#i have a lot of thoughts about romangerri and love

[slimepuppied]

it's fascinating to me the way people ( jsc and others ) will use the term "got under her skin" in regards to her feelings for roman. i think it's in part to do with gerri's inability to feel for the sake of emotion. she's the woman in a man's world, if she's kind: she's showing weakness. if she cries or gets angry: she's too emotional. she is so calculated in her emotions, in the way they are displayed and perceived, i think that's the only fitting term, really.

he got under her skin. he chiseled away the mask, and what's devastating about that is he could see her if he knew how to look, but he doesn't. roman has no idea just how much he's affected gerri.

gerri can feel him there beneath her ribs, far too close, and rome doesn't even realize he's done it.

[dorims]

What kinks do u think Roman has?

I just know they’re weird (and I’d still be into them)

so if i have to be honest, ive never really thought about roman's kinks 🥲 HOWEVER you know how he shamed tom for swallowing back his cum after tabs sucked him off?? yeah he's definitely into that and you can't tell me otherwise.

and without further ado! a little brainstorm under the cut <3

tags. VERY SUGGESTIVE, MDNI, an overall masochistic vibe, degradation/praise, allusions to cheating, impact play, mentions of roman's low self-esteem

a/n. psa im not familiar with writing smut and if i gotta be honest im pretty vanilla myself so...do with that what you will LMFAO

masochism

hes a masochist, we been knew

its pretty much the central theme of these hcs too

degradation/praise

so definitely degradation bc its roman, cmon. but for some reason i cant help but think that he's really into being praised too?

could be wrong but i feel like he'd only let himself be praised after he's developed a solid bond with his partner, and it'd probably go from being degraded to a mix of degradation and praise to full praise in some occasions.

if theres not a smooth transition i feel like he would panic and shut himself out. like it feels too intimate or smth.

cuckolding (controversial)

i think he would like it bc it hurts. like his partner sleeping with someone else is kind of like a slap to the face

a situation that has him constantly thinking 'I'm not enough' and that kind of hurt i think he gets off on bc masochism <3

but thats only maybe with the condition he somehow gets the chance to prove to himself and to you that he is better than the person you're sleeping with

OR he's into 'pseudo-cuckolding' so he likes the idea that you COULD go and sleep with someone but you dont, kinda like what happened with grace and the server

SO MAYBE IM WRONG and he would actually hate this but you know, im trynna brainstorm

phone sex (is this even a kink?)

only the sound of your voice and his,

kinda like the romangerri situation LMFAO

because think about it, this way you dont have to actually see him. that would comfort him in some way because of his low self-esteem and self-image issues. that way you can picture anything you want and not be disappointed with the real thing, you know?

i also think that phone sex (or bathroom door sex????) would help him open up until he grows comfortable enough in the intimacy the two of you are building

love how this are supposed to be smut hcs yet im making them slightly angsty

impact play

i think this might be a little self-explanatory, but yes, getting hit in a sexual context turns him on

only when he is receiving ofc

dom/sub dynamics

he's a massive sub and no one can tell me otherwise

its literally on the show TT

ANYWAY, he's probably bratty at first but then just gives in to your every demand because he aims to please

still likes to get on your nerves though, like a lot and i think thats because even when he's been an annoying piece of shit in bed you still take care of him and that reinforces, in his head, that, sure he's being unbearable but that doesn't take away the fact that you care for him and love him, ya know?

also, he would probably call you mommy/daddy at first jokingly but the it kinda sticks??

freud would have a field day with roman roy

OOC BUT FUN TO THINK ABOUT: vanilla sex

hear me out, ik roman's character is pretty much the personification of the words 'kinky mf' but idk

i think vanilla sex would suit roman SOO much. i think for roman to reach the point of having sex with ANYONE there needs to be a established foundation of trust and respect and perhaps love too

and i know sex doesn't necessarily mean love, but we are talking about a man who's definition of love is pain - like love HAS to hurt for it to be love - and undoubtedly he would twist his perception of sex to fit that same definition of love because love is a branch of intimacy and so is sex, you feel me?

i just feel like it would show roman another side of intimacy. all gentle and kind and giggly sex and intimacy doesn't necessarily have to hurt for it to feel good.

like imagine just plain vanilla sex and its banter and laughter and quips and help me lol

vanilla sex and aftercare would solve all his problems, i said what i said /hj

[sunflowerdigs]

So, I can't in good faith complain about the Succession trailers being 90% made up of cut scenes because, if I'm honest, the only reason I'm really upset about that is because of the cut Mencken scenes, which I was really looking forward to (and Tabitha!).

However, I feel like I need to say something about the Tomgreg stuff because it's been bothering me.

As a disclaimer, I hate Tomgreg. Truly. I blocked the tag earlier this year. Imo, it's an example of people taking a relationship based primarily in toxic masculinity and kind of transposing queerness into it as a reaction to the lack of actual queerness on the show. And I hate that tendency a lot. However, I'm also not the arbiter of which dynamics and characters people read as queer. And, clearly, a ton of people disagree with me. And for that reason, the reluctance to call out the marketing team for basically by definition queerbaiting with Tomgreg because they're technically not connected to the writing of the series is...Not Good to me. Because it kinda gives networks carte blanche to do that in the future with actual queer storylines and excuse it by saying that the marketing team wasn't aware of what the writing team were doing, they just wanted to sell a product. I can see a world where queer storylines become more and more cynically used for marketing purposes only, and aren't put into the text of shows or movies (or are added in sloppy, homophobic ways). And that's...not a great outcome.

