# Succession on HBO **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, hbomax-wb-dc\ **Created:** [June 4, 2018, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/succession-on-hbo/815428 "2018-06-04T19:34:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 26
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2023, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/succession-on-hbo/815428/501 "2023-05-23T22:27:40Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > One of the production team referred in the post-episode wrapup to Roman’s “ecstasy of nihilism” in the mob scene at the end. Good line. Really thought he might get himself killed. I was cringing waiting for Roman to get the absolute shit kicked out of him. He was lucky to just take one smack. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2023, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/succession-on-hbo/815428/502 "2023-05-24T01:19:22Z")
Someone used the term “straight dope” in this episode, which was obviously a shout out. 🙂 Was it Shiv? ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2023, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/succession-on-hbo/815428/503 "2023-05-24T01:21:36Z")
It was. Made me smile, too. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2023, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/succession-on-hbo/815428/504 "2023-05-24T01:29:55Z")
Yeah i caught that too. Didn’t remember it til you just mentioned it. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2023, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/succession-on-hbo/815428/505 "2023-05-24T07:43:16Z")
> [@CoolHandCox](#): > > That’s a really good take. I initially took it at face value, I suspect I took a lot of dialogue throughout the show at face value, and was really only paying attention to the complexity of what was actually being said when something ‘important’ was happening on screen. I’m not sure how much Jesse Armstrong had his story arc laid out in advance, but I suspect I will enjoy my plan for Tuesday next week, which is to start again at series 1, ep. 1 and follow the journey again as a more informed and aware observer. > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > (His neo-Hapsburg nattering to Mencken just shows what a total flop he’s going to be as an ambassador). I can’t believe you are dissing ‘one of the finest political operators of his generation’, who’s just ‘sorting shit out’ (his words, not mine). You’re just jealous that he’s a billionaire. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2023, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/succession-on-hbo/815428/506 "2023-05-24T08:12:47Z")
> [@CoolHandCox](#): > > That’s a really good take. I initially took it at face value, but yea, that’s probably exactly the implication/negotiation that was happening…Pay/Hire Colin money to stop talking. It is a smart move on Kendall’s part if he can get Colin onside and keep him there. He was a very effective operator and loyal when inside the tent. I took the exchange of “I don’t love it” to be reference to the therapy that they’ve both had and a more general reference to the situation they both find themselves in. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2023, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/succession-on-hbo/815428/507 "2023-05-24T08:44:58Z")
> [@CoolHandCox](#): > > That reminds me of Connor’s eulogy. We don’t know what he prepared, but Shiv’s response after reading it that this “leaves us open to legal action” is hilarious. I think it’s one of those things that is funnier left unsaid. We know Connor so well by now that we’ve probably all got our own disastrous personal “Connor Eulogy” that we hoped for. I’m thinking of grandiose allusions to great historical warriors, self-aggrandisement and borderline slander badged as merely “telling it like it is” ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2023, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/succession-on-hbo/815428/508 "2023-05-24T17:08:27Z")
^ Quite true! With at least three Napoleonic references. > [@Banksiaman](#): > > … > > > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > > > (His neo-Hapsburg nattering to Mencken just shows what a total flop he’s going to be as an ambassador). > > I can’t believe you are dissing ‘one of the finest political operators of his generation’, who’s just ‘sorting shit out’ (his words, not mine). You’re just jealous that he’s a billionaire. Yeah, that _must_ be it. :: snort :: ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2023, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/succession-on-hbo/815428/509 "2023-05-24T17:29:44Z")
The whole of season 4 has taken place in a one to two week timeline. Certainly the latest episodes have been in successive days. It seems implausible to have any meaningful wrapup to major plot points the day after the funeral, unless Milwaukee discovers that the ballots have not been destroyed after all and that Mencken ends up the loser. The the assorted houses of cards can come tumbling down. Other than such a _deus ex machina_ twist I suspect the next episode will take place some time in the future, where we learn everyone’s fates in flashbacks from some framing scenario (ala the Friar’s Club Roast in s5/e6 in Mrs. Maisel). ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2023, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/succession-on-hbo/815428/510 "2023-05-24T17:33:24Z")
Great call. The title of the episode is “With Open Eyes”. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2023, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/succession-on-hbo/815428/511 "2023-05-24T18:09:07Z")
To me, the stupid thing is the three Roy children (Kendall, Shiv and Roman; Connor seems not to care), are so interested in taking control, but why? Even if they’re forced out, they’re presumably still billionaires. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2023, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/succession-on-hbo/815428/512 "2023-05-24T18:11:43Z")
Power has attractions money alone cannot provide. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2023, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/succession-on-hbo/815428/513 "2023-05-24T18:18:15Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > To me, the stupid thing is the three Roy children (Kendall, Shiv and Roman; Connor seems not to care), are so interested in taking control, but why? Even if they’re forced out, they’re presumably still billionaires. That’s why you and I aren’t billionaires. Tell that to Elon Musk. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2023, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/succession-on-hbo/815428/514 "2023-05-24T18:23:22Z")
That may be. It may also be that they’re still seeking Daddy’s love and approval, even though he’s dead. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2023, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/succession-on-hbo/815428/515 "2023-05-24T18:25:53Z")
Yes. And Daddy wouldn’t like it if they got rich(er) but lost control of the empire he “spent a fucking lifetime building” (as he would probably put it). ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2023, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/succession-on-hbo/815428/516 "2023-05-24T20:26:41Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > Other than such a _deus ex machina_ twist I suspect the next episode will take place some time in the future, where we learn everyone’s fates in flashbacks from some framing scenario (ala the Friar’s Club Roast in s5/e6 in Mrs. Maisel). I wouldn’t be surprised it the action jumps forward a little in time, but the show has never used a flashback and I doubt it will for the last episode. I think that Greg will continue to fall up and fire the kids. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2023, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/succession-on-hbo/815428/517 "2023-05-24T20:38:54Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > I think that Greg will continue to fall up and fire the kids. Ultimately that would be the funniest outcome and, let’s be honest, it is as much a black comedy as it is a drama. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2023, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/succession-on-hbo/815428/518 "2023-05-24T20:45:38Z")
That sort of upwards failure was a minor element of another HBO show, Silicon Valley, in which Bighead failed upwards, all the way to the presidency of Stanford University. ---
**Author:** ![Lantern2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lantern2/32/3010_2.png) [@Lantern2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern2)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2023, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/succession-on-hbo/815428/519 "2023-05-24T21:40:30Z")
Yeah it hadn’t occurred to me but the mass-firing and the discussion between Mattson and Greg may well be foreshadowing for some major corporate demolition work by The Egg. ---
**Author:** ![CoolHandCox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coolhandcox/32/16233_2.png) [@CoolHandCox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoolHandCox)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2023, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/succession-on-hbo/815428/520 "2023-05-24T21:54:31Z")
Greg firing the kids is plausible. But what are we thinking: Kendall, co-CEO. Fired. Replaced by who? Roman, co-CEO. Fired. Replaced by who? Shiv, unclear of her named role (or I don’t remember if she even has one). Maybe fired. Unless it’s something big, not really sure it matters who she is replaced by. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/succession-on-hbo/815428.md?page=25) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/succession-on-hbo/815428.md?page=27)