say?

by Anonymousreply 121November 29, 2021 8:34 PM

R66 it was an A-Team comforter, probably from the same place as the He-Man lunchboxes. The stunted prick…

by Anonymousreply 122November 29, 2021 8:39 PM

“I’ll remember” is what Logan says to Tom in the conference room scene at the beginning of the episode. Tom’s loyalty is earning him brownie points. Shiv had better start realizing that before it’s too late.

by Anonymousreply 123November 29, 2021 9:16 PM

[quote]—Shiv's homage to Jennifer Beals

I thought it was her homage to Julia Louis Dreyfus on Seinfeld.

by Anonymousreply 124November 29, 2021 9:33 PM

R123, I think if she does it will be way too late. I’m feeling serious vibes that Tom wil side with Logan in stabbing her in the back.

by Anonymousreply 125November 29, 2021 9:51 PM

Maybe Kendall will die because Jeremy Strong is so young and handsome, and has other aspirations.

by Anonymousreply 126November 29, 2021 10:01 PM

For all his wealth, Kendall is just an insecure loser like the rest of us.

by Anonymousreply 127November 29, 2021 11:22 PM

I think the costume designer is using ill-fitting and unflattering clothing to show Shiv’s discomfort at the moment. Her polish and sleekness is seeping away like her confidence as Logan continues to undermine her. She maintains her (excellent) posture, just like she keeps up a false front of bravado, but it’s more and more obvious that she’s not suited to the role/clothes she’s trying to wear.

by Anonymousreply 128November 30, 2021 12:03 AM

If someone offered me 2 billion dollars, I'd immediately become an eccentric recluse. Coming back to work after the holiday weekend...people are exhausting.

by Anonymousreply 129November 30, 2021 12:05 AM

[quote] If someone offered me 2 billion dollars, I'd immediately become an eccentric recluse.

If someone offered me 2 million, I would. I wouldn’t last 5 minutes around any of these people. Even Greg would consider me a weakling.

by Anonymousreply 130November 30, 2021 12:07 AM

R129, me too. It must be a personality thing, because I’d happily live modestly if I just didn’t have to work. No need to be a baller, keeping up with other rich people. I guess for some people it’s all about ego and power. I just want to chill in obscurity.

by Anonymousreply 131November 30, 2021 12:09 AM

The New Yorker mentioned that Succession is more like a soap opera than a series. The plot is static, and the thing succeeds on character and themes of power and greed.

by Anonymousreply 132November 30, 2021 12:09 AM

R131 I'd buy a mansion, get all my needs delivered (NO CONTACT OF COURSE), and basically go off the grid except for the people I actually wanna talk to.

by Anonymousreply 133November 30, 2021 12:11 AM

R114, I agree. I'm even going as far to say that he's the best actor on the show, even better than Brian Cox, who seems to have been phoning it in, lately. Or maybe he's just bored having to growl in every single scene.

Matthew McFayden makes Tom feels like a fully fleshed out character. The others seem like caricatures.

by Anonymousreply 134November 30, 2021 12:17 AM

R115 Although perhaps not so tight....

I do vote for Shiv now making an alliance with Kendall to bring down the old Nobodaddy in the Sky.

by Anonymousreply 135November 30, 2021 12:29 AM

They have decided to make the characters richer over time. In Season 1 Kendall's share of Waystar stock was worth 500 mil, now its 2 billion.

by Anonymousreply 136November 30, 2021 1:27 AM

[quote] [R88] The fuck he isn’t a handsome man.

Well honey, if you think that, you just go right on thinking that! He's certainly good enough for you!

by Anonymousreply 137November 30, 2021 1:31 AM

That's the problem r129. These kids have always been rich, so they can't be happy with money. When money becomes meaningless to you, this status and power is their only way to feel validated.

by Anonymousreply 138November 30, 2021 1:34 AM

Just the amount of money Johnny Depp used to spend on wine in a couple of months would be enough to completely change the quality of my life.

by Anonymousreply 139November 30, 2021 1:55 AM

I am not getting the point of this season. Loved S2, but this season feels very disjointed to me.

by Anonymousreply 140November 30, 2021 2:07 AM

Did they ever say how much Kendall was spending on that party?

by Anonymousreply 141November 30, 2021 2:11 AM

R141 Your answer is here behind a paywall… I’m too cheap to sign up but maybe someone else with a membership can let us know.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 142November 30, 2021 4:48 AM

The Dipp estimates that the party cost $513,845.

by Anonymousreply 143November 30, 2021 5:07 AM

Gerri isn't a caricature either. She and Tom and Greg are the most realistic people on the show.

by Anonymousreply 144November 30, 2021 6:25 AM

I'm totally with R129, though as another poster astutely noted, money is meaningless to them because they have no idea what is to *not* to have $$. It's the power, prestige, all that - but they really want Daddy's love & respect, which he will never give any of them for more than 5 seconds before yanking it away. You think all of these people would have therapists that would tell them that.

For my 2 million (cause I come cheap), I'd buy a farm in Italy or Scotland and become a gentleman farmer...

by Anonymousreply 145November 30, 2021 11:41 AM

The birthday party episode was completely uncomfortable for me to watch in every way. Each scene between anyone was played out for maximum repulsive effect. I loved it, though. Watching Kendall spin wildly from an overconfident, delusional buffoon to angry, petulant richboy, to suicidal, broken human is, wow. I even thought Greg was skeevy in this one. Like others here, Tom is currently my favorite, but even he had some wild moments. I don't get any sexual tension between he and Greg, just power dynamic games.

Is Logan really fucking that dark-haired woman assistant who pipes up with a remark every now and again? That implication keeps coming up from the random sarcastic comments by the kids, but I just don't see it as realistic. I don't see Logan as having any sexual/libidinous energy right now, he's too focused on money, business, maintaining power.

by Anonymousreply 146November 30, 2021 3:30 PM

I just started watching this show — only up to the third ep of season 1 — but my take so far is that the larger plotline is basically a mcguffin.

I haven’t read this thread and don’t intend to because it’s probably full of spoilers. Hey, just because the plot is a mcguffin doesn’t mean I want it spoiled. ;)

by Anonymousreply 147November 30, 2021 3:38 PM

R146 The assistant definitely has a "special" relationship with Logan - access, trust, filtering. Whether sausage gets stiff and missy disrobes to offer entrance? Unlikely. Older powerful men like the eye candy and the power dynamic... even though the plumbing may be broken and untouched.

Fun, huh?

by Anonymousreply 148November 30, 2021 3:44 PM

I’m getting tired of Shiv’s whiny line delivery.

by Anonymousreply 149November 30, 2021 3:51 PM

I love the show, but the birthday episode was one of the worst I’ve ever watched. It was such a slog and simply didn’t work for me. If this is what the show would be like at Logan eventually dies then no thanks.

Nothing really worked for me. Tom suddenly acting sad and creepy with Gregg was tired. Maybe my mood was off cause I’m jet lagged but it was the most low stakes unimportant episode I’ve see in an otherwise exciting season.

Kendall was given the gift of 2 billion dollar cash out. Go cry about something else. He really was the most insufferable this episode. Roman and Tom upped their bisexual tendencies which was fun but also more of the same.

I’m ready to get back to real shit, not the tears of a pampered drug addict, billionaire.

by Anonymousreply 150November 30, 2021 3:59 PM

Can anyone explain what happened with the companies money problems at the end of S2. Logan was begging Sandy for money then they shift focus to the investigation and the money problems disappear.

by Anonymousreply 151November 30, 2021 4:35 PM

Mark Harris suggested on Twitter that they do a spin-off six-episode miniseries about the Republican presidential contest with Justin Kirk, Reed Birney, Stephen Root, Linda Emond, Mark-Linn Baker et al ... I think it's a great idea!

by Anonymousreply 152November 30, 2021 4:38 PM

Stephen Root always seems so impressed with himself.

by Anonymousreply 153November 30, 2021 4:42 PM

Logan was begging Stewy to end the proxy fight at the end of S2, R151, not for money, because Waystar's acquisition of PGM had just fallen apart. Waystar had just attempted to buy PGM for more than $20b to fend off the possibility of a hostile takeover by making Waystar too big for Sandy and Stewy to buy.

by Anonymousreply 154November 30, 2021 4:54 PM

Anyone who plays both Milton in Office Space and The Man in the High Castle can be impressed with himself.

by Anonymousreply 155November 30, 2021 5:00 PM

Did he ever find the gift wrapped in rabbit wrapping paper from the kids, and does that mean the rabbit survived the bagel eating incident?

by Anonymousreply 156November 30, 2021 6:58 PM

Here’s the cover of the book the episode was named after, by far one of the most hilarious things of the whole episode.

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by Anonymousreply 157November 30, 2021 7:09 PM

I loved that book R157.

Logan and his assistant are definitely sexually entangled in whatever way a man of his age and health can be entangled. He had his hand on her thigh on the private plane and then she beckoned him away to bed the night when he anointed the next GOP Presidential candidate.

by Anonymousreply 158November 30, 2021 11:11 PM

I think Logan will be thisclose to reaching a deal with Nan Pierce and then Naomi drops dead from a drug overdose after getting dumped by Kendall so that doesn’t happen. And Waystar ends up the subject of a hostile takeover by GoJo.

by Anonymousreply 159November 30, 2021 11:58 PM

Or Kendall overdoses and Logan vows revenge on the Pierces.

To the person who asked upthread how Logan suddenly has money, didn’t the deal with Sandy and Stewie involve them giving Waystar or the family a large chunk of change in return for shares?

by Anonymousreply 160December 1, 2021 12:07 AM

R154 already explained it, R160. The previous poster was very confused. Waystar was never begging for money. They were trying to make a deal to stop the hostile takeover. With the Cruises scandal breathing down their necks and the opportunity to go private with the sovereign money off the table, Logan was desperate to make a deal he could live with so that he wouldn't have to give up a skull - namely, Kendall - to the investigation of wrongdoing that was coming.

by Anonymousreply 161December 1, 2021 12:43 AM

The second I saw Connor's coat I knew it was going to become a plot point 🤣

by Anonymousreply 162December 1, 2021 3:54 AM

Is Connor's whore supposed to be a Melania Trump type?

by Anonymousreply 163December 1, 2021 4:17 AM

[quote] I don't see Logan as having any sexual/libidinous energy right now, he's too focused on money, business, maintaining power.

He was having an affair last season with Rhea Jarrell (Holly Hunter).

by Anonymousreply 164December 1, 2021 4:21 AM

R163 you mean a sugar baby? obviously

by Anonymousreply 165December 1, 2021 4:22 AM

[quote] Is Connor's whore supposed to be a Melania Trump type?

I would doubt it. Conner is supposed to be more like Steve Forbes than like Trump.

by Anonymousreply 166December 1, 2021 4:23 AM

Gerri analysis

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by Anonymousreply 167December 1, 2021 4:35 AM

There are references in the comments to Roman suffering abuse; what are the details?

Also, were the marks/scars on Logan’s back while exiting the pool earlier in the series ever addressed?

by Anonymousreply 168December 1, 2021 4:42 AM

Can you believe how big Logan's assistant's head has gotten? She even spoke down at the Vice President.

by Anonymousreply 169December 1, 2021 4:50 AM

I am worried they are going to pull the Kendall is not Logan’s son card at season end.

by Anonymousreply 170December 1, 2021 4:52 AM

[quote]He was having an affair last season with Rhea Jarrell (Holly Hunter).

Yeah, isn't his affair with her the axis of his entire storyline about his reconciliation with Marcia? She was humiliated when he flagrantly cheated on her.

by Anonymousreply 171December 1, 2021 4:56 AM

The series is getting boring. I was afraid the entire season would be about this scandal/merger/fight for control. It’s like watching a snarky company staff meeting every episode. I honestly don’t care anymore.

by Anonymousreply 172December 1, 2021 5:14 AM

Any guesses in the dramatic ending? Death, divorce or paternity?

by Anonymousreply 173December 1, 2021 5:18 AM

Honestly after watching it a second time, Kendall really should have punched Roman in his totally snarky face. Yeah I know, abused, blah, blah, blah, but damn he needed to be decked.

by Anonymousreply 174December 1, 2021 5:25 AM

[quote]There are references in the comments to Roman suffering abuse; what are the details?

Logan punched him in the face in the second season and that made Kendall and Shiv have very strong knee jerk protective reactions, but Roman himself seemed really cowed and defeated by it. A lot has been written in TV review circles about how Roman physically cringes and freezes wholesale whenever Logan goes into an angry rant. And then there's the weird "dogpound" childhood story. I think the show wants us to understand that he has probably been physically abused by Logan. Logan hit Kendall's son pretty easily too.

Roman also jokes a lot about being sexually abused as a child - he has jokingly claimed Conner molested him though that is clearly not true and I think out of all of them Roman is the one who likes and values Conner the most - and has also jokingly claimed he was sodomized by a camp counselor and fucked a babysitter as a child. And when he and Kendall got into a fight in S2 he goaded Kendall with sexual assault jabs - "you gonna grab my tit? you wanna touch my balls?" kind of thing. He tells the truth and passes it off as a joke all the time. All the Roy siblings have problems with emotional and even physical intimacy, but Roman's problems are next level.

by Anonymousreply 175December 1, 2021 6:19 AM

In episode 1 of season 2, Siobhan casually mentions that Logan beat Roman with a shoe when they were on vacation in Gstaad, and Roman said it was because he’d rudely ordered the most expensive item on the menu even though he wasn’t paying.

by Anonymousreply 176December 1, 2021 6:25 AM

Yes, and I may be recalling wrong, but I don't remember the other Roy siblings having a lot of stories about getting beaten. I also can't imagine Logan beating Shiv even though he is kind of creepy toward her sometimes.

by Anonymousreply 177December 1, 2021 6:49 AM

Roman's jibberish talk is getting tiring. Shiv's hair flick is getting predictable. As is her stupidity. I don't know why Connor is there, let alone his partner (wife? - who cares). Gerri's role is now...what?...window dressing? umm pointless? The shareholder's meeting episode was panto (the brits will know what I mean). The plot was an embarrassment to viewers and, I imagine, the actors. Kendall is a caricature and not a credible foil to Logan. Just jump already. The sexual tension building between Tom and Greg needs to come to a head. Logan's third wife re-appeared then disappeared. WTF? No season 4 for me.

by Anonymousreply 178December 1, 2021 7:55 AM

^ Buh-bye.

by Anonymousreply 179December 1, 2021 9:57 AM

Maybe when this show ends they can do a spin off prequel series when most of them were unruly teens.

by Anonymousreply 180December 1, 2021 1:30 PM

[quote]Can you believe how big Logan's assistant's head has gotten? She even spoke down at the Vice President.

Which absolutely verifies to me that Logan is sleeping with her. I mean, the way she was handing out the champagne and then poured a stiff drink for herself while repeating to Shiv her "advice" on how to deal with the Gojo CEO says it all. "Fuck him."

R175 gives a great breakdown on Roman's most telling clues of abuse, both physical and more than likely sexual. I think that it does come down to the fact that we know Roman spouts truthful albeit disturbing things to people as a joke, like telling the group around breakfast that he jerked off in Gerri's bathroom, that makes me consider some of his creepier off color jokes are true. I think there might be something to the babysitter story, considering Roman's mommy complex.

Also, R168, the marks on Logan's back are never fully given an explanation but from the many allusions to Logan's and Ewan's horribly abusive uncle it becomes clear that it was the uncle who beat him. Logan tells Kendall that he was once a good Christian boy too afraid to take off his shirt in front of his wife, which implied he was ashamed of the marks and why he never goes swimming in front of his kids. My theory is that Logan being the younger brother got the brunt of the abuse and vitriol from their uncle which is why Logan devised the idea/game of the dogpound between his boys and sending the weaker one away. He probably recognized his own tendencies to knock Roman around (as the weaker child, thereby repeating a pattern of abuse) and sent him away for his own protection. According to Connor, though, Roman asked to go to military school.

by Anonymousreply 181December 1, 2021 1:31 PM

^^ And another thing I have to add - Roman's performance at the party with the way he verbally assaulted his siblings and then crowing that they were jealous because "dad's fucking me now!" really clinched the deal for me that he was sexually abused. That rant was just too vile.

by Anonymousreply 182December 1, 2021 1:35 PM

R170, this might be a tad too soapy but I like Kendall being Peter Munion’s bio son and Lukas Mattson being Logan’s bio son.

by Anonymousreply 183December 1, 2021 2:40 PM

A lot of you are proposing plots you would pursue if you were writing the show and boy am I glad you are not!

by Anonymousreply 184December 1, 2021 3:01 PM

The show is a weird hybrid of a snarky company management meeting (as someone else noted) and the usual Dynasty/Dallas trope: *everybody* involved in a long-term conflict travels to an exotic locale for a conference, corporate retreat, etc, or, if they are not traveling abroad, goes to a masked ball, award ceremony, or some such.

by Anonymousreply 185December 1, 2021 4:00 PM

The shocking end has got to be Logan’s death to turn this.

by Anonymousreply 186December 1, 2021 4:19 PM

Shiv goes crazy, kill Logan, frames Tom with Kendall's help. Nice and tidy cleanup.

by Anonymousreply 187December 1, 2021 4:24 PM

The plot this season makes no sense to me. If Kendall was really at war with the family then we should see him fighting with them constantly (and actually fighting, not the usually sarcastic banter) or being totally blackballed. Instead, the show *says* they’re in a fight, but then has them showing up to his birthday party, him helping Logan when he’s ill, and everyone acting basically the same way they always have. It’s like the show wants to have it both ways and, frankly, it just does not work. Kendall’s motivation for going public about the cruise lines also doesn’t make much sense. Are we meant to believe he’s a good guy now? They def haven’t sold that. Are we meant to believe it’s a master plan to take down the company? They haven’t sold that either. The writing this season feels like a mess with a plot that mostly just goes in circles.

by Anonymousreply 188December 1, 2021 4:27 PM

R156

It's been suggested that Rava made the whole rabbit wrapping paper gift up just to rattle Kendall's cage.

by Anonymousreply 189December 1, 2021 4:27 PM

Kendall's motivation couldn't have been clearer, he wanted to use it to take down his Dad and take control of the company r188. Thats very clear cut, him and the siblings discuss his plan for the company in episode 2.

by Anonymousreply 190December 1, 2021 4:41 PM

The Rava relationship also makes no sense. A few episodes ago they seemed on good terms with Kendall setting up base camp at her apartment. Now suddenly they’re acting like bitter exes. There is zero consistency in the way the realtioships of these characters are written from episode to episode or frequently even from scene to scene.

by Anonymousreply 191December 1, 2021 4:41 PM

Rava is consistent, it’s Kendall who isn’t, which goes to his shaky mental state and/or drug use.

by Anonymousreply 192December 1, 2021 4:45 PM

[quote] Thats very clear cut, him and the siblings discuss his plan for the company in episode 2.

