#but then again. like i said. it's how they operate. and roman asking gerri to respect him after all the shit he has pulled? the audacity!!!

[ripclaudia]

rolling my eyes so hard at these posts being critical of the way gerri spoke to roman in the last ep. like bfr she's only getting criticism because her fight was with tumblr sad boy roman roy. 😒

in a way i understand ppl saying that she was being unprofessional but then again when have her conversations with roman ever been particularly professional? they're deep into mixing business with personal, and given that personal is not gerri's greatest strength, it's no wonder that she didn't quite manage to read the situation to her benefit. they've never particularly operated in the area of professionalism and especially considering how gerri has been treated lately and with roman doing something extremely stupid, it's no wonder she might not be acting her most professional, especially when she's having the conversation with roman.

[hageny]

Succession Thoughts: Gerri x Roman

1. Use Somebody. 

With the finale having aired earlier this week, the internet has been buzzing about Gerri’s move to not let Roman know about the deal between Logan and Caroline to let Mattson take hold of the company while nullifying the children’s veto power against their father. Some have read Gerri’s choice as a betrayal against Roman; others felt she did what she should’ve done given that he jeopardized her job. Truthfully, both parties are probably right to a degree, and the truth, in my eyes, is more complicated. Reading this moment only as a choice or a betrayal is neglecting to observe the nuances embedded in Gerri’s choice. The fallout of Roman’s sending the photo was much different than anticipated, and once again viewers are left to decipher what really happened. (The photo moment will likely come up again in future episodes). All we know is both Roman and Gerri survived unscathed, most likely due to their keen ability to slither out of trouble, especially on Gerri’s part. For Gerri, who spent all season trying to persuade Roman to be careful, the upheaval he caused likely cemented her decision to leave him on his own to find his own way. She couldn’t put up with his carelessness anymore, and wasn’t able to open herself enough to properly discuss with him the boundaries and terms of their relationship (her mistake). They both contributed to their own demise, as often happens in relationships, but for Gerri, the threat to her job was one she couldn’t look past. Gerri has said before, “I work for Waystar, not Logan Roy”, but this is not totally true. Who Gerri really works for is herself. She does whatever it takes to make sure she’s secured her own interests; whether that’s moving against Logan or his children is a moot point to her. Really, given my past readings of Gerri, what she did should be no surprise. She wasn’t going to go against Logan’s wishes for what he wanted to do with his own company, and she likely has secured her own position already for the future, and what happened to the children was probably of little interest (especially Kendall and Shiv). It’s been argued that Gerri likely would’ve made a move to help Roman had she been able to, and her desperation in the scene could be read to reflect this, but I don’t know that I believe solely that this is true. What Gerri was also looking for, when she asked Roman, “How does this serve my interests?” was for him to explain to her what it would’ve done for her to help him. She might’ve liked to, but she ultimately couldn’t see a reason or point to, and is cold enough to let him flounder in the aftermath. Did Roman deserve this? Not really. Sure, he boxed himself into a corner by being...well, who he is, but to see the one person you always relied on do nothing to help you must be a wound like no other. Maybe some will disagree, but really, what we know of Gerri’s character more than suggests she’s fine annihilating people and going about her life. She did the same to Kendall in season one without a second thought; she can do the same to Roman. She’s an opportunist, and while Roman brought out her better sides, she blocked him from getting close enough to her to convince her to change her pattern of behavior in their relationship. To be fair, there likely also wasn’t a lot Gerri could’ve done to stop Logan, but she probably could’ve have warned Roman, considering all the times she’s helped him in the past. But now, Gerri is CEO; she’s at the helm, and she’s made it clear that she is thinking in terms of those interests all season; when she told Roman that he needed to think about how things serve his interests earlier on, it was not only advice for him, it was a glimpse into her mindset. That is all Gerri does; Roman does not. He thinks of his father, his siblings, of her, but Gerri doesn’t operate that way. At the end of the day, she thought of herself like she always has, but there is a possibility that the guilt over what she’s done will follow her. Roman’s had to pay for his mistakes; she’ll likely have to pay for her choices in the future. While I can see, from a business standpoint, why Gerri did what she did, it doesn’t negate that she is what she is. The shrug that Gerri threw Kendall in season one after he asked her to talk his father out of giving a speech echoes--visually--the moment she stares at Roman as he kneels before her, pleading for help. With Kendall, helping him didn’t serve her interests; with the children, it didn’t serve them either. The depiction of her in the promotional poster, towering over Roman, proved true, but not in the way we hoped it would. It proved that no matter how close Gerri seems to be to you, in the end, she can’t help but look out for number one. 

