Yes just because he’s charming at times doesn’t change than he’s been the on the Menken train the longest. And Ken’s spineless ass ended up going with him after Shiv pissed him off (also Shiv, just make any sort of call - Ken does have the guy’s number after all)!
Definitely a PTSD inducing episode
Lots of very direct allusions to the rise of Nazism, especially Mencken’s broadcast speech, which could have come from Sounding Like Hitler for Dummies. And searching for culprits after the convenient fire.
Roman’s normally a charming douche, and amusing to watch (from the outside). But last night, he was just off the charts douchey, with no charm, and nothing amusing about it. Just hungry fascist fury in his eyes.
Was Connor’s concession speech live on the network or did they just film it to humor him? Because he went deep into crazy town at the end of it.
I honestly was waiting for Mencken to go whole hog with “One nation, one people, one leader.” Then again, it does sound much better in the original German.
Well, remember, Mencken did refer to “H.” in his little homoerotic bathroom confab with Roman back when they first met.
Agreed that the ep had nasty overtones of 1933 and 2016.
Tom and Greg do coke - didn’t expect to see that!
Shiv reveals her pregnancy to Tom, saying he’s the dad - and his first reaction is that it must be a trick. Damn.
Connor, having blown off Mencken and stayed in the race, still tries to score an ambassadorship and then gives a hilariously self-involved withdrawal speech. Loved Frank’s snark: "Connor was running for President?"
Tom is from Wisconsin - I wonder if the fact that the suspicious Election Day fire was in his own home state will be an issue?
Kendall reassures his ex-wife in her concerns about Mencken, and then, apparently mostly out of spite towards Shiv, goes along with Roman in trying to throw the election to the Republican. Jerk.
Wildass guess: Jimenez ends up winning the election anyway and has no reason to do the Roys any favors, ATN look like idjits for calling it too soon, WayStar RoyCo stock price drops and Matsson is able to take over the company even more easily than he would have otherwise. He then fires everyone in sight.
I think he’s from Minnesota.
It seems to me like Kendall finally became his dad last night: he put the final bit of “good guy” to bed, and did what was best for the business, his kids be damned.
Looks like they are moving in that direction. I bet Jimenez ends up winning (maybe Wisconsin has electronic backups?)
I think Shiv and Greg may survive, because Mattson likes both of them. The joke ending where Greg falls up into upper management seems to actually be happening. Though Shiv hates Greg even more now
Ah, yes, you’re right. Thanks: Tom Wambsgans | Succession Wiki | Fandom
Yeah – we should all remember that a network call may be significant, but it doesn’t mean anything constitutionally. They still have to count all the votes.
The New York Times TV critic has an excellent column recapping the episode, and the parallels to real life. Not sure if it’s paywalled…but here it is.
Question about the Wisconsin “call” and the wasabi scene. So, originally it wasn’t going to be a “call” call - it was going to be pending call with a detailed explanation. Right?
Then, they are discussing the logistics about actually making that above call. Darwin starts to draft something on his computer but gets wasabi in his eye. Big commotion ensues and what leaves that room instead is “we’re calling it for Wisconsin” - straight up. Then they call it straight up for Wisconsin - a normal call, no caveats. Then later Tom nixes the explanation part.
Was that jumbled (from pending call to call) because of the commotion/Darwin not understanding what call they were making, or was that intentional. It did seem that they (Tom) needed Darwins approval to make any call, and Darwin never objected to making a straight call - but that was because he was dealing with the wasabi and probably didn’t know that was the call that was going to be made. Or did they just override him and always intended to call it straight up (ie, no pending call).
Finally, the foreshadowing in the beginning with Tom/Greg about why Greg needs to “Greg”. If Greg doesn’t do the gregging then Tom "might make the wrong call for a State, US loses credibility, China invades Taiwan, and we’re all amoeba." (paraphrased).
I genuinely wondered if Greg is working with Roman during the wasabi scene. He was just a little too stupid.
Other candidate is Tom, who re-Gregged Greg prior to the wasabi scene. (Iirc.)
I think Greg has had a pretty lousy season, but he’s making inroads. He’s learned how to use his cluelessness to make others underestimate him, and now he may have the support of both Kendall and Mattson.
Maybe. I’ve been genuinely surprised this season by the characters. In a good way.
re: Wasabi. I watched it again. Darwin definitely accidentally touches the wasabi as he is sitting down/Greg moves his food over to make room. Then Darwin touches his eye. So I don’ think any of that could be planned to make a commotion. The water part could, but I took the water part to be normal Greg/funny scene, and also to show how huge things (calling a State) could get messed up over little things (wasabi in the eye)…which is what Tom foreshadowed to at the start.
I think Tom and Greg end up fine (for what that means to them). Tom, at least, through thoughtfulness, backed the correct horse in Logan (e.g., “I’ve seen you lose a lot, I’ve never seen Logan lose”). That horse died, but it looks like Tom will pick the best horse to back and do fine as a loyal soldier. With that said, I’ve been wrong about most things.
Good stuff. Thanks.
There are only two more episodes left and one of them is entirely about the funeral. Succession is not in the business of providing closure of the type you’re hoping for. My guess is that the finale leaves everyone (including America) in a place that is incredibly open ended but bleak.
I never said I expected or hoped for closure, but thanks anyway.
Enjoyed it as usual but for this UK viewer at least the importance or jeopardy of “calling” the result by a news organisation is completely lost.
That diminished a lot of the drama for me, I mean, the results are the results. A news site might get it wrong or say that results are provisional but their own “call” makes no material difference to the actual number of votes cast.
The general impression from the episode that I got was that, ATN saying it was so, made it so.
Most of us remember the ‘00 election where two calls were made and reversed but we had to wait a week for the Supreme Court to effectively decide.
I think the plot point was that it was a razor’s edge and all based on Wisconsin and destroyed ballots. They made the call which would make the other networks do the same and the momentum would make the courts keep the call, or something. Everyone would act like Mencken won so he did.
I predict that it will turn out that Jimenez will end up decisively being the winner and now the Roys are fucked. Or Tom becomes the scapegoat and goes to prison after all.
Could just be a cultural blind spot for me.
BBC/ITV or SKY stating that a particular party had won, even if it were prematurely done in a close race or even then reversed, it just wouldn’t feel like a worthy dramatic plot point in that way.
Very early on in the show, Tom covered up misdeeds at the company’s cruise ship division. I think he had Greg shred the documentation of all of this. Perhaps that comes back to bite him in the ass?