Right, but the show has basically ignored that ever since. Other than Logan blocking his number, have we gotten any indication he’s on the outs with his family (more than they all normally hate each other?) or that his plan would in any way position him to take over?

by Anonymousreply 193December 1, 2021 4:51 PM

After all that's happened, Shiv showing up at Kendall's party seemed more like the writers wondering "How do we get these characters together for our trademark banter?" than "What would these characters really do?"

by Anonymousreply 194December 1, 2021 4:53 PM

I figured that was just a super-rich person thing I wouldn’t understand, that you can fight brutally about business and still be somewhat entangled personally. It may also signal how reliant on each other those siblings are after an emotionally tough childhood.

by Anonymousreply 195December 1, 2021 4:53 PM

It is a primetime soap after all albeit one where people use much more graphic language to zing each other and don't wear Bob Mackie gowns while doing it. And we haven't had any pool fights (yet.)

by Anonymousreply 196December 1, 2021 4:59 PM

R193 Approaching that from another angle, remember Kendall is an officer of the company he "came in" the offices when Shiv was going to give here first speech as acting CEO., they had turned off his access codes.... but from a legal HR angle they couldn't "fire him" because of whistleblower protections.

I do think that the plot has been weak or sloppy on the actual facts and process of the DOJ investigations. Unless the remaining episodes return to the issues... Greg supposedly has documentation of the scandals that DOJ hasn't seen yet, right? Logan pressuring the lame duck president to drop the investigation is just to facile.

by Anonymousreply 197December 1, 2021 5:04 PM

Gerri knows all about the cruises cleanup; Greg told her about it before the RECNY ball in season 1 and she warned Tom off about going public. Maybe Gerri's cut a deal with the DOJ to stiff Logan and take actual control.

by Anonymousreply 198December 1, 2021 5:07 PM

[quote] Greg supposedly has documentation of the scandals that DOJ hasn't seen yet, right?

Didn’t Greg give these to Kendall, who then had his lawyer offer them to DOJ, and his lawyer said the stuff just wasn’t as hot as he had described?

by Anonymousreply 199December 1, 2021 5:11 PM

R199 I thought Greg withheld the most damning documents (and Tom knew), but perhaps I missed something.

by Anonymousreply 200December 1, 2021 5:14 PM

My memory of the cruise documents is: there was a set of bad cruise documents Tom identified for Greg and asked Greg to destroy in Season 1. Greg destroyed most of those but saved some. In Season 2, Greg tells Tom he saved some of the documents and asks for a different job; when Tom acquiesces, he and Greg burn most of those documents together, but again, Greg saves a few by stuffing them in his pocket. At the end of Season 2 we see Greg and Ken on a plane together shortly before Ken announces he has some damning documents about the company. In Season 3, Greg and Ken discuss documents Greg has given Ken and Greg’s possible exposure as someone involved in wrongdoing—the implication being that Greg gave Ken at least some of the docs and Ken has dirt on Greg because of the docs. Ken’s lawyer looks over the docs and she and Ken meet with DOJ, which would have involved discussing what they can produce to the government.

by Anonymousreply 201December 1, 2021 5:19 PM

[quote] A lot of you are proposing plots you would pursue if you were writing the show and boy am I glad you are not!

I agree.

It's been said many times on these threads but it bears repeating again: Many Datalongers really want this show to be "Dynasty" or "The Young and the Restless." They prefer idiotic/ melodramatic plot turns to intelligent and thoughtful ones because it requires no thinking.

by Anonymousreply 202December 1, 2021 5:20 PM

I'm not disagreeing with the issues with the writing, but if you've ever known a *very* dysfunctional family that is always at war, they don't necessarily behave in a consistent way; one day, they're all fighting with each other, next day they've formed alliances against one or more individuals and the next day, alliances have switched again and your former ally is now your enemy. It's like they're all codependence the drama and no one can let go. Kendall's attempts to gig the old man are largely pathetic, but if one day Kendall dropped it and moved on, Logan would be getting Shiv & Roman to try & draw him back into the fight or even cozying up to him to attack Shiv and/or Roman. That's just kind of the way people like that operate, so I guess I don't find those "inconsistencies" so unbelievable. My step siblings are like white trash Roys (minus the money...or even modicum of class)

by Anonymousreply 203December 1, 2021 5:21 PM

[quote]The Rava relationship also makes no sense. A few episodes ago they seemed on good terms with Kendall setting up base camp at her apartment. Now suddenly they’re acting like bitter exes.

You're misreading the dynamic. The first season it seemed like Kendall and Rava might get back together, but by this season Rava is pretty reconciled to Kendall's constant emotional problems: she loves him, but she also knows he's a terrible father, a worse husband, and that he has substance abuse issues. All season she's been pretty kind and patient with him (by letting him set up base in her apartment in the first episode when he had no place else to go), while refusing to indulge him in his fantasies.

Kendall has been in a downward spiral all season: he lashes out at Rava just as he lashes out at everyone he loves because he's been abused so much and yet is so grandiose because of his wealth and position.

by Anonymousreply 204December 1, 2021 5:25 PM

I agree with R204. Real world relationships are complicated - we love people, we figure out they have terrible issues, we exclude them on some level from our lives but love them on some level, then we give them a chance again and open the door when they need help, only to get burned again, reminding us of why we threw them out to begin with.

by Anonymousreply 205December 1, 2021 5:29 PM

One of the things I like about Rava's appearances this season is that in some ways she's the most sane person on the show. We all keep asking why the Roy children don;t just take the money they already have from the family and stay away from the family's toxicity, but that's basically what she's done. She got tons of money from Kendall in the divorce and has a beautiful apartment with a view and is raising Sophie and Iverson there, while her miserable ex is still doing coke and trying to be a big shot and gain love from his poisonous father while he neglects his own children.

by Anonymousreply 206December 1, 2021 5:32 PM

This is not an intelligent, thoughtful show. There’s a lot they could be exploring here that’s just superficial window dressing for what is essentially a tarted-up sitcom.

by Anonymousreply 207December 1, 2021 5:34 PM

So why do you watch and bother to come here to analyze, R206?

by Anonymousreply 208December 1, 2021 6:08 PM

I meant R207, not R206.

by Anonymousreply 209December 1, 2021 6:09 PM

I enjoy a tarted up sitcom.

by Anonymousreply 210December 1, 2021 7:09 PM

r207, you bring nothing to the conversation.

by Anonymousreply 211December 1, 2021 7:10 PM

How odd that you feel the need to comment on my nothingness.

by Anonymousreply 212December 1, 2021 7:26 PM

They have been deliberately murky about the documents Greg has and whether he has shared them with anyone.

The documents produced later did not include the Greg documents.

by Anonymousreply 213December 1, 2021 7:51 PM

R213 Right, I don't know why I know (or think this), but the documents prepared by Kendall's attorney's team, turned over to DOJ, are not the complete docs that Greg found and hid.

Now, if that's so, and nothing comes of it, that's an unforced McGuffin.

by Anonymousreply 214December 1, 2021 8:26 PM

Or maybe he did? I can’t keep track.

“Though he doesn't end up getting axed, Greg sides with Kendall, giving him access to the incriminating documents. It is these papers that give Kendall the ammunition he needs to take the shot at his father.“

by Anonymousreply 215December 1, 2021 8:36 PM

It’s just the same conflict in multiple episodes with no resolution. Watching people go back and forth over the same company conflicts mixed with family dysfunction you really can’t dissect is just monotonous. There’s so much dysfunction coming from so many characters and the exaggerations like the party that border on satire make it a murky mess.

by Anonymousreply 216December 1, 2021 8:43 PM

Is it possible that in the end the documents Greg filched are worthless, but will get him in trouble for corporate espionage?

by Anonymousreply 217December 1, 2021 9:02 PM

SPOILER: in next week's episode, we find out that Kendall has an evil twin. No word on whether or not he has a goatee.

by Anonymousreply 218December 1, 2021 9:18 PM

I would think Rava telling Kendall that she doesn’t appreciate that their kids and nannie’s are under surveillance in the park by Team Logan would be enough to justify her being a bitch now.

by Anonymousreply 219December 1, 2021 10:16 PM

Anyone else think that Rava lied about the kids having made Kendall a birthday present just to fuck with his mind?

by Anonymousreply 220December 1, 2021 10:20 PM

I think Rava will boil the bunny.

by Anonymousreply 221December 1, 2021 10:20 PM

Rava and Kendall are divorced? I thought they were just separated. When was their divorce finalized?

by Anonymousreply 222December 1, 2021 11:13 PM

[quote] Is it possible that in the end the documents Greg filched are worthless, but will get him in trouble for corporate espionage?

He could also be in trouble for destroying the documents and for lying to Congress when questioned about the documents.

by Anonymousreply 223December 1, 2021 11:13 PM

Rava was not fucking with Kendall's head. She's not that kind of person.

by Anonymousreply 224December 1, 2021 11:39 PM

Seriously some people with their absurd soap opera fancies about this show.

Rava is a sane normal human, which is why she and Kendall did not work out. Obviously she is not trying to make up a gift to use his kids as a emotional weapon to fuck up his psyche. Wtf?!?!

by Anonymousreply 225December 1, 2021 11:41 PM

People bitching and saying “it’s boring”, “nothing’s happening”, “the plot isn’t progressing enough”, yet when someone offers up an original thought, it’s “Wtf?!?” Yet, when Tom gives Greg a slight shoulder tap, some of you are planning their wedding and picking out their China pattern.

Stick with Gilligan’s Island R225 where all you have to think about is, “maybe today’s the day they get off the island”.

by Anonymousreply 226December 1, 2021 11:52 PM

A sane, normal person would not have married and procreated with a stunted asshole like Kendall.

Although I do agree that, compared to the Royals, Rava is sane and normal.

by Anonymousreply 227December 1, 2021 11:55 PM

One thing I've liked is that it's been noted by people online that the more the siblings try to imitate their horrible father's approach to dealing with each other and other people, the more they say noncommittal "Uh huhs" instead of giving substantive answers to things, which is a tic that Brian Cox came up with for Logan early in S1.

Shiv said "uh huh" like crazy to the both the deal that Kendall pitched them AND Roman uncomfortably and subtly trying to talk her out of writing the letter to publicly sell out Kendall, because she had to put up that front to be able to do it. Kendall wanted to take down Logan with, not without, his siblings - he even included Conner because as adrift as Conner is, there are snippets of dialog through all the seasons that show he has always been kind to his younger siblings and they care about him. Conner IMO came the closest to saying yes to Kendall's deal and Roman in his fucked up way has tried to at least be honest with all of them about their various schemes. In their own ways, as much as they can, they want to care about each other, but there's too much poison between them for them to be able to do it just yet.

It's going to take Logan selling out each of his kids for them to work together to bring him down.

But sure, nothing happens on this show.

by Anonymousreply 228December 2, 2021 4:25 AM

In a review of this week's episode that I can't find right now, someone said the four Roy siblings represent the four F's of trauma response: Roman freezes, Conner bails (takes flight), Shiv fawns and Kendall fights back. Very interesting.

by Anonymousreply 229December 2, 2021 5:20 AM

R229 Interesting. The show -is- about something.

by Anonymousreply 230December 2, 2021 6:35 AM

I appreciate that a lot of people can enjoy the show simply as a character study, but it's really trying my patience. Yes, that's in great part because of the spinning plot wheels but also because of the dialogue. This week's episode was 25 percent "Yeah?" "Yeah." "Yeah...but...yeah?" "Yeah?" "Yeah!" "YEAH! But...yeah?" It feels almost like the writers are trolling the audience to see how much empty chatter we can tolerate. I paused the episode several times to find out how much longer I was going to have to sit through until it was over...yeah.

by Anonymousreply 231December 2, 2021 8:09 AM

Greg has always been presented as disposable and insignificant to the whole family. It seems to me that he's got to either be the heir to the company or else the one who causes the most damage to it given how much airtime he gets.

by Anonymousreply 232December 2, 2021 8:13 AM

R231, you can just stop watching.

by Anonymousreply 233December 2, 2021 8:28 AM

Yeah, R233.

by Anonymousreply 234December 2, 2021 8:45 AM

Think how much better this show would be with the same plot and Sorkin's dialogue. No more "yeah" and un-hunh -- but no."

Now, that would be a good show.

by Anonymousreply 235December 2, 2021 9:11 AM

[quote]A lot of you are proposing plots you would pursue if you were writing the show and boy am I glad you are not!

[quote]It's been said many times on these threads but it bears repeating again: Many Datalongers really want this show to be "Dynasty" or "The Young and the Restless." They prefer idiotic/ melodramatic plot turns to intelligent and thoughtful ones because it requires no thinking.

I agree 100% with both r184 and r202. And I'm at a loss as to whether to laugh or cry at the utter lack of imagination when suggesting these bad soap opera crossed with gay porn plots. They see "sexual tension" every time there's more than one male character in the same room. Never mind that most of the show's male characters are actually related and all, as far as we know, are straight. To them, they're all just seconds away from fucking like rabbits. DL is, sadly, has become the landfill of society's brains.

by Anonymousreply 236December 2, 2021 10:13 AM

I'm certainly not one of those delusional there-is-sexual-tension-between-Tom-and-Greg types. There's none! But I'll say this: I've noticed Tom is only relaxed and himself when he's with Greg. Even when he's bullying or mocking him. He's always uptight and putting on some kind of front around everyone else including Shiv and his own domineering mother. No wonder he didn't take it well when Greg tried to transfer to a different department. 😂

by Anonymousreply 237December 2, 2021 10:23 AM

One thing I'm quite certain about... Even if, say, Roman was diddled as a child (by his father, his grandfather or whomever) we will never actually be told about it. It might be in the show runner's bible, but it will never be an actual plot point. Jesse Armstrong is British. As writers, they keep the most horrific stuff in the background. Hell, as a nation, they make a point of doing the same. The same goes for whatever bad stuff happened in the other kids' pasts, too, I suppose.

by Anonymousreply 238December 2, 2021 10:45 AM

R238 But think of the ratings if they addressed it in a very special episode guest starring Mayim Bialik as the therapist!

by Anonymousreply 239December 2, 2021 11:13 AM

Mayim Bialik stars as Vera, Rava’s sister, a psychiatrist to the very rich, who introduced Kendall to her sister after he sought treatment from her back in the day, and now steps in to treat Roman for sexual abuse.

by Anonymousreply 240December 2, 2021 12:52 PM

I think being subjected to Trump and his similar trashy nouveau riche family and their dysfunction and impunity has made me less entertained by the unending conflict, power plays and one-upping each other with snark, backstabbing and insults in a TV show.

Tom is a bully that disguises it with mocking affection. He takes out his frustrations over how neutered he is by his family on Greg. The fake friendship and intimacy between insults is just to keep Greg off balance so he won’t see his bullying for what it is.

by Anonymousreply 241December 2, 2021 2:04 PM

I think it started out that way R241, but I think Tom sees Greg as his only (sort of) ally in this fucked up family; I think he initially viewed Greg as a stray dog to to be kicked, but when Greg displayed some unexpected savviness (keeping copies of the documents), Tom gained a new (albeit minimal) respect for him.

by Anonymousreply 242December 2, 2021 2:08 PM

After watching it for the third time, I’ll have to say Too Much Birthday has been, for me, so far the best episode this season.

by Anonymousreply 243December 2, 2021 2:14 PM

I can't believe there really are such things at NYC parties for rich people as compliment tunnels. Who would enjoy them knowing they're staged?

by Anonymousreply 244December 2, 2021 8:34 PM

R244 You are both astute in your observations and full of grace.

by Anonymousreply 245December 2, 2021 9:05 PM

IS THAT SUPPOSED TO BE SARCASM?

by Anonymousreply 246December 2, 2021 9:56 PM

Yeah, R246.

Uh huh.

But...yeah?

by Anonymousreply 247December 2, 2021 10:06 PM

Um, yeah.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 248December 2, 2021 10:09 PM

The birthday episode was indeed a slog.

Brian Cox is doing McDonald's commercials

by Anonymousreply 249December 2, 2021 10:12 PM

Yeah!

by Anonymousreply 250December 2, 2021 10:13 PM

Nearly 2 years ago and voice only, r249.

by Anonymousreply 251December 2, 2021 11:12 PM

[quote]I can't believe there really are such things at NYC parties for rich people as compliment tunnels. Who would enjoy them knowing they're staged?

That party would cost $513,845. People blow that in one night.

