I actually read an interesting thread on Reddit, where they indicated Mattson was also led by emotions. He got pissed to by Roman (he was very angry on the mountain) and massively overbid.
For example I think Logan would have just bid the initial price to the Old Guard
His sad attempt to sound like one of the Roys – including dropping 3 f-bombs in every sentence.
Does anyone else find that the Roys dialog is so convolutedly clever that you have no idea what they’re actually trying to say?
I’m a little disappointed that Greg seems to have been re-written from a bumbler with a clever Machiavellian instinct underneath it, to an outright blithering idiot who seems totally helpless and hopeless.
I think he’s more blithering, helpless and hopeless because he sees his influence in the family business slipping away. He feels his potential influence and social assets slipping and he’s growing desperate. His rich uncle pennybags is dead, his cousins have no time or use for him, and his one ally, Tom, is now scrambling his ass off for his own survival.
I see a few different directions Greg could go from here:
Try to develop an alliance with Kendall, the one Roy sibling that he’s been sort-of connected with in the past. None of the others seem to have any regard for him. Kendall seems to have a little time for him.
Try to cement his existing alliance with Tom, regardless of where Tom might end up, accepting the fact that he may soon hit the ceiling of his (Greg’s) own status and pay grade.
Attempt to suck up directly to Mencken - I could see this being an interesting direction, because the ATN connection definitely gives him potential access. Is Greg going to wind up a true believer in Mencken’s political schemes? Could “sniveling aide to a crypto-fascist president” be Greg’s ultimate trajectory?
I think this as well. He’s turning back into his S1 personality, where he has no idea what to do so he flails around and is basically a buffoon. He has some Machiavellian instinct once he gains some actual confidence. But when that rug is pulled out from under him, he’s just trying to do whatever he thinks he can - even when it makes it worse for him.
On some level, Cousin Greg really belongs on a show like Veep.
I think pretty much all of the main characters can trace their DNA to “the thick of it” and “Veep” (for obvious reasons). I watch it as pretty much a black comedy anyway and they all feel perfectly in keeping with that (as does the brutal dialogue).
I’ve been re-watching the first 3 seasons and then catching up on 4 and I’m now up to date.
My thoughts?
Logan’s death (off screen) was a brilliant wrong-footing move. The viewer was left as disconnected as the siblings on the boat. Confusion, uncertainty, unreliable info. The swinging between concern for their dad and concern for themselves was totally believable to me. They didn’t think to bring in Shiv straight away? yep, feels right to me.
I think any strategic dissection of the Matsson dealings are doomed to failure. Tempting to think that he or perhaps Shiv are the geniuses and master tacticians in the room. I don’t buy that. I reckon there is enough potential failure in this to dole it out fairly to everyone. I also suspect the frozen blood story is precisely that.
I like the fact that “Bond Villain” was not mentioned once in the last episode, “show don’t tell” is a powerful tool.
One small but powerful moment was Tom flicking Siobhan’s ear. Her surprise, anger and delight was nicely conveyed. Again, something that rings true to me given their curious relationship up until then. And Tom’s name was not on the Kill list?
And I have to say that the standout for me throughout, in his understated portrayal, has been Matthew MacFadyen as Tom. Not as obviously Machiavellian as the Roy’s, not as outwardly dipsy as Greg but easily capable of both. Hidden depths and shallows.
I’m not going to predict how this ends up other than to say there’ll be no happy ending. Compromised people will get a compromised reward. Poisoned chalices for all!
The people’s choice sees Tom and Siobhan back together in charge of Waystar/GoJo. Greg is their “Tom”, Kendall is in Jail and Roman back in a theme park character suit.
I didn’t see James Cameron, who plays Logan’s brother Ewan and Greg’s grandfather, at the wake. It may simply mean that the actor was unavailable.
James Cromwell, not Cameron.
James Cromwell I think you mean, but yes. He was absent. But the funeral hasn’t happened yet I don’t think so perhaps it is in keeping that he wouldn’t go to the wake but would go to the funeral (at which point “events” will transpire I’m sure)
Does a “wake” normally happen separate from a funeral? I honestly don’t recall ever going to formal gathering like that and religious ceremonies are not a big thing in my family.
Sorry, yes, James Cromwell. (I went to the trouble of looking up his character’s name but then screwed up the actor’s name.)
And is there going to be a funeral episode or will the show just jump to after that? I suppose we’ll know on Sunday.
You’d think there must be, it is a heck of a backdrop for drama and recriminations.
Side note, it’s been a bit strange watching S5 of Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and the guy who plays the right hand man of the late night talk show is Peter Friedman, who is the guy who plays Frank on Succession. So that’s two shows going on right now, where he’s the right hand man of the big boss.
I’m trying to figure out why I’m still watching this series. It seems to have devolved into “Let’s go to Italy and argue about some shit. Now let’s go to Oslo and argue about the same shit. Now lets go to (pick a place) and argue about, you guessed it, the same shit.” If I wanted a travelogue, I’d watch NatGeo.
They’ve always gone somewhere outside NYC in every season to bicker and argue about who gets control. It was New Mexico and England in S1, Scotland in S2, Italy in S3, and now Sweden in S4.
And yeah, the show has been about arguing about the same shit (who takes over Waystar Royco)… it’s amusing how often they fall into the same patterns over and over again.
I think that part of the point they are wanting to make is that this is a global enterprise. The Roys are New York-based, but other equally powerful players in their world can function effectively in the Italian marches or Swedish fjords. The series’ sensibility is global, which I suspect is probably ahead of most people’s mindsets - that news media comes from the USA and essentially reflects the concerns of some archetypal Wisconsonian (filtered through an American Taliban lens). If Mattson buys the news source of American hillbillies, and makes it an all-African sub-Saharan news (say like Kendall wanted), then:
[a] what would that look like?
[b] would it include current Royco staff who survive the kill list?
You can stop watching at any point.
B
Hence the title.
No shit? Really? 
Nitpick: the episode was set in Norway. Matsson is Swedish, but he is having a corporate retreat in Norway.
Doesn’t really matter, they’re all descended from the same rapists anyway…
I certainly don’t think that the level 1 on-the-face reading of this episode was that Mattson outsmarted or beat the Roy boys. Seems to me the obvious reading is that he correctly read that they were trying to tank the deal, and then made a too-good-to-be-true offer, which they couldn’t say no to, just to beat them. It was lose-lose. They didn’t get what they wanted… but he also made a terrible offer, the same as they earlier made a terrible offer for Pierce.
Now, we don’t really know if it was a terrible offer, but given how excited the old guard was to take the previous offer, seems like it was pretty damn generous. If anyone came out of that whole negotiation ahead, it was everyone who owned Waystar stock, other than Ken, who was too stubborn and stupid to see what he actually got what he should have realized he wanted.