Caught this on a recent re-watch.

I started watching Succession, and I just finished season 2 and i fucking loved it!

The details in their micro expressions, sets, camera, blocking, lines and dialogues really forces me to pay attention to what's happening on the screen. All these little details adds up to the characters, their relationship to each other and the world. But that's not the main problem -

I have to admit that this is not a show I can simply binge or play in the background and I would still be able to follow what's happening. I would replay a scene many times to get a sense of what's happening, miss a second, and you miss an entire interaction.

It does get fucking heavy, I'm only on season 2 and I know from how people talk online that it gets heavier. But I trust when others say that, while it gets worse, it's a good fucking TV show.

It just takes me longer to finish it.

I thought I could easily finish this within a month, based on the number or episodes, but it's been three months since I started watching the first episode it because I need to be in the right headspace for it, then take breaks in between.

Succession forces me to approach TV differently in the age of binge watching. I think this is a show that demands the viewers to pay attention, but the show rewards you for that because you get to see this great scene being played out.

Phrased broadly to avoid Spoilers for those new to the show, but does Tom actually win in the end? At the point that the company is a subsidiary in Mattson’s empire…how has he really moved up compared to his old position underneath Logan?

I’ve always wondered what this practically means in terms of “victory”

This is my first time watching Succession and, with 3 episodes left in Season 4, I wanted to write down my rankings on what I think are the most likely outcomes for who comes out on top in the finale. I'll be binge watching them tonight and am SO EXCITED.

I did get spoiled that Kendall does not have a happy ending, so I didn't include him on these. Also, I'm split 50/50 on if the GoJo merger will happen, so half of these outcomes will be some form of Matsson as the Avon Barksdale overseer with a Waystar person in the Stringer Bell underling role, and half of the outcomes will be if the merger doesn't happen and there's just a new Waystar CEO.

So, from most likely to least likely:

1. Roman - Since I knew going into this that Kendall doesn't come out on top, I've long felt the show would end with a Shiv vs Roman showdown for CEO with Kendall casting the final vote in the last Tribal Council. I still think that's the most likely result. This would require Kendall and Roman to successfully tank the GoJo deal and, in a vote for a permanent CEO, the board goes with Roman over Kendall and Shiv, which seems plausible considering Shiv's lack of experience and what I'm assuming is an impending Kendall implosion in the final episodes. But most of all, the idea of Roman and Mencken (assuming he wins) holding hands in a dual victory for Fascism strikes me as a very appropriate ending for this show.
2. Matsson and Shiv - If the GoJo deal does go through, this seems the most likely outcome. Matsson clearly likes her more than the other candidates I'll get to, and a Roman/Kendall vs Matsson/Shiv showdown in the last episodes seems like a logical ending, perhaps with Tom and Greg to tilt the scales towards Shiv? The only thing working against this outcome is that it seems too logical.
3. Shiv - This one has been growing on me. Shiv has compromising material on all of the other players. She knows Kendall killed the kid, she knows of Roman's dick picks, and she knows of Matsson's blood thing and the India thing. She has so many cards to play, I can see her blowing up the GoJo deal, then blowing up her brothers to claim the Waystar CEO role for herself in a Littlefinger "King of the Ashes" situation.
4. Matsson and Tom - Another one that's growing on me. Matsson clearly saw that Tom is an empty suit during their meetings in Norway and the pre-election party, but maybe that's what he wants? The Matsson/Shiv duo has gained a lot of momentum in the last couple episodes but I do wonder if Shiv is "peaking too soon" and Matsson will sour on her by the time the deal closes and just decides "fuck it, I'll go with the guy that's easy to get along with."
5. Matsson and Greg - This one has come out of nowhere but there was that scene at the election eve party where Greg impressed Matsson with how many people he's fired. Maybe that's what Matsson's looking for in his Stringer Bell, an unscrupulous psychopath who can do his dirty work, no matter how dirty. It'd be tough for Matsson to get literally any other adult to buy off on this, but, hey, ya never know.
6. Tom - It's tough to see the GoJo deal blowing up and Tom still coming out on top. I used to have this outcome way higher when Logan was alive. There was a stretch in late S3/early S4 when Logan hated his kids and was calling Tom "son" and I really thought that, when Logan died, he'd like posthumously adopt Tom as his successor like Julius Caesar did with Octavian. In the scene with the will, when Frank tells Kendall that Logan may have crossed out his name, I was certain Logan had crossed out Ken and put Tom. But that didn't happen, so I think this outcome is nearly dead.
7. Connor - Another one that'd require a Hail Mary. I thought this might happen in Season 3, like maybe the presidential campaign would sorta take off and he could parlay that into an executive role at Waystar. But with Connor polling at 1% on election eve, my guess is he negotiates something with Mencken to get ambassador to somewhere goofy like Luxembourg.