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by Anonymousreply 252December 3, 2021 2:07 AM

I can't lie, I love that green turtleneck and chain look Kendall was rocking in the episode. It was a very New York hipster look without appearing goofy or embarrassing.

by Anonymousreply 253December 3, 2021 2:21 AM

Jeremy Strong is gorgeous; there was that incredible scene in the season 1 finale where he strips down to little black underwear after his car goes in the river.

by Anonymousreply 254December 3, 2021 2:23 AM

R252 please see R142. That’s been posted and discussed already.

by Anonymousreply 255December 3, 2021 8:09 AM

I think Jeremy Strong is hot/cute/attractive/etc.

But, I don't think that watching him on the show.

His character can be so pathetic and weak. It's depressing to watch.

Somebody is going to die in the season finale. I hope it's Roman. I can't stand him.

by Anonymousreply 256December 3, 2021 12:06 PM

[quote] Because she's rich enough not to care what body fascists have to say?

It doesn’t work like that, darling.

by Anonymousreply 257December 3, 2021 12:13 PM

R167 Harry Hamlin looks like a total dildo and would sell his right nut sack and allow Lisa Rinna to gain 10 pounds for the opportunity to appear on Succession

by Anonymousreply 258December 3, 2021 12:21 PM

R258 Those are oddly specific variables, do you work in Hollywood contract law negotiations?

by Anonymousreply 259December 3, 2021 12:33 PM

R259 The specificity of the "right nut sack" but presumably not necessarily the right nut is most interesting.

by Anonymousreply 260December 3, 2021 12:37 PM

L259 I have it on good authority that Harry Hamlin will let his vegetable garden go to seed and cease his “solo camping trips to Canada” for a 3-episode arc in Season 4 as Marcia’s divorce-lawyer-cum-lover.

by Anonymousreply 261December 3, 2021 12:40 PM

Harry Hamlin made an excellent late-stage addition to Mad Men, so he’s earned my trust as a guest star on prestige tv.

by Anonymousreply 262December 3, 2021 12:43 PM

[quote] But think of the ratings if they addressed it in a very special episode guest starring Mayim Bialik as the therapist!

ROMAN [VOICEOVER]: At the end of every day I drive through the streets of Manhattan and I cross the bridge that will take me home. I feel the words building inside me, I can't stop them, or tell you why I say them, but as I reach the top of the bridge these words come to me in a whisper. I say these words as a prayer, as regret, as praise, I say: Bialik, Bialik.

by Anonymousreply 263December 3, 2021 12:43 PM

Please, no Harry Hamlin. His face is painful to look at.

by Anonymousreply 264December 3, 2021 1:07 PM

I have noting against Harry - I think he's made the most of minimal roles like Shameless, but between his appearances on RHWOBH & his aspiring celebutard daughters, I think his days on prestige shows are over.

by Anonymousreply 265December 3, 2021 1:32 PM

I need to rewatch this show. Clearly I've missed a lot and I actually fell asleep last episode. I thought Greg was playing naive at the start and would end up taking over by Machiavellian means but now he really does seem naive and clueless.

Did anyone else see when Kendall shit the bed in Season 2? I haven't seen it mentioned.

by Anonymousreply 266December 3, 2021 1:58 PM

I also think Greg still has docs stashed that no one else knows about as a final play.

by Anonymousreply 267December 3, 2021 2:06 PM

R266, yes, I saw Kendall shit the bed when he was all drugged out . He just wadded up the sheets for the cleaning staff. Classy.

by Anonymousreply 268December 3, 2021 2:50 PM

[quote]Did anyone else see when Kendall shit the bed in Season 2? I haven't seen it mentioned.

It was talked about in the threads for Season 2.

by Anonymousreply 269December 3, 2021 3:11 PM

[quote]I think being subjected to Trump and his similar trashy nouveau riche family and their dysfunction and impunity has made me less entertained by the unending conflict, power plays and one-upping each other with snark, backstabbing and insults in a TV show.

The Trumps are a bunch of semi-literate gorillas. Nowhere near as slick and witty as these people.

by Anonymousreply 270December 3, 2021 3:20 PM

[quote] I thought Greg was playing naive at the start and would end up taking over by Machiavellian means but now he really does seem naive and clueless.

Greg is a variable right now. Initially he was hoping to hedge his bets in the hopes that he'd get both his grandfather's inheritance and a piece of Uncle Logan's pie too. He's much savvier and more calculating than he lets on and he doesn't have a pathological emotional investment in anyone's approval the way the Roy kids and other hangers-on do. However, he is now in way, way over his head and has possibly bitten off more than he can chew. I don't think Grandpa has really cut him off like he's said he has - he clearly loves his wily grandson, if not necessarily respects him. But that's what Greg thinks is true right now and it will drive some of his imminent choices. He is a survivor in his own way and I think his storyline is going to get more twisty.

by Anonymousreply 271December 3, 2021 9:40 PM

To add to R271. For Greg, I think that wily girlfriend is going to become his whisperer. Let the pussy-whipping begin. She smells money.

by Anonymousreply 272December 3, 2021 9:44 PM

Those lunchboxes aren’t going to re-sell themselves R272

by Anonymousreply 273December 3, 2021 9:46 PM

[quote] He's much savvier and more calculating than he lets on

Not according to the actor who plays him, Nicholas Braun. In the interviews he's done, Braun repeatedly characterizes Greg as genuinely naive.

by Anonymousreply 274December 3, 2021 11:23 PM

GREG is naive. But his evil twin 'Craig', who kidnapped Greg and has replaced him for most of season 3 is genuinely Machiavellian. This stunning twist will be revealed in the season finale after Shiv's miscarriage and Roman wakes up from the coma.

by Anonymousreply 275December 4, 2021 12:14 AM

Don’t know if anyone has mentioned it but it occurs to me that Roman doctored that birthday card.

by Anonymousreply 276December 4, 2021 2:03 AM

[quote]For Greg, I think that wily girlfriend is going to become his whisperer. Let the pussy-whipping begin. She smells money.

I think this too. The girlfriend is going to take advantage of his naïveté.

by Anonymousreply 277December 4, 2021 2:35 AM

Be careful R276. If you try to have an original thought, R225 will wag her finger at you.

by Anonymousreply 278December 4, 2021 2:43 AM

Greg has a modicum of self preservation like when he saved some of the papers he was supposed to shred but that’s it. He’s not going to suddenly wise up and take over the company. We’ve seen him totally flummoxed even when he’s not with the Roys or his grandfather, like when he was talking with his law student friend.

by Anonymousreply 279December 4, 2021 3:01 AM

He's not going to take over the company, but he wants to and he's going to try.

by Anonymousreply 280December 4, 2021 5:23 AM

All bangers, all the time.

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by Anonymousreply 281December 4, 2021 5:27 AM

I still can only imagine one of two ultimate purposes for Greg on the show: either he is meant to be so weak and sympathetic that we will be upset when he is betrayed and sacrificed or else (I suspect) he will take it all.

He is just given way too much screen time to be insignificant in the long run. Tom is married to Shiv and so there's a rationale for him being so close to the action, but only Tom and Greg get as much story attention as the the immediate Roy dynasty members do. Geri is a pivotal player but we really never get her POV, only those of the dad and his three kids (rarely Connor), Tom and Greg.

I hope the writers start making bold moves with the plot in season four and raise the stakes by offing (literally or professionally) some major characters.

Tom and Geri could both get the ax and be given their own screwball HBO comedy!

by Anonymousreply 282December 4, 2021 5:44 AM

This season feels like one of those overblown Netflix true crime series where it’s eight episodes of unnecessary interviews and dead end plot twists when it should’ve been a two hour documentary.

by Anonymousreply 283December 4, 2021 5:53 AM

Once this show is over, many will look back and remember it peaked at S2. It was a near-impossible task for this season to surpass S2. The Pierces (especially Nan Pierce) and Rhea Jarrell were such strong characters that a part of me was sad once that storyline ended, knowing they probably won't return. None of the new characters in S3 are intriguing to me. Sanaa Lathan, Adrian Brody, Alexander Skarsgård, .etc, weren't given enough to work with to make a mark. It was shameless stunt casting on par with Empire.

The biggest problem with Succession is that it's ashamed to embrace its primetime soap roots, despite pillaging its many plotlines and tropes. It's easy to miss this because the show hides it well with the humor. But it very much wants to be respected in the same class as The Sopranos and Mad Men. And I believe that's one of the biggest reasons the storyline feels static. The writers are afraid of doing anything drastic to shake things up, inviting comparisons to soaps.

Mad Men knew how to walk a tight line between primetime soap and prestige television. Jesse Armstrong isn't as skillful as Matthew Weiner in doing the same with Succession.

by Anonymousreply 284December 4, 2021 6:52 AM

I think Greg would only end up on top if the ultimate moral of this story is like Being There. So far, the show seems to have some respect for Logan’s skills in his job (as Tom noted), even if he is beyond despicable as a human being.

by Anonymousreply 285December 4, 2021 12:06 PM

The people would NOT listen to Dizzee Rascal

by Anonymousreply 286December 4, 2021 12:30 PM

R285 I don't imagine the show having any kind of ethically oriented moral in the end at all. These people are all beyond ethics. But I also think Greg must figure in in an essential way or else he wouldn't be given so much screen time and we wouldn't have so many opportunities to see/feel from his point of view. Again, compare with Geri, who is a utilitarian peripheral character who we see a lot but whose point of view we never really get. She's there as a device to serve the family's interests, while Greg is there in his own interests.

by Anonymousreply 287December 4, 2021 1:06 PM

Season 2 was really the same principle r283. A season dedicated to buying the Pierce's company which then never happened and things on the show continued as normal.

by Anonymousreply 288December 4, 2021 6:06 PM

R284 I meant*

by Anonymousreply 289December 4, 2021 6:09 PM

[quote] One thing I've liked is that it's been noted by people online that the more the siblings try to imitate their horrible father's approach to dealing with each other and other people, the more they say noncommittal "Uh huhs" instead of giving substantive answers to things, which is a tic that Brian Cox came up with for Logan early in S1.

I am the major uh-uh hater in these threads and I have also pointed out here that the siblings do it because their father does it and they are mirroring his communication style. The problem with it is that the acting is over the top. Sarah Snook, Kieran Culkin and Jeremy Strong deliver every line as if their next Emmy nominated depends on it. I don't mind the plot going in circles but it doesn't seem credible to me that a large family of people who hate one another travel to exotic locations together week after week. And ultimately, what is the show is trying to say? "Rich people are miserable" is not very original or profound. Or is the point "rich, despicable people control the world"? I am sure they do, but not without an army of hangers on and connections to other rich, despicable people. Compared to The Thick of It and Peep Show, this is a much weaker series. Those two Jesse Armstrong series had despicable characters and banter but it worked. I'm not exactly sure why this one doesn't but I think the self-importance of the actors explains some of it.

by Anonymousreply 290December 4, 2021 6:29 PM

And people who watch the show but don't love it have just as much "right" to discuss it here. It's certainly interesting but flawed and talking about the flaws shouldn't upset people the way it upsets people here.

by Anonymousreply 291December 4, 2021 6:31 PM

Armando Ianucci would be very surprised to learn that Jesse Armstrong was the creative force behind The Thick of It, R290.

by Anonymousreply 292December 4, 2021 6:32 PM

[quote]I thought the scenes with (Logan's 2nd wife) last season were the weakest and least interesting.

Lady Caroline is the show's "Beth Jarrett" but with a sense of humor. I wish there were more scenes showing the dynamic between the Roy siblings and their mother.

by Anonymousreply 293December 4, 2021 6:39 PM

You're in luck R293, as the next episode will be in Tuscany for her wedding. Looks like she and Shiv will be having a very revealing conversation.

by Anonymousreply 294December 4, 2021 6:40 PM

Armstrong wrote many episodes of The Thick of It. Obviously, Ianucci was the creator.

by Anonymousreply 295December 4, 2021 6:48 PM

Matthew Weiner wrote many episodes of The Sopranos, but The Sopranos was David Chase's show.

by Anonymousreply 296December 4, 2021 6:51 PM

Greg can’t “take it all.” He can’t run a global public company, and he doesn’t want to.

by Anonymousreply 297December 4, 2021 10:06 PM

I assume Greg is going to stumble into having an effect. He’s kind of already done that with his stash of documents. I’m assuming that’s his dramaturgical function in the big picture.

by Anonymousreply 298December 4, 2021 10:49 PM

Grandpa will die and Greg will inherit some share of the company that makes everyone regret they pissed on him, but solely because they want something from him.

Season 4 will be everyone trying to convince Greg to side with him/her/them for 9 episodes, each in a different exotic location. More snarky board room cliffhangers!

Uh-huh.

by Anonymousreply 299December 4, 2021 11:08 PM

Just watched Too Much Birthday

Some thoughts:

1. The most compelling thing about Kendall is that he occasionally has moments of clarity and realizes just what an asshole he is, how he comes off to people. That sets him apart from both his father and from most other douchebags and is the source of his constant insecurity, but it also makes him less unlikable. As in you sort of wanted him to take the $2B, go back to Rava and move somewhere with her and the kids and be a full-time dad. Even though you know that will never happen.

2. R83 rant to the contrary, most hetero reviewers picked up on the sexual undertones with Roman and Mencken and the scene in the bathroom with Matsson this week was weird too with the whole "I am now looking at your penis as you pee on my phone" thing. Not sure Roman is a repressed homosexual as much as just very fucked up and he tries to create sexual tension or situations because he is unable to actually do anything about them, so gets off on the tension, which comes to a peak with Gerri.

3. Not sure what is up with Tom--easy answer is he was looking forward to prison in a way even he did not realize as a way to avoid Shiv and maybe change the dynamics there and she was looking forward to it as a chance to fuck more guys. Now they both have to deal with their unfortunate reality. Remember that Tom married Shiv the liberal political consultant. Not Shiv the wannabe Royco CEO

4. A less secure person would have let Tom and Kendall grind him down and would never have tried to ask out Chambray (forget her actual name) and so good for Gregg and that may be a sign there is more to him than meets the eye.

5. One false note: I've been to parties like that. Nothing quite so over the top or even close to it, but bar mitzvah-like 30th and 40th birthday parties and there are never gifts. At most there's a request to donate to a specific charity or to pick from one of three charities but people with even 1/50th of Kendall's money don't need random gifts from strangers, which, like Naomi's watch are never going to be to their taste anyway and which they can easily buy themselves.

2.

by Anonymousreply 300December 5, 2021 1:11 AM

^^And those parties are invariably followed up by an email from the host thanking you for attending and noting that "together, we raised over $15,000 for the Animal Shelter of the Hamptons" as if you had attended a fund raising party and not, you know, a self-thrown 30th birthday party for 100 people

by Anonymousreply 301December 5, 2021 1:15 AM

^^And sadder still is that a number of those 30th birthday parties are not "self-thrown" but rather, "parent-thrown" because they felt the need for a over the top party

by Anonymousreply 302December 5, 2021 1:18 AM

It's ridiculous to think Greg will take over Waystar Royco when he's mostly used as comic relief. But I expect he'll survive somehow, especially with the savvy potential girlfriend.

by Anonymousreply 303December 5, 2021 8:37 AM

I need to see the end of this season but it’s a chore. A real chore. I saw an ad for tomorrow’s episode and my heart sank.

by Anonymousreply 304December 5, 2021 12:50 PM

Thank you, R304. It's become a chore for me, too, but it seems like people are riveted by...uh huh. Yeah. But...yeah?

by Anonymousreply 305December 5, 2021 1:08 PM

You really don't have to watch, r303 & r304. No gunns to your heads. These types of shows go over most peoples heads, anyway. I wish the season was longer (12-13 episodes like other HBO shows instead of just 10) and I'll be so sad when it ends.

by Anonymousreply 306December 5, 2021 1:12 PM

There are only 9 episodes this season.

by Anonymousreply 307December 5, 2021 1:43 PM

[quote]the whole "I am now looking at your penis as you pee on my phone" thing.

Except he specifically said he couldn't watch other men pee, that it was a thing. As to the rest:

1. You do want Ken to wise up, and Naomi even suggests he take the $2B and get away from his toxic family, which was her giving him back the same advice he once gave her. Even Rava has suggested this would be the most healthy route for Kendall - in ep 1 of the season when he says he didn't do the monk on top of Mt. Athos idea and she tells him maybe he should have. Women in his life who actually care about him are urging him to break from his family or father so he can be a whole person. It's sad to see how futile their attempts are, however. Like others here, I also feel that Rava still cares about Kendall, so their marriage couldn't have been that terrible the whole time, but she put her foot down when his drug habit got out of control. Both Rava and Naomi loathe the Roys.

3. Tom was always in that marriage for the cachet and the upward movement in the company. If you recall some of their discussions in the past 2 seasons, the "plan" was always to get Tom the top position - as if that wasn't a clue to how delusional Tom truly is - and he got both Cruises and the ATN co-head because of Shiv's wrangling with her dad. Neither of those roles were due to Tom's performance or anyone noticing his "worth" to the company.

I am still not convinced that Shiv was looking forward to Tom being in prison so she could get loads of dick. If she wanted a divorce, they have a prenup. But she has been shown to value Tom's advice across three seasons, so I think she relies on him to be in her corner as a booster when her dad knocks her down. He's her stan all the way. That's the entire crux of their relationship. And Shiv DID turn out to be right - no one is going to prison and Tom made big bank with Logan for offering.

4. Comfry. Yeah, I know.

by Anonymousreply 308December 5, 2021 3:03 PM

^ What about Comfry?

by Anonymousreply 309December 5, 2021 3:10 PM

[quote]There are only 9 episodes this season.