It's tricky with Succession because it's just such a great show that you won't get very far criticizing anything about it. Black people have criticized its use of rap/hiphop music when there are zero black characters for years and those complaints have mostly fallen on deaf ears. Plus, tomgreg was never going to happen and there's also a really compelling reason for their dynamic drying up (it was 95% about power, not love or genuine caring, and in s4, they got that power).

However, as a closing thought, it's worth considering the huge difference between the way that Romangerri (which is in a similar spot) and Tomgreg were advertised for s4. They deliberately backed off Romangerri - they cooled the advertising for them right down to almost nothing prior to s4. Kieran and JSC haven't done a single interview together, I don't think. And there were almost no shots of them together on the red carpet. And I think they did that because the marketing team knew that falsely advertising a straight couple that straight people were excited about would get them in trouble (with critics who liked that couple, at the very least). However, at the same time, they ramped up the marketing for Tomgreg so hard that I was genuinely worried it might actually happen (Jesse is crazy, you know?). And I think they did that because, at the end of the day, queer feelings aren't particularly real for them. Queer couples and characters exist primarily to add color to the fictional worlds that straight people inhabit. And until that changes...more of this crap is bound to happen. It's a concern when straight people might be disappointed; queer people cannot be disappointed because our existence in fiction is mostly a joke anyway.

I guess my point in writing this is just to say that, although I loathe Tomgreg, I understand the desire for actual queer characters on a show as rare as Succession. I get how powerful that desire can become. And while I'm personally glad that their relationship isn't what shippers may have wanted, I understand also how the marketing for the show exacerbated those wants, and I'm sympathetic.

[gerri-godmother]

20 author questions

tagged by the lovely @badcatholichusband

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 11

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 153,683

3. What fandoms do you write for? Succession

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

This is not therapy — Roman chooses to go see Dr. Kellman on his own, which she identifies as one of his “strengths.”

Once upon a poolside — She knows by the knock that it’s him. That, and she was half expecting him to come crawling to her, a glutton for punishment. What she’s not expecting is to see him already punished: the blood on his shirt, the tear in his suit, the bruise already forming around his left eye. Not again, Logan, she thinks, only to remember that they’d entombed him that afternoon. Just another hurt-comfort fix-it fic immediately following S4E9.

Soft like silk — roman/gerri with twice the silk blouses (my magnum opus)

I know a place — season three of succession but it's Shiv who's weird about Gerri

Something unholy —something about “in costume” put the image of Roman in a priest’s collar in my head and I can’t get it out. A silly, sick, sexy, and heartwarming romp. In response to: Roman/Gerri autumn date. Takes place in a simpler time (season 2). I am going straight to hell.

5. Do you respond to comments? Not really but I would like to start because I love comments and am so grateful to everyone who reads my fic!!

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angistest ending? Honestly I’m not sure how White Ferrari will end, but I’m thinking it will probably be that one. As for existing fics, probably Once upon a poolside, but it’s not even that angsty. I’m all about hurt/comfort on a micro and macro level.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Soft like silk or maybe This is not therapy.

8. Do you get hate on fics? Only one time and it wasn’t even really hate but someone was like “Gerri’s too mean” and I was just like “uh-huh.” because that’s how I like her.

9. Do you write smut? If so what kind? I pretty much ONLY write smut lol. The kinky kind??

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? Yes I love them. Honestly my Hacks one I think is the craziest. One day I’ll finish that. And my Veep.

11. Gave you ever had a fiction stolen? No! But Soft like silk has inspired some stuff and honestly that counts for like a billion kudos

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? no

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? no but I would! hmu!!

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship? oh god this is so hard — I really am just absolutely obsessed with bisexual icon Gerri Kellman and will pair her with anybody (even her husband Baird!) but Shiv/Gerri I think

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Meditations in an emergency. I am going to finish I know a place one day but there’s just a lot of pressure (from myself) to make it good (plus I have to rewatch the end of S3 to put myself back in that place/time.

16. What are your writing strengths? kink/smut, dialogue, accuracy to the source material, character complexity (according to my wife who betas everything)

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Self indulgent background on the Kellman family, commas

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? my French isn’t good enough

19. First Fandom you write for? Sherlock (I used to write Irene Adler/Kate the maid, so that’s telling of a number of things)

20. Favorite fic you’ve ver written? probably This is not therapy because I’m a therapist in real life and it was fun to just disregard literally every single element of what that’s actually like and have fun with the idea of Gerri being Roman’s therapist

tagging anybody who wants to do this including my IRL wife @thegables and romangerri folks like @catherineflowers29

[hugh-lauries-bald-spot]

tv show/movie ask meme: Succession!

favorite male character:

Greg, because I feel like he's already just such a weird dude but he's got sooo much potential going into season 4 to be even weirder and worse (/pos)

favorite female character:

❤️💞🥰💖 Gerri ❤️💞🥰💖, because well you see MILFS,, and hotness aside she's just so sarcastic and like deadpan and funny but also just so ruthlessly professional ("how does it serve my interests")

least favorite character:

Logan's already basically a free space so I'm gonna go with Karl Muller he's just annoying to me and I dislike when he comes onscreen for some reason,,,

prettiest character:

❤️💞🥰💖 Gerri ❤️💞🥰💖

do I really need to explain myself further?

