Succession - Season 4

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Questions: was the funeral televised? Did everyone see the Roman meltdown or just the people who were there?

And, does anyone think they can possibly wrap this up satisfactorily with only one more episode? I’m really having trouble picturing that.

It’s 90 minutes

[Anonymous]

I forget which recent episode it was, but I died when Mattson referred to Roman and Kendall as "those tiny men in your pocket" or something like that. They really are tiny guys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think Kendall's showing a lot of the ruthlessness that's been shown to be needed, supposedly -- I think he's going to win CEO. I think it has to be at great personal cost -- Roman commits suicide or is severely hurt? His relationship with Shiv gets utterly broken?

The only way I see Shiv winning is by using the waiter death against Kendall somehow. But by getting Collin on his team maybe Kendall has averted that possibility.

I think it would be a great play if actually Shiv and Kendall were working together to eff over Lukas. But Kendall really didn't know about Shiv's doublecross until election night, so that's not really a thing. But it would have explained Shiv wanting Lukas to publish his fraudulent numbers that might have worked to Kendall's advantage in pillaging the village.

I'm worried for Roman -- his comments were so out of control leading up to the funeral, showing a lot of instability, and then his breakdown and almost a reversion to a childhood state followed by near self-harm -- it's getting dark. And Kendall doesn't seem to care and is even making things worse for him mentally, which makes me think Roman is going to get hurt and in part it will be Kendall's fault.

Collin will not be on Kendall's team. Ever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think they all self-implode in different ways, perhaps by going after each other. Then Mattson takes over, or Gerry/Frank/Karl launch a search for a new CEO.

Ha. If Gerry becomes CEO!!

Or cousin Greg…
https://amp.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/may/24/will-roman-die-could-cousin-greg-be-king-our-predictions-for-the-succession-finale

So many calling it for Greg:

https://time.com/6281792/greg-succession-finale-theory/

https://www.theringer.com/platform/amp/succession/2023/5/24/23734253/succession-series-finale-cousin-greg-waystar

It would be such an excellent scene if we saw Greg sitting at a huge executive desk, berating someone mercilessly - who then turned out to be Tom.

[Anonymous]

Maybe Greg could be given shares from Ewan — he said he was trying not to be so meager and to do better. That would play into the idea that he could become ceo.

It would be funny, but maybe more funny than believable.

[Anonymous]

One thing I love is that Phillip Larkin’s “they eff you up” poem was on this week’s Ted Lasso, whereas that poem really belongs here in Succession, but in Succession we have Berryman’s Dream Song 29 and cat food Ozymandias.

[Anonymous]

For fellow score lovers

[Anonymous]

I can't tell if the people saying Greg will become CEO are serious or not? You're just joking or saying that would be funny, right?

Greg is a yes man, that's his whole deal -- he says yes in order to maintain his proximity to power. He will wind up proximate to whoever is in charge at the end thanks to his willingness to simply say yes to them, do their bidding ("gregging" for them), and mold his words and actions to their expectations.

He won't actually have any power. He sacrifices all his personal power for proximity. That's his whole thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Given that all the season finale titles have derived from John Berryman's Dream Song 29 in some way, I wonder what line of the poem the finale will derive from, and what that will say about the series?

https://www.distractify.com/p/all-the-bells-say-succession-meaning

Here's the poem fwiw:

There sat down, once, a thing on Henry’s heart / so heavy, if he had a hundred years / & more, & weeping, sleepless, in all them time / Henry could not make good. / Starts again always in Henry’s ears / the little cough somewhere, an odour, a chime. //

And there is another thing he has in mind / like a grave Sienese face a thousand years / would fail to blur the still profiled reproach of. Ghastly, / with open eyes, he attends, blind. / All the bells say: too late. This is not for tears; / thinking. //

But never did Henry, as he thought he did, / end anyone and hacks her body up / and hide the pieces, where they may be found. / He knows: he went over everyone, & nobody’s missing. / Often he reckons, in the dawn, them up. / Nobody is ever missing. //

Maybe "Too late" -- but he's already used This is Not for Tears and All the Bells Say, which surround that. So maybe, if one of the kids really does betray everyone else, "And hide the pieces, where they may be found." Or maybe "In the Dawn."

This is very cool! I did not know this before. I love these kinds of things. I like "And Hide the Pieces, Where They May Be Found" as a last-episode title, but it might be too long. Maybe just the first or second half of that line.

