The Prestige TV Podcast - 'Succession' Season 4, Episode 2 Precap

Episode Date: March 31, 2023

Chris and Wos get together to celebrate the new season of HBO's 'Succession' and share their reactions to its eventful first episode. They begin by examining the impressive attention to detail within their favorite scenes, the individual acting performances, and wardrobe. Next they assess the state of each of the primary characters, discuss the evolution of Roman throughout the series, and single out Tom as the X factor going down the stretch (18:20). They end the pod by talking about the effectiveness of ending the show after only four seasons and debating the viability of the big streaming services going forward (27:44). Hosts: Chris Ryan and Wosny Lambre Producers: Isaiah Blakely and Chris Sutton Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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I really want to know, like, what do you mean? Like, what are people? I know. It's just a market, man. Economic units. Just the market. Man, what an incredible first episode.

It's like you just get dropped right back into the pool, right? Head first. It was dope. I had a great time with it. Everybody sort of reprises their role. and exactly who we know them to be. And I think that's, to me, that's one of the show's greatest strengths,

even if a lot of people think that's the best, the biggest criticism is how repetitive the show can be. But I call it consistent. Yeah, you know, you make a, you say we jump right into the pool head first. That's not a good thing on succession. Not always. Dude to lose their teeth that way. Waz and I are going to be doing these precaps.

They're a little bit of a preview of the next episode, a little bit of our thoughts on the previous episode. We could start with that first episode, though, of the season. which I agree was excellent, was just the right mix of like one-liners and comedy with the like very tender ending between Tom and Shiv. But as far as plot goes and the like financial mechanics of the show because you and I are known for acumen when it comes to this thing.

Of course. I've got a subscription to the economist. That's right. So the kids are making their move against Logan part 55, which they've been trying to do over the course of the series. And this time it involves them. hijacking his deal for Pierce, which is this like Conday Nast-esque media conglomerate,

probably has some like New York or New York Times like left liberal elite type vibes. And at the end of the episode in a bidding situation where the kids go up to $10 billion in their valuation and Logan eventually says, congratulations, you fucking morons, you set a bigger number,

which is a very funny summation of all negotiations. Great Logan moment. What percentage of you, how confident are you that there is another shooter drop in that, that Logan wasn't just like, you got me. Yeah, I'm sure it feels like Logan, like they position him as being in this super restless state, right? He's got all of these decades of success.

He's just closed the biggest deal of his life as his latest success, but yet he still feels like he's got more to do. He feels antsy. And so, yeah, just the idea that he's going to rest on his laurels wouldn't jive with what we saw in the episode and I think more importantly with the episode

for me anyway makes plain is that the kids are not going to win in any in any reading of what winning means they are not going to come out

quote unquote on top running this company no yeah no absolutely not I'm as sure about that as I am of anything that goes on in this show. Because their purchase of Pierce, from my understanding, is contingent on Logan's selling most of his company to Gojo,

to Lucas Madsen. And the idea is, I think if I remember correctly in the third season, it's essentially like the platform, the pipes, the brass fittings of Waystar Royco are interesting to Lucas for a variety of reasons, but that he was going to keep this news division, that he was going to keep his Fox News-esque channel and some of his tabloids and stuff like that

and that the kids then are now taking this this jewel that he had got his eyes on in terms of having like another piece, another part for his portfolio, his media empire. But if the kids' purchase is contingent on Logan going through with this sale, and Logan is now basically put them in a situation

where it's like, you're waiting for me to sell something so that you can get your 5% of my company so that then you can be, buy the thing that I was bidding against before, you're now counting on me not blowing up that deal, which just seems unlikely. It just seems obvious.

And, you know, I was listening to you and Andy talk about the show. I don't remember if you were talking about secession specifically, but just a way of watching TV. And I think Andy was the one that said, I'm not interested in watching this like a Reddit profile.

Yeah, to solve it. Like, everything is there. We know what's going to have. I mean, That dude was definitely like talking about the afterlife and a diner. Right. No, of course. Of course.

There's that. There's those breadcrumbs. But it's just these kids have $3 billion coming their way, which is not to speak of the money that Logan has already earned in his life that they're going to come into. They've got these, I don't know if these are Emirates or Saudis or whoever backers. Right. For their new venture. The hundred. They would be building themselves.

