this is elite television...I don't watch as much "prestige" TV as others but I can't recall a show feeling like a documentary like this really ever. Even Sopranos which was probably my favorite show, it still always felt like "wow, Gandolfini is fuckin ON tonight!" rather than just being a fly on the wall in Satriale's back room.

But Succession is a different animal altogether.

I think Jeremy Strong is really one of the best actors I've ever seen. It sounds like his "method" acting wore itself thin on the set , but it's hard to deny the results. What he's put on film from the Italian villa confession to the Logan death phone call on the boat is Mahomes-ian; in other words, there's elite and then even above that is another tier of performance.

Knowing what we know now, I think the episode 3 scene in the karaoke room is especially profound. Logan meant what he said. He loves them, but they're not equipped for real life... "you're not serious people" And, again, the only pragmatic child is Roman who again gets bulldozed by his hothead siblings. Roman is NOT motivated by "fuck Dad" like Shiv and Kendal.

Logan chose Roman. He chose Roman by saying "I need you" about ATN, and he put Roman through one final trial by firing Geri. Roman firing Geri 1) proves Roman can be the killer Logan needs him to be and 2) unburdens Roman from his weird mommy complex , which to Logan is Roman's only red flag. Logan is telling us here at the very end that he thinks all the other kids are shitheads but when he says to Roman "I need you" he means it.

I think/hope the rest of the season sees Roman coming to terms with taking the mantle, navigating Madsen and the election figuring out how he can leverage Geri to get where he wants to go. I never feel like Roman is "playing business person" like Shiv and Kendall are.