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[grlstupid]

different but the same

Jesse Armstrong said it was a tragedy, but in a way it felt like the Roy siblings were finally free with the sale of Waystar. Somehow when they were confronted with the reality that they would never get what they wanted it felt like they would finally have a chance to become human again, to heal from the trauma their father passed on to them. Connor would never have to beg for approval, Kendall would never be CEO, Roman would never be beaten again, and Shiv for a moment had all the power in the world. 

People seem to compare Succession to Arrested Development, and in a superficial way, they are similar. 4 siblings, vying for power in their family company, even though said company is, from the audience’s point of view, doomed to fail. Emotionally distant parents, crimes committed by executives being covered up by the company, weird sexual tension between cousins (though at least Tom and Greg are only related through marriage). In some ways, the shows mirror each other. But the audience doesn’t root for members of the Bluth family. We don’t feel sorry for them, because we see their trauma depicted within a comedic setting. When Buster loses his hand, it’s played off with a recurring bit from the doctor who uses common phrases incorrectly, which changes the meaning of his words. With the Roy siblings, we see the symptoms of their childhood trauma, Roman excusing his father’s physical abuse by blaming himself, saying that it was his fault because he “was fucking annoying.” 

Because of the absurdity of Arrested Development, it’s hard, if not impossible, to relate to the characters. But with Succession, we can see ourselves in these emotionally stunted adult children. Siobhan, sabotaging her relationship because she feels she’s undeserving of Tom’s love, simultaneously pushing him away and giving him everything he wants. She consistently shows him her worst qualities instead of her best, manipulates him and is unable to show any vulnerability. She goes to him in her weakest moments, and yet in those moments she can only bring herself to act cruelly towards him. In a way, she’s the reason he became her father.

Tom was able to become Logan because Kendall never could be. Logan was addicted to power because he didn’t grow up with it, while Kendall never had to struggle the same way. Of course he still has hardships, he has an inferiority complex, was clearly neglected as a child, and goes through major depressive episodes. We never see him attempt suicide, but we see him in moments where it’s implied he’s considering it, as if he doesn’t know how to feel better about his situation, so he reacts in the most extreme way. In some ways Kendall is still a toddler, he throws tantrums when things don’t go his way, and seems to function better when someone else is enforcing a routine on him. Because he wasn’t raised by his parents, he never grew up in the ways that matter; in the first episode his ex-wife jokes about him using cocaine in front of his children. Nobody taught him to make good choices because nobody cared enough to do so, or they didn’t know how because they never learned themselves (looking at you, Connor). 

Connor may be the most interesting of the Roy children. In some ways, he seems to be the most well-adjusted, but we see him crack under pressure, which explains his lack of employment. It makes sense when you consider how his childhood was different from his siblings; his mother had a mental health crisis, and though we never really learn all the details, the only reason people are forcibly institutionalized is when they physically harm themselves or others, and we know that he lived with his mother when she was sent to the facility where she presumably still lived, if she was alive during the events of the show. Children of sick parents rarely grow up to be healthy adults, and Connor is not an exception to the rule. He parents his younger siblings to give them something he never had, he take Willa away from society so he can have all her attention, instead of fighting for scraps of love like the rest of his siblings. His bid for the presidency is delusional, but he’s so far removed from reality that he genuinely believes he can win and when he loses, he still manages to see his failure as a success. 

Connor also gives Roman his only happy childhood memory. It’s not clear whether Roman was the only one physically abused as a child, or if he just the most common target of Logan’s anger. He’s often compared to a dog, and feels like he isn’t worthy of love. He clearly still has some affection for Logan, which can sometimes confuse the audience, but then we see brief moments of Logan with Roman. Caroline says at one point that Logan ���never saw anything he loved that he didn't wanna kick”. This seems to be the core of Roman’s relationship with his father; he keeps going back to Logan because he associates love with pain. We see it again in Roman’s final moment alone in the show with Kendall. Ken hugs Roman, and the hug turns painful and somewhat violent, but Roman doesn’t fight it. He leans in, because he can’t go to his father, but in that moment Kendall proves to be a good enough substitute in that moment.