(gif credit as far as I know goes to @gerrikillallmen if that's incorrect please tell me-)

funniest character:

Ooh this is tough cause I wanna say Tom cause he's strange and insane and pathetically in love, but then again Roman cause he's strange and insane and pathetically in love, but then again Greg cause he's s-

favorite season:

Season 3 because all the storylines are just culminating to and end and it's so fascinating to see how it happens, all of the dynamics are at their peak, theres the surface conflicts and the underlying conflicts that attack you when you least expect it, the betrayal, the love it's all just so tragic (and COOL)

favorite episode:

Safe Room (2x04) : because its silly and weird and the tomgreg is insane, but also the Roman storyline is hilarious and if I'm not mistaken he calls Gerri "mommy" in this episode which is always appreciated

favorite romantic ship:

Tomgreg (I'm so sorry romangerri) because it's just so Roman (not as in the country itself as it is today, I've never been to Rome) but as in just look at the series of events (SPOILERS AHEAD):

-> man proposes to beautiful wife with a lot of power

-> he meets his girlfriend's cousin

-> he later proposes to his girlfriend

-> his wife is seeing other men

-> the cousin tries to warn him, he won't hear it

-> his wife admits to this after their wedding night

-> while she sees other people he is allegedly allowed to do the same thing but she intervenes not so subtly when he has the chance

-> their love languages grow more and more incompatible

-> he and the his wife's cousin form a weird bond (likened by the man to that of Nero and Sporus, wherein Nero killed his wife and married Sporus, the man says "I would castrate you and marry you in a heartbeat", meaning he would need to kill his wife first, which uh-)

-> the man eventually becomes loyal more-so to his wife's cousin than to his wife and betrays her to leverage himself and his assistant to a higher position

favorite family ship:

I love the dynamic between Shiv and Roman they're just So Siblings and I love when they gang up on Ken it's peak comedy.

favorite friend ship:

I know they were together but like Roman and Tabitha were great and I thought their relationship was more "best buds-y" (not that sex is a requirement for a romantic relationship) they just gave of more platonic romance than anything else and I thought it was sweet and funny for them

worst ship:

I don't know if this is real or not but I've seen some hints that some people ship Ken x Greg but they're related so that's a BIG no for me. I'm also not crazy about Tom x Roman or Tom x Ken but that's just personal preference I don't have beef with those ships themselves and anyone who does like them do your thing go off be free.

Sorry this is so long 😬

[raviposting]

Ghosts and Succession

Yayy thank you bb <3

Ghosts:

Favourite character: JAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY. My other favorites are Thor and Sas though <3

Funniest character: This is really hard, a lot of them are really funny but for different reasons/in different ways! I think I'm gonna go with Hetty? Her delivery is just always on point and I think a lot of my laughing-out-loud moments have come from her.

Best-looking character: BIG tossup for me between Jay, Thor, and Sas lol

3 favourite ships: Sam/Jay <3 <3 <3 After that I'm fairly neutral, though I've warmed up to Thor/Flower.

Least favourite character: UHHHH let's say Ari

Least favourite ship: I'm again, neutral on fairly every other ship. I guess the one I'm least open to would be like. Does anyone ship Thor/Hetty? If they do then that one a;lsdkf;aljsfasjf

Reason why I watch it: It makes me happy <3 I love this little family and this is a good fun 20-25 minutes of dopamine

Why I started watching it: I think it was just because I knew Utkarsh and Rose were in this show as the mains LMAO

Succession:

Favourite character: Kendall but like, in the case of the people who I want to see happy, Jess & Stewy a;sldkjaslkfj

Funniest character: This is actually REALLY hard because there's a lot of humor in this. I think Connor always consistently makes me howl though.

Best-looking character: My god Stewy

3 favourite ships: Kenstewy, Conwilla (my toxic trait is that I DO hope these crazy kids will make it) and uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Rava/beating Ken to death with a hammer (genuinely not sure? I would have said Tomgreg but I'm not a Tomshiv cringefail marriage appreciator so asdjfkl)

Least favourite character: Logan :)

Least favourite ship: God it's so hard there's so many asdfjkl ships. Let's say RomanGerri in terms of what's kind-of-canon in the show

Reason why I watch it: There's like. Something really interesting in seeing this tragedy and the cycle of abuse repeat itself and seeing these horrible people who are just garbage but seeing things that make you empathize and even relate to them. Like seeing people with your specific traumas and seeing them be the worst possible versions of themselves and not having to worry about them having a happy ending or not is like. Weirdly very cathartic I think?

Why I started watching it: I thought it was a business sitcom where Kendall was the gay son who recently came out lmao

Send me a TV series!

[navree]

Tell us about your journey through The Magnus Archives!

The year, 2020. The month, May. Springtime in Boston, which means that it's already ten million degrees and humid and I, already intimately aware that working on a political campaign means that you're either gonna be making phone calls or entering data (so much fucking data) am using my limited free time, given that Circumstances meant I was in my apartment at all times, to watch shows and whatnot while on break. I finish my rewatch of seasons 1-3 of The Originals (given that they're some of the best television the CW ever put out and seasons 4 and 5 suck ass anyway) and am looking for new content.

Meanwhile, my friend has been listening to The Magnus Archives, mostly just to send me clips of Gerry and Gertrude (makes sense, they were a big RomanGerri during season two of Succession) and, given that this friend already has a track record of getting me to watch shows that they like, I decide, why not? Why not give it a shot? After all, I like supernatural stuff, and I like workplace vibes, and I even heard that there was some boss dude a lot of people like to talk about in various different ways, based on the little amount of content I've seen on Tumblr. So, I listen to one episode, remember that I am a giant scaredy-cat who currently lives alone with all my family across the whole country, and decide not to listen to this show once it got dark out (Anglerfish freaked me out, OK?) . This didn't necessarily last, one because once the time change happens in MA it stays light pretty late, and two, because honestly after the first few episodes the show stopped being scary and I didn't mind listening to it in the nighttime.

