Succession

[dawkins4prez]

This episode had final GoT season vibes.  Bad place to drop what what had to be the worst episode of the entire series.  The Mencken plot has been weak since the start, I hope they sweep it a under the rug for last 2 episodes.

[Agent23]

13 hours ago, dawkins4prez said:

This episode had final GoT season vibes.  Bad place to drop what what had to be the worst episode of the entire series.  The Mencken plot has been weak since the start, I hope they sweep it a under the rug for last 2 episodes.

The Twittersphere seems to find the episode very effective 

[dawkins4prez]

4 hours ago, Agent23 said:

The Twittersphere seems to find the episode very effective 

Everything was off, none of the Tom/Gregg jokes hit, Shiv's motives are all over the place and don't make sense, Kendall was lost in space, Rom got two dimensional and every attempted zinger seemed forced and at odds with the pacing of the episode.  The lone bright spot was Connor.  The show has masterfully shadowed real events but this time flew too close and didn't even have anything interesting to say about it.  

[Agent23]

You sound like a guy that got wasabi in his eye! 

[DBW]

Feels like the writers painted themselves in a corner and are trying desperately to fix it but are doing a poor job.  The dialogue is still great but the story is losing itself. 

[DaEagles4Life]

21 hours ago, DBW said:

Feels like the writers painted themselves in a corner and are trying desperately to fix it but are doing a poor job.  The dialogue is still great but the story is losing itself. 

I feel the same. I thought the entire season was about the the selling of the company. Next thing, I know it's election night. 

[DBW]

F you Shiv!  I can’t wait for Ken’s wrath.  

[Agent23]

25 minutes ago, DBW said:

F you Shiv!  I can’t wait for Ken’s wrath.  

She thinks she’ll make such a good ceo 

[DBW]

1 hour ago, Agent23 said:

She thinks she’ll make such a good ceo 

I’m not sure I’ve ever hated a character as much as I hate her.  Credit to her acting.  I wanna throat punch her.  

[BDawk_ASamuel]

The best part about Kendall's character is how he's probably the most fragile of the kids and always teetering on the edge of disaster, but he always thrives under chaotic circumstances and when he needs to step up most. Roman breaking down at the funeral and he steps up on the spot and delivers an incredible eulogy. 

[dawkins4prez]

On 5/17/2023 at 3:50 PM, DBW said:

Feels like the writers painted themselves in a corner and are trying desperately to fix it but are doing a poor job.  The dialogue is still great but the story is losing itself. 

This was a big bounce back episode.  Tremendous 1-2-3 punch of Cromwel''s conviction, Culkin turning to blubber and then Strong with the closing argument. The wives in the front row was a great low key moment also. I feel like they really screwed up Shiv's motivation to go all in with Mattsson. Shiv has been defined if anything by her emptiness & vapidity.  To go all in against her brothers here and denigrate herself for a complete unknown is just weird, doesn't feel right.  It does feel like they sacrificed Shiv's character to get to where they want to end it, everything pointing to a complete downfall for all 4 siblings with a twist.

[dawkins4prez]

23 hours ago, DBW said:

I’m not sure I’ve ever hated a character as much as I hate her.  Credit to her acting.  I wanna throat punch her.  

Skyler syndrome?  Mundane yet shifty women tend to make people squirm.  Also see Betty Draper.

[DBW]

4 hours ago, dawkins4prez said:

This was a big bounce back episode.  Tremendous 1-2-3 punch of Cromwel''s conviction, Culkin turning to blubber and then Strong with the closing argument. The wives in the front row was a great low key moment also. I feel like they really screwed up Shiv's motivation to go all in with Mattsson. Shiv has been defined if anything by her emptiness & vapidity.  To go all in against her brothers here and denigrate herself for a complete unknown is just weird, doesn't feel right.  It does feel like they sacrificed Shiv's character to get to where they want to end it, everything pointing to a complete downfall for all 4 siblings with a twist.

Yeah definitely a good recovery from last week.  Each of the kids had a reality check at the funeral which was great.  They finally got hit with the fact dad was gone.  Cool seeing how they each dealt with that in real time.  But they quickly bottled it back up and went back to the chess match.  I think Mattson is going to F over Shiv in the end.  There’s a pleasure he’s getting out of making them all squirm.  She’s just a pawn in his little game Too.  

[vikas83]

9 hours ago, dawkins4prez said:

This was a big bounce back episode.  Tremendous 1-2-3 punch of Cromwel''s conviction, Culkin turning to blubber and then Strong with the closing argument. The wives in the front row was a great low key moment also. I feel like they really screwed up Shiv's motivation to go all in with Mattsson. Shiv has been defined if anything by her emptiness & vapidity.  To go all in against her brothers here and denigrate herself for a complete unknown is just weird, doesn't feel right.  It does feel like they sacrificed Shiv's character to get to where they want to end it, everything pointing to a complete downfall for all 4 siblings with a twist.