2. The Scapegoat. 

A smaller moment in the finale that I haven’t seen talked about was Roman’s recounting the “water pistols in Bali” moment. This is another moment that Roman remembers that one of his siblings--Shiv, this time--doesn’t. When she evinces confusion, he tells her, “When we were all gonna squirt Dad under the canopy? I went in and you fucks left me for dead?” This pattern of behavior in Roman--recounting moments that either no one else recalls or recalls differently--is a clear indicator of something no one else has been able to put their finger on yet, which is narcissistic abuse. As much as I do like Logan’s character, it’s clear that he and Caroline are both narcissists, and in households where both or one parent is, the children are often made to occupy different roles. There is usually a ‘golden child’, a scapegoat’, an ‘invisible child’ and so on; the terms applied to each differ depending on which psychologist you talk to. But what is common is for each child to be treated radically differently, so differently in fact, that they will have vastly different memories of the same occurrence. Their recollection is often fed by their role, so what for one child is a happy experience is for another a trauma. Connor was likely the invisible child (and was a surrogate father of sorts), which explains why he remembers the dog cage incident much differently than Roman, who is the scapegoat. Their home life was made worse by the parent’s divorce, as is made clear during Shiv’s talk with her mother, who tells her bluntly that she “should’ve had dogs” instead. To say such a thing to ones own child--even an adult child--is appalling, but Caroline, so wrapped up in what she perceives as a betrayal by an underaged Shiv (who was ten by her own recollection, thirteen by her mother’s), is totally indifferent to hurting her daughter’s feelings. Really, telling Shiv that she wasn’t cut out for children was probably her way of evening the score: you hurt me, I hurt you. For two narcissistic parents to divorce leaves all the children vulnerable, as it puts them with no barrier between them and their parent’s anger. No home is safe, no move is unmeasured. The parents are always paying attention, weighing, calculating, and the Roy children have come out the way they have largely because of how they grew up. To be clear, this is no excuse for their amoral, poor behavior. They’re adults. They have means and ways to heal, they’ve just chosen not to. But to bring things back to Roman, this analysis of their home life makes it clear why he often misremembers and misconstrues things. For him, what happened to him did happen in the way he says, even if it didn’t literally. He was the proverbial punching bag--figuratively and literally--and the role he occupied growing up has doomed him to remember things everyone constantly denies actually happened. This part of his personality has shaped him into who he is as an adult, and it is really because of his past that he clung to Gerri. Rather than invalidate him, she listened; rather than deny, she tried to understand. This part of her, the nurturing, tender part that he managed to gain access to, is what makes her decision in the finale so devastating to him. As the scapegoat, however, he’s met cruelty before, but it will hurt him more deeply than it would someone else. 