Or perhaps, "He Went Over Everyone" -- a sort of metaphor for Logan's spirit/influence reaching from beyond the grave.

I also like "With Open Eyes," or "A Thousand Years Would Fail to Blur," but no specific ideas of how those lines would relate to the plot.

Aaaand the finale is called "With Open Eyes"!! So I was right about it being a quote from the (Berryman not Whitman doh) Dream Song that the other season finale's have quoted from, and YOU, PP, were right about the phrase. Nice work, us.

Given the context of the part it's being pulled from ("Ghastly, / with open eyes, he attends, blind. / All the bells say: too late. This is not for tears; / thinking. //") I don't think it sounds like the finale is going to be a hearts and flowers ending for everyone. To me it suggests a range of things: the people in charge don't know what they're doing; generational trauma continues to haunt and affect the family, and get passed down, etc; nothing is really solved.

Oh, that's neat! I am the PP. This was a fun game! I'm so glad you posted about the poem -- I never would have known about that.


The best part of Sunday's episode was Ewan's speech. I was so, so happy they brought Ewan back. It was an amazing speech, so well-written. The actor seemed so much older and more tired, as is often the case when one loses a sibling.

The second-best part was Kendall's speech. I wouldn't be surprised if Jeremy Strong refused to rehearse that scene ahead of time -- it would make sense based on the New Yorker profile about him and his devotion to method acting. He did a stellar job with it.

I also liked the elaborate family crypt that Logan acquired in a deal with an internet pet-supply magnate. ROFL.

Great interview with Cromwell on the eulogy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For fellow score lovers

Was just coming to post this! There have been a few interviews with this composer regarding the Succession score. So interesting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think they all self-implode in different ways, perhaps by going after each other. Then Mattson takes over, or Gerry/Frank/Karl launch a search for a new CEO.

Ha. If Gerry becomes CEO!!

Or cousin Greg…
https://amp.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/may/24/will-roman-die-could-cousin-greg-be-king-our-predictions-for-the-succession-finale

So many calling it for Greg:

https://time.com/6281792/greg-succession-finale-theory/

https://www.theringer.com/platform/amp/succession/2023/5/24/23734253/succession-series-finale-cousin-greg-waystar

It would be such an excellent scene if we saw Greg sitting at a huge executive desk, berating someone mercilessly - who then turned out to be Tom.

I am team Not Greg. I have seen the Greg idea compared to making Bran Stark the King of Westeros. Gonna be a nope from me dawg.

[Anonymous]

Finale prediction: Ken is going to end up on top. They have made him more competent, more ruthless, the last couple episodes. I think something will happen to either Roman or Shiv, he will completely backstab the other, and he is already having major family issues. Basically, they will all take their place in a new version of Logan Roy’s life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For fellow score lovers

Was just coming to post this! There have been a few interviews with this composer regarding the Succession score. So interesting.

Will definitely read this, thanks! I love how the theme changes with the circumstances--in Italy it was languid, for the funeral it went to a minor key, et cetera.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think they all self-implode in different ways, perhaps by going after each other. Then Mattson takes over, or Gerry/Frank/Karl launch a search for a new CEO.

Ha. If Gerry becomes CEO!!

Or cousin Greg…
https://amp.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/may/24/will-roman-die-could-cousin-greg-be-king-our-predictions-for-the-succession-finale

So many calling it for Greg:

https://time.com/6281792/greg-succession-finale-theory/

https://www.theringer.com/platform/amp/succession/2023/5/24/23734253/succession-series-finale-cousin-greg-waystar

It would be such an excellent scene if we saw Greg sitting at a huge executive desk, berating someone mercilessly - who then turned out to be Tom.

I am team Not Greg. I have seen the Greg idea compared to making Bran Stark the King of Westeros. Gonna be a nope from me dawg.

Yeah I agree with the above posters that I don't want it to end with Greg as CEO (or CEO figurehead to Lukas in charge). It would fit with the comedy part of the show, but not the drama. I also don't think it matches what I've seen from reports of people who have seen the last episode needing to recover from it, needing to be cleansed or whatnot. Leaving Greg as winner is a comic choice and, while sort of stupid-funny, does not play into the overall ultimately tragic bent the series has had.

[Anonymous]

I can see Lukas dropping Siv for Greg (because he isn't pregnant and I think Lukas has bonded with Greg) but I don't think that team will win Wayco. I think Kendall will likely come out on top after some complete blood bath that has him losing everything except the job he has always wanted.