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He begins haranguing Greg, in a way that makes clear what Tom is really mad about: not Greg, per se, but some other person in his life, perhaps someone he sleeps with most nights (but not every night), perhaps someone with amazing hair. Loser: TomĮmily: If “Safe Room” is my favorite episode of the season so far, then it must also contain my favorite scene of the season so far, and oh boy, does it! When Greg innocently suggests that he and Tom might have an open business relationship, Tom loses it. But in the meantime, here are six winners and seven losers from the episode compiled by myself and The Goods deputy editor Meredith Haggerty. But goodness me, when Kendall went up to the roof of the Waystar-Royco building, seemingly to throw himself off of it, and then found that glass barriers had been erected to prevent him from doing so, it hit me deep in the gut.Įveryone on Succession (and especially Kendall) can see the method of their destruction so clearly, but they’re still protected from it by an almost invisible barrier of wealth, class, and privilege.Īll of which is to say that “Safe Room” is my favorite installment of the second season so far, and I’m looking forward to whatever’s next. I am well aware that, for lots of viewers, the fun of watching Succession will never lie in empathizing with the Roys. They want for nothing except fulfillment, and that makes them both horrible people and horribly sad people. The characters on this show are fundamentally hollow and uninterested in much beyond the propagation of their own wealth.

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The show’s dark sense of humor has become such a defining element that Vulture’s Kathryn VanArendonk recently wondered if its nomination for Outstanding Drama Series at the Emmys nomination should actually be a nomination for Outstanding Comedy Series.īut allow me (Vox critic at large Emily VanDerWerff) to argue that I think what makes Succession work as well as it does is everything that isn’t funny about it, and “Safe Room” is a great example of why.

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The writers’ room is full of crack comedy writers, headed up by no less a brilliant comedy mind than Jesse Armstrong, a protégé of Veep creator Armando Iannucci (who also co-created the terrific Britcom Peep Show).

Succession has gotten a lot of attention for how funny it is, and understandably so. (This week’s episode of Succession debuted two days early on HBO’s streaming platforms, due to the holiday weekend.

Gentle reader emily post