Even worse, but I guess the Covid delay took its toll. Naomi and Maksim Pierce being part of Kendall's and Connor's circle makes me hold out hope we'll see Nan again. Logan mentioned another possible play for PMG.

by Anonymousreply 310December 5, 2021 3:15 PM

[quote] Except he specifically said he couldn't watch other men pee, that it was a thing. As to the rest:

No. He said he could not pee while other men were watching him, thus defusing the whole "we're both going to show each other our penises and pee on the phone together" situation and leaving Mattson as the only one pissing

by Anonymousreply 311December 5, 2021 3:16 PM

Logan did whisper "I'll remember" to Tom so there's that. He's about to get rewarded in a big way.

by Anonymousreply 312December 5, 2021 3:17 PM

Maybe Kendall’s birthday bash and the Italian wedding blew out the budget and they can only afford nine episodes.

by Anonymousreply 313December 5, 2021 3:21 PM

That it's as ridiculous a name as Chambray, R309.

R312, yes, which is why I said Shiv was right. Logan took note. Of course, Logan could just be fucking with Tom, or will forget when its convenient to him. But with the piss mad episode, it does seem like Logan is warming to Tom.

by Anonymousreply 314December 5, 2021 3:27 PM

We’ve never seen Logan being subtle with his support as he was saying “I’ll remember “ to Tom. That didn’t seem Logan-like. He didn’t want to acknowledge Tom in front of the rest of the crew. Why was that?

by Anonymousreply 315December 5, 2021 3:52 PM

I just don't think Shiv is after getting loads of dick: she is not a gay man. She wanted the open marriage because she wants to be in charge of her own destiny more than anything else, and because in her heart of hearts she thinks she's better than Tom and should be able to whatever she wants.

by Anonymousreply 316December 5, 2021 4:02 PM

Shiv is just like all the men in her family and like her mother: she wants what she wants and she doesn't care about anyone else enough to sacrifice her unbridled actions for them. She's not a horny nympho out there putting notches on her bedpost, but if she meets a dick she wants inside her, she's going to put it inside of her. She's not complicated; it's just the social conventions of morality that are complicated.

My read of the specific character is that she doesn't respect Tom but she does have a soft spot for him to a degree. He's sort of a pet to her. She won't hurt him to hurt him, but if she were to develop an allergy to him, she'd drop him off at the shelter without looking back.

by Anonymousreply 317December 5, 2021 4:09 PM

Greg’s new love interest is adorable (this coming from a gay that usually hates women that age).

by Anonymousreply 318December 5, 2021 4:16 PM

You guys project a lot more onto Shiv than what’s there.

by Anonymousreply 319December 5, 2021 4:20 PM

Yeah, I can't figure out Shiv's attraction/commitment to Tom. She's always rolling her eyes at him. Seems like the script or the actors should have conveyed that they, at least, have really good sex. And they already seem tired of each other sexually, like they've been married 20 years.

Does anyone think Logan's "I'll remember" to Tom means anything Tom can depend on? Just another way that Logan fucks with people.

by Anonymousreply 320December 5, 2021 4:21 PM

Tom is the safe choice. In the marry, fuck, kill game, he’s definitely the guy you would marry. Or at least he is for Shiv. She ain’t gonna marry for love, just for a mild sense of security and happiness.

by Anonymousreply 321December 5, 2021 4:23 PM

R320, I actually thought that was probably the only time Logan was being sincere. But, maybe that's me being naive.

by Anonymousreply 322December 5, 2021 4:27 PM

And appearances, R321. People at that level have to be married or else people say there is something wrong with them.

by Anonymousreply 323December 5, 2021 4:28 PM

I’ve fallen in love with Tom this season, purely on a superficial level. Gorgeous eyes 👀

by Anonymousreply 324December 5, 2021 4:47 PM

He's always been dopey-cute. I like his nose.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 325December 5, 2021 4:49 PM

Comfry’s slightly crossed eyes and perpetual confused facial expression are oddly endearing.

by Anonymousreply 326December 6, 2021 12:16 AM

No one is going to mention Comfrey's mole right on her chin?

I am sooooooo excited for tonight's episode. It's promised to be a banger. 30 more minutes!

by Anonymousreply 327December 6, 2021 12:27 AM

I’m curious to see how they explain Greg being at the wedding in Italy since Lady Caroline would never have invited him to it.

by Anonymousreply 328December 6, 2021 12:47 AM

Maybe Lady Caroline bonded with Greg’s mom or dad when the kids were young?

by Anonymousreply 329December 6, 2021 12:49 AM

Another disjointed episode.

Kendall and Gerri seem doomed.

by Anonymousreply 330December 6, 2021 2:32 AM

Well, either Kendall's dead, or either Sophie or Iverson knows CPR. That was a very soap opera ending.

It was amazing to me that Caroline could squeeze so much venom into her conversation with Shiv. She accused her of twisting the knife at age thirteen by choosing to live with her father than with her, told her that she would make a terrible mother, and said she wished she had had dogs rather than children. Why Shiv would go to her mother's wedding next week (though it shows she does in the previews) is beyond me.

We also saw Logan at his lowest moral low ever: purposefully feeding Iverson the mozzarella that might potentially have been poisoned just to show Kendall not to fuck with him.

Were I Kendall, I would at this point sell my shares to the Furnesses and to Stewy just to get one final dig in at Logan and then be done with the whole thing.

by Anonymousreply 331December 6, 2021 2:32 AM

I understand why the children won;t separate from their father (since they want his approval or his money), but given how abusive lady Caroline was this episode to both Kendall and (particularly) Shiv, I do not understand why they do not separate from her. She has little money to give them, and she's a monster and they both fully realize it--why would they go to her wedding?

Nan Kempner's daughter and Babe Paley's daughter stayed away from them as adults because they were such inadequate mothers--why would Shiv or Kendall stick with someone so unloving and continually cruel, and also (unlike Kempner or Paley) so charmless?

by Anonymousreply 332December 6, 2021 2:36 AM

Well, there was zero explanation as to why Greg was there. There’s no fucking way Lady Caroline would have invited him. So the show has chosen to ignore this because they wanted Greg shoehorned into the Italian episodes.

by Anonymousreply 333December 6, 2021 3:00 AM

For someone who says she didn't want children, Lady Caroline certainly had a lot of them in quick succession (no pun intended).

by Anonymousreply 334December 6, 2021 3:05 AM

Did anyone else notice that in the first several scenes in Italy, J Smith Cameron wasn't wigged? I guess it got stuck in customs or maybe they couldn't find anyone in Tuscany who knew how to deal with it.

by Anonymousreply 335December 6, 2021 3:06 AM

Matthew Macfadyen is a leading theater, film and TV actor in the UK. The show is so lucky to have him but I wish he was putting his efforts elsewhere.

by Anonymousreply 336December 6, 2021 3:07 AM

[quote]Well, there was zero explanation as to why Greg was there. There’s no fucking way Lady Caroline would have invited him.

Greg is her (great-)nephew by marriage.

Now that he's employed at Waystar Royco and is much in her childen's lives (Shiv invited him to her wedding in England two seasons ago), she realized he's very tied in with Logan's family. Peter Munions particularly wanted Logan at the wedding so he could try to get a seat in Parliament through Logan's connections, so Lady Caroline probably figured Logan would like it (and be more likely to attend) if Greg were invited to the wedding.

by Anonymousreply 337December 6, 2021 3:12 AM

With only one episode left, it's safe to say that this season was a dud. And that ending with Kendall possibly drowning in the pool was anticlimatic for me. I'm one of those who often complain about how static the plot is, particularly with this season. And I've been waiting for the series to shake things up. But that ending was silly. I have no doubt it was another red-herring to fuck with viewers.

I did enjoy how Gerri knew what Shiv was up to when confronted about Roman sending the dick pic. Also, the scene with Shiv and Tom roleplaying was well-written. However, I'm happy this season is almost over. I'm ready for the series to conclude.

by Anonymousreply 338December 6, 2021 3:22 AM

Jeremy Strong is too hot to have Kendall drown in that pool!

by Anonymousreply 339December 6, 2021 3:40 AM

Uhhh, nice try, R337 but no. It was made obvious that Lady Caroline doesn’t give a shit about who Logan would like or not like at her wedding. And her family ties to Greg is minimal, at best. He wouldn’t have entered her mind when it came to who to invite.

by Anonymousreply 340December 6, 2021 3:47 AM

This episode was like being locked in someone's acid trip. I was praying for Iverson to jab the pool float with a corkscrew and put his dad out of our misery.

And for the love of God, could someone please splurge for undershirts!!! Logan and Roman look like unmade beds.

by Anonymousreply 341December 6, 2021 4:08 AM

It is extremely doubtful Kendall died.

If he had, we would very likely not have seen in the previews for next week Roman and Shiv at their mother's wedding. Although Lady Caroline is certainly cold enough personally to hold her society wedding right after the death of her eldest son, she would almost certainly realize that that absolutely would be Not At All The Thing to Do in her circles, and so she would postpone the wedding to a much later date (so as not to appear as callous as she really is).

by Anonymousreply 342December 6, 2021 4:32 AM

Kendall was not shown in the preview for next week.

by Anonymousreply 343December 6, 2021 4:43 AM

They want to keep us guessing.

by Anonymousreply 344December 6, 2021 5:06 AM

[quote]Well, there was zero explanation as to why Greg was there. There’s no fucking way Lady Caroline would have invited him. So the show has chosen to ignore this because they wanted Greg shoehorned into the Italian episodes.

Perhaps Greg is there as Tom's personal assistant? Business is still being done in Italy, so Logan brought Kerry, Kendall brought Comfrey, so it makes sense that Tom would bring Greg.

by Anonymousreply 345December 6, 2021 6:01 AM

Lady Caroline and Greg are fucking and have been since they hooked up at Shiv’s wedding. They are both chasing/marrying others to put us off the scent.

by Anonymousreply 346December 6, 2021 6:29 AM

[quote] Perhaps Greg is there as Tom's personal assistant? Business is still being done in Italy, so Logan brought Kerry, Kendall brought Comfrey, so it makes sense that Tom would bring Greg.

Okay. But why are they at wedding events?

by Anonymousreply 347December 6, 2021 6:31 AM

R347 wedding events? It looked like breakfast or lunch. Lady Caroline said her social climbing fiancé wanted everyone present so the more the merrier. Greg, as Logan’s only nephew and someone close to the family is hardly a stretch for an invite when the fiancé’ wanted “everyone”. He’s family, Gerry is the one you should be questioning, but she’s there for business but going to family events as well.

by Anonymousreply 348December 6, 2021 6:43 AM

Omg what just happened! This episode tonight may be the best of the season. Dick pic!! And the way Shiv talked to Geri in the foyer. Fuck.

by Anonymousreply 349December 6, 2021 7:19 AM

I can't believe eight episodes of mostly nothing and the "payoff" is Roman's dick pic (the idea that he has a penis is disgusting enough, let alone having to see it), as well as Kendall's pathetic, but CINEMATIC! "never-been-done-before" exit. Oh, and, Shiv is gonna take charge now! Lemme guess ... she's gonna fuck up too! Will it be the season finale or next season?

I'm getting close to the stage of hate-watching this show. It's not fun or interesting.

by Anonymousreply 350December 6, 2021 9:32 AM

That Shiv / Tom “sex” scene was brutal to watch, ouch, not even just because of the meanness to Tom but also seeing Shiv’s neediness so on display (“and we know I’m smarter than the rest of them”). I think Sarah Snook does a superb job. Don’t fertilize those embryos, Tom. More extremely unflattering wardrobe for Shiv this episode.

I did a Diana scream when Roman sent that dick pic.

by Anonymousreply 351December 6, 2021 10:43 AM

Whatever else Gerri is, she’s portrayed as a great lawyer. Shiv will not be able to outplay her. Gerri has a cache of raw material—dick pics on her phone and god knows what else from Roman—plus her talent and experience. The only question is whether she lets personal feelings for Roman or the family get in her way of screwing them over before they can do the same to her.

by Anonymousreply 352December 6, 2021 10:47 AM

Greg's gf is annoying as fuck with the constant buried in her phone thing. If they ever have sex she'll be on back tweeting and checking social media while he's pounding away. I know it's her job but it's rude and annoying.

by Anonymousreply 353December 6, 2021 11:08 AM

I love Harriet Walter, and her scene with Shiv was my favorite of the episode.

by Anonymousreply 354December 6, 2021 11:15 AM

So how many foreign locations have they shot? England, Greece, Croatia, Scotland, Tuscany and wherever they went for that "boar on the floor" retreat.

by Anonymousreply 355December 6, 2021 11:19 AM

[quote] More extremely unflattering wardrobe for Shiv this episode.

Yeah. Although it would have been cliché Italian cosplay, that dress needed to be in black. The fabric emphasised her gut.

by Anonymousreply 356December 6, 2021 12:21 PM

[quote] With only one episode left, it's safe to say that this season was a dud. And that ending with Kendall possibly drowning in the pool was anticlimatic for me

Anytime a show goes for references to The Graduate I groan inwardly.

by Anonymousreply 357December 6, 2021 12:25 PM

Can they get rid of Connor’s girlfriend next season? Same with the dud they paired Kendall with.

by Anonymousreply 358December 6, 2021 12:29 PM

After that extremely long and unflattering New Yorker profile of Jeremy Strong released the day before this week’s episode, it seems safe to say that Kendall is being killed off.

by Anonymousreply 359December 6, 2021 12:39 PM

Is no one mentioning that extremely ugly and gasp inducing moment when Logan had his grandson test his food for poisoning?

by Anonymousreply 360December 6, 2021 12:42 PM

Logan really displayed his psychopathy R360.

by Anonymousreply 361December 6, 2021 12:46 PM

The previews for next week are confusing. Although I've sensed Kendall's suicide for a while, would his mother's wedding still go on as planned...with Shiv smiling and talking with Roman? Kendall drowning would be appropriate, but also a little heavy-handed considering the out-of-the-blue reference to the caterer who died (and how he died).

On the other hand, it would be funny if Kendall died in the episode where we finally meet Iverson and Sophie.

Anyway, as has been the case for most of the season, the MVP was Matthew Macfadyen...although it was nice to see Sarah Snook display emotions other than confusion and skepticism. The scene with Shiv and her mom was fascinating (the actress playing the mom deserves an Emmy for that scene alone).

by Anonymousreply 362December 6, 2021 12:48 PM

[quote]After that extremely long and unflattering New Yorker profile of Jeremy Strong released the day before this week’s episode, it seems safe to say that Kendall is being killed off.

He did come across as a pill (as my mother would say) and more than a bit of a headcase; I noticed that whenever you see the rest of the cast do press, Strong is never there. I guess this article explains it. Culkin seemed sort of exasperated with him, but didn't genuinely bad mouth him & you get the sense that Cox just rolls his eyes at all of it, but I didn't get the "knife in the back" type angle that you might get one someone is genuinely gone.

I don't know about killing off Kendall - that wasn't really a very convincing suicide attempt. I previously thought that they'd kill off his character just because he had no place left to go, buy I'm not so sure now. Plus, I don't think Shiv & Roman are interesting enough on their own. Presumably something will shake up things (one would hope), but I don't see them killing him off now, particularly since he has the idea that he needs to at the very least protect his children from Logan.

by Anonymousreply 363December 6, 2021 12:52 PM

I've loved Harriet Walters ever since her turn in Sense and Sensibility as the obnoxious and snobbish Fanny Dashwood.

by Anonymousreply 364December 6, 2021 12:53 PM

There’s a tiny shot of him in the previews. Check out this tweet and the one underneath it in reply.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 365December 6, 2021 12:58 PM

Oh wow, R364! I just now realized that (thanks to you). I was wondering she seemed so familiar. While I found Fanny to be an unrepentent cunt, Walters was great in the role.

by Anonymousreply 366December 6, 2021 1:01 PM

If the wedding festivities are continuing in the preview for next week, Kendall clearly is not dead, right?

by Anonymousreply 367December 6, 2021 1:02 PM

The moaning in this thread! I’ll admit there’s been a lot of wheel-spinning this season, but this episode was flat-out fantastic. So many terrific scenes: Shiv and her mother, Kendall and his father, Roman and Lukas, Shiv and Tom's hideously truthful role play, Roman's dick pic.

I didn’t pay attention to the opening credits, but about halfway through, I thought to myself, "I bet Mark Mylod directed this," and sure enough, he did. More than most shows, I feel this show's fortunes rise and fall on who directs its episodes.

by Anonymousreply 368December 6, 2021 1:11 PM

I used to kind of like Shiv but now I think she's just a manipulative cunt like Daddy and she treats Tom like absolute shit. I can kind of see him walking away from her at the end of the show. All these people are despicable but they have moments of humanity where I can feel sorry for them then they go right back to being despicable. At this point the only one I think might be an actual "nice" person is Geri and Greg's grandfather.

by Anonymousreply 369December 6, 2021 1:22 PM

This is the episode where things zip together and suddenly understand why the sibs are so bad.

Years ago, my brother was listening in on our mother’s conversation (she lived in a cottage behind his house with a connected phone line) and hear my mother say to her best friend, “I wish I never had kids”. It forever changed his disposition, attitude and how he reacts to her and no amount of my talking him down could sway him.

It’s the one single thing a child should never, ever have to hear a mother utter out loud and I’m glad I didn’t hear it for myself.

by Anonymousreply 370December 6, 2021 1:36 PM

Kendall has been asked by his mother to not appear at most of the festivities. He wouldn’t be missed at the ceremonies at all R367. The question is, where would the kids be, how long until he was found. We’ll see, I guess.

by Anonymousreply 371December 6, 2021 1:36 PM

I guess Gregg is just there as a running gag at this point. To remind us that this is satire. Honestly, Gregg is getting on my nerves.

by Anonymousreply 372December 6, 2021 1:39 PM

Gerri is horrible R369!! Have you been watching the show? She’s the worst kind of corporate lawyer. Where has it been implied, ever, that she’s a good person? Her job is to literally protect one of the most evil families on earth, which she does while trying to wrest power from them for herself. No one in this show is “good.” Greg’s grandfather is a horror and has his own agenda. Just because he’s against Logan doesn’t make him good.

by Anonymousreply 373December 6, 2021 1:40 PM

I 100% agree R372. The one false note in the show.

by Anonymousreply 374December 6, 2021 1:40 PM

Anyone know who the old bag that plays Shiv’s mother is? Loved that actress and character, and when she told Shiv “I should have had dogs instead of children,” was one of the truest lines ever spoken! Brava!

by Anonymousreply 375December 6, 2021 1:42 PM

I would be all over Greg if I was a cousin in that family. I’d make sure I got him drunk enough to have him let me duck his dick. Love that dumb, tall, lanky type.

by Anonymousreply 376December 6, 2021 1:44 PM

R369, after this episode, I can confidently say that Shiv is the worst out of all her siblings. I can't wait for her comeuppance.

