#the inner workings of the company - like marcia getting a seat - don't matter to him just the profit

[nativehueofresolution]

connor is uninvolved with the company in comparison to his siblings, sure - he doesn't work there (though apparently he feels it's a back up option for him anytime he needs it - or he feels it should be anyways - based on him asking for a job in early s3 to help his campaign) and he has definitively opted out of the family power struggles over being heir. but he's also massively financially tied up in the company; he's a major shareholder and he is frustrated he wasn't told about the merger of equals because of how it will impact him. he rats the other kids out to logan in 1x04 and 4x02 when he realizes they're making moves against their father. and while his siblings don't feel obligated to keep him in the loop, i also don't know if they realize when they talk rather openly in front of connor in 4x02 about the sale he's going to go straight to logan to tattle. connor wants to act like he's completely divorced from waystar and neutral third party in the ongoing family conflict, but he really very much is not.

#connor roy #succession #my two cents? it's about the money more than any loyalty to logan #you can never fully take the desire for daddy's approval out of any of them #but i genuinely think the reason he does things like rat them out is less about that then him thinking logan makes waystar money #and none of the kids will be able to keep that up in the same way #and who's he gonna go to for money to do thinks like finance a broadway flop or buy a napoleon dick #he needs to keep the money rolling it to be the hippie in the desert #the inner workings of the company - like marcia getting a seat - don't matter to him just the profit #and i do think he probably senses none of the kids will last as ceo really #kaitlin speaks

[pynkhues]

hi sophie! after this week’s episode, what did u think abt gerri? shed been kind absent for the first two and this episode starts with logan wanting her out. i was kinda relieved to see the siblings brought her in to help deal with all that but im wondering where that leaves her. by far it wasn’t the focus of the episode but i found it very interesting the looks and interactions between roman and gerri post roman trying to fire her and logans death. im low key worried shell get stuck in the super sidelines like what happened w marcia post s2.

Hi! And god, yeah, I feel for Gerri a lot. She's really been put in an impossible situation, not just since Logan fired her through Roman (although I imagine that'll be at least temporarily swept under the rug as the family navigates the events around Logan's death), but really since she was made Interim CEO in the aftermath of Kendall's coup in the s2 finale. Her stepping up and into the role was what she wanted, of course, but I can't imagine she had any concept of how much that would shift her dynamic with Logan from close counsel to effectively an enemy.

It would never have mattered how much she toed the company line or bowed down to Logan, her taking the seat he clearly views as his throne and the place as even temporary heir was never going to work out for either of them. Logan's power within the family and business comes from his position after all, and while I imagine the ultimate intent was always to get rid of Gerri (the glass cliff has been well talked about around this show, and applies almost equally to Gerri and Shiv), even that temporary loss of face is the sort of pill Logan would rather choke on than swallow.

It's interesting to think about it in the context of her relationship with Roman, because I do think Logan was more offended by being blindsided by it than he was the fact that Roman and Gerri had some sort of relationship. He doesn't seem to mind his children having intimate relationships with people in his counsel - Shiv and Tom obviously, even if he ended up in counsel after the fact, but also I'd argue Kendall and Frank who have a quasi father-son relationship - but the difference is he knows the ins and outs of those and wields his own power in them. He uses Frank on Kendall, just as he uses Tom against Shiv, but if he didn't know about Gerri and Roman, it made him powerless in controlling that dynamic.

Making Roman fire Gerri was two birds with one stone. It was his way of ousting Gerri from her seat on his throne, but also his way of re-establishing his own dominance over his children's relationships with the - so to speak - King's Court which is made up by the inner circle.

Gerri's obviously felt burned by that, which J Smith Cameron played so beautifully, but her refusal to engage emotionally with Roman in the aftermath of Logan's death is a really interesting shift. It juxtaposes pretty nicely against the way Tom comforted Shiv and Frank comforted Kendall - king's court advisors the siblings are both technically also on the outs with - but I suspect also points towards Gerri's intentions. She wants to stay on as CEO, which means re-establishing the line between her and Roman is crucial. Currently, she still has the power, she's still got her seat, in theory, she hasn't been ousted, and the power shift in the s3 finale has limited Roman, Shiv and Kendall's power. If she's going to keep what she has, she can't really provide pathways to power for the heirs, y'know?

What that actually looks like though from here on out is anyone's guess, but I don't think she'll be sidelined. If anything, I think she's more likely to become the leader again of the Court with Karl, Frank, Karolina and Hugo, especially as she marks a continuation of power that no longer exists.

I don't know though! What do you all think?

#j was so great in that ep #she was so right to shut roman down but also it was brutal #they're such griefstruck kids #gerri kellman #gerri x roman #hbo succession #gerri + logan #i also do suspect gerri and logan had a thing in the past #which further muddies all the waters for those dynamics #succession 4.03 #succession spoilers #succession meta #welcome to my ama