So anyway I finished season 1 and 2 in literally one single week. I'm not even kidding. I started the show May 1, got to Elias killing Leitner on May 7. And granted my primary thoughts were mostly "I like Elias" and "season 2 Jon is a fucking nightmare" with a sprinkling of "I wanna know more about the Lukas family" (anyone who knows me knows this isn't a surprise), but I'm still really surprised I was plowing through it that fast. And then i completely stopped listening to it, because the campaign was ramping up in the summer months and it slipped away from me.

It's now January of 2021, I'm living at home with my parents for a couple months before school starts back up and honestly a bit bored out of my skull because my parents' primary residence at the time was in Carmel, CA and my GOD is there nothing to do there except for the aquarium (I love it there but it's true). And I decide to give TMA another shot since the final season is winding down anyway. Plow through the first two seasons again, most thoughts still the same, get to season 3 and start liking it, meet Peter Lukas and decide he's immediately the best character, which is still true, season 4 only reinforces that fact, and then slowly make my way through season 5 because I, uh, did not care for it. Also, true story, I've never actually listened to episode 200, cuz when it came out I was at the salon, so I just read the episode transcript on my phone (it was Fine).

I still work on political campaigns, by the by, and I honestly put on early season TMA when I have to do data entry (getting through season 2 is always a bit of a struggle because I love Jon but my God is he such a fucking nightmare that season, I just wanna shake him). Also, to be completely honest, any time I relisten to season 4, I just skip and skip until I get to the Peter scenes, since again, best character and the only one I really care about in that season.

[catelyngrant]

Sucession and your favourite Star Trek

succession:

the character i least understand: interesting! they're all so foreign to me in so many ways, but they also all feel so well-developed that i do understand most of what drives them. greg, maybe? just bc greg is the last character i ever really want to spend time thinking about. interactions i enjoyed the most: romangerri, of course, but runners-up include anything with all of the siblings and the rare but wonderful shiv & gerri interactions. oh! and willa w/ any of the family members was almost always gold. the character who scares me the most: it's got to be logan, right? the character who is mostly like me: oh god, i hope none of them. rava, perhaps, if i may be so bold. hottest looks character: gerri alert! one thing i dislike about my fave character: she works for logan roy, which...is a pretty big black mark tbh! one thing i like about my hated character: he died! a quote or scene that haunts me: so so so many but, apart from the obvious "i could have got you there" and "i am good at my job", there's a whole different level of pain now to the kendall/shiv "you'll take care of me, right? / i don't know what i would be for" scene. a death that left me indifferent: i mean...mo, maybe? the waiter kid was mostly a plot point but it was effective, and logan, obviously...not a lot of major deaths. a character i wish died but didn’t: i would not have complained if greg died. my ship that never sailed: they sailed! they even flew a little. (beyond them...karolina/literally any woman.)

tng/picard:

the character i least understand: worf, maybe? warrior spirit is not my thing. i support him though! interactions i enjoyed the most: apart from picard/crusher, i was always delighted with any beverly/deanna crumbs we got. i thought ro was fascinating and loved her stuff with picard. mostly, though, i just love the whole bridge crew and any scenes where they're all together just being buds makes me so happy. the character who scares me the most: vadic was fucking terrifying. the character who is mostly like me: this is hard but maybe picard, just bc i, too, would hijack a ship to go to beverly crusher's side 20 years after she ghosted me if she asked me to looking like that. hottest looks character: doctor beverly howard crusher, who grows hotter with each passing year. one thing i dislike about my fave character: she's often guided by (understandable!) fear, to her own detriment and that of others. one thing i like about my hated character: i don't think there are any characters i actually hate. a quote or scene that haunts me: the entirety of the "seventeen seconds" reunion scene. "we both knew we were at an end. "i didn't." / "what might i have been? a father...a husband." / "i lost my parents, a husband, then my son wesley, all to the same stars that own you!" i'm gonna take this scene to my GRAVE. (and, obviously, the ending of attached aka my villain origin story.) a death that left me indifferent: data having like four death scenes definitely eased the impact over time. a character i wish died but didn’t: no one that i can think of! my ship that never sailed: beverly/any woman. she deserved that, and so did i.

[tinylilvalery]

Very interesting thoughts. I would counter with positions of power and abuse of power. With romangerri it's very muddy.

From Roman's perspective I think that he's always been intimidated of her and believes Gerri is in charge and the one with power in their relationship. This is exciting to him because Roman enjoys such a dynamic cos in a Freudian way it reminds him of his relationship with his father as well as is his mother, both incredibly powerful, relationships not at all straightforward (in terms of communication), and never quite knowing where he stands while still believing there's an underlying affection under all of the games. The position of power he's in as Logan's son is something he's not even aware of in regards to Gerri cos it's 1. It's always just been part of his identity. And 2. He believes she can hold her own against him and could put him in his place at any time - which is a mix up on his part because he only obliges to this when it either aligns with his motives or when it's in a sexual context, which means it's fetishistic for him and when it extended beyond that context and his motivations, he punished her for it by Firing her.

However, in terms of this power, from Gerri's perspective it's a different story. Gerri's part of The Old Guard, meaning she's done a lot of shit (defs not all good) to rise up in power at Waystar and to keep that position. In season 4 she's considering becoming CEO after Logan's death. Meaning Gerri is both very driven by power and she's also been close enough to know Logan and his kids pretty well.