One by they all eventually get the Kendell treatment from daddy. Right now, it's Roman's turn.

The only one who Logan doesn't treat like shit is Tom. Although Shiv takes care of the shit part.

by Anonymousreply 377December 6, 2021 1:53 PM

R375, I was very drunk one night and said to an old friend I was angry with,

“If you want to control someone so badly, why don’t you just get another dog??”

It was like a spear through his heart and the friendship was never the same. On a positive note, we both got sober shortly afterwards too! LOL

by Anonymousreply 378December 6, 2021 1:53 PM

R373, I put "nice" in parentheses meaning that they are despicable but not quite as much so as the family.

by Anonymousreply 379December 6, 2021 1:55 PM

R368, Jeremy Strong wrote this episode!

by Anonymousreply 380December 6, 2021 1:56 PM

Was Roman’s dick pic a catfish?

by Anonymousreply 381December 6, 2021 1:57 PM

Romans dick was huge in that pic…..much bigger than I would have imagined.

by Anonymousreply 382December 6, 2021 2:06 PM

“He never saw anything he loved that he didn’t want to kick it, just to see if it would come back

About sums it up.

by Anonymousreply 383December 6, 2021 2:18 PM

Last night’s episode was so good I’m watching again today. I’ve never done this. This has to be the peak; it can’t get better.

by Anonymousreply 384December 6, 2021 2:18 PM

R359, just finished reading that article and Jeremy Strong sounds exhausting.

by Anonymousreply 385December 6, 2021 2:26 PM

I'm R380, I'm sorry. It wasn't Jeremy Strong. It was the show's creator Jesse Armstrong.

I'm sorry for any confusion on my part.

by Anonymousreply 386December 6, 2021 2:27 PM

The Roman/Culkin character's schtick had gotten so expected, annoying... the fast talk jocular scurrilous sarcasm and bitterness. Being "caught" by Dad and yelled at... Culkin was great. The BS kicked out of him, his eyes were afraid...

Last night was a great episode and delivered the show's formula : like Shiv withered by her Mother's incredibly meanness, but then Shiv also completely sadistic to Tom, gaslighting him while she does it.

No one is nice in this world. No one.

by Anonymousreply 387December 6, 2021 2:29 PM

The kids' mother sounds like a British version of Stephen Sondheim's mother. She evidently said similar things to him on a regular basis.

by Anonymousreply 388December 6, 2021 2:35 PM

Unabashed reprobation; totally my kind of folk!

by Anonymousreply 389December 6, 2021 2:41 PM

It's been disappointing to find out what a pretentious/obnoxious douchebag Jeremy Strong is. It makes his characterization of Kendall seem a lot less significant in hindsight.

by Anonymousreply 390December 6, 2021 2:45 PM

I love this family. This is a look into true humanity and the evil that lurks in all our brains. We all want to be Logan. He is king.

by Anonymousreply 391December 6, 2021 2:46 PM

Logan always has that trump card to play with his kids—if I’m so evil, what does it say about you that you take my help, take my jobs, take advantage of what I built? I wish there was another sibling who had truly gone rogue from the family.

by Anonymousreply 392December 6, 2021 2:50 PM

Shiv’s mother: “He’s got a very big heart.” (describing her fiancé.) Shiv: “Well I suppose opposites attract.”

by Anonymousreply 393December 6, 2021 2:54 PM

[quote]Logan always has that trump card to play with his kids—if I’m so evil, what does it say about you that you take my help, take my jobs, take advantage of what I built? I wish there was another sibling who had truly gone rogue from the family.

That, to me, was the brilliance of that dinner scene between Kendall and Logan. As evil as Logan was being (and it was practically Shakespearean) he was also being 100% truthful. That's what was so terrifying about him in that moment.

by Anonymousreply 394December 6, 2021 3:20 PM

[quote]It's been disappointing to find out what a pretentious/obnoxious douchebag Jeremy Strong is. It makes his characterization of Kendall seem a lot less significant in hindsight.

Very disappointing. Must be insufferable to be around. Brian Cox essentially using the "try acting" line on him is so apt. I suspected something was amiss when Matthew Macfayden and Nicholas Braun were avoiding mentioning him in their interview.

by Anonymousreply 395December 6, 2021 3:21 PM

What are you guys talking about R395? Is Jeremy disliked on set?

by Anonymousreply 396December 6, 2021 3:25 PM

I feel sorry for what the cast had to endure after Jeremy won his Emmy. Like Katherine Heigl before him, it probably cranked his cuntiness up to 100.

by Anonymousreply 397December 6, 2021 3:29 PM

Matthew McFayden is the absolute VIP of this season. He’s incredible in every scene. His scene with Kendall at the diner two weeks ago was spectacular, and his scenes with Shiv this week were continued brilliance. If he doesn’t get an Emmy from this season…

by Anonymousreply 398December 6, 2021 3:35 PM

It’s Harriet Walters R375, a brilliant actress with a LONG great history. I had the pleasure of seeing her in a Broadway production of Mary Queens of Scots where she was Elizabeth and she ate everyone alive on stage. She was absolute fire.

by Anonymousreply 399December 6, 2021 3:38 PM

Kendall wasn’t so inebriated that he couldn’t respond to Iverson. And a second later he was so gone that he drowned? Nah. It reminded me of Benjamin Braddock in “The Graduate”, just being emo.

by Anonymousreply 400December 6, 2021 3:39 PM

She also popped up in a few episodes of Downton Abbey as a dowager family acquaintance.

by Anonymousreply 401December 6, 2021 3:41 PM

Shiv is so rotten to her husband. Why doesn't he leave her?

by Anonymousreply 402December 6, 2021 3:50 PM

I’m sure no one has seen this documentary - “Without Gorky” - so this comment may be pointless. But. Lady Caroline reminds me so much of Agnes Fielding (“Mougouch”), the painter Arshile Gorky’s widow. Chic, urbane, frustrated, haughty, and probably shouldn’t have had children. To anyone else who may have seen it; did you notice the same thing?

by Anonymousreply 403December 6, 2021 3:52 PM

R402 - Tom loves the abuse. And the lifestyle. He grabbed the golden ticket with Shiv, but sold his soul to get it.

by Anonymousreply 404December 6, 2021 3:52 PM

Waystar was in trouble about four different ways at the beginning of the season, and now they seem to have miraculously fixed everything with the merger.

I find myself waiting for something to happen. They can't change the main dynamic (Logan vs. his kids) but this season has been boring.

by Anonymousreply 405December 6, 2021 3:53 PM

Roman never wearing a tie is starting to annoy me.

by Anonymousreply 406December 6, 2021 3:54 PM

I was absolutely gutted by that dinner scene between Kendall and Logan last night. The fact that Ken gives in, tells him he'll take the money and "I'll be a ghost" only to discover that it's not good enough for Logan, who of course won't let go of any of his children. The cold-bloodedness of Logan using his grandson as his taste tester was all there on Kendall's face. He would never be free of him. I think it broke him.

I'm not clinging on to any illusion that Kendall might not be dead, and that NYT piece certainly clinched it, coming out at the appropriate time to herald Strong's exit and also a 'reason' why Kendall may have been written off. Perhaps Armstrong and the writers were fed up with him, or perhaps they felt they were protecting Strong's mental health by taking him out, but this entire season seemed designed to 'ruin' his character, as it were. I did not feel the same levels of assholery from Ken this season during any other season. The joke of him being an absentee father had gotten to the point of it simply being cruel and when Roman had to comment on Kendall not knowing where his kids were yet again it was no longer funny to me. I just wanted him to shut up. In the first two seasons, Kendall often felt like the heart of the show, and this season that heart was savagely torn into shreds. Watching him in season three has felt like Jesse Armstrong had his hands around the back of my neck and was shoving my nose into a pile of shit while telling me what an idiot I was for thinking Kendall was in any way redeemable. The whole arc just felt cruel. I guess my tolerance level for that kind of blacker than black humour is not as high as it used to be.

As much as I have loved this show and rewatched the shit out of it, I think I may be out for any future seasons. Shiv going full Logan and Roman becoming an official sex pest just don't interest me anymore. Maybe the next two seasons are Logan slowly killing off his children one by one, where he gets to reign over all by its end.

by Anonymousreply 407December 6, 2021 3:54 PM

I never understood the Logan/Rhea fling. That actress always comes across as a total dyke. It would have made more sense for her and Shiv to hook up.

by Anonymousreply 408December 6, 2021 3:55 PM

Well, r399, you almost got it right. Her name is Harriet Walter (no S) and she was in Mary Stuart on Broadway. But thanks for playing.

by Anonymousreply 409December 6, 2021 3:56 PM

R407 - “……I think I may be out for any future seasons.”

Haha you’re a liar. You’ll be glued to it just like the rest of us.

by Anonymousreply 410December 6, 2021 3:56 PM

Was Roman’s dick shown to be little?

by Anonymousreply 411December 6, 2021 4:04 PM

It looked big to me, but I was too hooked to plot to even pause!

by Anonymousreply 412December 6, 2021 4:06 PM

With his immense belly, I can’t imagine anyone having sex with Logan unless they were adept at lifting the belly.

by Anonymousreply 413December 6, 2021 4:09 PM

I don’t necessarily believe Strong is a douchebag onset or to any of his costars. He just seems to take himself very seriously and is obviously in his head most/all of the time.

by Anonymousreply 414December 6, 2021 4:15 PM

I don't believe he is dead but I hope he is for the sake of the plot. Otherwise, it's just spinning, spinning, spinning. Logan lost confidence in Roman last night, so his favoritism will shift yet again to yet another kid and zzzzz.

But yes, lots of individual scenes last night were great and horrible and a bit over the top. We got the Evil Father, the Evil Mother, the Cock Shot, Evil Siobhan and the Possible Drowning.

Of all of it, the only thing that really upset me was Shiv telling her hubby she doesn't love him and clawing at him like a cat. That was really the worst to me.

by Anonymousreply 415December 6, 2021 4:18 PM

Harriet Walters pops up in everything.

by Anonymousreply 416December 6, 2021 4:21 PM

The cruelest was her assumption that Tom would want to destroy the embryos if she died, all but saying that’s what she would do if he died.

by Anonymousreply 417December 6, 2021 4:23 PM

It didn’t occur to me that Kendall was dead.

by Anonymousreply 418December 6, 2021 4:30 PM

[quote] So how many foreign locations have they shot? England, Greece, Croatia, Scotland, Tuscany and wherever they went for that "boar on the floor" retreat.

Next wedding destination: Moldavia. "Boar on the floor" was Hungary.

by Anonymousreply 419December 6, 2021 4:41 PM

I wondered if the final scene was a callback to Logan’s prodding Kendall at dinner to think about how long the cater-waiter was in the water before he died. If Kendall doesn’t die, they may play the scene that way, as Kendall trying to experience what he went through.

by Anonymousreply 420December 6, 2021 4:43 PM

R420 - Had not thought of that. Excellent take.

by Anonymousreply 421December 6, 2021 4:46 PM

No one’s mentioning Roman wearing tighty whities in his dick pic? I think of adult men, at this point in time, wearing tighty whities as being little boys who never grew up wearing the underwear their mother’s dressed them in. Attested development, which is perfect for Roman.

by Anonymousreply 422December 6, 2021 4:47 PM

[quote] Kieran Culkin told me, “After the first season, he said something to me like, ‘I’m worried that people might think that the show is a comedy.’ And I said, ‘I think the show is a comedy.’ He thought I was kidding.” Part of the appeal of “Succession” is its amalgam of drama and bone-dry satire. When I told Strong that I, too, thought of the show as a dark comedy, he looked at me with incomprehension and asked, “In the sense that, like, Chekhov is comedy?” No, I said, in the sense that it’s funny. “That’s exactly why we cast Jeremy in that role,” McKay told me. “Because he’s not playing it like a comedy. He’s playing it like he’s Hamlet.”

OUCH.

by Anonymousreply 423December 6, 2021 4:57 PM

[quote] Last year, he played the Yippie activist Jerry Rubin in Aaron Sorkin’s film “The Trial of the Chicago 7.” While shooting the 1968 protest scenes, Strong asked a stunt coördinator to rough him up; he also requested to be sprayed with real tear gas. “I don’t like saying no to Jeremy,” Sorkin told me. “But there were two hundred people in that scene and another seventy on the crew, so I declined to spray them with poison gas.” Between takes of the trial scenes, in which the Yippies mock Judge Julius Hoffman, played by Frank Langella, Strong would read aloud from Langella’s memoir in silly voices, and he put a remote-controlled fart machine below the judge’s chair. “Every once in a while, I’d say, ‘Great. Let’s do it again, and this time, Jeremy, maybe don’t play the kazoo in the middle of Frank Langella’s monologue,’ ” Sorkin said.

Gee, I can’t imagine why Jeremy Strong didn’t make it for the first 20 years of his career.

by Anonymousreply 424December 6, 2021 5:00 PM

Stewy being watched through the glass by Logan: " I feel like I'm taking a shit in the Guggenheim "; fucking brilliant.

by Anonymousreply 425December 6, 2021 5:01 PM

[quote] It didn’t occur to me that Kendall was dead.

Me, neither. At most, I think he was just trying to experience a bit of what the cute cater waiter had experienced at the end.

by Anonymousreply 426December 6, 2021 5:13 PM

Apparently Strong is a method actor and that kind of intensity can wear out fellow cast members.

by Anonymousreply 427December 6, 2021 5:16 PM

I was too distracted by wondering whether a full beer bottle would float.

by Anonymousreply 428December 6, 2021 5:18 PM

I do think they were trying to imply he was going to drown, because they made him seem drowsy/asleep, not like he was intentionally putting his face in the water.

by Anonymousreply 429December 6, 2021 5:20 PM

In that New Yorker piece, Jeremy Armstrong revealed that Daniel Day-Lewis is his idol, and he got the chance to work with him twice, first on stage and then in "Lincoln."

by Anonymousreply 430December 6, 2021 5:20 PM

Sorry, I meant Jeremy Strong.

by Anonymousreply 431December 6, 2021 5:21 PM

R429 .... well, and there were air bubbles coming out of his mouth/nose.... It was absolutely a cliffhanger where we are supposed to think he is drowning. Whether the plot "earned" that or it's just another cheap manipulation, is another question.

Last, another vote for Team Gerri. She looked like a cornered wild animal when Shiv was going all Human Resources on her ass, but you could also see the strength and cunning in her eyes. She'll figure this out and survive just fine. Probably my favorite character although I would have enjoyed seeing her in more sex-games humiliation scenes with that little shit. Bad boy in your tighty whities covering your pathetic soft peter! Go Gerri!!

by Anonymousreply 432December 6, 2021 5:31 PM

Wrong, r427. Jeremy Strong is not Method. Just ask him.

[quote] “I think you have to go through whatever the ordeal is that the character has to go through,” Strong told me. This extreme approach—Robert De Niro shaving down his teeth for “Cape Fear,” Leonardo DiCaprio eating raw bison liver for “The Revenant”—is often described as Method acting, a much abused term that, in its classic sense, involves summoning emotions from personal experience and projecting them onto a character. Strong does not consider himself a Method actor. Far from mining his own life, he practices what he calls “identity diffusion.” “If I have any method at all, it is simply this: to clear away anything—anything—that is not the character and the circumstances of the scene,” he explained. “And usually that means clearing away almost everything around and inside you, so that you can be a more complete vessel for the work at hand.”

[quote]Talking about his process, he quoted the jazz pianist Keith Jarrett: “I connect every music-making experience I have, including every day here in the studio, with a great power, and if I do not surrender to it nothing happens.” During our conversations, Strong cited bits of wisdom from Carl Jung, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Karl Ove Knausgaard (he is a “My Struggle” superfan), Robert Duvall, Meryl Streep, Harold Pinter (“The more acute the experience, the less articulate its expression”), the Danish filmmaker Tobias Lindholm, T. S. Eliot, Gustave Flaubert, and old proverbs (“When fishermen cannot go to sea, they mend their nets”). When I noted that he was a sponge for quotations, he turned grave and said, “I’m not a religious person, but I think I’ve concocted my own book of hymns.”

by Anonymousreply 433December 6, 2021 5:38 PM

[quote]I wondered if the final scene was a callback to Logan’s prodding Kendall at dinner to think about how long the cater-waiter was in the water before he died.

That's exactly what it was. But Kendall was too out of it for him to simply be 'testing' how many minutes it would take after Logan's cruel dissection. The music swelling, the bottle floating, the camera panning up underneath as a sleepy Kendall's head slowly sinks into the water .... that was all meant to imply we're watching him drown, face down like his victim at the bottom of the lake.

