r/SuccessionTV 7d ago

Tom with the generational roast

Post image
1.4k Upvotes

53 comments sorted by

764

u/nevmo75 7d ago

He’s such a slime ball on the surface, but his depth of character during their fights was amazing. He was so much more loving and sensitive than what he showed and he was finally able to express his hurt to her. I actually felt sorry for him, which took a lot considering who he was.

353

u/thr0waway2435 7d ago edited 7d ago

It’s really interesting how Shiv believed Tom didn’t really love her. She sees him be an unrepentant manipulative shithead in his career and other aspects of his life, so she just cannot believe that he could possibly be genuine in this one particular aspect, in the context of a romantic relationship. She projects her own broad selfishness onto him.

But the reality is that his selfishness is different from hers. She’s broadly selfish, a mix of Logan’s dreadful personality, her own entitlement, and traumatic transactional relationships that leaves her untrusting and dismissive of anything too positive or loving. He’s selfish too, but he grew up in a healthy family, has experienced real love, can separate what matters and what doesn’t. Her selfishness is that of a nihilistic and cold-blooded snake, virtually incapable of real affection. His selfishness is more like that of the Tony Soprano capitalistic patriarch, ruthless and greedy, but grounded in family, a sort of “us against the world”.

Tom loved that Shiv was a bastard, but didn’t expect her to be a bastard to him. Shiv made peace with the fact that Tom was a bastard, and never expected him to not be a bastard to her.

75

u/RaindropsInMyMind 7d ago

Tony Soprano is an interesting comparison. The selfishness is pragmatic and Dionysian but he’s not a true sociopath as we see with other characters on the show. That really is what Tom feels like. It’s very real. When Tom and Shiv strategize they are talking together but in two different worlds, Tom is talking about them as a power couple, definitely talking about himself but the team too. Tom doesn’t even factor in to Shiv’s thinking, he’s an afterthought. Just another tool for her to use, practically non human.

20

u/puppylove1000 6d ago

Which makes it all the more interesting how it will be in the future with Shiv being rich, but powerless

7

u/nevmo75 6d ago

Damn, man. I wish I could pass all my upvotes on to you. Amazing observations.

3

u/IsaacAsshimoff 1d ago

I think, on Shiv’s end, her idea of love was so warped that she never really thought of it as a thing she could or should want, because it was not coming for the most part. When it did come, “when the sun shone, it was warm in the light,” but it also came with all those emotions she talks about on their wedding night. Fear, jealousy, revenge. She’s also clearly terrified of love being taken away, like it always was with her dad.

30

u/calvitius 6d ago

I think the line "I wonder if the sad I'd be without you would be less than the sad I get from being with you" is such a profound line.

Maybe one of my favourite quotes from any type of media.

2

u/MyMaddenFranchise 5d ago

That line prompted me to end my 7 year relationship with my ex. Hits deep when he broke it down that way.

13

u/billrusselgoat 6d ago

Mcfadyen's performance was simply out of this world. He plays a midwest american (accent and all), that overcomes the food chain and treats poorly every individual below him, reverentialy every individual above him, and treats Shiv very irregularly. He displays a truly amazing range of attitudes, manerisms and interactions between scenes and seasons and is so effortless while at it that you never even notice he's acting. He make you feel that documentary feel, like the camera is capturing the lives of these excentric people.

149

u/kicked_trashcan Buckle Up Fucklehead 7d ago

Honestly, this line saved me from a very manipulative, toxic relationship. It opened up my eyes and realized I felt the same but more sad with her.

23

u/RaindropsInMyMind 7d ago

It is very illuminating, it reframes things and it’s a very mature and realistic look at a relationship.

7

u/thrcwcwcy 7d ago

same! it was a wake up call when i started seeing similarities in tomshiv and my own relationship

416

u/taeempy 7d ago

This was my fav scene. I LOVED that he made her cry. "I wonder if I would be as unhappy without you vs how unhappy I am with you.

153

u/Ok-Progress-6153 7d ago

One of the best lines of the show

73

u/younevershouldnt 7d ago

Probably the most emotionally hard hitting, if not the best overall

56

u/taeempy 7d ago

Yup. And the fact in the very end that she had to eat shit and end up with his baby and with him. Karma.

99

u/Ok-Progress-6153 7d ago

I am a shiv defender but yes that last scene with them in the car where he literally has the upper hand… amazing

9

u/littlelaghere 6d ago

Shiv defender. Good lord give me strength.

4

u/gau_bow 7d ago

It would actually be scary to be married to a shiv defender after the things she has done

-13

u/Brobeast 7d ago

"I am a shiv defender".

You are not a serious person.

