Succession season 3 Finale: Tom

I've been watching, immensely enjoying, but not reviewing Succession season three.  I think it's the best season of this superb series so far.  And I thought I'd say a few words about the finale, which was the best episode of this season.

In the climactic (too weak a word) closing scene, Shiv wonders who told Logan that she and her brothers were coming by to prevent Logan from selling the company to Mattson.  I'd say that has to be Tom.

Last week, in the second strongest (too weak a word) episode of this season, we see Shiv come to Tom and say let's make a baby.  This would have been wonderful news for Tom, except in the precoital banter, Shiv says all kinds of deflating things to her husband, including that she doesn't really love him.  Shiv may think that he likes that, because it's worked in the past.  More likely, it's worked in the sense that Tom was able to swallow it and still perform.

Now Tom has taken a lot over the years.  He absorbs it, and trudges on by dishing at least some of it out to poor Greg.  But some of Shiv's contempt for him had to have stuck.  And my guess is, consciously or unconsciously, he saw a chance for himself and took it -- by alerting Logan about what Shiv, Ken, and Roman were about to do.  Typically for Tom, he likely didn't think out all the consequences, or didn't care.  He was just glad to be able to do something which, he hoped, would put him in a much better position with Logan, and therein Mattson.  That, and what must have been the immense pleasure of payback to Shiv.

In a very real sense, Tom is Shiv's Achilles' heel.  Her keen intelligence for some reason was blind to the damage she'd been meting out to Tom, and what he might do about it.  But will Tom really benefit from what he did?  If his life is true to form, probably not.

We'll see how this 21st-century Shakespearean tragicomedy plays out next season.

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See this excellent interview with Brian Cox, published 13 December 2021 in the Hollywood Reporter.

Succession: Stunning Slight Smile

So, here's a confession (for anyone who's interested) about this mostly TV-review blog: I watch shows that I love, but don't review.  For whatever reason, I just really enjoy watching these shows, and just want to leave it there.  It's not that I love such shows more than the ones I review, it's just that everyone once in a while, all I want to do is watch the shows.

But also every once in a while, I do write a review of one of these shows.  I did that last year for three shows my wife and I always watch - the Chicago triplet series (Med, Fire, PD).  And I thought that I'd do that for another series my wife and I also always watch.  It was excellent last year, but off-the-charts superb this year, in its second season: Succession on HBO.

The season-two finale on last night had an ending that truly surprised us.  I didn't expect Ken to just passively go through with his father Logan's request that Ken take the fall. I was afraid that maybe he would take his own life.  The twist at the end was far better: he turns on Logan and blames him for the company's ills.

The slight smile on Logan's face was also incredibly compelling.  Likely he was betraying some admiration for what his son did.  But could it be that he was in on this, and Ken's pointing the finger at Logan was something he and Logan planned?  We'll just have to wait until next year.

In the meantime, we can enjoy the recollection of what I think is one of HBO's best series since The Sopranos and The Wire.  The acting, the writing, the mix of drama and wry comedy are, indeed, something we've only seen on a very few series on any kind of television over the years.