And literally after one phone call with Tom, they're like, no, why would I build something? Why would I work at something? Let's go use daddy's money to go purchase this already made furnished thing because we are losers. We are not builders. We are like dad. We are the leeches, right? And so that's all you kind of need to know about these kids. It's just like the same.

Second, that something way easier that they themselves don't have to get their hands dirty to build comes along, they're right on it. That's a really interesting way of looking at the family dynamic and their relationship to work because how does this episode end, really? It's with Logan watching his fucking cable station late at night and reaming out sin. He's still hungry. Because he actually has takes on like how they're doing their work and whether or not the anchor is attractive enough and what. you know, when people watch and what they want to see when they watch. And he's like an old school media guy. He cares about like the headline and he cares about the deck and he cares about the photo choice and everything like that. And the kids are like, listen to the way that they describe

themselves. You know, it's just like you're going to kill someone in a 7-Eleven. You're going to get jerked off by an ATM machine and I'm going to wind up with nothing. And they don't ever talk about themselves as like, well, what could you actually do? What could you build? The closest one at being capable at something like that is Roman. It's awesome. Like I said, the reason why I think this show

it's not gonna, it's not gonna be hard to figure out where things are going, how they position these kids and their understanding of their position in the meritocracy or elite structure, right?

Where I think Roman is clearly the most self-aware in the sense that the reason why he has a bit of contempt for all of this, like the way he's talking to his investment banker. He's just like,

this is what you learn at Harvard. Like, he understands that it's all bullshit. He's only there, but for the work and the money that his father has earned. And he knows this. Yeah.

He knows how this whole structure works. I think Kendall, I don't think Kendall sees it as bullshit. He knows he's only there for his dad because of his dad, but I don't think he sees the entire structure as like a complete clown show. And then Shiv,

who just, Like, she really believes that she not only deserves all of this stuff, that she's somehow done anything at all to be in the position that she is in. And I think the episode does such a great job of it. Like, she's so, so, she feels so satisfied her face. She's the most satisfied after the deal gets done with the pierces, where she's just like, I just did a thing. I'm just such a great, savvy businesswoman.

It's like, you didn't. nothing you guys overpaid for this thing with somebody else's money. That's it. Who's the money of who's your bidding against. You know, like, there's a really interesting, like, little theme throughout that opening section of the episode, the first episode, where they're kind of describing why they're doing what they're doing and what they need. And you're right.

Kendall is all superficial. It's keywords. It's cliches. And he's, like, throwing out, like, different, like, concepts and whether or not it's to be like substack meets the economist meets the New Yorker. And Shiv is like, there's a presidential election and it's 1933 and I want to have a say. 1933 for who? Certainly not you, Shiv.

It's a joke. Like the delusions of grandeur, it's so obvious. And I don't know if it was last season or the season before where I realized that I just couldn't root for the kids. Yeah. Not that I want to see them fail necessarily, but it's just like, I can't get behind these people. Right. And I think Shiv is the avatar for that

because she is so smelling herself and really believes that she is just God's gift to business, to politics, to, you know, negotiation. And it's just like, you guys, you're going to get killed again. The only person who seems to have like a grasp on it and he's brought it up multiple times over the seasons where especially when he was talking to Lucas,

when he was talking to various other people who were thinking about getting involved in an ATN is Roman, where he's like, I'm fucking basically post-literate. Like, I can't even read. I just take in these little bits and bites of information. And he actually has, regardless of my opinion of it, a vision and an idea of like where everything is going,

where it's like people are looking at these words on their phones, but it's not like reading. It's like they're just getting little like clicks, of a pleasure center in their brain. That's it. Yeah. And so in that way, Roman is actually

the most logical air to his father. Yeah. Because he's not trying to stop fascism from rising and he's not trying to start the new version of the economist. He's just trying to make a buck

by like selling people, catheters and blood pressure medication in the middle of the night. Whatever it takes, he's the only one with any kind of vision. And I think that the thing that we've seen over and over is that he doesn't have his dad's instinct for ripping people's hearts.

out. That's like, that's the only thing he's missing. But as far as competence, he's the only one all episode like, okay, yes, um, yeah, 9.5 and 10 billion don't seem like that much of a difference, but he's like

it's five guys, we can't just flippantly talk about $500 million. He's the only one. One thousand, one thousand. He's like, guys, like, that's a shit ton of fancy sushi. Like, he's the only one that would even have. that conversation.