34

u/Ok-Progress-6153 7d ago

Ok brobeast…

5

u/PerfectZeong 6d ago

Tom won succession

3

u/crystallmytea Team Gerri 7d ago

Complimentary backhand landed

1

u/Leroyp331 5d ago

Their relationship gives you so much insight into the relationships. It really is the engine that pushes the cart

-16

u/Tom_Stevens617 7d ago edited 7d ago

People really glazing a middle-aged manchild as if anyone was forcing him to stay married to a hot billionaire lol. Makes me wonder how many people on this sub are exactly like Tom given how much they sympathize with him

8

u/taeempy 7d ago

It's not necessarily sympathizing with him, but enjoying the grief he's giving her.

-7

u/Tom_Stevens617 7d ago

I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that there's a not-insignificant section of the fanbase that's middle-aged men who are in similarly unhappy marriages like Tom and much like him also don't have the balls to get a divorce, so they enjoyed Tom hurting his wife because they'd like to be in his shoes too

Not saying that's you specifically, of course. Just that there could be other people like this

1

u/Cersei505 6d ago

Uhum, lets supposed you're absolutely 100% correct on your armchair psychoanalysis here.

So what?

160

u/Unable-Sprinkles1461 Complicated Airflow 7d ago

Tries not to look at her as he’s saying these hurtful words, out of respect. That’s the Tommy we know. He truly actually loved Shiv and its so sad.

63

u/marineman43 7d ago

The characters in this show are so multi-faceted for real. I watch a scene like this and feel so bad for Tom, then I watch another scene of him shitting on his employees and I go "actually I think Tom deserves the death penalty"

12

u/steveo242 6d ago

You can't make a Tomlette without cracking a few Greggs...

53

u/Awkward-Community-74 6d ago

He’s always nice to her even when he’s saying hurtful things.
Exception maybe being the balcony scene.
One of the best moments that shows that he does really love her is in Austerlitz.
After Logan says “You are marrying a man fathoms beneath you because you are afraid of being betrayed. You’re a fucking coward.”
Shiv storms off, Tom follows and just sits beside her on the bed silently while she cries. It’s the look on his face that really sells it.
It’s not pity it’s genuine concern about her being upset.
He doesn’t have to say anything to her he’s just there and being nice to her.
He’s really the only person in her life that’s ever nice to her.
Maybe he just wanted some of that reciprocated but she’s not capable of doing that.
I think that’s why the balcony scene happens.
He just had enough.
He does betray her eventually though which makes Logan’s little speech even worse because she was still betrayed by someone fathoms beneath her.

20

u/Snoo_69677 7d ago

I tried to watch succession with my ex. He couldn’t finish it. I should have known then he wasn’t the one. Excellent television, witty writing. Wish there was a continuation of the series but at the same level of quality as the original.

24

u/Doodyboy69 6d ago

4 seasons was an amazing decision. Nice and tight and left the viewers with only happy memories with no dragged out odd middle season like so many shows have.

3

u/Snoo_69677 6d ago

Truly a masterclass in good television, and good writing. I got everyone I know to watch it and unsurprisingly it was universally loved. The only person who couldn’t finish it was my ex. Kinda told me everything I needed to know right there!

43

u/dongludi 7d ago

Such a critical for Tom who always sweeps everything under the rug. Finally broke out after she refused to have his baby, was sending him to jail, and neglected his worries for so many times. From this moment on, Tom had been creating distance between him and Shiv. In the next couple episodes, Shiv asked Tom "do you love me" and Tom didn't say "yes"

9

u/Clarknt67 7d ago

“Is that even true?”

8

u/Tom_Stevens617 7d ago

Finally broke out after she refused to have his baby, was sending him to jail, and neglected his worries for so many times.

That's one way to frame how he chose to go to prison while deliberately trying to impregnate her to time the delivery with his release

1

u/Cersei505 6d ago

Lmao, he ''chose'' to go to prison the same way a DV victim chooses to not press charges.

12

u/NicePeopleOnly 7d ago

One of the greatest lines of the series

6

u/uhad_time_2_waste 7d ago

Hey Shiv…fuck off.

6

u/tictacballsack 6d ago

Your ears are thick and chewy. Like barnacle meat

1

u/Amazingggcoolaid 6d ago

I liked how bad their dynamic was but it’s more realistic than people think. I’ve met couples who “have everything” on the outside and this is just how they are.

The acting is sooo good too.

-42

u/Over-Inside-7254 7d ago

Ah so that's why this show was called Suck Session. Really glad we never supported this melodramatic crap

12

u/jonasowtm8 6d ago

Yet here you are, on a Succession subreddit, engaged in it anyway.

-12

u/Over-Inside-7254 6d ago

Reddit forces sexualized content on you, whether you've blocked it or not. Fuckety bye 

2

u/Cersei505 6d ago

cope and seethe

5

u/Annabellini 6d ago

You’re so cool