“Previously Wrong” takes us week by week through the unpredictability of post-Golden age television and how our hindsight is sharpening for contemporary series. For this season, resident TV/Film columnist Jared Marshall takes us week by week for the family implosion portrayed on the best show on TV, HBO’s Succession.
When we think of our favourite Succession episodes, the mind tends to travel towards the set pieces. The Argestes conference. The Senate hearing. Austerlitz. But despite the fact that this show is carried by an ensemble of narcissistic vampires, the crew is economical in how they choose their locations. It’s never about theatrics; the location always fits the story the writers are trying to tell. “Mass in Time of War” offers one of the most intimate analyses of the Roy siblings’ psychology thus far. It only makes sense that it would take place within the (relatively) confined walls of Rava’s apartment. The location plunges us into the minds of these damaged children with little room to breathe.
As many of us predicted, Shiv's "change of plans" sent her directly to meet with Kendall, followed promptly by Roman and Connor. Kendall proceeds to spend the episode pitching his siblings on the benefits of "killing" their father. It plays out like the plotting of an ancient betrayal. A Trojan horse quite literally shows up at Kendall's door. Kendall goes as far to reference the death of Alexander in the midst of his word salad pitch. Despite the fact that Kendall truly has no idea what he's doing, the pieces are all there. Gerri, the most competent member of Waystar, says it to Roman on the phone. If the children band together, Logan would easily fall. But, considering he has the emotional intelligence of a goldfish, Kendall's plan to win his siblings' allegiance blows up in his face.
On top of being a grandiose and hilarious "fuck you" from Stewy, the Trojan horse metaphor shows how much he understands the Roy children and why he's come to resent them. What they think they present to the world is always in contrast to who they actually are. Beneath their cynical veneers lies a deep desire to be noticed and understood. If Kendall could tap into that, if he could offer Connor, Shiv, and Roman the acknowledgment they desperately crave from their father, winning over his siblings would be a slam dunk. But he's too caught up in his own insecurities that he'll never be able to empathize with anyone but himself. He'll never be an effective leader and his siblings know it. All it took were the fucking donuts.
The Roy children's relationship with food is integral to understanding their relationship with their parents. Go back to the Season 2 episode "Return". The kids are always talking about how much they hate Lady Caroline's food. "Mom's cooking" is culturally understood as an emblem of comfort and safety, yet Roman, Shiv, and Kendall are always looking for an excuse to get away from the dinner table. When Kendall tries to tell his mom about the waiter he accidentally killed in his car crash, his mom asked if they could discuss it over an egg in the morning and took off before he woke up. Understanding how close food is tied to these children's psychology shows why the donuts sent them packing.
The donuts are everything that Logan offers his children. Pleasure and opulence. Comfort and security. They show up at Rava’s unannounced. He has the power to give his kids what they want at the snap of his fingers and he can take it away just as easily. He knew where to send them and he knew exactly the chord it would strike. He doesn't even need to be in the room to know exactly how to manipulate them. If Kendall stands any chance of beating his father, he's going to have to start playing the game with a similar level of finesse.
"Mass in Time of War" doesn't waste a beat. It isn't Succession at its most exuberant, but it's amazing what the show can do with so little. No bachelor parties. No helicopters. No rousing games of Boar on the Floor. Just four damaged siblings in a room, letting their psyches leak like bad plumbing, with some clever symbolism for good measure.
"It's a stretch? It's a fucking scrotum over a timpani drum."
- Roman Roy
a reference to the Joseph Haydn composure the episode was named after–a mass written about Vienna being attacked by… you guessed it… Napoleon! We don't deserve writing this good.
“Previously Wrong” takes us week by week through the unpredictability of post-Golden age television and how our hindsight is sharpening for contemporary series. For this season, resident TV/Film columnist Jared Marshall takes us week by week for the family implosion portrayed on the best show on TV, HBO’s Succession.
When we think of our favourite Succession episodes, the mind tends to travel towards the set pieces. The Argestes conference. The Senate hearing. Austerlitz. But despite the fact that this show is carried by an ensemble of narcissistic vampires, the crew is economical in how they choose their locations. It’s never about theatrics; the location always fits the story the writers are trying to tell. “Mass in Time of War” offers one of the most intimate analyses of the Roy siblings’ psychology thus far. It only makes sense that it would take place within the (relatively) confined walls of Rava’s apartment. The location plunges us into the minds of these damaged children with little room to breathe.
As many of us predicted, Shiv's "change of plans" sent her directly to meet with Kendall, followed promptly by Roman and Connor. Kendall proceeds to spend the episode pitching his siblings on the benefits of "killing" their father. It plays out like the plotting of an ancient betrayal. A Trojan horse quite literally shows up at Kendall's door. Kendall goes as far to reference the death of Alexander in the midst of his word salad pitch. Despite the fact that Kendall truly has no idea what he's doing, the pieces are all there. Gerri, the most competent member of Waystar, says it to Roman on the phone. If the children band together, Logan would easily fall. But, considering he has the emotional intelligence of a goldfish, Kendall's plan to win his siblings' allegiance blows up in his face.
On top of being a grandiose and hilarious "fuck you" from Stewy, the Trojan horse metaphor shows how much he understands the Roy children and why he's come to resent them. What they think they present to the world is always in contrast to who they actually are. Beneath their cynical veneers lies a deep desire to be noticed and understood. If Kendall could tap into that, if he could offer Connor, Shiv, and Roman the acknowledgment they desperately crave from their father, winning over his siblings would be a slam dunk. But he's too caught up in his own insecurities that he'll never be able to empathize with anyone but himself. He'll never be an effective leader and his siblings know it. All it took were the fucking donuts.
The Roy children's relationship with food is integral to understanding their relationship with their parents. Go back to the Season 2 episode "Return". The kids are always talking about how much they hate Lady Caroline's food. "Mom's cooking" is culturally understood as an emblem of comfort and safety, yet Roman, Shiv, and Kendall are always looking for an excuse to get away from the dinner table. When Kendall tries to tell his mom about the waiter he accidentally killed in his car crash, his mom asked if they could discuss it over an egg in the morning and took off before he woke up. Understanding how close food is tied to these children's psychology shows why the donuts sent them packing.
The donuts are everything that Logan offers his children. Pleasure and opulence. Comfort and security. They show up at Rava’s unannounced. He has the power to give his kids what they want at the snap of his fingers and he can take it away just as easily. He knew where to send them and he knew exactly the chord it would strike. He doesn't even need to be in the room to know exactly how to manipulate them. If Kendall stands any chance of beating his father, he's going to have to start playing the game with a similar level of finesse.
"Mass in Time of War" doesn't waste a beat. It isn't Succession at its most exuberant, but it's amazing what the show can do with so little. No bachelor parties. No helicopters. No rousing games of Boar on the Floor. Just four damaged siblings in a room, letting their psyches leak like bad plumbing, with some clever symbolism for good measure.
"It's a stretch? It's a fucking scrotum over a timpani drum."
- Roman Roy
a reference to the Joseph Haydn composure the episode was named after–a mass written about Vienna being attacked by… you guessed it… Napoleon! We don't deserve writing this good.
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