Roman started coming onto Gerri and pursuing her despite her knocking him back multiple times and trying to remain professional. For Gerri it's two things: what could she do knock back her boss' son without falling out of favour with Roman or Logan? To gain an enemy out of either is dangerous which was only proven when Logan found out about them via Roman's dick pic and proceeded to have her fired, and then also making an enemy out of Roman who also fired her out of upset and revenge for her not kissing his ass and comforting him (I'm not saying it was premeditated revenge, he clearly only did it in the moment and instantly regretted it and wanted to roll back on it). Neither Logan or Roman are people to make enemies of because both have fickle loyalty and make rash decisions based on emotions (behaviour also seen in Ken and Shiv). So that's the abuse of power from Roman's part. Gerri couldn't really say no to him, and when she did he kept pursuing anyway.

It is unfair to say Gerri didn't encourage it at times. She did, because as I said, Gerri loves power and is happy to do a lot of morally questionable things to both maintain and gain it. If Gerri could have one sibling close to her and under her thumb, a sibling that she wanted to mentor for CEO one day, then that means she'd remain VERY close to power and would have considerable influence to it and be in quite a stable position. We know there is a fondness from Gerri to Roman and a wish to be his mentor as said by Jean. She truly did see potential.

You could say she took advantage of Roman, who a lot of people in the fandom victimise constantly and never hold him responsible for his own actions. Poor little helpless baby that doesn't know what he's doing and is just taken advantage of everyone around him. Or you could say that Gerri took advantage of Roman's abuse of power (being the son of her all powerful boss) over her (constantly pursuing her despite rejections) and tried to make something good come out of it (a closer relationship with someone of such power, someone she could mentor and get to CEO and lead her to more power). Again I'm not saying there's never any fondness between Roman and Gerri, but ultimately what Succession comes back to with so many of its pairings is power struggle and imbalance and abuse of that power (ie: Tomshiv, Tomgreg, Carolinelogan to name a few off the top of my head).

So one hand you can say Gerri encouraged Roman (and remove him from most of the blame for his own pursuit of her) by having those sexual interactions with him where she didn't physically do anything to him but knew he was getting off on being degraded and subjugated. And on another you can say that Gerri wasn't really in a position to be able to refuse Roman. She tried to refuse him multiple times and he kept pursuing her in that way. And so she had to make something good out of the situation and use it to get more power.

I guess the question I have is if you remove the context of them essentially being coworkers at Waystar (like, let's imagine Roman never wanted anything to do with Waystar and didn't work there), would Gerri have bothered with Roman at all? If there was no gain for her at Waystar and no threat of power (Roman being her bosses son), would she have had any interest? Would she have amused his notions? If there was no system of power and power abuse there, would Roman have been interested in Gerri and would Gerri have even entertained it in the first place?

Succession Thoughts: Gerri x Roman 

1. Love’s A Losing Game.

I finally have a chance to touch on the scene between Roman and Gerri, and, as usual, my thoughts may be a bit controversial, but here we go. When we see them again, Roman is propositioning Gerri for advice after having fired her in the last episode, and Gerri rebuffs him with a firm, “No.” This seems to shock Roman, who then quickly plunges into damage control, attempting to cajole her and convince her his firing of her wasn’t real. As he puts it, “Dad fired people all the time. I was just feeling kind of fire-ish.” I can understand the logic behind Roman’s statement because, if one recalls in Season 1, Logan fired Frank, and, shockingly, Frank came back to Waystar and to Logan again anyway later on. Even Gerri was shocked by this, to which Frank replied, “Baby needs shoes, moth to a flame […]”. This moment in Hunting between them sort of sets us up for what Gerri does in Tailgate Party by refusing to return, but again, Roman had seen the Old Guard kicked so many times he naturally thought Gerri wouldn’t permanently abandon him. Sadly, he thought wrong, and she has firmly–and gladly–removed herself from the picture. Most of the discourse online has cheered Gerri on, saying Roman got what was coming to him, and, to degree, I can agree with this. However, Gerri says something interesting that I’ve seen no one comment on which is the line about his dick pics: “[…] I will sue and I will go public with the many, many pictures of your genitalia that I have in my possession.” This struck me as quite pertinent because many fans debated about Roman’s sending of the dick pic in Season 3, wondering whether the one he sent his father was the only one, whether when Gerri asked him to stop sending, “the items”, she had been receiving photos before. This confirms that Gerri had received photos of Roman’s private parts before, and, until the moment she took the CEO spot, likely entertained his proclivity for sending them the same way she engaged in his other kinks. This brings me to my point, which is, did Roman deserve for Gerri to walk out on him? Sure, to a degree. He treated her poorly several times this season, and expected loyalty in return, which was foolish of him. However, was he the only one in the wrong? Not in the least. What many seem to conveniently forget when discussing their relationship is that Gerri willingly entered into a pseudo-romance with him, dancing the dance and leading him along as much as he led her. She was no virginal ingenue out to sea with a predator, she was a willing participant in their relationship, and she is as much responsible for its dissolution as he is. Her inconsistent communication with him in Season 3–her vague outlining of what was appropriate, her pulling back suddenly without any real clear sit-down conversation–is largely what led Roman to send her the photos. He even says to her, “I’m not so sure, I feel like you do want them, but you’re being kind of typically minxy.” Of course, she did seriously tell him to stop, but us fans remained confused through the run of the season like Roman did, and so I can’t help but sympathize with him now. He knew better than to send the photos and sent them anyway, and Gerri knew better than to enter into a relationship with her boss’s son and then turn around and throw the responsibility for it’s destruction in his face as though he was the only villain in the story. I am prepared to get a heap of criticism for this opinion, but I still stand by it. There’s something about the endless backing of Gerri and lack of actual critique of her actions that rubs me wrong. I do, however, still hope for some sort of turn in their relationship, naïve as that may seem, because, truly, they were much better together than apart. They were a more powerful team when they worked alongside each other, and to see the show just throw it all away feels cheap. I am interested to hear what others think about this scene, and, of course, discussion is always welcome, whether you agree or disagree with me. 