This show just isn't the kind to make a big dramatic stake like that and then pull back next episode with Kendall lifting up his head and taking a look at his watch. "Four minutes, bitch!". No. There are photos online of the preview for next ep which show Kendall (as well as the preview of the season), and an early article before the season began that described them filming the wedding reception outside with a huge amount of people, and Jeremy Strong is pointed out sitting at the table with his siblings. But considering how many little bits we've seen in episode previews this season that were pulled from the actual episode, I think they've all been a diversion. I would not put it past Armstrong and crew to set up a shot with Kendall in it to throw off journalists.

by Anonymousreply 434December 6, 2021 5:46 PM

Jeremy Strong seems absolutely insufferable--I would never want to work with someone like that. I did somehow miss in the story where it says he's leaving "Succession" however--would someone please summarize what's said on that score?

by Anonymousreply 435December 6, 2021 5:48 PM

I agree it's unlikely Gerri would go down after being sexually harassed without bringing Roman down with her and getting a huge financial settlement from the Roys: she's too smart and experienced as a lawyer not to know what to do (especially since she's just been working on the charges of sexual harassment brought against the company). Shiv is so caught up in her attempts to bring down Roman that she approached her completely wrong. And I would expect Gerri has saved the sexts she's been sent for a while.

by Anonymousreply 436December 6, 2021 5:51 PM

Maybe Logan having his grandson taste test his food was foreshadowing Logan having Kendall's beer poisoned and Kendall being too dumb to suspect it...DUM DUM DUMMMMM!!!

I can't believe Kendall is really dead. It just seems too convenient. But I think it would really serve the story to get him out of the way and put the siblings through some soul searching.

by Anonymousreply 437December 6, 2021 5:52 PM

The things Logan would say to Shiv if Kendall really dies will be horrific, about how she’s not good enough. He will punish her for Kendall dying.

by Anonymousreply 438December 6, 2021 5:53 PM

R436 Shiv has proved she is really pretty dumb. Kendall is the only kid who knows how to manipulate the way his parents do. Roman is a loose cannon, Siobhan keeps doing all the wrong things and Connor is a nut.

If Kendall were to die, Logan might realize Kendall was the only child he ever respected and torture all the surviving kids with constant reminders that they'll never measure up to the dead fuckup.

by Anonymousreply 439December 6, 2021 5:54 PM

R428 I too was way to caught up in the optics of that scene, how many takes to get that, was it just happenstance the first time, did they do it digitally. It took away from any impact of the actual scene because I was more concerned about the movie making of it.

by Anonymousreply 440December 6, 2021 5:57 PM

This episode showed Roman as the most competent of the kids. He is handling the merger and justifying it articulately, and coaxing his father to accept a “merger of equals” deal, and then he goes and ruins everything by “accidentally” sending his father the dick pic. Paging Dr. Freud.

by Anonymousreply 441December 6, 2021 6:29 PM

I for one will be inconsolable if Kendall dies. I know, MARY!!!

The Decoder article at the link has a photo of someone who appears to be Kendall sitting with his siblings at Caroline’s wedding.

It also includes a WWHL short clip of J Smith-Cameron telling Andy Cohen the season finale will be “shocking”.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 442December 6, 2021 6:34 PM

Shut up R409 you old hag. No one cares.

by Anonymousreply 443December 6, 2021 6:35 PM

Logan reacted really strongly to the pic. Rarely, rarely has he ever seemed knocked off his game... angry, out of control anger, and bullying, sure... but he looked "taken aback"...

He handles everything, and expects the worst of people... why was he so upset? Uncharacteristically? I wonder...

by Anonymousreply 444December 6, 2021 6:36 PM

Sending a dick pic is an aggressive assertion of masculinity, and Logan views himself as “top dog” and probably more virile than usual now that he’s getting it on with his assistant. So he took it as a “I’m more alpha than you” thing psychologically, even if logically he realized it was in error. He’s also made homophobic comments throughout the series to his children—that’s the insult he reaches for first against both Roman and Kendall. Finally, he probably views Gerri as “his” even though he thinks “she’s old as shit” and so Roman having an affair with her threatens him and reminds him he’s aging out.

by Anonymousreply 445December 6, 2021 6:40 PM

(I was laughing during Logan’s diatribe against Roman about why he shouldn’t be with Gerri, because it was EXACTLY what Logan subconsciously fears people would say about him and his assistant. Maybe exactly what Marcia has said to him about it!)

by Anonymousreply 446December 6, 2021 6:41 PM

R444 Well he was sitting in a board room ready to negotiate his way out of a major conundrum and the child he has come to depend on most texted him a picture of his hard cock from the same board table. For all he knew, Roman might have been signaling that he was going to go rogue and do something insane during the meeting.

by Anonymousreply 447December 6, 2021 6:42 PM

Was it hard, I thought it looked like semi.

by Anonymousreply 448December 6, 2021 6:45 PM

The New Yorker profile of Jeremy Strong gives an impression that he is disliked by his Succession co-stars but still liked by some other (usually much bigger) stars such as Chris Evans, Michelle Williams, Matthew McConaughey and even RDJ, who, despite calling him “crossed the Rubicon”, still went on a vacation with him this summer.

I wonder why he doesn’t want to talk about The Gentlemen, especially considering McConaughey and he became friends after that. Did Guy Ritchie rip into him for his method?

by Anonymousreply 449December 6, 2021 6:46 PM

[quote]Logan reacted really strongly to the pic. Rarely, rarely has he ever seemed knocked off his game... angry, out of control anger, and bullying, sure... but he looked "taken aback"...

Maybe Roman is bigger than he is. That'd piss daddy off.

by Anonymousreply 450December 6, 2021 6:55 PM

I would say any father would be outraged if his son sent him a dick pic during a business meeting.

by Anonymousreply 451December 6, 2021 6:58 PM

Nobody’s got a bigger dick than Logan Roy.

by Anonymousreply 452December 6, 2021 6:58 PM

Nobody IS a bigger dick than Logan Roy.

by Anonymousreply 453December 6, 2021 7:00 PM

For the Matthew Macfadyen and Harriet Walter fans, you must check out the BBC's incredibly good 2008 adaptation of Dickens' LITTLE DORRIT on Amazon Prime. It's one of their best and also stars the great Claire Foy, Russell Tovey, Judy Parfitt, Tom Courtenay, Rosie Cavailiero, Anton Lesser, Andy Serkis and so many other Brit faves.

Even if you're thinking....Dickens?? Give it a try, it's wonderful bingeworthy series.

by Anonymousreply 454December 6, 2021 7:01 PM

R442, I will be, too.

Just like I was when The White Lotus killed Armond.

by Anonymousreply 455December 6, 2021 7:05 PM

I'm with Jeremy Strong. I don't see Succession as a comedy. Not even a black comedy.

It's too close to the reality of the Trumps and what we've been through these last 4 years with that family of evil. There's nothing funny about any of that.

by Anonymousreply 456December 6, 2021 7:09 PM

[quote] Maybe Logan having his grandson taste test his food was foreshadowing Logan having Kendall's beer poisoned and Kendall being too dumb to suspect it...DUM DUM DUMMMMM!!!

Yes, that would indeed be a DUM(B) DUM(B) DUMMMMM(B) development.

Once again: this is not "Dynasty." The characters are not going to try to kill one another off with poison.

Kendall and Logan knew full well last night they would not ever poison one another in such a circumstance (they would be arrested). But they were each trying to twist the knife by playing on their mutual suspicion that the set-up (unintentionally) looked like a poisoning in order to gain psychological mastery over the other: first Kendall, by having the waiter switch the dishes; and then Logan by asking Iverson to taste the mozzarella.

by Anonymousreply 457December 6, 2021 7:40 PM

R457, I think that poster was being sarcastic and parodying others who are pushing for outlandish soap opera plots.

by Anonymousreply 458December 6, 2021 7:51 PM

I don't think Kendall's final moments showed a serious suicide attempt, but he still may be dead anyway. Sometimes half-hearted, drunken suicide attempts do wind-up resulting in death, and it looked pretty clear that Kendall was (yet again) under some sort of influence when he was floating in the pool. He was probably still very depressed, wondering what would happen if he just let go and drowned, and tried it out. But his bodyguards/retainers or his children may find him before he actually dies.

Speaking of substance abuse, did anyone besides me notice how much Shiv was sniffing during her scene with Tom when she announced she wanted to make babies and freeze the embryos?

We have been promised a shocking plot twist for the final episode, so I do hope someone finally dies (either Kendall or Logan), so next season we can see the fall-out from that. I do want the family dynamic to change in some way to make the show more unexpected, and that won't happen until something genuinely big happens, like a death.

by Anonymousreply 459December 6, 2021 7:54 PM

I'm curious if Strong will get fall-out in terms of gigs from this New Yorker piece. Film actors seem to respect Strong's heroes (Daniel Day-Lewis and Robert De Niro) all the more for making such total commitment to their characters, but they are considered the best of the best--people in Hollywood seem to hate it when even talented actors who are not quite at that level behave that way.

He is hard to cast as a leading actor. He's attractive (his ass looked good last night in those board shorts as he floated in the pool), but he's not genuinely handsome the way Day-Lewis still is and the way De Niro once was--he's ferret-faced. He's likely going to have to play mostly supporting parts from now on, and I'm not sure other actors and directors will put up with such nonsense from a non-lead. I expect when the show ends we will finally hear what Snook and Culkin and Cox and Ruck and Macfadyen really thought about him.

by Anonymousreply 460December 6, 2021 7:59 PM

In the New Yorker article, Jeremy comes off as Dustin Hoffman as Michael Dorsey in Tootsie. A massive pain in the ass.

by Anonymousreply 461December 6, 2021 7:59 PM

[quote] He handles everything, and expects the worst of people... why was he so upset? Uncharacteristically? I wonder...

It also shows him that Roman isn’t who he thinks he is. Roman being gross and outlandish making jokes about sexual damaged and fetishistic is, in actual fact, hiding the fact that Roman is sexually damaged and fetishistic.

by Anonymousreply 462December 6, 2021 8:30 PM

[quote] I'm with Jeremy Strong. I don't see Succession as a comedy. Not even a black comedy.

It isn't. It's an 80s glamorous primetime soap, updated for the cynical and nihilistic 21st century crowd, with Aaron Sorkin as the head writer.

by Anonymousreply 463December 6, 2021 8:40 PM

[quote] I don't think Kendall's final moments showed a serious suicide attempt, but he still may be dead anyway. Sometimes half-hearted, drunken suicide attempts do wind-up resulting in death, and it looked pretty clear that Kendall was (yet again) under some sort of influence when he was floating in the pool. He was probably still very depressed, wondering what would happen if he just let go and drowned, and tried it out. But his bodyguards/retainers or his children may find him before he actually dies.

It’s the swimming pool version of Kendall looking suicidal on top of building roofs. Nothing more, nothing less.

by Anonymousreply 464December 6, 2021 8:43 PM

Logan hates that there’s been something going on right under his nose that he knows nothing about.

by Anonymousreply 465December 6, 2021 8:52 PM

The whole swimming pool sequence echos “Sunset boulevard”, twisting with sun kissed melodrama.

I actually thought Kendall’s perky ass up in the air and face in the pillow with a shaved head was kind of hot.

by Anonymousreply 466December 6, 2021 9:07 PM

I find Jeremy Strong kind of sexy. A person doesn't have to be classically handsome to have that certain something.

by Anonymousreply 467December 6, 2021 9:39 PM

Interesting

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 468December 6, 2021 10:19 PM

I just saw the episode and KENDALL BETTER NOT BE FUCKING DEAD OR I WILL GO APE SHIT AND DESTROY EVERYTHING! LOUSY FUCKERS, THIS CAN’T BE HOW IT ENDS FOR KENDALL ROY! I WON’T WATCH ANOTHER EPISODE! FUCK!

by Anonymousreply 469December 6, 2021 10:32 PM

I just hope Jeremy Strong is really dirty in bed, really verbal and Dom and about pushing and going over limits.

by Anonymousreply 470December 6, 2021 10:32 PM

R469 Calm down Minerva, nobody's dead...yet.

by Anonymousreply 471December 6, 2021 11:08 PM

I watched the last scene very closely and Kendall was still blowing bubbles when the scene cut to black. I don't think he's dea.

by Anonymousreply 472December 6, 2021 11:11 PM

I have been very critical of this season but I actually liked episode 8. The characters exposed more of themselves in their conversations. The bickering between the siblings got old fast, but the conflicts and weaknesses of the characters are interesting, and the latter was the focus of the episode.

by Anonymousreply 473December 7, 2021 12:24 AM

Frank Langella deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for not murdering Jeremy Strong on set.

by Anonymousreply 474December 7, 2021 1:16 AM

Nah, Kendall's not dead. Not yet anyway. They're clearly toying with viewer expectations by leaving him out of the next episode preview. But I'll reaffirm something I posted upthread: I think they're foreshadowing that Kendall is going to publicly confess in some way what really happened to the waiter. Perhaps nearly drowning in a drug and booze-induced haze in the pool will be a revelation for him that he needs to come clean.

I'm prepared to be totally wrong about this, but consider:

Earlier this season, Logan's bodyguard threatened Kendall with the information. In last night's episode, Comfrey mentioned to Kendall that a team of investigative podcasters were asking questions about it, and he told her to "keep tabs" on it. Logan brought it up at their aborted dinner, to use it against Kendall. And then the cliffhanger scene found Kendall in a virtual reenactment of the waiter's death.

Both Season 1 and Season 3 found Kendall trying and failing to take his father down. Having now been beaten twice, he now sees he just can't beat Logan at his own game. Which is why he resorted to arguing, at their dinner, that he's a better person than Logan. How might he prove that in a big way? By admitting what happened to the waiter and how his father covered the whole thing up. Remember too that Kendall's bid to bring down Logan this season revolved around his role in ... a coverup.

And both season finales are set at family weddings. Given all these sign and parallels, I don't see how the dead waiter wouldn't come into play in whatever development drives next week's finale.

This show operates on complex levels. Of course, half the idiot posters in this thread are more worried that it wasn't specifically spelled out why Greg was at Lady Caroline's wedding!

by Anonymousreply 475December 7, 2021 2:05 AM

I really want the linens on the bed during the scene when Con and his ho/fiancé are talking about the Politico reporter.

by Anonymousreply 476December 7, 2021 2:26 AM

[quote] This show operates on complex levels. Of course, half the idiot posters in this thread are more worried that it wasn't specifically spelled out why Greg was at Lady Caroline's wedding!

You have to admit it’s rather odd.

by Anonymousreply 477December 7, 2021 2:27 AM

It's not odd. Why would she care what hangers on attend the wedding? Kendall brought his PR flack and random executives tagged along as they did to Shiv's wedding. All she cared about what getting Logan there and then keeping Kendall away from Logan.

Great analysis, r475.

by Anonymousreply 478December 7, 2021 2:29 AM

Are Kendall’s children adopted?

by Anonymousreply 479December 7, 2021 2:43 AM

“It was made obvious that Lady Caroline doesn’t give a shit about who Logan would like or not like at her wedding.”

Did you even watch the episode, r340? Lady Caroline asked her own son not to attend certain events at Logan’s demand. And her new husband needs something from Logan. I don’t mind fair criticism of this show but at least pay attention.

by Anonymousreply 480December 7, 2021 2:45 AM

R480, uhhh, yeah, I watched the episode and I’m still correct about Lady Caroline not giving a shit about Logan’s opinions as to who should and should not be attending her wedding. Give it up, already.

R355, the “boar on the floor” episode was shot out on Long Island in New York state, not a foreign country, although it was set in Hungary.

by Anonymousreply 481December 7, 2021 2:54 AM

[quote]…she would almost certainly realize that that absolutely would be Not At All The Thing to Do in her circles, and so she would postpone the wedding to a much later date (so as not to appear as callous as she really is).

She's also broke. No sense in giving him any more time to possibly change his mind.

[quote]I don’t necessarily believe Strong is a douchebag onset or to any of his costars. He just seems to take himself very seriously and is obviously in his head most/all of the time.

This isn't news to those who have followed Jeremy Strong's career for awhile. He is intense, his own man, and tends to block out everything else when he's tackling a role.

But my God he has never looked better than he did in this episode. The body, the shorter hair... he should have been styled like this the whole time.

by Anonymousreply 482December 7, 2021 3:28 AM

I'm an episode behind, but I wanted to commend R284. I think everything you said was spot on. Succession, while enjoyable, isn't in Mad Men's league as prestige TV because it won't embrace its soapiness. Mad Men certainly did from time to time.

by Anonymousreply 483December 7, 2021 3:32 AM

If the investigative podcasters are doing a piece on whatever happened with Rose, that might be enough to kill Logan. Maybe Rhea Jarrell fed the podcasters that little morsel of Roy family history after being humiliated about it by the siblings!

by Anonymousreply 484December 7, 2021 3:52 AM

[quote] Are Kendall’s children adopted?

Sophie is--she's of South Asian descent. They've never said whether or not Iverson is.

by Anonymousreply 485December 7, 2021 4:09 AM

Woof! That last scene with Jeremy Strong lying on the float was breathtaking. I would nibble on every square inch of that man’s body. Guy is totally wasted, and pathetic. The beer bottle going off the edge was the topper. Cut! That’s a wrap!

by Anonymousreply 486December 7, 2021 4:29 AM

Jesus Christ, Jeremy sounds exhausting. I'm surprised he has so many famous friends (lived with Michelle Williams for 3 years!!) and not surprised I'd never heard of him before this show. I imagine his publicist is in a panic after this came out. "If you hire me, I will exasperate EVERYONE on set"

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 487December 7, 2021 6:39 AM

R487 Michelle Williams seems like a nut, herself.

by Anonymousreply 488December 7, 2021 6:57 AM

I can't decide who I hate more from R487: Kendall or Jeremy.

