#tv: succession.

[fleetwoodmar]

ERIC BOGOSIAN asking questions as Daniel Molloy and Gil Eavis. 

Interview with the Vampire (1.02, 1.03, 1.07) // Succession (2.09)

[cuntylouis]

[ID: a tweet from sorrel @/sorrelquest reading: "accidentally enjoyed a tv show so much that i went to the subreddit to read episode discussions. you must never do such a thing". End ID.]

[prideprejudce]

the scenes of rhaenyra and alicent going to each other this season, desperately trying to halt fate even though they have always known deep down they are stuck with seeing this to the end. the future visions of the game of thrones universe and how everyone is stuck in their own destined deaths for a story hundreds of years beyond their own lives. alicent and rhaenyra being just two girls wearing blue who might have been soulmates in another life but are now too clouded by their own paths to save each other anymore

[mysharona1987]

[demigods-posts]

luke fumbling in recruiting percy has to be one of his greatest failures. a beautiful thing the show does regarding luke and percy's relationship is building rapport between them through shared moments like settling into camp, eating meals together, but especially through swordfighting lessons. the swordfighting scene at the beginning of episode 8 not only reveals that percy and luke already share similar beliefs about the fear-based system the gods have cultivated, but it's clear the conversation stays with percy when he fights ares and later calls out zeus on his waning skills as a father and a king. however, luke's plan fell through the moment percy learned that the winged-shoes were meant to drag him to tartarus. not only that, but the shoes nearly killed grover, a friend percy cared for deeply. if nourishing loyalty and trust was the key to ensuring a partnership with percy, then it was luke's faulty planning, arrogance, and impatience that cost him the greatest ally he could ask for.

[wherewolf]

the responses i’ve seen to shiv’s ending seem very quick to write her off as just another sad victim of the cycle, which isn’t without truth BUT!!! that is not even remotely the summation of shiv’s story.

i don’t think she votes yes to “save kendall” or to try to finally set her brothers free. and i don’t think her main concern was that ken was becoming their dad. she absolutely noticed and didn’t love it, but that was not her motivation in betraying him. she was thinking about herself.

it’s tempting to make a martyr out of her as she is the only female child and we see her suffer the onslaught of misogyny that comes with that. but to make her into a saintlike figure who got beat takes away the power and intelligence behind her decision.

at this point she’s stuck between two non ideal choices, but she recognizes that they have accidentally made her the single most important player in the game. because while she can’t have the outcome she’d prefer, she has the power to decide the fates of everyone else. the written off lone woman now holds in her hands the fate of every man in her life.

so she thinks about the long term benefits of both options and realizes that one side leaves her completely without any leverage.

her brothers have proven to her multiple times in the last few days alone that they will cut her out and walk all over her the first chance they get. siding with them leaves her nothing to bargain with. she would just have to hope that ken would actually take care of her. and that level of vulnerability is not only unacceptable to her, it’s stupid. and shiv fuckin roy is not stupid.

so she thinks about the other side and about what she actually wants for her life. and against her better judgment, it’s becomes unfortunately clear that she wants tom. the way she wants him is not altogether loving or even good but it is necessary to her. she sees relationships as having winners and losers and she chose this man specifically so that she could be confident in her ability to win. except now he’s grown some balls and made himself unavailable to her.

she may not like the way her husband is evolving but she already placed her bets on him, so she’s sure as hell not losing to him now. there’s also a part of her that feels intrigued by this new man she’s married to. it’s interesting to have a sparring partner in him instead of having to looking for excitement outside of their marriage.

so for maybe the first time ever, she processes what tom has said to her and thinks about what he actually wants.

he needs her to prove that she cares. he needs to know that she is capable of sacrifice. if she can’t find it within herself to do this for him, then she will lose him, and by extension, she will lose.

siding with tom gives her the opportunity to once and for all make a grand-stand gesture of love, but more importantly, it creates leverage for her. never again will he be able to hold the moral high ground over her head. never again can he say she doesn’t love him. never again can he call her selfish or uncaring. above all, he can never betray her again, because she just removed all of his moral justification for turning on her. he doesn’t realize it yet, but she’s just taken back all the power in their relationship. just in a more subtle way than she’s used to operating.

and just like that, she has the ceo of a multi billion dollar company in her pocket, while situating herself as the only descendant of logan roy to still be playing the game, having removed her brothers from the equation permanently. she may still be far from the top but she’s creating a path for herself to climb.

so yes, she’ll let tom play king for a day, and she’ll have his baby and say “congratulations,” and play the gracious wife, but tomorrow is a new day with lots of room to maneuver. and when her husband puts out his hand, she’ll place her own on top. but she won’t grasp it because she doesn’t need to.

[stewykablooey]

AND BEST DRAMA SERIES LADIES WHO UP SUCCING THEY SESSION ONE LAST TIME

[akajustmerry]

She cried for other reasons too — that the “Succession” chapter of her life has ended. “I’ll never have an opportunity to speak those lines, or get given new lines, new jokes, new worlds for Shiv and Roman to exist in together,” Snook says. “Just sadness for never getting a moment to play with these brilliant actors again.” (When I tell her that Culkin had said to me that perhaps Shiv and Roman might make up at some point, Snook brightens. “I feel like Shiv and Roman would reconcile in a way where he would be the shitty but great weird uncle for her kid, and there might be some sort of strange little family unit that gets splintered off.”) - Sarah Snook, Variety.

Kieran Culkin as Roman Roy and Sarah Snook as Shiv Roy | Succession (2018-2023)

[hotch-girl]

barely comprehensible.

SUCCESSION (2018 — 2023)

[kuzuyamii]

nate and stewy are so pathetic when it comes to the roy sibs and then you have gerri

[shebsart]

behind the hatred, there lies a murderous desire for love

[h-f-k]

Succession | 4x09 - Church and State

[shesnake]

“I think we went with that kind of (purple) color because we thought it would be regal... We also talk a lot about like, Stewy would say 'Everyone's gonna wear black. I'm not.’”

Arian Moayed as Stewy Hosseini in Succession season 4 episode 4 (2023) dir. Lorene Scafaria

[filministic]

Succession (2018-2023)

[sioboi]

this is my buddy romulus

[tomwambsmilk]

Can’t wait for the “succession was never actually that good” backlash after it sweeps the 2023-2024 awards season followed by the ~2030 “succession was actually deeply underrated” renaissance followed by the ~2035 “succession isn’t THAT good you guys are just blinded by nostalgia and also it’s actually pretty problematic” discourse followed by the ~2040 “succession is actually one of the greatest shows of the last 50 years and defined an era and had a lasting impact on prestige tv as a genre” consensus at which point it’ll be one of those shows everyone says you SHOULD watch and film/tv buffs take great pride in having actually watched and everyone else who hasn’t seen it already just says “yeah it’s definitely on my list” and then never touches it