Everybody else is like, who cares? Like, what's 500 million? Like, literally, what is 500 million? The reason why money has no object to Kendall is because he's spending all of it on his clothing. That's what I kind of mostly wanted to talk to you about today, because I've done a little bit of math. I think conservatively, Kendall's wearing like 12K in the scene with his brother and sister

and T, the banker, where Tom Ford jacket, Tom for jeans, a thousand-dollar Gucci gray run sneakers and I couldn't find a price on that hat but it has to be $500 at least Yeah

What did you think of Kendall wearing $15,000 worth of Amazon basics? I like These are the things that to show absolutely nails

that I think are important because they understand the finer details of this culture of these people where you know

Tom When he's making fun of Greg's date, he's just like, this is just not how it's done, kid. Like, we don't move like this. You know, when you get to this place, and Tom would know, because he's a yokel from Minnesota. So he understands, like, when you get to this station in life, you do not behave this way. Like, you can't dress all garrishly. Like, you should never express money. Like, that should never be part of your self-expression.

And the fact that your date doesn't get that just shows that she doesn't belong. And Kendall, he is the embodiment of what Tom is talking about. It's like, yes, I'm wearing $20,000, but I looked like I just walked out of Old Navy. It's crazy. Like the attention to detail, and even Greg, you know, I feel like Greg did get made fun of at one point

for wearing the wrong tie or something like that. And like even Greg, you can see he's learning how to perform, you know, upper crows. culture. He's under, he's, he's getting there. But his date, unfortunately, with the huge bag and all of that. Like that conversation

that Tom is having with him, it's everything. Like, that's why I love this show. Just those details that they can explain to you and why it matters. And then, you know, some of the interactions that I'm sure we'll get into when you talk about Tom and Shiv. But yeah, it's just perfect. This is what the show nails. Tom says to Greg, does she have her flats there

for her subway ride? just burned my bridging tunnel soul, Chris. Just my queen's native soul. I was like, oh, my God, that is such a sick burn. And it's so funny because that performer and, like, the character's, like, outfit is not out of, like, it's not like she was wearing, like, a bag on her head. She was just wearing cowboy boots with, like, a skirt and a top. But she was, like, just five degrees out of place. It's perfect.

It was, like, I asked your grandfather for, like, for, like, for, for a selfie? It's perfect. And like, I had just recently read a piece in a New Yorker. I forget the writer's name. But it was about like the rise of J.Crew. Oh, Wai wrote that. Wasu.

Yeah. Yes. It was about the rise of J. Crew. And, you know, the guy who founded J.Crew was a Jewish guy. But he understood like instinctively what Americana was, right? Like, we're going to, we're going to sell these clothes that are not about what rich people wear. but what rich people wear when they're at play,

when they're hanging out, when they're just chilling, and just understanding that that's the expression you want to go for. You don't want to seem like you're trying too hard or you feel desperate. This guy understood

that there's a way to perform this aspirational life. And that's the invention of prep, right? Exactly. It's the invention of, yeah, just the style that we associate with brands like Tommy Hilfiger, polo, Nordica,

all the stuff that a lot of us wore back in the 90s. And I just thought that was brilliant. That like, you know, this guy who was a Jewish guy, the child of immigrants, upwardly mobile guy, he's like, no, this is how the aristocracy in America comports themselves. And it's aspirational, and this is how you guys are going to do it.

And Tom just distilled that idea just so beautifully in that cutting-ass conversation with Greg. What you think of as the host of Full Court? What did you think of Kendall sneakers? You know what's so funny? I tend to hate designer sneakers. So they're kind of, they're Gucci. They also look a little bit like the Mountain Man Nike ACG.

Right. It's a designer sneaker that's trying to be performance. Yeah. Right. Which is rare. Like a lot of times what they're trying to sell you is like, oh, this is Italian leather on this sneaker. And this is why you should pay $1,200. So generally I'm opposed to the concept of designer sneakers because it's just like,

Nike doesn't make three-piece suits, right? So why should Tom Ford make athletic sneakers? It doesn't make any fucking sense to me. But those sneakers are actually dope. And I think what I like, like, that's why Jeremy Strong is kind of a genius. Like, everything is so considered in his performance.

