#succession 2x10

[stewyhosseini-bf]

Succession 'This Is Not For Tears' / Agatha Christie 'And Then There Were None'

[lyinginthesnow]

What makes me lose my mind a bit about Season 2 Kendall is that like— Logan is trying to fully break his will and control him, and Kendall is trying to break his own will in a lot of ways through guilt and self-destructive behaviours, but there’s this tiny stubborn part of him, this desire for self-preservation, that they can’t kill no matter how hard they try. There’s this little instinctual, human voice inside him saying no, I want to live, I want to fight back, I don’t want to be his puppet, I don’t want to drown. Like initially he wants to save Vaulter, and oppose Logan on buying Pierce. Each time he goes up to the roof in “Safe Room”, he comes back down. He confronts Logan when Logan’s getting too cozy with Rhea in “Return”. He seeks out some form of happiness with Naomi (obviously that is self-destructive too given that he knows her presence will enable his drug abuse, but he also does seek connection and joy out of their relationship). But every time this desire to care about himself and fight back rears its head, either he or Logan smothers it. He submits to Logan’s orders regarding Vaulter (“because my dad told me to”) and Pierce. He goes back up onto the roof multiple times. After the confrontation about Rhea, Logan takes him to the waiter’s house, reminding him of his guilt and powerlessness. Seeing that Kendall finds escape in his relationship with Naomi, Logan sends her off the yacht.

So when Logan tells Kendall he is going to be sacrificed in “This Is Not for Tears”, Kendall has reached a point where he obeys without a single protest. “I deserve it. Maybe I deserve it”. But — crucially — Logan disagrees, saying that Kendall has nothing to be guilty about regarding the waiter’s death. Logan’s lines here are really important, because (in my interpretation??) they ignite Kendall’s repressed urge to fight back that has been slowly eroded this entire season, which leads to his decision at the end of the episode. If Logan had responded “yes, you do deserve it”, then Kendall would have walked to his own destruction willingly, giving up, maybe even feeling a sense of righteousness that he was being punished. But Logan doesn’t say that. Instead, he says: “Nah, nah. Not that. NRPI. You’re the best. Don’t beat yourself up. No real person involved. You know, it’s… it’s nothing.“ It’s nothing.

I think Kendall has a realization in this moment which is very similar to the one Rhea has in “DC”, when she says to Logan, “I can’t see the bottom of the pool. I don’t know if you care about anything. And that scares me”. Kendall’s conscience has been eating him up from the inside — but Logan doesn’t have it. He just doesn’t care. The waiter’s death has been weighing on Kendall as the basis for his self-destructiveness (and submission to Logan’s control), but Logan dismisses it so flippantly, almost as if it is irrelevant, since the moral value of that event is currently not related to his own self-interest in using Kendall as a tool. Which is all this ever was. To Logan, it was never about the waiter. It was never some form of “deserved” punishment. It was always just a part of Logan’s game, convenient to him, serving his aims.

So that tiny stubborn part of Kendall comes to life a bit inside him. It says no, no I don’t want to lie down and let you do this to me. I’m not sure he listens to it right away. But it’s there, and it grows bit by bit. No I want to live, no I want to escape, no I want to fight back, no my father is a malignant presence, a bully, and a liar, and this is the day his reign ends

[beardedbarba]

and now he ate logan's chicken off his plate tom has lost his mind

he's fucking crazy

[ladyluscinia]

Watching Kendall get thrown to the sharks and waiting for whatever insane twist is most definitely coming when he snaps

👀👀👀

[gnnosis]

on brothers

[ jewish literacy, rabbi joseph telushkin / the bear 2x06 + 2x10 / east of eden, john steinbeck / succession 3x09 / “brothers,” kevin atwater / the west wing 6x16 / prison break 5x04 / greywaren, maggie stiefvater / boy (2010) / “he ain’t heavy, he’s my brother,” the hollies ]

[wiferomanroy]

she's just like daddy! (only respects people who can hurt her)

[endofbeginings]

The truth is..... that Toto Wolff is a malignant presence, a bully and a liar

[hyperfocusthusly]

I mean you put a guy who has done maybe literally nothing *except* plot your murder, out there to be like murder me instead and in a shocking turn of events, he tried to murder you

[maakeba]

"But in that moment when he says, “No real person involved” so flippantly, I perceive something in him that I don’t think I’ve seen before, which is an abyss. There’s something irredeemably evil about that." - Jeremy Strong (x)/2x10/4x10

[asilosmagdalena]

Perhaps all the other gendered violence in this episode made me see the Tom and Shiv staircase seen in a more negative light than intended, but idk how you can come away from it thinking Tom is soooo romantic and Shiv is evil for rejecting him.

Shiv is devastated by losing her father, and Tom heard her while she was sobbing trying to speak to Logan. He knows how vulnerable she is, and linked that back to how she was vulnerable when they first got together. He knows that there's turbulence in deciding to fill the CEO position and even though he may not know the extent of Shiv's brothers betraying her, he knows how important the position is to her.

Shiv is visibly upset and Tom comes up to her and talks to her about sex while she physically recoils. He argues with her when she tells him that was a long time ago and he says not really. At least twice this episode she shouted at him not to touch her.