AN: I just wanted to add a quick thank you to all who have read and commented on my writings so far. As always I like hearing everyone’s thoughts, and I like how honest people are in the replies. Makes life more fun. 

[ripclaudia]

hi! ok i was thinking about roman and gerri (as one does) and wanted to see what others think so i’m sharing my tinfoil hat theory here if that’s cool! i feel like there’s so much speculation about why gerri indulges roman and i’m a believer that she’s genuinely fond of him, often likes his company, enjoys their “encounters” etc. but i was also considering the idea that part of why she’s so close to him (and also lenient and understanding of his horrible behavior) is out of a sense of guilt? like there’s this angle to their relationship where she’s known the siblings since they were kids, seen how logan treats them, often stood by as they’re mistreated and stayed loyal to logan anyway and i think it’s possible there’s some level of shame about that. like an underlying guilt for a) the horrible things she’s done working for waystar and b) the abuse she’s seen occur to the children and within the family. maybe this is totally off-base but i could see her way of dealing with that being choosing one of the kids (one she already has some amount of affection for) and taking him under her wing, acting as a mentor, comforting presence, sexual outlet, etc. and maybe she has a hard time totally cutting ties w/ roman when he ignores her boundaries because she feels some responsibility for the person he’s turned into? i’m saying this as someone who adores both gerri and roman as characters but also of course they’re both morally bankrupt and i think that’s part of what makes it so interesting. i’m super curious to hear your thoughts! and it’s cool if you think this is totally wrong lmao

hi! it's absolutely okay to share this here, there's nothing i love more than hearing people's thoughts on roman, gerri or romangerri!! especially when the theories are super interesting, i have to say straight away that i love how your brain works.

it's an interesting point that gerri might have some level of underlying guilt or shame about the things she has done and she has witnessed but i personally don't feel like it'd be something that would lead her to mentor one of the kids. i think that she is very good at compartmentalizing and separating her work life from her personal life and the roys have been firmly part of the work life. when working, she is the stone-cold killer bitch and i think that she is self-serving enough to think that she's just doing her job (re. the horrible things she's done for waystar) and that it's not her place to intervene (re. the roy kids). i'm kind of reminded of the sin cake eater speech from 1.04.

i also don't think she consciously regrets the things she has done or hasn't done so for me, it's not guilt that drives her to mentor roman or be more lenient with him. you mentioned responsibility which is something i see working here, though in a different context: gerri is the authority figure in their relationship and i think she feels responsible for the direction their relationship has taken. so not exactly responsible for the person roman has turned into but rather for the state of their relationship, in a way?

your theory is absolutely valid though, i personally just see things differently! i see gerri's interest in roman starting as something self-serving and mostly purely professional, which then gets complicated by genuine fondness for him and obviously by introducing the sexual aspect to their relationship. for me the fondness she has for him is the key player in why she's so lenient with him, not exactly guilt. and also the fact she knows he's a little bit fucked up.

this was super interesting to think about! i haven't spent time thinking about guilt in this context and it was really cool to think about your perception of the situation. it's so nice how people have different reads and interpretations of the relationship between characters! if u have any follow-up thoughts or questions or commentary or anything feel free to send them in whenever <3

[pynkhues]

[succession spoilers!! ] hi! you’re probably going to get a lot of asks but i just wanted to know what you thought of all the romangerri mess! i literally was wondering when all this was going to come to a boiling point and i screamed when roman sent that text. ik it will forever damage logans view of roman and specially after romans winning streak all season but im more worried for gerri. i think its very interesting that logan tells roman hes disgusting when logan is openly having and a affair w kerry w an even bigger age gap and power imbalance. ik gerri fully knew what she was getting into but it made me cringe more knowing she was trying to pump the brakes w roman for a while and it just exploded. Where do u think that leaves them? i personally think theres no turning back for them and i hope gerris role isnt completely sidetracked now that we’re seeing more of her! sorry for the essay!

Hi! Mess, anon!!!! M e s s !!!!!!!! I think the noise I made when Logan saw the dick pic could only have been heard by certain animals, haha.

This show loves burying grenades to blow up later, and I love that this one has imploded, but man, the impact. I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting, but to see Gerri hit so badly as she was trying to pump the brakes on everything is a bigger blow than I was braced for.

It kind of hits even harder, because Roman's spent so much of this season actively eroding his relationships with his siblings to stay in Logan's good graces. In many ways, Gerri's his lifeline not just professionally, but personally (and I actually think him sending the dick pics and clinging to their connection as aggressively as he has been is likely in no small part due to that sibling estrangement – he's on his own right now, and he's desperately seeking connections with people in the broader family).

I'm not sure if they're past the point of no return – especially if Roman goes to bat for Gerri's job in the finale, which I suspect he will – but I do think Gerri's going to take a very big step back. Gosh, she told Roman in 3.04 that the reason she's where she is is because she hasn't let things get messy. This entire situation with Roman? It's really, really messy.

It's fascinating to me too how Logan responded. Both Brian Cox and J Smith Cameron have talked in interviews about Logan and Gerri having had a thing~ in the past, which I imagine is partially responsible for Logan's vitriolic reaction to the situation. It sort of makes sense to me too in the context of how Logan still thinks of his children as, well, children; and him calling Gerri a million years old when she's clearly younger than him (and he's boning Kerry, as you said!!) feels a part of that. For him, she was a contemporary he fucked around with a long time ago. I think for Logan, he feels his age in it, or rather, his age in Roman being a grown man, and as we all know very well, Logan doesn't like feeling his age, haha.

