Fuck Off! Succession Is On! Plus Spring TV and How You Can Help Tennessee
A Succession breakdown, my spring TV picks, and organizations worth your time and $$$.
Welcome back to another week of Fries for the Table! Your weekly helping of all things pop culture, LA life, and a lil’ bit of me! Let’s talk TV.
This past week’s episode of Succession, “Rehearsal” was the series at its best. Against the backdrop of yet another in-flux Royco deal, the clan clashes over wanting a bigger piece of the pie (and ultimately hitting Logan where it hurts at the 11th hour—what else is new?) Sidebar: As the current deal stands, the siblings would already each get a $100 million cash out.
I must admit, last season I was growing weary of the series. It was actually beginning to remind me of another HBO series full of backdoor deals and biting insults, Silicon Valley. While highly entertaining and charming, it eventually exhausted itself with the same ole’ same ole’ build-up every season. Will the gang Outwit, Outplay, and Outlast the same foe? Well gosh darn, they somehow did it!
Curiously, it also had similarish behind-the-scenes cast drama. Though TJ Miller’s on-set assholery, (and outing as a sexual predator) are very far from Jeremy Strong’s commitment to going full method—and Brian Cox’s repeated scoffs.
I digress! In short, I was very happy to hear this season would be the series last and so far it’s delivered. Sunday night’s “Rehearsal”, not only laid the framework for season-long drama with both Kendall and Roman’s betrayals. (There’s a Roman’s Revenge joke in there somewhere.) But it also held up a mirror to all these cherished characters, reminding us of exactly why they are the way they are and their collective motivations (and failure to actually look in the mirror.) Hello, season four’s promotional poster!
Not only was it thrilling to see the Roy offspring cosplaying as us poors, acquiescing to sad sack Connor’s pleas to live like the locals for a night. But we got Logan showing up at a divey karaoke spot! to plead with the kids! not to thwart the Matsson deal! We also got as close to an apology as we’ve ever seen from Logan and I went full eyeball emoji over every Kendall slug, and Kendall goes in.
“C’mon Dad, what’re you sorry for? Sorry for ignoring Connor his whole life?” Pow! “Hitting Rom when he was a kid?” Pow! Pow! “Having Connor’s mother locked up?” Skrrrt! If you wanted to get someone to watch Succession, this scene, bisexual lighting and all, would make a perfect case.
And I don’t even have enough characters to dive into the deliciousness of seeing the usually poised, unflinching Kerry in her flop era! We’re eating!
Connor is eye rolled at when he leaves the room with a Shakespearean-esque proverb for his siblings to chew on. In summation, “I can survive without love. You all can’t. I’ve given up on trying to win over Dad’s approval. And trying to get his love will be your downfall.” But as we see in the episode’s final moments, no one has heeded his warning. Roman has graduated from “warm” texts to his father to flat out potentially switching sides, Shiv toys with the idea of ringing up Tom, and perpetual mess Kendall is out here screwing the pooch yet again by failing to let the crew know about Matsson’s threat. I found myself shouting at the screen, “Why, Kendall? Why?!” But of course, Kendall would fuck things up yet again! That’s what Kendalls do! P.S. Even with 5Gs, there is no way Kendall would’ve had a strong enough signal to FaceTime Matsson in the subway stairwell.
As for next week's Roy(al) wedding, we see Connor, who may have given up on Logan’s love desperate for Willa’s, Roman entangled in his father’s web, and Shiv dressed in all black (a hint as to what’s to come?) We’ve seen what goes down at a Roy Wedding!
In other TV news, this week brought the return of the wonderful and woefully underrated Dave, which has one of the best depictions of Black mental health I’ve ever seen on TV (La la la I pretend I do not see Lil’ Dicky’s egregious collab with Chris Brown a few years back, la la la!)
The terrifying and fiercely acted Yellowjackets returned last week too, which sadly I might have to give up on because it’s too gross and sad, even for me, a gross and sad person.
I am looking forward to binging Netflix’s Beef led by Ali Wong and Steven Yeun, as someone who identifies as capital P petty. Hulu’s Tiny Beautiful Things might get my attention, too, as Treasurer of the Katherine Hahn Stan Club. Got TV recs? Comment what you’re looking forward to in spring and summer premieres.
No Leftovers this week–but you can support the unfathomable actions happening in Tennessee surrounding anti-trans and drag legislation by donating to OUTMemphis or My Sistah’s House, two organizations working to provide emergency assistance, community, and advocacy to the queer communities of Tennessee.
My Sistah’s House also accepts donations via Venmo @MSHMEMPHIS and CashApp $MSHMEMPHIS. Some of you have graciously pledged paid subscriptions to my newsletter (!) so I’ll be doubling this month’s subscriptions and donating the proceeds between the two orgs.
Have a fabulous weekend! You can find more of my musings and antics on Twitter @literallE and Instagram @evapants.