I'll start watching the episodes at 7pm pacific time, so please no spoilers before then.

Stewy was incredibly competent and probably made a shitload of money when Gojo acquiried waystar.

Logan’s $3.25 billion facility had a hard acceleration covenant at $130. Once the stock breached it, Kendall had no liquidity and no time. Then Maesbury stepped in with the full $3.25 billion, took roughly 10-15% equity, voting rights, and a board seat.

They bought at the absolute floor, at least from what I see.

GoJo closed at $192. That same stake marked up to approximately $4.8 billion. 47.7% return. $1.55 billion of pure profit. Half of it rolled into GoJo paper under the deal terms.

Dude deadass made a billion and a half bc he did a debt for equity mezzanine swap lol jesus.

And that's assuming it was structured as common equity. Knowing Stewy & Sandy, I'm willing to bet there was some sort of creative capital stack of notes, convertible pref equity + PIK warrants, etc.

And it was epic! Juvet Landscape Hotel (where Matsson hosted GoJo’s retreat) was definitely our favorite. Super cool & unique place, and we really enjoyed the communal dinners with all the other guests, feels more like an experience than a regular hotel stay.

Also loved Eggen Restaurant at the top of the gondola (where Matsson first met Kendall and Roman after Logan’s death). Amazing views, and you can actually hike up to the spot where Roman had his meltdown with Matsson, takes less than 5 minutes from the restaurant.

Annnnd driving around Norway was just so, so scenic!

i will say the top 5 can be placed in any order tbh.

Tern haven is such a good episode, it is probably the most Vinterbergian succession episode? The whole thing is a refined version of Festen, moreso than the pilot (which is famously titled after Festen).

Even if it's not reflected in my ranking (i do generally find it difficult to rank tv episodes - ranking is kinda dumb tbh) my season ranking is probably from best to worst: S2, S4, S3, S1.

Vaulter is eliminated! Why? Because my dad told me to.

How this works:

You select the episode you like the least

The episode with the most upvoted comment is eliminated from the list

Please either refrain from downvoting or upvote more episodes than you downvote

If there’s a tie, both episodes are eliminated

Only the best episode will win!

Episodes Eliminated:

The Summer Palace (46%)
Vaulter (86%)

Just finished the series. Kendall is the worst of them all. I don’t understand how people empathise with him at all. He betrayed his father, then Shiv then Roman. Never cared about his children, killed the kid, and was obsessed with having the company despite numerous failed attempts.
Please, Kendall lovers, explain to me what you like about him and why do you think he is the better sibling. Maybe i am missing something.

On the latest rewatch I’ve been really paying attention to Shiv, even more than usual.

She is clearly very smart and good at her politics job, and tends to get the better of her siblings in their various verbal battles (sometimes physical battles like when she wails on Roman lol). She’s a winner in those fields. And she’s good at reading the room and picking up on when there’s various nefarious stuff going on in the background.

But when it came to many critical moves, her timing was off.

Like when it came to Logan’s offer in the Hamptons, she was tentative and thought about it too long, trying to wait and see how it panned out… letting it build up and then impulsively getting fired / quitting from Gil.

And she then when she did “come in” she went “all in” and demanded to know everything that was going on. She didn’t go with Logan’s timeline saying it was “a lot of months” and Logan came back with “an appropriate amount of months”. Could she not have bided her time?

Then at Tern Haven she tried to claim the succession in front of everyone…. “What’s the chess move?” As Tom asked her. She says there was no move, she panicked etc.

But I disagree! It was the right move for her to get the succession announced eventually instead of keeping it some hush hush secret that Logan could use to control her, but definitely not at that time.