Imo this isn't a case of 'Shiv rejecting kindness because she thinks she doesn't deserve it' it's Shiv knowing she's unable to trust anyone, even the people she was closest to. Tom betrayed her to get in good with Logan, and she's right to be suspicious of his motives considering the fact that Tom tried to cozy up to everyone else in this episode to secure his position. While technically not relevant as of this episode yet, a lot of people have seen the "You're a snake," and "It's not my fault you didn't get your dad's approval," teasers.

This isn't a #TOMISCANCELED post because their relationship is more complex than this one scene and lbr, every character would be canceled if we're taking it that seriously. But even though Tom doesn't know Shiv is pregnant and is horrified about it, even though Tom didn't use and humiliate Kerry, Tom isn't responsible for Roman and Kendall betraying Shiv, all of these acts of gendered trauma happened in this episode FOR A REASON.

I do think Succession can be interpreted in a lot of ways and maybe it's fair to come away from this scene less critically than I have right now but. The fact that the thesis for this season - this episode in particular seems to be that women will never escape misogyny - I feel like that's significant!

[stewyhosseini-bf]

thinking about 2x10 in terms of the tomshiv and kenstewy parallels and feeling slightly insane. there's something there with both of those relationships, about sacrificing the relationship in the name of saving the other person. how shiv seemingly throws tom under the bus in the breakfast scene ('to save you I can't be seen to be acting in self-interest') - but she does look out for him in the end, and chooses to save him even above her own brother. but the damage is done, and the way their relationship develops afterwards is very much affected by this moment. and then stewy denying the deal, at least in part because it includes ken losing his board seat (this is only hinted at in the scene but you can definitely tell there's some nonverbal communication happening between them when logan mentions the board seat and Arian later confirmed in an interview that this was how he played the scene. plus, they do want the deal. they seem eager for it at the shareholder's meeting, which is only like two weeks later? and the fact that stewy even agrees to meet them and seems optimistic about logan's proposal to get the deal done and eat some octopi, AND the deal being objectively pretty good for them makes it seem likely that the board seat thing is why he ultimately says no right away without even consulting the Sandys, as Logan points out) thinking he's looking out for him but obviously not knowing that he's actually dooming him, as a deal would've been the last chance at saving Ken from being the sacrifice.

[weavingdragonsofthread]

The Greens

HOTD 1X08//Electra a Sophocles Play//Succession 4X10//HOTD 1X06// Quote by honeytuesday//HOTD 2X01//Quote from HOTD 1X09//HOTD 1X09// 'Cain and Abel' by Orazio Riminaldi// The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker//HOTD 2X10//Madwomen: Poems of Gabriela Mistral//Unknown//HOTD 01X03// HOTD 01X06//Quote by Lyra//HOTD 01X02//Quote from HOTD 1X06//HOTD 1X09//Quote by Richard Siken//HOTD 1X07// Quote from HOTD 2X01//The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice//HOTD 1X09//‘Ivan the Terrible and Son’ by Richard Siken//the guessing game: a mothers love by Silas Denver Melvin

[lyinginthesnow]

[beardedbarba]

tom, to siobhan: i wonder if the sad i'd be without you would be less than the sad i get from being with you

me:

[bethannangel]

Jesus Christ. Gerri slipping by saying “First-Second born son” to pan over to Connor. And how Roman speaks up about how it’s crazy to do that that Kendall.

I already know how this episode ends cause I remember passing through when my parents watched it but like why send Greg with him to make sure he does it/doesn’t kill himself.

Unless Kendall asked for him specifically.

[3milesup]

so. i'm through with the s2 and am almost out of internet data, got 2 days till renewal and 4gb left so... meanwhile, i have time to ponder about and process what I've just seen, yay! :D

well, what can i say?

fucking finally, wambsgans- the second-hand humiliation was starting to get unbearable, at some point i really just wanted to hug the guy whenever shiv was in the picture...

fucking finally, kendall- i've been waiting for his killer move ever since the unsuccessful vote and he eventually got a peace of mind and strength to make it... and make it a better way. logan's final smirk is everything- it's a challenge and it's pride because yes, all his children (minus connor who was interested in politics from a very young age... sorry, i had to...) want that throne and think they are fit for it but only kendall really went through all stages of it, surrender included, and came out not totally broken and understood what his father wanted to tell him, what he wanted from him, and kendall delivered- and what he did is so much more impactful than what he had originally plotted behind his father's back; this is a direct upfront spit in logan's face and i have a strong feeling he appreciates. he need to pick a successor after all, and he needs a killer one.

and oh greg the motherfucking egg- what a thrilling character in the making, he has a lot going on behind those doe eyes and stutter, and it is purely intuitive, because it is not like one can learn much scheming bringing tom his lattes, the man doesn't have than much of a brain, i think, which is why he leans into shiv so hard... anyhow, cousin greg has come a long way from vomiting out of mascot eyeholes to "insurance" leverage, blackmailing, backing up kendall's revolt...

also, it is probably just his natural ramblings, but my first thought when i saw his hearing was he actually carried out what hugo was trying to say to tom by "eat eat eat those dangerous fucking minutes" and tom did nothing of sort, but damn, greg, in those fragments we got to hear, got the filibustering covered... (what wouldn't i give to see all of it but oh well.)

so, yeah. there is just so much i would like to rant about, but my brain is melted at this point. i'll be back^^