3. Through the eyes of Logan. 

Many people who watch Succession have seemingly come to a point where they would like to see Logan destroyed by his children, and while I can understand that, I do think that there is a lack of empathy toward Logan, and a lack of understanding regarding why he is the way he is. While what he did to his children was reprehensible--letting them know, at the last moment (when they couldn’t defend themselves) that he had decided to let Mattson take over--he says something in this scene that I cannot help but agree with. I think viewing things through Logan’s eyes is a perspective the audience doesn’t take enough. His children are clamoring for answers and understanding, and when Kendall asks, “And what are we supposed to do?”, Logan responds by telling him, “Make your own fucking pile.” I couldn’t help but think that, really, he does have a point. His children have all they have because of him. He pulled himself out of abuse and poverty and created a billion dollar empire, and has spent the last three seasons watching each of them illustrate how none of them are right for the job because they know so little about the world. Logan was able to build Waystar because he understands the world, something he repeats often throughout the series. He asks the infamous ‘price of milk’ question in season two not to be funny, but because, as we see in another episode, his children don’t know how to shop for themselves at a corner store (which they visit on their way to see their mother), much less know the price of milk. For them, those normal things the rest of us have to stay abreast of--because anyone on a fixed income understands that the price of milk moving one way indicates the price of other groceries doing the same--are useless to children whose expectation is that they come into the top seat of a billion dollar company. But Logan runs a media company successfully because he doesn’t see these things as useless knowledge. Sure, he’s now as out of touch as any other billionaire, but he has a keen sense of the world, and his success clearly illustrates that he understands that what may not matter to him matters to others. He’s watched Roman dilly dally in Los Angeles; Shiv declare she wants the top job without doing any of the work; Kendall become so removed from reality that he throws a birthday party where guests enter through a replica of his own mother’s vagina. Logan has searched for a plausible successor and found none, and while one could argue that he never intended to give them the company in the first place, if we’re fair, the kids haven’t really helped themselves in that regard. Roman has done the most work toward self-improvement, but he’s a long way from where he should be. So Logan’s opinion that his children should do something on their own to create their own success is one I have to agree with. In real life, the Roy children are the people the rest of us resent; we slave away for thirty years only to watch them sail in on the coattails that nepotism offered them, and they never have to ‘make their own pile’. They jump into the one someone else created, and swim in cash the rest of their lives while we struggle. So while I totally disagree with the way Logan decided to teach them this, I can also understand why he did it. And I can sympathize with him overall, and I think that while many of the other characters get showered with appreciation, I think some should be given to Logan as well. His keen level of perception, his business sense, and his honesty are born out of his constant climb toward success. He’s no faultless hero, but I think that before we decide he should be killed it might behoove us to take a moment and listen to what he’s said before, and understand why he is the person that he is today. 

AN: As the final episode of Succession leaves us waiting for next year, I wanted to thank all who’ve read my posts and engaged with them. I’ve enjoyed doing them immensely, and I will remain active here, even if there’s not much for me to write on for the time being. As always, I welcome feedback of all sorts, and my inbox is always open. 

[tomwambsmilk]

gobble gobble for the wip post!

Gobble Gobble!!! I'm SO glad you asked about Gobble Gobble, liam, because that is my TomGerri thanksgiving fic and I am VERY attached to it <3

I don't want to give too much away with this one, but the basic premise is - Logan has died, Gerri is chair of the board, Tom is CEO, and Tom and Gerri are in what is more or less a relationship of convenience. Its the first Thanksgiving after Logan's death, and all the Roy siblings end up crashing their apartment, in part because they don't know where else to go, and in part because they've subconsciously transferred their mommy and daddy issues onto Tom and Gerri now that they're running things. Greg, Roman, and Shiv, are all trying to break them up - Greg is jealous of Gerri, Roman is jealous of Tom, and Shiv just strongly dislikes the idea of her ex-husband getting together with her godmother. Greg and Shiv both show up with dates that they think will make Tom jealous - Shiv shows up with a hot young physical trainer that she hopes will make Tom feel inadequate, and Greg shows up with Tim, a management consultant with an MBA from Cornell who looks like a young Colin Firth. (Tom and Tim hit it off immediately). Kendall shows up intending to start shit with Tom, but is so deeply amused by Operation End TomGerri that he forgets about his beef with Tom altogether. Connor is utterly oblivious to what's going on and has an overall lovely time.

Three snippets for this one - two from the beginning and one from towards the end - because I love it so much and I've been working on it forever:

“They’re good pies,” Gerri responded absentmindedly, crossing to the coffee maker on the other side of the kitchen to pour herself a mug. 

“Well, thank you. But it is just the two of us.”

“Uh-huh.” Gerri didn’t look up from the mug she was adding sugar to. Tom moved back towards the oven, crouching down to glance through the door.

“That’s… a big turkey.”

“Uh-huh,” Gerri said again, turning back towards Tom and leaning against the counter. 

Tom straightened up to look at her, arching an eyebrow. “...It is just the two of us, right?”

Gerri took a long drink before saying, “Well, I didn’t invite anyone else. Did you invite anyone else?”

“No. Of course not. Because, as I recall, we’ve spent a decent amount of time talking about how nice it’ll be to have a quiet, adult Thanksgiving, with just the two of us.” Tom crossed his arms and gave Gerri a querying look. 

“Right. Okay. So - no, we’re not expecting anyone else.” She took another drink. “...I do think, though, that it pays to be prepared.”

“Uh-huh.” Gerri was a far better liar than he was, but they’d been sleeping together long enough that Tom knew when something was off. “Prepared for… what, the entirety of the Waystar board to drop by? Because I think we could probably feed them with all this.”