Other timing stuff was like how she tried to convince Tom to have an open marriage on their wedding night, their pregnancy was terribly timed too (with disastrous consequences for them most likely) and so on.

It’s like someone who has the right idea of a good move, but at the wrong time.

Contrast this with Kendall, who makes the right moves at the right times, but fails spectacularly in the execution because he’s an unreliable addict with an addict’s characteristic bad luck. Or Roman, who makes the totally bad moves usually, like with the exploding launch, the attempt to reach Naomi behind everyone’s back etc.

Again… Tom asked Shiv “what’s the chess move here?”
She often knows the right moves, but we normally play chess with a clock. The time matters. Kendall makes moves and ends up knocking over chess pieces. Roman loses the game every time and sulks.

And Connor was interested in politics from a very young age.

Any other thoughts on this timing thing? Where do you think she gets it?

So I've watched the whole thing a couple of times and the pilot multiple times because it's a superb episode. What's been making me scratch my head is the whole kid at baseball game -case and the ending scene of the family home. Not the first or last to bring the topic up I'm sure.

The general agreement seems to be that the family signed the NDA and the kid got the watch Tom gave Logan as a gift. However, having just finished re-watching the episode:

- Giving the family an expensive watch watch would only provide them with an asset that produces nothing unless sold and the ending scene shows the watch on the table

- Logan respects the kid's efforts and looks shamed about Roman's behavior and might want to zap Roman by giving the kid a gift

- The family's apartment looks slightly bling bling with electronics and art and the kid is playing with a console (might be new)

- Most importantly, the tv has a newsreel going on with the first part telling us the average home price in Newport Beach is one million dollars

So I think given these - Logan decided to give the groundskeeper's family the one million dollars and the watch. Getting them to sign a NDA would've been much cheaper so he gave the money out of respect for the kid's effort and because he felt disappointment and shame for his kids. Roman's behavior at the game and Kendall's failure at getting the deal done and showing weakness during the day.

Wonderfully written show. Writing and dialogue was super realistic. It was as if the actors weren't even acting. Unfortunately how accurately the show portrays real life depresses me. In real life there is very little character development. The world is fair to the most powerful, rich, and aggressive. Most of a time being a snake or a suck up will put you on top.

It took me two years with multiple breaks to get through this entire show because I can only stomach a dose of reality sparingly. The ending was the most gut wretching part because of how true the moral of the show holds

I was a little sad to realize that our eldest boy has a lot in common with Billy Evans! Plenty of lines I could see from vintage Ken

’I think, uh, there’s a lot of levels of wealth. My family built a business.’

’There aren’t just plans, there are plans in the works’

’Haven’t been laid in 899 days. Just Pamela Handerson… because I am EXCELLENT at it’

And the BS laser company, the emotional but vague corporate speak… chefs kiss. I do think Billy is a bit darker of a character

She is hot... but I am talking about how the hell does she think she can just work at the company for a couple of months and just become a CEO just like that. It's so stupid how naive she is. Sure she csn stick some words together to form a sentence but she is veryyy greedy and egotistic bitch.

I think it’s good but I don’t think it’s as praiseworthy as a lot of other people make it out to be.

Marketing email I received from Bandit (running apparel company)

Do you enjoy it, it was peak TV. Logan, Greg and Tom deserve A tier objectively but I dislike them it's the reason why they are in B and in F

like imagine your father is the ceo and your own husband want to stole your place after your father told u that you will be ceo and is jealous of your "birthright". you all talk about how she is an horrible and mean person to Tom but Tom never loved her too, they both are terrible for each others

he just wanted to use her as a way to climb the ladder, and the way he treats people lower than him in the system is just terrible (like greg for example).

Also the way Kendal trauma disappear in the ending just to get ceo and the way kendal and roman let the nazis win the elections and destroy the country for their megalomania

but nevertheless, I was so pleased seeing the siblings being together and do Kendal coronation, it was the most wholesome scene but then during the meeting, when I saw how kendall behave, the way he feels superior to everyone in the room when he looks genuinely insane.

I was like Shiv, it's like she is the eye of the watchers yk, and I was rooting for her to say No and fuck him up, like I thought the family could maybe be saved but after this and the way he "hugs" roman by injuring him and pressing his wound instead of trying to be nice about his fair concerns was a big NO for me.