[quote]He often refuses to rehearse—“I want every scene to feel like I’m encountering a bear in the woods”—despite the wishes of his fellow-actors. “It’s hard for me to actually describe his process, because I don’t really see it,” Kieran Culkin said. “He puts himself in a bubble.” Before I interviewed his castmates, Strong warned me, “I don’t know how popular the way I work is amongst our troupe.” Since Kendall is the black sheep of a warring family, Strong’s self-alienation may be a way of creating tension onscreen. Though the cast is generally loose and collegial, Strong, during Season 2, began going to the makeup trailer only when no other actors were there—“which I remember making everyone else roll their eyes,” a cast member told me.

by Anonymousreply 489December 7, 2021 7:07 AM

[quote]He is hard to cast as a leading actor. He's attractive (his ass looked good last night in those board shorts as he floated in the pool), but he's not genuinely handsome the way Day-Lewis still is and the way De Niro once was--he's ferret-faced.

I agree Strong is attractive but not handsome. Being pretty has never been a requirement for male movie stars. From Humphrey Bogart to Steve McQueen to Jack Nicholson to Al Pacino to Tom Hanks to Leonardo DiCaprio and Bradley Cooper ... the history of Hollywood is full of proof that "cute" only appeals to teenage girls and superficial gays, not the vast majority of more mature women. While Cary Grant, Warren Beatty, Robert Redford and Brad Pitt did become big stars, they never earned the same amount of cultish devotion of their less handsome contemporaries. And yes, there's absolutely a double standard because it isn't the same for women.

I think there's room for Strong to curve out for himself an iconic yet respectable career like a James Gandolfini or a Paul Giamatti.

by Anonymousreply 490December 7, 2021 7:45 AM

R490 it's also good for your career to be easy to work with. Jeremy sounds like a hassle and a half.

[quote]Strong’s dedication strikes some collaborators as impressive, others as self-indulgent. “All I know is, he crosses the Rubicon,” Robert Downey, Jr., told me. In 2014, Strong played Downey, Jr.,’s mentally disabled brother in “The Judge.” (To prepare, he spent time with an autistic person, as Hoffman had for “Rain Man.”) When Downey, Jr., shot a funeral scene, Strong paced around the set weeping loudly, even though he wasn’t called that day. He asked for personalized props that weren’t in the script, including a family photo album. “It was almost swatting him away like he was an annoying gnat—I had bigger things to deal with,” a member of the design team recalled.

by Anonymousreply 491December 7, 2021 7:48 AM

Like Kendall, Jeremy Strong is an ambitious networker. Pacino, Williams, etc. like Kendall, it doesn’t quite work.

The bit about him pretending to ad lib when repeated some whole corny monologue over multiple takes and in character Shiv told him to shut up cracks me the hell up.

It reminded me of the bit in the season 2 finale when Stewie rolled his eyes and said “yeah, yeah, you’ll then push my severed dick up my cunt until poo poo pops out of my nose hole. Dude, it doesn't matter. It doesn't mean anything” made me laugh.

by Anonymousreply 492December 7, 2021 8:17 AM

I posted at r490 and threw out some examples, without thinking, off the top of my head, and it just hit me who Jeremy Strong's face reminds me of. He really does look somewhat like Humphrey Bogart (without the charm), doesn't he? Like they're related or something. Does anyone else see the resemblance?

by Anonymousreply 493December 7, 2021 9:15 AM

Episode 8 is a series of slow explosions. Most of the relationships we've been following will be fundamentally different after. And a simple texting mistake flips all of their world's upside down and will probably be the focus of the rest of the season. Took long enough to get there

by Anonymousreply 494December 7, 2021 9:38 AM

It's kind of a bummer to see so many people make fun of Jeremy Strong after that New Yorker profile, which I didn't expect when I first read it. With tons of abusers, frauds and divas working in Hollywood, people think Jeremy is insufferable because he's unapologetically committed to what he does and, more than they would like to admit, he's not as leading man good-looking as Daniel Day-Lewis or Christian Bale, who can easily get away with, and even get acclaim for, their immersive and mercurial "method" on set.

I also feel that Michael Schulman, a Yale alum, was biased against Jeremy by some of his anonymous interviewees, such as the drama society members who are likely to be Michael's real-life acquaintances. I see the drama society were angry about losing the pewter chalice, but they dare not blame Al Pacino for taking it, so they blame Jeremy for inviting Al Pacino to the campus.

Anyway, my point is, the very fact that Jeremy takes this so seriously--the much-mocked fact that he doesn't seem to be in the same show as other actors--saves Succession from being a downright soap opera or sitcom. His darkness is the anchor of the show.

by Anonymousreply 495December 7, 2021 9:47 AM

It was hot when Alex Sarsgaard was takin' a piss on Roman's phone, and Roman shook his hand while he was pissing.

That kind of bro shit is so fuckin' hot.

by Anonymousreply 496December 7, 2021 10:00 AM

I'm less impressed with Jeremy Strong after reading the New Yorker interview.

Kendall is just Jeremy Strong being Jeremy Strong.

by Anonymousreply 497December 7, 2021 10:08 AM

[quote] people think Jeremy is insufferable because he's unapologetically committed to what he does

No, he’s insufferable because he allows his “process” to create problems and issues for many other people who are also trying to do their jobs—in other words, he thinks he and his work are more important than everyone else.

by Anonymousreply 498December 7, 2021 10:41 AM

R498 great point. Do what you want in your process, but don't allow it to give friends or coworkers trouble. Quite simple.

by Anonymousreply 499December 7, 2021 10:55 AM

[quote] Jeremy Armstrong

Don't worry r430/r431, it's confusing for me, and I suspect others, too. Trying to figure out who was being quoted in that New Yorker piece was a veritable nightmare.

by Anonymousreply 500December 7, 2021 11:13 AM

[quote] No, he’s insufferable because he allows his “process” to create problems and issues for many other people who are also trying to do their jobs—in other words, he thinks he and his work are more important than everyone else.

I don't think he created much more problems than Daniel Day-Lewis (who is mentioned to have botched a prop installation during his character building), not to mention the well-documented Christian Bale or Dustin Hoffman or Marlon Brando any other "method actor." My point is people are much more tolerant of leading men who do it, but jeer at character actors who go the same way.

It's also interesting how Jeremy was described as a nightmare on set of The Judge (starring the reigning diva RDJ!!!), but he ends up being friends with RDJ. The New Yorker profile makes him sound like a downer, to say the least, but it never tries to explain why, beyond Succession, many other much bigger stars like him as a friend. Why would Michelle Williams let him live in her house rent-free for THREE YEARS? Why would RDJ, despite saying his method OTT, go on holiday with him in Europe?

by Anonymousreply 501December 7, 2021 11:43 AM

[quote]The New Yorker profile makes him sound like a downer, to say the least, but it never tries to explain why, beyond Succession, many other much bigger stars like him as a friend. Why would Michelle Williams let him live in her house rent-free for THREE YEARS? Why would RDJ, despite saying his method OTT, go on holiday with him in Europe?

And why should their opinions matter more than his current castmates of three seasons? Do you think Brian Cox's and Kieran Culkin's opinions matter less because they're not Chris Evans?

by Anonymousreply 502December 7, 2021 11:58 AM

[quote] With tons of abusers, frauds and divas working in Hollywood, people think Jeremy is insufferable because he's unapologetically committed to what he does and, more than they would like to admit, he's not as leading man good-looking as Daniel Day-Lewis or Christian Bale, who can easily get away with, and even get acclaim for, their immersive and mercurial "method" on set.

Nope. There are hundreds of method actors in Hollywood who stay in character.

Making fart noises and interrupting Frank Langella’s scenes, walking around the set of The Judge on his day off weeping noisily and demanding a photo album from props to aid his process (um, make one yourself, dude?), what Cox described as his unkindness to everyone else - these antics infringe upon others. It’s the behaviour of a child, or an Aspie, or a sociopath.

[quote] but it never tries to explain why, beyond Succession, many other much bigger stars like him as a friend.

It does. He actively sucks up to the powerful, from Pacino onward. When he offends them, he builds bridges.

[quote]Why would Michelle Williams let him live in her house rent-free for THREE YEARS

Because he’s an asskisser and she was a vulnerable demi-widow who wanted to fill her Brooklyn home with noise.

[quote]Why would RDJ, despite saying his method OTT, go on holiday with him in Europe?

Strong annoyed the propmaster, not RDJ personally. He was already in Italy filming and Sting and Trudi Styler are probably Succession viewers like the rest of us.

by Anonymousreply 503December 7, 2021 11:58 AM

He even warned the profiler that his castmates might not like him.

by Anonymousreply 504December 7, 2021 11:59 AM

[quote]but it never tries to explain why, beyond Succession, many other much bigger stars like him as a friend.

The article literally refers to his "blatant networking".

by Anonymousreply 505December 7, 2021 12:03 PM

[quote] Because he’s an asskisser and she was a vulnerable demi-widow who wanted to fill her Brooklyn home with noise.

If you really believe that explains it, fine.

[quote] The article literally refers to his "blatant networking".

Maybe those two words are enough for you, but I'm still curious about what makes him special out of all the networkers in showbiz, of all the ass-kissers around big stars.

by Anonymousreply 506December 7, 2021 12:25 PM

Funny that one of the plot strands In this week’s “Curb” was about the actor playing “Young Larry” annoying everyone with his overly Method-y approach to the role.

by Anonymousreply 507December 7, 2021 1:54 PM

I feel like this thread deserves more chatter about the cock pic. That can't have really been Kieran's penis in the picture, right?

by Anonymousreply 508December 7, 2021 2:37 PM

[quote]The New Yorker profile makes him sound like a downer, to say the least, but it never tries to explain why, beyond Succession, many other much bigger stars like him as a friend. Why would Michelle Williams let him live in her house rent-free for THREE YEARS? Why would RDJ, despite saying his method OTT, go on holiday with him in Europe?

See "All About Eve." Some people are just extraordinarily good at worming their ways into the homes and affections of the powerful.

by Anonymousreply 509December 7, 2021 2:59 PM

r496 = Ricky Martin

by Anonymousreply 510December 7, 2021 3:00 PM

In the interviews on TV I've seen, he comes off as humorless and inarticulate. a lot of ums and uhs.

by Anonymousreply 511December 7, 2021 3:05 PM

I have a hard time picturing Strong being charming.

RDJ claims to have no patience for co-workers who make it difficult for others to do their jobs. (See his big clash with David Fincher.)

So it’s interesting that he seems to get along with Strong. But, RDJ seems to get along with everyone despite being kinda bitchy himself.

by Anonymousreply 512December 7, 2021 3:05 PM

[quote] That can't have really been Kieran's penis in the picture, right?

It could be, but it surely isn’t.

by Anonymousreply 513December 7, 2021 3:35 PM

It's too bad they didn't feel the need to show the dick pic Kendall sent to Naomi on camera, since then we'd have gotten a look at what Jeremy's packing, considering his method acting and insistence on authenticity.

by Anonymousreply 514December 7, 2021 4:31 PM

I can’t believe they gave Jeremy Strong an Emmy. So many other actors I’d rather see in this role; he’s my least favorite in the series. I am satisfied to say that I hated him as a person (you can just feel some people’s energy), even before I read all the negative press.

by Anonymousreply 515December 7, 2021 4:33 PM

I really don't care about Jeremy Strong's method of acting. All I know is that whatever he's doing, he's created a character that is sympathetic, pathetic and an asshole. Kendell is the most compelling character on the show.

The actress who plays Shiv should figure out how to do a little method acting and stop relying on pursing her lips and playing with her hair to create a character.

And as much as I like Brian Cox, he just seems bored by playing Logan. Maybe he could put a little effort in to it. The scene where he was ill and imaging a cat under his chair was embarrassingly bad acting.

by Anonymousreply 516December 7, 2021 4:35 PM

R506 it's what Williams says herself. Is it really shocking that someone who was very wealthy and grieving/lonely would invite friends to stay?

[quote]Several years later, just after Ledger died, Strong was broke and moved into Williams’s town house, in Boerum Hill, a social hub that he nicknamed Fort Awesome. He lived there rent-free, on and off, for more than three years. “There was an emptiness in the house,” Williams told me. “So people moved in.” She said that Strong lived in a basement room with her great-grandmother’s player piano: “He had this little bed and stacks and stacks of books about Lincoln.”

by Anonymousreply 517December 7, 2021 4:36 PM

R517 Asskissing does not a friend make. Maybe Kathy Griffin’s. But not Michelle Williams’. Not if living together for more than three years. And definitely not RDJ’s. Can you imagine how many people want to kiss his Ironass?

If asskissing works so well, then Colton in the other thread would not be heartbroken. After all, he tried so hard, literally and figuratively.

by Anonymousreply 518December 7, 2021 5:02 PM

I can't deny that he gets a good performance as Kendall. But weighing the cost and the benefits, future productions might probably decide that he's not worth it, that other actors can do good work without his exhaustive process.

by Anonymousreply 519December 7, 2021 5:04 PM

Is there anything in that New Yorker profile that implies he's leaving the show? I've yet to see anything from it that does.

by Anonymousreply 520December 7, 2021 5:22 PM

I can't BELIEVE it took him this long to break out. I wonder how many casting directors and producers have read this profile.

[quote]Actors try to find the real in the make-believe, but anyone who has worked with Strong will tell you that he goes to unusual lengths. Last year, he played the Yippie activist Jerry Rubin in Aaron Sorkin’s film “The Trial of the Chicago 7.” While shooting the 1968 protest scenes, Strong asked a stunt coördinator to rough him up; he also requested to be sprayed with real tear gas. “I don’t like saying no to Jeremy,” Sorkin told me. “But there were two hundred people in that scene and another seventy on the crew, so I declined to spray them with poison gas.”

by Anonymousreply 521December 7, 2021 5:58 PM

He'll never lack work again after his role in arguably the best show currently on TV and his Emmy. Doors will open and he'll land Oscar-bait movies going forward.

by Anonymousreply 522December 7, 2021 6:07 PM

Strong and the New Yorker article probably should have had its own thread. Strong's "oddity" (his gaze always communicates "am I nuts? do you like me? am I doing this right? but I'm cool, right?") works for the character in this series.

I don't get the attraction to him/his body/floating in the pool. His body looks like he's a year away from needing compression socks because of his heart/water retention issues.

by Anonymousreply 523December 7, 2021 6:15 PM

R522 I don't doubt he'll get work. I just think plenty of bigger projects might look at his "process" and decide it's not worth dealing with.

by Anonymousreply 524December 7, 2021 6:17 PM

I would have liked to see Adam Scott in the role of Kendall. He can do vulnerable asshole really well and has a darkness that Strong doesn’t have. Strong just does “pathetic,” not dark.

The first few times I tried to get into “Succession,” Strong’s Don Jr vibe made it impossible for me to watch the show.

by Anonymousreply 525December 7, 2021 6:51 PM

Nah I think Jeremy Strong has hit his peak with this role; sort of a one hit wonder. Same thing happened to the actor from “Breaking Bad” who played Jessie. He got lucky with the role, but he’s a horrible person in real life, and never got any good jobs after Breaking Bad was finished.

by Anonymousreply 526December 7, 2021 7:28 PM

No good director in any medium would consider working with this asshole twice in a lifetime.

by Anonymousreply 527December 7, 2021 7:32 PM

[quote]I would have liked to see Adam Scott in the role of Kendall. He can do vulnerable asshole really well and has a darkness that Strong doesn’t have. Strong just does “pathetic,” not dark.

I like Adam Scott but I still feel Strong is perfect for Kendall. His dark is pathetic. It works well.

[quote]I can't BELIEVE it took him this long to break out. I wonder how many casting directors and producers have read this profile.

Emmy Rossum still landed Shameless after having a bad rep for years just because she promised that was behind her. We learned it wasn't but she still had that as her second chance. If you're good, you show up on time, you mostly do what's asked of you, you don't piss off the people you work for too much or have any real scandals, and you have brough home award noms, you will work again. Jeremy will work again.

With the exception of him not wanting to rehearse, most of his questionable behavior he does to himself. He doesn't necessarily inflict it on other people. That's what makes him different than some other "method" people.

[quote] Same thing happened to the actor from “Breaking Bad” who played Jessie. He got lucky with the role, but he’s a horrible person in real life, and never got any good jobs after Breaking Bad was finished.

Aaron Paul? Aaron Paul from Truth be Told, Bojack Horseman and Westworld?

He's doing just fine.

by Anonymousreply 528December 7, 2021 7:41 PM

R528 I definitely agree he'll work, but I can see some bigger projects passing on him not to deal with the headache.

[quote]Last year, he played the Yippie activist Jerry Rubin in Aaron Sorkin’s film “The Trial of the Chicago 7.” While shooting the 1968 protest scenes, Strong asked a stunt coördinator to rough him up; he also requested to be sprayed with real tear gas. “I don’t like saying no to Jeremy,” Sorkin told me. “But there were two hundred people in that scene and another seventy on the crew, so I declined to spray them with poison gas.” Between takes of the trial scenes, in which the Yippies mock Judge Julius Hoffman, played by Frank Langella, Strong would read aloud from Langella’s memoir in silly voices, and he put a remote-controlled fart machine below the judge’s chair. “Every once in a while, I’d say, ‘Great. Let’s do it again, and this time, Jeremy, maybe don’t play the kazoo in the middle of Frank Langella’s monologue,’ ” Sorkin said.

by Anonymousreply 529December 7, 2021 7:44 PM

It was so fitting that Kendall's birthday party was in that tacky Hudson Yards monstrosity. The whole complex is like a "fuck you" from the 1%.

by Anonymousreply 530December 7, 2021 7:56 PM

I thought they did show the dick pic but only for a second as Logan looks at his phone. It seemed to be poking out of underwear so you can’t tell the size.

Jeremy sounds insufferable.

by Anonymousreply 531December 7, 2021 8:15 PM

R531 I didn't freeze frame, but it looked thick

by Anonymousreply 532December 7, 2021 8:17 PM

The show is getting yawn-worthy.

by Anonymousreply 533December 7, 2021 8:18 PM

These crybaby actors complaining about and being annoyed by a fellow actor who is really into his job and wants to create an authentic feeling character.

