Succession [spoilers]

[Winterfell is Burning]

Since we're still in the primary stage, it's probably in the primary. I would say it's absurd, but look at the kind of people Republicans elect.

  

3 hours ago, Cashless Society said:

 

"He thinks he's a genius, he's made one good piece of tech." Another HBO show making fun of Mark Cuban's success. Also, that was just Kerry regurgitating what Logan had said to her, or in her presence.

 

Yes, she is, as everyone that pleases Logan, is just saying what he already thinks or wants to hear.

 

[Relic]

Just now, Winterfell is Burning said:

Since we're still in the primary stage, it's probably in the primary. I would say it's absurd, but look at the kind of people Republicans elect.

  

Still, even if it was the ENTIRE voting public "almost 1%" would be, at most, 1.5m people. 

[RumHam]

7 hours ago, Cashless Society said:

Roman and Matsson pissing on StarGO is basically the writers taking the piss on HBO GO in favour of HBO Max right?

I thought so, but anecdotally I think people think HBO Max is the worse of the two apps. It doesn't take 20+ seconds to load the landing page but it is apparently pretty glitchy on some platforms.

Roman's riding high right now but no, I don't think he's that good at getting deals done. Matsson even told him they don't have a deal, they have a meeting. 

One thing I wonder is why Roman and to a lesser extent Shiv aren't more concerned about the "Sandi/Sandy can veto any Roy child taking over" thing. How does Roman succeed his dad with that proviso in place?

[Winterfell is Burning]

They just think they can impose their will by force and refuse the idea Logan can die anytime soon anyway.

[Zorral]

In this episode it seems we see it more dramatized than ever how much this ‘family’ is Trumpista family.  Including the terrible misogyny.  Truly despise Shiv, who is as awful as any of the others, but with her, even as daddy’s girl, um no, no way she can be the head of Waystar, because she’s female. Beyond this, we are seeing even media recappers dramatizing how these monsters so easily fool the public, because They help.  Seeing much blathering of how Roman has shown he’s a great deal-maker/biz guy, and poor Shiv can’t compete with this.  So what has Roman done?  Gone to the bathroom.  Twice. With two different guys.  What happens in the can isn’t anything that is in the can, so to speak.  Good grief.  Again like shoggoth – the media/tv show bleating about his great biz acumen when everything he has ever touched as gone into the shitter except fake-reality tv show and the fake-reality campaign to be POTUS – while sexually assaulting scores of women.

The show is doing a magnificent job of showing pop/entertainment/media culture's entwinement with contemporary history, past and in-the-making. The utter lack of taste, style and morality of the Roys is reflected in their conglom. With which they infect the entire nation, and the globe too.

 

[Ran]

@Relic

Given your fondness for the opening credits, have you seen this?

 

[Relic]

54 minutes ago, Ran said:

@Relic

Given your fondness for the opening credits, have you seen this?

 

pretty cool! thanks for sharing.

[Cashless Society]

On 11/30/2021 at 11:19 AM, Relic said:

I highly doubt it. When Connor says he's polling at "almost 1%", does he mean in the primary, or in general? Either way his math seems to be way off. 

Yeah, I'm just going to chalk this up to "screenwriters are bad at math."

On 11/30/2021 at 12:44 PM, Winterfell is Burning said:

Since we're still in the primary stage, it's probably in the primary. I would say it's absurd, but look at the kind of people Republicans elect.

I thought it was for the General. Episode 6 puts the timeline around May 2020 - which is way past some of the key primary elections. I thought that was the reason for the scramble to quickly coalesce behind a candidate in that episode. 

On 11/30/2021 at 4:30 PM, RumHam said:

Roman's riding high right now but no, I don't think he's that good at getting deals done. Matsson even told him they don't have a deal, they have a meeting. 

One thing I wonder is why Roman and to a lesser extent Shiv aren't more concerned about the "Sandi/Sandy can veto any Roy child taking over" thing. How does Roman succeed his dad with that proviso in place?

I was under the impression that Shiv is (very slowly) coming to the realisation that just because she has the title, doesn't mean that everyone is going to fall in line. That's why she made the deal with Sandi, as it was an olive branch for an alliance. As for Roman, I don't think he ever really wanted to be CEO. Sure, he likes the idea of being in charge and will posture that to everyone else; but when it comes down to it, he always seems to want to back out of it. Remember how unsure of himself and what his role of COO actually entails? But if he really wants to be CEO, then being seen as the Roy sibling that "gets shit done" can't hurt his chances can they?

[DaveSumm]

On 11/29/2021 at 10:14 PM, Relic said:

What's confusing, to me, is you saying that these fictional characters are the people running my life.

Just binged this season in the last week or so and been reading the thread up to the relevant episode. Thank you SO much for finally saying what’s been baffling me this whole time. Truly bizarre run of posts.

I think the show is hysterical, I laugh more regularly than any other comedy show I can think of. Pretty much everything Roman says cracks me up. Also, Logan saying he would’ve liked a hug from Shiv and she says “oh, yea, I mean … Captain Cuddles”. My wife and I have been calling him that ever since.