“Well, just… prepared for anything, you know?” Gerri crossed behind him into the living room, patting his arm as she went by. “This is why you should’ve joined the Boy Scouts, Tom.”    

***************

When Tom came back into the living room, wine and beer in hand, Shiv seemed to be deep in the story of how she and Jackson met.

“... So yeah, we’d see each other pretty regularly that way. He helped me tone my calves.”

Tom frowned before he could catch himself, and Shiv quickly added, “Jackson’s a personal trainer.”

“Oh.” That explained the ungodly musculature. He handed them their drinks, and then perched on Gerri’s armrest and draped an arm around her shoulders.  

Shiv blinked when he did that - just a little blink, the kind of thing that would look normal to someone you hadn’t been married to. Then, suddenly, like it was something that had been on her to-do list but she had forgotten to check off, she slid six inches towards Jackson to close the gap between them and wrapped an arm around his waist, leaning into him. He looked surprised, but just wrapped an arm around her in response (and Tom also saw Shiv’s tell-tale twitch when he did it, the discomfort with PDA that had never really abated).  

“So yeah, we’ve been having a lot of fun together. It’s really been great, what with - you know, Jackson’s just got that… youthful stamina, I guess,” she said, with a little smirk, and Tom would’ve had to be excessively stupid not to catch the little dig at his own age and stamina. 

*******************

“Of course.” Tom placed a hand on Greg’s shoulder, and this time, Greg didn't stiffen. They stayed like that for a beat. Tom glanced at Greg, his head still bowed, his face still miserable. He felt something twist in him a bit. What an awful night for Greg. A thought popped into his head, against his better judgment. Should he? No, that would be fucking insane. Still. He knew exactly what Greg had been trying to do, and in for a penny, in for a pound, so:

“You want me to jerk you off, Greg?”

The way Greg jumped and spluttered was itself reward enough for that decision. It was endearing, really, the shocked ‘deer-in-the-headlights’ routine.

“What the fuck, Tom?”

Tom shrugged. “I’m serious. And you’ve had kind of a shitty night, so.”

Greg’s eyes were darting everywhere but at Tom. “What- Tom- I- That’s-”  Tom could've put him out of his misery, but it was infinitely more entertaining to watch him lose his mind. “Fucking what, man?” 

“Gerri and I aren’t exclusive.” Tom threw it out there casually, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

“I’m sorry, what?” Greg went from looking everywhere but at him to staring Tom directly in the eye, slack-jawed. “You- you’re- you’re engaged, dude.”

“Uh-huh. For financial reasons, mostly. Better tax rates and all that. Plus, in the event that some of Waystar’s more… unsavoury history comes out, a husband and wife can’t be compelled to testify against each other, so it seemed like a good strategic move.” 

“Holy shit… what? So you guys are just… you’re not like…” Greg opened and closed his mouth like a goldfish while trying to finish his sentence. “You’re not like… together-together?”

“Don’t be so binary, Greg. You can marry someone for tax reasons and still have great sex with them.” 

“Eugh,” Greg groaned and looks back out at the city skyline. “I don’t - I don’t want to hear about that.” 

Tom shrugs. “Suit yourself. The offer still stands, though. If you want to get off.”

Greg’s jaw clenched at that. “Yeah, I’m not really interested in being some third wheel to whatever fucked-up arrangement you and Gerri have.” 

“Okay. Okay. Let me start again.” Tom takes a deep breath. “I know what you were trying to do tonight Greg.” 

It shouldn’t have been possible, but Greg clenched his jaw even harder. Tom plowed forward anyways. 

“Seriously. First off - Tim, Greg? With an MBA from Cornell? You couldn’t have been more obvious if you painted it on your forehead.” Tom chuckled to himself. “You and your dad really do have similar taste, I guess.” 

“Tom-”

“Sorry, I know, I said I wouldn’t. Sorry. The point is -” Tom had to pause there. What did he want, exactly? 

Against all odds, he was actually happy with his arrangement with Gerri. She was a comfortable housemate, the strategy was good, and the sex was great. He figured he could probably live like that until one of them died and be perfectly satisfied. 

But.

He wouldn't go so far as to say he was in love with Greg. “In love” was one of those phrases you didn't throw around lightly. “In love” had all sorts of connotations that Tom wasn't sure he could apply to his relationship with Greg. But he did love Greg. In some way, on some level, this stupid kid meant the world to him, even though he’d been terrible at showing it.