Let them get a job in an office, sitting next to a smelly co-worker who eats snacks and farts all day long and you can't escape or complain to anyone. And you have to do that while barely making minimum wage.

Honestly, these actors are so fortunate to be in a critically acclaimed hit show and making a lot of money while doing it. They all need to stfu and be grateful because something like this may not happen for them again.

Whatever Jeremy Strong's work habits are aren't as bad as the way his co-workers are gossiping behind his back and criticizing him. It's a really bad look.

by Anonymousreply 534December 7, 2021 8:27 PM

R534 how is it gossiping behind his back? He put the cast in touch with the reporter and even said "they probably don't love my process".

by Anonymousreply 535December 7, 2021 8:37 PM

This last episode may be one of the greatest of any series ever.

by Anonymousreply 536December 7, 2021 8:38 PM

^????^

by Anonymousreply 537December 7, 2021 8:41 PM

Roman’s dick did indeed look thick. And Shiv’s breasts looked especially ample. Not that I really care about the latter.

by Anonymousreply 538December 7, 2021 8:50 PM

[quote]He'll never lack work again after his role in arguably the best show currently on TV and his Emmy. Doors will open and he'll land Oscar-bait movies going forward.

He'll get work, but I can't see him having some amazing career. This is his big role.

For all the comparisons to Daniel Day Lewis, he just isn't in the same league. He can't begin to do that kind of near-molecular transformation that DDL has done. After GANGS OF NEW YORK and LINCOLN and THERE WILL BE BLOOD, I'd almost forgotten what DDL even looked like. In comparison, Strong in TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 looked and acted like...well, Strong playing dress up in hippie clothes. He was fine and funny in the movie, but a million other actors would have been every bit as good and without being a pain in the ass.

You have to be epically good to try people's patience like that. DDL is a star. Strong is a fine TV actor. There's nothing wrong with that.

by Anonymousreply 539December 7, 2021 8:52 PM

I thought Trial of the Chicago 7 was one of the weakest Oscar films I’ve ever seen, I was especially disappointed by Sasha Baron Cohen, whom I usually love. It was like a cheap TV movie version of an already-cheesy awards bait film. If there was a Lifetime-type network for corny movies that would appeal to Boomers, it would have fit right in.

by Anonymousreply 540December 7, 2021 9:19 PM

I wish Tom & Lorenzo had costume posts for the this show the way they used to for Mad Men. Shiv’s outfits are getting more and more puzzling, even while the other characters are well-dressed for their personae. Wearing a revealing (especially chest-wise) sundress, that was too small, in a loud print to your English aristocrat mother’s wedding in Italy was a big WTF. It’s something you’d wear if it was your first time at that type of event with that type of crowd, like if Greg was dating a 20-something girl who was clueless and desperate to look hot. Maybe it was a middle finger from Shiv to her mother—I’m wearing exactly the wrong thing.

by Anonymousreply 541December 7, 2021 9:23 PM

R498, you made an excellent point with admirable precision.

My crew friend told me that a story has made the rounds on other sets about Strong refusing to come down to rehearse one particularly lengthy, difficult scene and that some other actors were so furious with him for disrespecting the director and the camera/lighting departments that they went up to his dressing room (they were on location at a hotel) and yelled at him. And when he finally came down to shoot he accused them of “ambushing” him. Which of course they didn’t do.

by Anonymousreply 542December 7, 2021 9:39 PM

Leave my boy alone, ya bendy fucks.

by Anonymousreply 543December 7, 2021 9:51 PM

Jeremy Strong comes across as an insufferable, pretentious douche in that New Yorker article.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 544December 8, 2021 1:03 AM

Strong's co-stars don't hide their exasperation with him in that article!

by Anonymousreply 545December 8, 2021 1:14 AM

Kieran Culkin, especially, seems completely over Strong's antics. I guess that's a good thing because it makes Roman and Kendall's bickering more believable on the show.

by Anonymousreply 546December 8, 2021 1:33 AM

If Strong's co-stars said those things about him for a magazine article, just imagine the shit they say in private!

by Anonymousreply 547December 8, 2021 3:02 AM

For those of you who find Jeremy Strong so offensive, I recommend viewing The Morning Show.

There you can watch beloved-by-her-colleagues past and present Jen Aniston flip her hair and phone it in.

by Anonymousreply 548December 8, 2021 3:34 AM

Nobody is saying they don't like Succession, just that after reading that New Yorker piece Jeremy Strong is a bit MUCH.

by Anonymousreply 549December 8, 2021 3:36 AM

I really don't get people who find Strong attractive. The man is completely hideous. The fact that he's actually made it as an actor is impressive because it does look like someone was at his with the ugly stick. And they showed NO mercy!

by Anonymousreply 550December 8, 2021 4:47 AM

There are a lot of posters who are taking this New Yorker article weirdly personally.

by Anonymousreply 551December 8, 2021 5:14 AM

[quote] And why should their opinions matter more than his current castmates of three seasons? Do you think Brian Cox's and Kieran Culkin's opinions matter less because they're not Chris Evans?

When did I say whose opinions matter more? All I’m saying is that reading the profile, I know why some people hate Jeremy Strong, but I don’t know why others like him. It’s conspicuous that the writer allows much space for the crew members and college acquaintances, but when Matthew McConaughey ringed him up, there’s barely one quote. And most strangely, Strong weeped loudly when RDJ was shooting and RDJ, like Strong's Succession castmates, obviously doesn't like his method. Then the profile just dropped the tidbit that they went on holiday together this summer. I think it's fair to ask what RDJ sees in him.

After all, it's already impressive that RDJ would bother himself with an interview for a so-called "annoying gnat" on his movie set.

by Anonymousreply 552December 8, 2021 7:17 AM

I'm more baffled that anyone on Strong's team thought this profile was a good idea. Yes, he gives a good performance but now EVERYONE knows getting there is a pain in the ass.

by Anonymousreply 553December 8, 2021 7:26 AM

R553 I don't think anyone knew for sure how the writer would spin this profile and how the public would react to it. Johnny Depp got burned for his Rolling Stone profile, Angelina Jolie and Beto O'Rourke for their Vanity Fair ones. I feel this is a similar case.

But for many who have followed Strong's career, this is not news. I feel he will probably scare off some opportunities, but he may also interest some others, for example, Steven Soderbergh in one of his Let Them All Talk or Full Frontal-like projects.

by Anonymousreply 554December 8, 2021 7:49 AM

Put him in a movie with Harrison Ford and let me watch.

by Anonymousreply 555December 8, 2021 8:07 AM

I’d like to see Jeremy Strong play opposite Alec Baldwin in his next project.

by Anonymousreply 556December 8, 2021 8:26 AM

I wanted

by Anonymousreply 557December 8, 2021 8:29 AM

To be the

by Anonymousreply 558December 8, 2021 8:30 AM

Last post

by Anonymousreply 559December 8, 2021 8:30 AM

Of the thread, but I just realized it goes to 600.

by Anonymousreply 560December 8, 2021 8:30 AM

Bless your heart r557-r560

by Anonymousreply 561December 8, 2021 8:36 AM

[quote] It’s conspicuous that the writer allows much space for the crew members and college acquaintances, but when Matthew McConaughey ringed him up, there’s barely one quote.

r552 Hollywood is a backslapping quid pro quo club with rules and code. When have you seen a star profile in a glossy magazine where the friends and colleagues called upon to comment on the subject talk smack? It never happens. McConaughey, Williams, Evans and RDJ would've had advance notification, usually from their agent, who in turn, heard from Strong's agent, not directly from him. They always, to a tee, provide effusive, gushing compliments about their character, talent and time working together. And they expect the same in return from Strong next time a magazine does their own profile. Even his current co-stars weren't direct in their criticism and tried to temper their language. Cox: "I wish he would show kindness to himself and others". Culkin: "I don't know his process because I've never seen it". The truth is, only his college and broadway acquaintances aren't bound by Hollywood mores and were happy to spill all (anonymously of course) about what a pill he is.

I will say, however. It appears Michelle Williams is his real friend, not just in the Hollywood sense. The vacation with RDJ? Could've been anything, like them being invited by the same host. I highly doubt they're thick as Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. And ask yourself why Strong himself won't go on the record about his movie with McConaughey.

by Anonymousreply 562December 8, 2021 9:14 AM

Strong isn’t that much younger than RDJ, but I’d bet that RDJ sees himself as a mentor of sorts.

Here’s this weird, self destructive guy possibly pissing away his opportunities through arrogant behavior… sounds like a young RDJ.

by Anonymousreply 563December 8, 2021 10:01 AM

1997 me would be shocked to learn that one day RDJ would be someone’s mentor.

by Anonymousreply 564December 8, 2021 10:24 AM

When The Sopranos was at it's peak, all you heard was what a great guy Gandolfini was, generous, etc. etc. The only time anything bad about him came out was when he went to rehab, got divorced or was papped looking high as a kite. It wasn't until after the show ended that you heard stories about how bad his addiction was, his tendency to disappear, his conflict with Chase, etc. - and he was pretty universally beloved guy. If people are willing to talk even a little bit of shit about Strong now in peak Succession success, imagine how bad he must really be.

by Anonymousreply 565December 8, 2021 10:42 AM

He seems to be invested in his acting methodology to the exclusion of everyone and everything else. He sucks all the air out of rhe room, and his self importance is annoying and at times offensive. It’s fine if you are invested in being a great actor, but part of that is making sure you allow others to be great as well. A lot of this reeks of narcissism hiding behind the mask of being a great actor.

by Anonymousreply 566December 8, 2021 12:18 PM

Who the fuck cares what Jeremy Strong is like irl? Or which of his co-stars like him or not? I'm never going to meet him. I don't want to be his friend. I'm sure all of those actors are assholes, too, and not many people would have something complimentary to say about them either. Brian Cox is trashing a bunch of fellow actors in his new book. I'm sure that man is a joy to be around. He seems like a miserable old coot.

I enjoy Jeremy's performance on Succession. He's not phoning it in. He's able to flesh out the writer's vision and created a fascinating character. That's all that matters to me. He's keeping me entertained.

by Anonymousreply 567December 8, 2021 12:22 PM

[quote] Who the fuck cares what Jeremy Strong is like irl? Or which of his co-stars like him or not?

Us, because it’s fun.

by Anonymousreply 568December 8, 2021 12:39 PM

We’re not sitting a tribunal passing judgment on his soul, we’re gossiping because that New Yorker article was juicy and we’re fans of his show. There’s no need to play white knight for him, he’s a big shot Hollywood actor, he’ll be ok!

I was very interested how that writer got assigned to the piece, given that he was an acquaintance of the subject. Imagine if the most irritating person you went to college with became famous and you were assigned to write the profile—I’d be licking my chops.

by Anonymousreply 569December 8, 2021 12:43 PM

Jeremy Strong’s extremely important character being killed off by the end of Season 3 reminds me of Michael Pitt’s extremely important character being killed off by the end of Boardwak Empire’s Season 2-both were out of control liabilities who had alienated fellow cast members.

by Anonymousreply 570December 8, 2021 12:45 PM

^Except there's plenty of evidence the character isn't being killed off.

That aside, I've enjoyed this season given that season 2 (IMHO some of the best TV ever made right up there with the best of The Sopranos and Breaking Bad)was always going to be an impossible act to follow. The guest stars weren't anywhere near as impactful Nan Pierce and Rhea Jerell. Even Stewey felt forgotten this season. Hopefully Hope Davis' Sandi andStewey come back stronger next season and please bring back Cherry Jones' Nan.

Also waiting for the major event we've been promised from Connor.

by Anonymousreply 571December 8, 2021 1:05 PM

[quote]I wish Tom & Lorenzo had costume posts for the this show the way they used to for Mad Men. Shiv’s outfits are getting more and more puzzling, even while the other characters are well-dressed for their personae.

Count me in, as well. I think its been really interesting for Shiv, specifically. She is often featured in neutral colors, until she has a function to go to or is on a night out - then the bold colors come out. This season in particular, with Shiv being brought into the company, all of her outfits have been beige pantsuits, or a light grey, or creme, lots of neutrals. And then we get this episode, after Shiv has that talk with her mother, and suddenly she's showing up to a meeting in a cobalt blue pinstriped suit. Complete turnaround. She's not going to try to blend in or sit on the fence anymore. She made her choice, and we saw that in the way she immediately jumps on Gerri when she sees an opening to push Roman out. Sails out, nails out, bro.

by Anonymousreply 572December 8, 2021 1:37 PM

[quote] please bring back Cherry Jones' Nan.

I would kill for a Pierce family spin-off, especially if it includes more dinner parties and shots of their properties.

by Anonymousreply 573December 8, 2021 1:47 PM

R567 - “I’m sure all of those (other) actors are assholes, too….”

Absolutely this. Can you imagine how unbearable Brian Cox and Kieran Culkin are in real life? Exceedingly pompass, privileged assholes would be my guess. I think I hate all the actors in real life, except Cherry Jones, and the cute cater waiter that Kendall killed.

by Anonymousreply 574December 8, 2021 1:48 PM

Culkin comes across to me as quirky and hipster-ish but very level-headed and not into pompous bullshit. Probably because his childhood removed any romanticism about acting as a profession.

by Anonymousreply 575December 8, 2021 1:50 PM

Why wanting to see Cherry Jones? Yuck.

by Anonymousreply 576December 8, 2021 2:12 PM

Brian Cox is a hardcore leftie who doesn't take well to people acting like better than others. He'll call out any selfish behaviour.

by Anonymousreply 577December 8, 2021 2:21 PM

I would love to see Kieran Culkin portraying pharma Bro Martin Shkreli.

by Anonymousreply 578December 8, 2021 2:23 PM

[quote]Why wanting to see Cherry Jones? Yuck.

Because she's fantastic and we like her better than your camp faves Rue McClanahan/Joan Collins types. This isn't that kind of show, toots.

by Anonymousreply 579December 8, 2021 2:26 PM

You love a good old butch huh? You’re the only one.

by Anonymousreply 580December 8, 2021 2:48 PM

^ Judging by her Emmy for her guest stint and her two episodes ranking high on fan lists, I doubt I'm the only one.

by Anonymousreply 581December 8, 2021 2:51 PM

Cherry Jones played a very familiar kind of liberal intellectual-lite awful and she did it to perfection.

by Anonymousreply 582December 8, 2021 3:21 PM

Cherry Jones’s chiding her maid for not coming and having a drink with her, “you never have any fun!” was one of the best lines and line-readings of the entire series.

by Anonymousreply 583December 8, 2021 3:23 PM

I would love to see Nan Pierce again. She was just as awful as the Roys, but in a different way.

by Anonymousreply 584December 8, 2021 3:51 PM

I loved this scene with Nan Pierce bragging about her news channel helped bring down the wall, and Logan responded dryly, "Yes. Commendable."

S2 was a masterclass of impeccable writing and acting.

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by Anonymousreply 585December 8, 2021 4:06 PM

I also love that scene r585. Nan Pierce was such a self-important grandiose bitch, more or less taking credit for the fall of the Berlin Wall. Cherry Jones was magnificent.

by Anonymousreply 586December 8, 2021 6:44 PM

"Welcome to our city on the hill!"

by Anonymousreply 587December 8, 2021 7:01 PM

I loved the Pierces, too. But frankly, I think we got juuuust the right amount of them. A whole series of them would be stifling, I think. But then what do I know? I might have said the same thing about a family like the Roys, and so far I’m enjoying the ride.

by Anonymousreply 588December 8, 2021 7:14 PM

A whole season of the Pierces is basically any Aaron Sorkin show

by Anonymousreply 589December 8, 2021 7:41 PM

Nah. Aaron Sorkin would never expose the lack of self-awareness and utter hypocrisy of super-wealthy liberals (a class he's a part of) the way Succession did in Season 2. Sorkin saves his ire mainly for the right. He wouldn't see anything wrong with Nan Pierce's or Rhea Jarrell's behavior, which would hinder his critique of them.

by Anonymousreply 590December 8, 2021 7:50 PM

R590 - And what exactly is “wrong” with Nan and Rhea’s behavior? How else should a powerful woman protect the family assets? At that level, certain rules don’t apply.

by Anonymousreply 591December 8, 2021 8:11 PM

R591: One of them is self-aggrandizement of one's decency while being completely oblivious that she and her family can be just as awful and cut-throat as the Roys. It's funny how in the clip at R585, Nan declared, "You can't put a value on what we do!" and Logan had to remind her that she actually did, which was the whole point of their meeting in the first place.

Nan views herself and her family as more noble and respectable than the Roys because they're Old Money with the right kind of politics. But she's just as clueless to the plight of commoners as the Roys. That moment she had with her cook Rosa was quite telling.

by Anonymousreply 592December 8, 2021 8:39 PM

[quote]completely oblivious that she and her family can be just as awful and cut-throat as the Roys.

Not as awful as the Roys

by Anonymousreply 593December 8, 2021 10:21 PM

The kind of show r580 wants.

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by Anonymousreply 594December 8, 2021 10:22 PM

[quote] Not as awful as the Roys

Maybe not as awful but certainly more sanctimonious.

by Anonymousreply 595December 8, 2021 10:24 PM

r557-r560 Now's the right time to jump in.

by Anonymousreply 596December 8, 2021 10:28 PM

Has anyone created the Part 4 thread?

by Anonymousreply 597December 8, 2021 10:29 PM

R596 - Thank you for remembering 😊

by Anonymousreply 598December 8, 2021 10:46 PM

Part 4:

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by Anonymousreply 599December 9, 2021 12:08 AM

[quote]Wearing a revealing (especially chest-wise) sundress, that was too small, in a loud print to your English aristocrat mother’s wedding in Italy was a big WTF.

She didn't wear it to the wedding. She wore it to a party before the wedding (which has yet to take place).

by Anonymousreply 600December 9, 2021 12:16 AM
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