What all this means for the finale at this stage, I have no idea, but I don't think things are looking pretty for any of them.

[reasoncourt]

unhinged thought hours: Rome's certain that if he and Gerri got married their first dance would be to "Sex and Candy", for a lot of sappy reasons but also because she didn't crush his burner phone with her heel when she found out it was his ringtone for her like she did when it was Mrs Robinson which is uggh hot and also because he thinks its hot when she rolls her eyes and the combo of indie music and singing along to "mama this surely is a dream" in her face is guaranteed to make her do so

There’s a lot to unpack here. But my brain is rattling with the visual of gerri crushing Roman’s burner phone with her heel. Like A) that’s hot and B) why does he have a burner phone? Is this a potential romangerri corporate espionage arc? I love it

Now I’m gonna have to assume gerri let Mrs Robinson play out before she broke the phone because the chord progression in that song is one of my favourites and it would be pretty tasteless of her to not like the song itself. And we know gerri has taste. So we gotta assume she breaks roman’s phone on principle but she knows the song’s a vibe. She recognises this. So true of her.

But anon you’re actually so right that roman would definitely identify sex and candy with gerri

i assume she’d be exasperated so she would 100% roll her eyes and of course roman thinks this is hot.

Honestly this is one of the most big brained asks I’ve ever received. I’m still wondering about the burner phone but the mystery of it makes the whole thing all the more compelling. I love your mind

[thelittlecoughsomewhere]

Sorry, don't want to start discourse, everybody is entitled their opinions and views regarding specific characters. I don't want to come off as an asshole or hurt anyone.

The fact that (in my experience, which could be totally anecdotal) tomgreg fan blogs tend to have more nuanced, well-thought-out and more sympathetic views on shiv than blogs centered around romangerri or roman or kendall was a big surprise for me.

Normally there's a well known phenomenon that the woman who is an obstacle for a male slash pairing is hated by those shippers. With Shiv, who is emotionally abusive to Tom, it should be expected (and even understandable) that people who are emotionally invested in Tom's character despise her.

But in my experience that isn't the case with tomgreg shippers.

I love hanging out around a lot of tomgreg blogs (even though it isn't my main succession ship) and often times I find opinions or analyses about Shiv I totally agree with.

[reasoncourt]

Agree with all your thoughts on Logan/Tom and even more so on your analysis of Logan's attitude towards the kids and why it would be a good authorial choice to kill one of the kids off. But consider this: the most tragic would be Pinky. With the other two to an extent he expects it. Ken is a junket, Roro came out wrong. But Pinky is as brilliant as he could have hoped, she has potential, she has always pretended to be stable, she's the fiercest, the coldest, the most like him.

Love these thoughts. I would say that I don't know that you can really 'expect' the death of a child - Ken being a junkie doesn't make his death less impactful or tragic and I don't know how Roman 'coming out wrong' translates to him being likely to die or to Logan expecting it. I think any of the four dying would affect Logan equally. However, there is definitely a lot of appeal in how very King Lear Shiv dying would be.

But here's some reasons why it wouldn't (imo) work.

Shiv is basically the only main female character (there’s Gerri but her character is tied up with Roman whereas Shiv is more her own character). The show can’t really kill off its main female character. I mean it could but... it would leave the show feeling very unbalanced imo.

It would overpower the narrative, i think. I.e., Shiv dying would have to be given equal weight in Logan’s arc and in Tom’s arc. The show would stop being succession and start being about Shiv which (purely in my opinion) would be really unsatisfying. Also, Kendall is the main character, so it would be hard to make it make sense - you would have to take most of the focus off him in order to deal with how Logan and Tom reacted to losing Shiv. If it were Connor or Roman, on the other hand, everyone in the show has the same level of relationship with them (if that makes sense) so it would be much cleaner to deal with and it would make sense to still focus on Ken.

Shiv is a key part of tomgreg’s dynamic. If the show loses her then it takes away from two of its most interesting dynamics (tomgreg and tomshiv). If the show lost Roman or Connor, it gains an interesting element imo (so long as there’s no more than one season left).

There’s way more foreshadowing for Roman

I just think there’s a really interesting parallel to be had with Kendall. Roman is the little brother who Kendall wanted to protect in Argestes and Roman dying would feel like a failure to Ken in the same way Rose dying seems to feel like a failure to Logan.

There’s so much more tomshiv to explore so i think killing off shiv would be unsatisfying. On the other hand, romangerri and conwilla could be given more development or they could be cut off at s3 and I don’t think it would be unsatisfying in the same way (if it were dealt with properly).

Idk, these are all just random thoughts.

[pynkhues]

Hi!! i really wanted to know your thoughts on the culmination of romans arc!! i definitely didnt expect him to stick with his siblings even w logan staring him down and promising a place for him in the company after selling. Even though logans never gonna choose his children over himself, i think him trying to get roman back on his side, demonstrated that ultimately he favored roman and it was never gonna be kendall or shiv. Or it could just have been that logan thought roman was easier to crack lol. I really liked the romangerri bit at the end with gerri essentially siding w logan bc it was best for her and the company, w no loyalty to roman (as she should) and his reaction was very interesting. Also what did you think abt the conversation between logan and roman on the way to the reunion w matsenn, could that have alluded to at the very least non straight roman? I also feel like that conversation and shivs comments leaned very heavily on his mommy issues and could also explain his mountain of sexual issues and his fixation and relationship w gerri. i’ve been dying to know what u thought!!

Hi! Thank you, anon, and oof, I loved Roman's arc across the season and especially I loved how different it was from Kendall and Shiv's fall from grace in s1 and s2 respectively.