So even when he's not acting, he's still performing. I think that the sunglasses he was wearing, I saw a GQ video where he was like, I had like a European sunglasses designer like make Kendall sunglasses like Of course Yeah, one of one He's like these are the glasses

This guy would wear Yeah He's not gonna wear Gucci glasses That's too You know sort of garish Like this Kendall Roy He's he's in tune Enough to know the do's

And the don'ts Like he's vaguely cool In that way Are you a Kendall Naomi fan? Of course I need more of that Just Just the like

Sort of We're the damaged versions of this world. Give me all of that. She's been in the show for like 12 minutes, but I fucking love that lady. Electric. Electric. And she's,

what I like about hers is, and the Pierce's, just generally speaking, it's just like, yeah, we're rich pricks, but we are just 10 times more savier than these fucking idiots. Like they under, like, they're self-aware enough to know that like, yeah, we're, it's disgusting how rich we are.

And that's why Nan refuses to talk about money. And, like, there's a self-consciousness there. Whereas, like, they know, like... When next time you're up with Bill, will you do the, like, I hate negotiating as you look out the window? It's so disgusting. Bill, I need a raise. Let's not talk about money, though.

We don't want to talk about money. On the other side of Kendall, outside of the shirt, the pants, the jacket, the sneakers is, like, what's going on inside. And as always, I find Jeremy Strong, probably the most compelling actor on television. And the thing that I love about Kendall is, even though I have dinged the show before or at least voiced like a confusion about

whether or not how Kendall kind of resets back to zero all the time for the sake of comedy, which is like no problems with that. But like a guy that almost tried to take his own life, a guy that has had like these like meth binges, a guy that has had like incredible crash and burn moments, incredible moments of vulnerability with his sister, with his father, whoever,

told his brother and sister that he killed a man. Yeah. You know, and is now coming in and be like, oh, Romie! Like, three months later, like whether or not that always tracks for me. But this is still a dude who can be like, I used to smoke horse.

I used to smoke heroin, and that's why I need to start a blog because I need something to take the place of my drug habit, which is just always like, they always distill it down to its purest form. Yeah, he's got a new lease on life. And I love that the show's version of Kendall being cured is Kendall understanding that he has this problem.

And it's toxic to relate to your job or your work in the way that he's describing it. But it's better than age. What work, though? What work? Exactly. He's going to Dubai and like, you know, leveraging his relationships or whatever. Of course. Of course.

But it's like, at least he could fool him. himself into thinking like, Kendall's not editing live blogs? No, he's, he didn't put in the same type of pain that Chris Ryan did. He's never, he's never, he doesn't know what trade deadline day is like? When you're like, wait, did they put Brevin

night in this or not? Is there a sicker on pin converting? He never founded a blogspot.com. Like, he's never done any of that. But this is his version of that, right? Just the idea that like, all right, I'm going to, you know, throw myself into

courting, you know, investors in Dubai. I think the show's version of Kendall has made a step is that he knows without something like this, trying to beat your dad, trying to grow a business, trying to do whatever, he's going to turn to these alternative means of feeling alive. Yeah. So the person who seems to actually be the spine of this,

the hundreds, but also like the thing that's keeping this whole kids group together is Roman. and in the way, the same way the Kendall character, I think has oscillated back and forth from crisis to confidence to crisis to confidence. Roman, I think his trajectory has actually been like, the most significant, like,

this dude started out as like a pipsqueak jerking off onto a tower window and is now like credibly sort of running meetings and giving notes on fonts and stuff like that. What do you think of where Roman is in this last season? as we got one episode after under our belt. Yeah, I think of everybody on the show.

Him and Tom are the two that you can legitimately say have made a transformation. Everybody else is the exact same as when we met them episode one except for those two guys. So it's cool to see him be the most competent sibling,

the most, you know, emotionally stable or at least emotionally intelligent and aware, right? he seems to be really in tune with his brother and his sister and how they feel. Like he really like when he's like, oh, Shiv is having a breakdown because she's just like, holy smokes, my marriage is like literally officially over. Was he say, like, we hate it when love dies. Yeah, that was such a sad day.