[Zorral]

They are the Trumps, the Murdochs, the Bezos, the Musks, etc. -- fictional or not, this is the model of billionaire megolomaiac power brokers on which the Roys are modeled.  And they do run your lives.  If you don't see that, you don't live in the US or the UK, but somewhere like New Zealand.  Or think these monsters are right about everything and deserve everything and the whole world should be their way.

 

[DaveSumm]

17 minutes ago, Zorral said:

They are the Trumps, the Murdochs, the Bezos, the Musks, etc. -- fictional or not, this is the model of billionaire megolomaiac power brokers on which the Roys are modeled.

And the show is a scathing satire of this model. It depicts these ‘victors’ as utterly, utterly broken people who are incapable of love, who will agonise over whether to continue this macabre power battle that their own father has orchestrated for them, or walk away with 2 billion dollars. That’s how fucked up they are.

I could understand if this were The Wire and we were all lamenting what the war on drugs has done to American cities, that’s kinda the point of that show. But we’re supposed to be laughing at these idiots.

[Zorral]

There is no supposed to when it comes to this stuff, you know that. There are writerly intentions though, which are worthy taking into account.  The more skilled the writers the more there is to take into account, including their intentions.  Good writers are the last to tell you "You are supposed to blahblahblah."

[Durckad]

11 hours ago, Cashless Society said:

Yeah, I'm just going to chalk this up to "screenwriters are bad at math."

Knowing Connor, who is a self-avowed out-of-touch Libertarian Ancap, it's entirely possible that he's just bad at math. It would be very fitting.

[Relic]

6 hours ago, Durckad said:

Knowing Connor, who is a self-avowed out-of-touch Libertarian Ancap, it's entirely possible that he's just bad at math. It would be very fitting.

This is what im thinking, too. That, or he's [purposefully exaggerating. 

[Relic]

13 hours ago, Zorral said:

They are the Trumps, the Murdochs, the Bezos, the Musks, etc. -- fictional or not, this is the model of billionaire megolomaiac power brokers on which the Roys are modeled.  And they do run your lives.  If you don't see that, you don't live in the US or the UK, but somewhere like New Zealand.  Or think these monsters are right about everything and deserve everything and the whole world should be their way.

 

You are conflating a LOT of things here, including reality with fiction.

Also, how is New Zealand the one place on Earth free from the machinations of the uber-rich? 

[Relic]

Following up on the above topic a bit - 

This show does a fairly good job of showing viewers how the elite function, how they rule our world, and how little regard they have for just about anything and anyone. "No real people were hurt" says Logan about the cruise ship affair, obviously upset that the Feds dared to investigate his company and not at the fact that horrible crimes were committed. The peons continue to scurry around serving the elite, and the camera pans over them with as little regard for their lives as the elite themselves posses. The rich and powerful go about using the world as their private playground, with us as inconsequential pawns, living only to serve them.  It portrays the main characters, one and all, as irredeemable monsters, possessing zero morality, zero substance, zero self awareness, and in most cases zero talent. I think everyone here that watches this show is very much aware of this. It doesn't really need to be repeated on a weekly basis. We GET it. The themes of Succession, on a macro level, are obvious. I think most, if not all of us, don't need this show to tell us (or show us) how fucked our society is, in large part due to the dumb empty assholes ruling the world. 

So with ALL of that known to the viewer, what's left? 

"You're not a real person," Kendall (who himself seems to lack even a tiny droplet of self awareness) tells Roman, mirroring Logan's own words. This is where the fictional drama of the show splits from the general themes of power, money, and the savage elite. Succession is doing a fantastic job of portraying human drama within the inhumane spheres that these fictional characters inhabit. It explores life within death, humanity within the reptilian Shadow Kingdom, and maybe even a bit of pathos for the decayed souls of the Roy family. It shows a broken family ruled by a villainous tyrant; one who demands his children  grovel before him while clawing their siblings to bloody bits. It does all of this while injecting the drama with savage humor, and moments of outright hilarity. 

Logan Roy is NOT Rupert Murdoch. He's a fiction patriarch of a decaying house, a modern day Tywin Lannister. If this was a documentary I would have turned it off a long time ago. As it stands, Succession is the only show I'm watching on a regular basis. 

[Tyria]

7 hours ago, Relic said:

Following up on the above topic a bit - 

<snip>

I'm kinda surprised you needed to post what seems to be the obvious, but yeah. 

[Relic]

2 minutes ago, Tyria said:

I'm kinda surprised you needed to post what seems to be the obvious, but yeah. 

Have you read this thread tho?

[Tyria]

Just now, Relic said:

Have you read this thread tho?

Oh, totally! Should have used an emoji or something... I agree with what you wrote, it was just so weird that you had to make a post at all emphasising that the show is fiction! 

[Derfel Cadarn]

Watching Bourne Identity, filmed 20 years before this, and I think Cox looks older in Bourne!