I think the show does an incredible job generally about the different ways the Roy siblings have internalised and externalised their father's abuse, while still allowing for certain similarities. In so many ways, s3 re-emphasised that with Kendall and Shiv being a sort of dark mirror to each other, and I think it had this wonderful effect narratively of while the two of them were so fixed on reflecting each other, Roman and Connor both got to grow and contort and really develop and regress in their siblings' blindspots.

By that, I mean there was this sort of space opened up by Kendall being ousted and Shiv being on the backstep and both of them still only viewing each other as competition. That newly opened space gave Roman and Connor the room and the opportunity to step up. I think s4's likely to really drum that home with Connor, but for s3, I think we saw what Roman's capable of (for better and for worse) when he's given both guidance and room out of his siblings' shadow, something he hasn't had since - - well. Maybe ever (or at least since Kendall was in rehab).

I was so nervous going into that last scene in the finale, because I was the same as you! I thought there was a risk thatt he'd betray them (especially with him and Kerry being colour-matched!), but I actually think it makes a lot of sense that he wouldn't. Jesse talked a bit in the Controlling the Narrative segment that it was feeling the weight of support from his siblings that let Roman stand his ground, which I think you can really feel in the scene, but I also think there's this interesting layer to it too where the show's really established two things about Roman. The first is that Roman has really good intuition in a way that none of his other siblings do, and the second is that Roman learns in a way that none of his other siblings do.

Roman's greatest strength is his ability to - - mmm, not shapeshift exactly, because I don't think that's what Roman does, but read people enough to know how to accomodate them and play to their personalities and their interests. He does it with Lawrence as far back as 1.06, and it's a skill we've seen develop across season 2 and season 3, but, importantly, one he really grew confidence in over the back half of s3. He's learnt to trust his instincts because he's increasingly realised his instincts are right.

Add that to the fact that Roman takes away lessons when things blow up in his face (which hilariously neither Kendall nor Shiv do), and I think that final scene felt so authentic to who Roman is. He had both gut instinct telling him not to trust his father, and the benefit of hindsight. He's seen exactly how Logan's gone back on his promises to Kendall and Shiv, he's seen that Logan's word only holds it's meaning in the minute he says it. That it doesn't hold under it's own weight, and when faced with Logan's dishonesty, Roman had instead this immediate and brutally naked honesty between him, Kendall and Shiv to fall back on, and right then? There? That mattered a lot.

And as for Logan and Roman's conversation on the boat heading to Matsson – yeah! I actually kind of love how ambiguous the show is being about it, haha, and I think Shiv hit the nail on the head in the car where she said Logan thinks there's something wrong with Roman. I don't know if Logan even necessarily actually thinks he's gay, especially given what just happened with Gerri – in fact, I think there's probably an argument to be made that Logan's latched onto homophobic insults because at least being gay is something he understands over not being able to have sex. If Roman's fucking men, at least he's fucking, and there are ways around it. Not being able to have sex at all, especially to a guy like Logan, I think signals to him that Roman's effectively broken, something put into even starker relief when compared to his other children who have all got very active sex lives (albeit all of them with uhhhhh dysfunction / baggage / manic obsessive issues attached to said sex lives, haha).

As for Roman himself, I do think he's not straight, but I think it's really open to interpretation at this point what that means and I don't expect the show to ever clarify. I do think a lot of his issues stem though from a mix of insecurity and inadequacy complexes, anxiety and being desensitised to sex acts (and as a result attracted to more extreme things) as a side effect of being terminally online. What do you guys think?

[catelyngrant]

😈🧠💻

😈 Is there anything you enjoy doing that you think your readers hate? I definitely can go down dark, no-happily-ever-after paths. I've only written a couple of fics that are really "no happy ending possible" stories but I write a lot that are bittersweet, heavy on the bitter. I don't know why that feels like the most natural route for me a lot of the time!

🧠 What’s an idea you have that you can’t quite call a WIP yet? I've got a couple, always. On the romangerri front I've got an entire spreadsheet lmao but the main two that I a) spend countless hours thinking about and b) will absolutely never write are, right now, the Damages/Succession crossover and the AU where Gerri delicately extracts herself from the 2x04 phone call and their relationship doesn't go down a sexual path (at that point), and imagining how that partnership might develop in that world and how it might impact late-s2 and s3.

From a Hacks perspective, I really like the idea of using the email as a throughline that explores Deborah's growth. I initially imagined it as a gifset (paralleling the lines from the email with moments that show the opposite, like the line about being a shitty mother contrasted with a sweet DJ/Deb moment, or the line about Ava's asthma attacks paralleled with Deborah threatening the doctor in 1x06), and I would still love to see that in gif format, but as s2 has progressed I've thought more about having each section be a little drabble. It's still pretty vague, though, and idk if I'll get to it. If someone wants to give it a shot, please do!

💻 Do you do research for your fics? What’s the deepest dive you’ve done? Does reading fic count as research? I wrote ghosts in the attic when I'd seen a grand total of maybe a dozen complete SVU episodes, but I'd read SO much fic at that point that I think I pulled it off decently in terms of characterization (though I definitely think I'd change some things now that I've seen 1.0). And then I definitely did a bit of minor research for most of my canon-set ASOIAF fics, just things like herbs meant for first aid and the meanings of flowers and things like that. The Kindness of Strangers, which centers Lysa Tully and is still my most popular fic on AO3, involved digging a little deeper into the ASOIAF world in general - it's so massive and I was very familiar with some pieces of it, but that involved writing several characters I knew a lot less about (and it originally included a couple of sections that involved a lot more character research and I ultimately scrapped). Overall, though, I'm a handwave kind of gal when it comes to anything too complicated!

Thanks for asking <3