Yeah. That was so good. He's got so many great lines this episode of just being incredulous and just like everybody, everything around me is so ridiculous and absurd. But yeah, to me, his train. transformation is the steepest, for sure. If we could see a freaking pie chart or a graph, this thing would be like a rocket.

Whereas Shiv and Kendall and Logan and, you know, Jerry and all of the little syckel fans, everybody is exactly the same. There's a line when, I think, towards the end of the bidding, when they're at the Pierce's, and the Pierce daughter or nephew or whoever or niece, is like the one wearing jeans

and like the blue shirt tucked into the jeans is like, let me go show you the view from the veranda and Roman's just like, yeah, let's do that. He's just always got like these great little one-liners. Let's talk a little bit about Tom. Yeah. Because Tom is almost unique in this show in that he will make

major plot decisions for the entirety of the series. His machinations impact the entire show, but they're not always obvious to us. So the last episode of the third season, while he's alluding to it, and he alludes to Greg about making a deal with the devil and everything, it's still a shock when we see him with Logan at the end of the episode.

And then I think that he's going to be the X factor of this entire season. I think he's going to basically be the most important character in a lot of ways of the season, because I think he's going to determine where everything kind of winds up plot-wise. and his first call from his like just to talk, just to talk, just to say I was with Naomi, but it was social, but it wasn't this. So excruciating. But he obviously, I think, is also tipping off the kids that this Pierce thing is happening.

So what did you think of Tom? 100%. I think Tom, you're right. You're so right about him being the sort of straw that stirs the drink of the show. The Pat Beverly almost, you know? The Pat Bev. The other day Pat Bev said he was. being used as a spoon, but he was like,

they used me as a fork and I'm a spoon or, yeah, I think he was like I'm the spoon that stirs the drink, but the Lakers are using me as a fork. Which honestly sounds like a succession line. Yeah, exactly. Tom to me is the only person

aside from Logan who seems to have his eye on the ball at all times and understands the game, understands the chess pieces, understand his place within the broader game. Like, we see that when he talks to Logan, he's like, if I get a divorce,

and Logan's like, I love that scene. If you're good, you're good. If we're good, if we're not, I don't need you for anything. Like, I only need you in so far as I need you, right? And I think so Tom is very aware where he stands. And he's almost like,

he reminds me of Little Finger in a lot of ways in the sense that he's not of this world. He's an interloper. And everybody in the world knows it. is like so aware of it, they won't stop letting him know like, you know, when shit was like,

yeah, you fucking made it from St. Paul, you fucking piece of shit. Like, everybody never stops letting him know where he started from. And obviously he's a hyper aware of it, but I think that hyper awareness

is why he's able to outmaneuver everybody. He's different than Carl and Frank and Jerry to me, where they are like pure survivalists. They're just like, I don't really care about going up. I just don't want to go down or out. I just want to stay here. Tom, I think, has a little bit of ambition and restlessness to him. And he's obviously in that room when they're doing the bidding.

Yeah, Logan's like, call your fucking wife. Call your fucking wife. But there's also a little bit of, I think, like, he's playing both sides in that. And that will be interesting to see. see a how much the divorce sticks because obviously there's I wouldn't call it like a reconciliation at the end but maybe an understanding of one another as humans at the end and then knowledgement of each other's humanity yeah and then there's also like his sort of tenuous ground with Logan because if he's not Shiv's husband he can't call his fucking wife right what is he some

sort of great media man I don't know I mean Tom Tom's like instincts for running that stuff is is yet to be seen. Yeah, I don't know that he's the quote-unquote right man for the job, but at least he's up to the task, which is, again, more than we can say for so many other people. He's willing to send himself to prison. Dude, everything. Yeah.

Like, he is so, like, I think it's the gift and the curse. Everybody understands how desperate he is. Like, it's so, he wears it on his sleeve, but it's also useful. to people. Desperation can be useful. Yeah. And so everybody understands that about Tom, that he's both annoying as hell, but he's useful at the same time. And I think he's straddling the fence of both of those extremes. Seen by scene, it feels like damn there, especially when he's talking to his freaking ex-wife. Are you looking for support in your weight management journey? Zepbound terseptide may be able to help.