I think it fits. Ever since Logan told her she was taking over at the beginning of season 2, she has been trying to get respect inside the company and family. But then: Logan won’t officially name her and loses the Pierce deal, Kendall humiliates her during her big speech, Logan backs Menken over her objection, Tom betrays her, and then Kendall and Roman become co-CEOs and decide to tank the deal without consulting her. Her whole role has been constantly trying to be accepted as an equal and being denied. Her trying to get her vengeance by screwing over Kendall, Roman and Tom makes sense. 

[dawkins4prez]

17 hours ago, DBW said:

Yeah definitely a good recovery from last week.  Each of the kids had a reality check at the funeral which was great.  They finally got hit with the fact dad was gone.  Cool seeing how they each dealt with that in real time.  But they quickly bottled it back up and went back to the chess match.  I think Mattson is going to F over Shiv in the end.  There’s a pleasure he’s getting out of making them all squirm.  She’s just a pawn in his little game Too.  

I think he gets the deal and installs Gregg as US CEO 😆

[Agent23]

On 5/24/2023 at 11:55 AM, dawkins4prez said:

I think he gets the deal and installs Gregg as US CEO 😆

This. Cousin Greg as CEO!!!

[Agent23]

Greg the egg with the google translate and still playing all sides  

[DaEagles4Life]

Roman, "I was in a fight, which I won" 

[Agent23]

Hey, new Jess! New Jess! 

[Agent23]

Interesting Shiv thought I just had. When Logan was going loopy at the shareholders meeting (his UTI issue) and Shiv was trying to salvage a deal with Sandy and Stewie, that concluded with Sandi (the daughter) getting a board seat and Shiv getting a board seat. With a 7-6 vote, 2 of the 7 being created that day, we have the catalyst that otherwise would have been a 6-5 win for team Kendall. 

[dawkins4prez]

I thought this wrapped up as it should have, all the main themes and all the seasons worth of moves played roles in the finale.  None of the 3 kids deserved it and we knew that from the start, but the "succession" survives in Shiv's unborn baby.  Slimy Tom as the victor made the most sense from a literary standpoint and has for most of the last 2 seasons (Gregg would have been a blast but also incredulous).  I thought they really made it work in the sense that the siblings become undone because despite their love for each other they can't stay together, yet the marriage of Tom and Shiv (with no actual love in it) prevails specifically because they stay together as a team despite everything.  Unity wins.

 

A lot to break down, but great to see a fantastic series end as well as this did.

[dawkins4prez]

 

On 5/24/2023 at 12:28 AM, vikas83 said:

I think it fits. Ever since Logan told her she was taking over at the beginning of season 2, she has been trying to get respect inside the company and family. But then: Logan won’t officially name her and loses the Pierce deal, Kendall humiliates her during her big speech, Logan backs Menken over her objection, Tom betrays her, and then Kendall and Roman become co-CEOs and decide to tank the deal without consulting her. Her whole role has been constantly trying to be accepted as an equal and being denied. Her trying to get her vengeance by screwing over Kendall, Roman and Tom makes sense. 

They did make it work in the end, Shiv revealed her motives in a believable way in the finale.  I thought we needed to hear her express this need for revenge to make it work, since she hasn't been driven by revenge before.

[DaEagles4Life]

She nailed it with this theory 

 

 

[DBW]

The last episode was pretty awesome but there’s a giant miss with it.  Ken knew how much shiv was flipping and flipping sides.  He should have seen that last flip coming and if he was as good for the job as he thinks he was then he should have been 3 steps ahead of that.  Want to keep the company in the family?  Last resort would have been to negotiate it with her - let her think she can have the ceo position, give in, let her believe it’s hers and it’s a win for everyone, then find a way to remove her after the vote and killing the deal.  Ken Could have kept the company and still gotten the ceo spot later.  That would have been a better twist than shiv flipping and ruining everything.  

[dawkins4prez]

29 minutes ago, DBW said:

The last episode was pretty awesome but there’s a giant miss with it.  Ken knew how much shiv was flipping and flipping sides.  He should have seen that last flip coming and if he was as good for the job as he thinks he was then he should have been 3 steps ahead of that.  Want to keep the company in the family?  Last resort would have been to negotiate it with her - let her think she can have the ceo position, give in, let her believe it’s hers and it’s a win for everyone, then find a way to remove her after the vote and killing the deal.  Ken Could have kept the company and still gotten the ceo spot later.  That would have been a better twist than shiv flipping and ruining everything.  

That's kinda the point though isn't it?  Shiv was right, Kendall would F it up eventually like he always does.  He proves it dramatically coming undone at the accusation.