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I'm fine with it. I'm not one of those. I like the idea that the show realizes that the place that it would take up in our imagination, if it was a seven-season show fundamentally changes, then if they just wow us with this fourth season. And I think that's something to be admired because, you know, these guys are leaving money on the table,

fame, adulation, all the things that come with having basically the most zeitgeisty freaking show in existence right now. So I think that's something to admire as artists that they're just like, look, people like we don't want a game of thrones ourselves right yeah we want people to really think that we did some legendary shit and so we're going to do this right and end it i'm not no i'm not sad about it but then i also this is something i need to ask you because everybody understands

that there's too much shit right now to watch so why do we keep doing that so why do we keep putting out so much shit or why do we get mad that there's not going to be eight season of succession. Both. Well, the too much shit is because they started all these streaming services and now they're like, we don't have enough stuff to put on these to keep subscribers interested. So if we just put up 10 shows a year that are good that people like, that's not enough for them to sustain their memberships with their streaming services.

And since it's so easy to quit on and go on and off of them, whereas like with cable, you had to call up James Dolan and tears in your eyes begged to be let out of your cable vision. Got you. Or whatever. With HBO Max, you can just go to the. site and be like click off and then when succession or House of the Dragon comes back on you can be click on and spend your sit. Has that been proven though

Chris that like people who want... I think with Netflix there's a little bit more of a quitter thing. Like I think Netflix people are a little bit more like there's nothing on it right now and I'm going to save... And I'm just going to quit the... I'll save my 13 bucks. Yeah. It's incredible. I don't know. This is somewhat anecdotal. But I think it's a

it's obviously a lot easier to be like I'm going to at any given point have four streaming services. Sometimes it might be this one. Sometimes it might be that one. Whereas with cable, you were just fucked because you were just like, I'm locked in. I'm locked in. It's 200 a month to just get, if I just want to watch HBO or whatever,

and you start out, you're like, good, this is a good, $60 a month. And I'm going to be spending. And then you're like, but I'd like to watch Real Madrid. So that's going to be 20 bucks a month. And I'd like to watch, you know, back in the day, you'd be like, I guess I'd get Showtime and HBO so I can watch like Homeland and, you know, six feet under or whatever. And then all of a sudden you wind up and you're up around 130,

whatever, and inflation and everything like that. And then I still have cable for live sports is what I tell myself. I also like flipping around. Yeah, still. But yeah, like, so basically, I think the streaming services made it so that in any given month. So, like, the Emmy's deadline to submit for this year's Emmys is,

I think, April 31st or May 31st. The amount of shows coming out between now and the end of May is obscene. It would be a year's worth of shows. And not, like, 50% of them are just straight. up not going to get the attention they deserve or warrant because people are like, I'm watching succession. I'm watching succession and maybe two other things. Right. And so I guess the reason why I was asking you this question was that like we have so much fun talking about it. Right. And there's a world in which this is a different kind of show and it's just a comedy that's on every week.

It's like VEP. It's more like VEP than anything else. Yes. But then when you think about is the scene that we saw at the beginning of this season that much different than the scene on the boat from a couple of seasons ago where they're off of Croatia or whatever and they're like angling to see who Logan is going to name and if he's going to name someone and what they're

it's basically like one scene it's these kids angling to be named the next head of the company and I think the recognition is that if you have seven, eight seasons of this you can't credibly have the Tom and Shiv moment at the end

eight seasons later you'd be Gray's Anatomy or Yellowstone and you'd be on to like Shiv's third husband. Exactly. Yeah. And the payoff is just way less. So then this couple that we've been watching for three plus seasons now, right? And so I understand that you can't deliver the stakes if you just keep circling this same idea of who's going to take over this freaking media company. So I'm completely good with it.

But I'm also somebody who thinks we have plenty of shit to watch. I know. So we saw, we'll go out on this. Did you watch this season on Succession, that trailer? So I was very happy to see Stewie. Arguably my favorite succession character. Looks like Scars Guard's back. Lucas Matts him.

I'm also very into Justin Kirk who plays the... Mankin? Mankin, who plays the techno-peat-eel MAGA guy. Who are you most excited to get back in the midst? Stooie. Stuie by far. Stuie just because he's delivered some of the funniest lines on the show. And Stuie because...

I can trust you, right? No. No shot, of course not. But about money stuff. No. Like, he is, the reason why he's my favorite one because of the lines with two, like somebody that conceivably you or I could meet out in the world. Yeah.

And so that's more interested to me because it's more grounded to our own lives in reality. Backstage at an AACP Rocky show. 100% easily. And so that's why Stewie's easily my favorite. He's freaking, he's the best. So was there anything that caught your eye? People don't know. It's a several moment long.

I actually stopped it after a while because I was like, I'm good. I get that this is going to be an exciting season. I don't want to get any, any, like, spoilers or anything. But is there anything from that trailer that you were like, whoa, I can't wait? Roman and the Swedish guy,

they're setting us up to Scarsguard, whatever his character's name is. Lucas Mattson, yeah. Lucas Madsen. And just to be clear, we love Swedish billionaires. Period. That's tickles without saying. I don't know why anyone would ever question that fact.

I like that they're setting those two up to be super adversarial because I thought all of those scenes with Kieran Kalkin and Scarsgaard last year with like super electric and full of energy. So I'm excited to see more of that for sure. That definitely caught my honor. Yeah, me too. I wonder what his role in this whole thing is going to. be. And it just does seem like it seems like

the presidential election is going to loom large over this season. And I've always thought that this show handled the real world very well. Like there are obvious parallels. But then there are some things that you know, that they take liberties with. And I'll be curious to see because there's a

Mankan line in the candidate says something where he's like I want to win the presidency. And if I lose, I wanted to be seen as a victory, which obviously echoes with some of our sore losers out there. I mean, you know what's so funny? I didn't read that line that way.

As election denial? No, I didn't. It wasn't a J6 thing for me. It was more, it was more like a Bernie thing. Like, yes, Bernie laws, but like the left is now resurgence in America. Like nobody was thinking about socialism before this. That's how I sort of read it. even though he lost, he won type of thing,

but maybe it is that. Probably not J6, but maybe he's like, I need, this is the context I want to lose in, you know? Yeah, which I can, you know, I can understand. You know, I don't get as itchy about those kinds of things because I think there's a tendency to be like, oh, you can't get election politics wrong.

Yeah. It's so important. And then, you know, part of me is like, is it? Like, is it like? Are you watching Succession to get like, Hell no. And if you are, guys, let me tell you.

If you're watching this to get your politics, I think, you know what? I'll say this. I think Succession has great politics, to be honest. I think the politics of this show are that the ruling class

is wholly incompetent and sometimes even bordering on ghoulish. And completely reckless. And reckless. And the idea that we're just completely cool with, you know, the freaking spout pains of one fucking media magnate to just rule the world after him is problematic.

Like, I think the show has phenomenal politics, but they're just not, you know, super obvious about that. Yeah, I think that it's also important to distinguish between the average succession viewers' politics and what Jesse Armstrong's politics might be and the way that they get expressed through these characters that I think he has a healthy amount of affection for, but also a very obvious and healthy amount of disdain for it. Oh yeah, 100%. And you know what I like about it, and of course, because he's not freaking American. Like, he's not framing it in our red, blue, lib, conservative, blah, blah, blah, paradigm. Like, because those are just false truths, to be honest. Like, to, to pretend that the only way you can view the world is the way that CNN, MSNBC, and Fox

frame the world for us. It's just false. It's not true. And I think this show rejects that notion. And that's what I like about its politics. It's that it's not tethered to our conversation. It's class-based. Yeah. They just, they get it.

I don't know what to say. I don't know what to tell you guys. Man, shout out to the English. Shout out to the Swedish billionaires. Shout out to this show. Shout out to Isaiah and Chris for producing us today. Wise, thanks for joining me. We'll be here every Friday.

Morning, I believe, just to get you hyped up for the next episode of Succession, we got, what is it, eight this season, I think, or is it 10? I can't remember. I think it's 10 this season. Yep. And, yeah, I can't wait until next week, man. Chris, you're a good guy. You're my pal.

My best pal. Talk to you soon.