The Weakness of Logan Roy (Succession)

[@conker284]

Ewan's eulogy was definitely one of my favorite moments in the show. Just exceptionally written and delivered.

[@dravendarkmatter]

Me too. Ewan's eulogy really hit me as someone who as tried to love a complicated sibling. It felt so real.

[@e5141981]

I absolutely hated the Ewan character, he hated everything his brother represented but financially benefited from it. Hypocrite level 1,000

[@e5141981]

@brandovlogs its very clear, theres no need for a deep dive

[@seemonuzumaki723]

@@e5141981 He admits his hypocrisy during his speech, while saying that in spite of it, he tries. Hate him if you want, but he's an honest and very good character.

[@rafenord2]

Had he voted for Kendall thinking he would destroy the company I would have seen him as a pure utilitarian..Taking the money and giving it to Greenpeace is some mitigation, turning bad too a bit less so and a lot better than pocketing it for himself, he seemed to live frugally so he seems to have saved as much money as he could. Using Greg to expose the company was probably his most serious attempt at really making up for the hypocrisy but he could have spoken out in news papers himself about the things he knew. I think it is fair to scold him because he didn't do all he could to take down the company from within.

[@Samwell-L]

I gotta say, duping Rhea into giving a toast to Rose was one of the top 5 cruelest things the siblings did in the show

[@uhuhuh1966]

Meh she had it coming, that’s nothing to what Roman did with that check with the kid in episode 1 😂

[@johnbaker1773]

Yeah I agree, teaming up with Logan to manipulate Shiv was way crueler than what they did to her

[@Aleczandxr]

It was saaaaaavage, though yeah I can see the logic behind her getting some just desserts

[@Samwell-L]

@@uhuhuh1966 Yeah the cheque thing is up there along with Shiv talking that witness out of testifying at the congressional hearing

[@uhuhuh1966]

@@Samwell-L YES that one is so hard to watch that poor woman

[@Ben-h4d]

I always think of the scene where he sits down with Kendall and his son asks to be cashed out of the company. Kendall says he's a bad person, etc. and Logan hands it right back to him about how he's wrong and even brings up the waiter. Then we see Logan get up from the table and his face totally changes, showing the deep insecurity he feels from his son's accusations toward him and just the sheer pettiness of him as a person.

[@Aleczandxr]

Cool catch, I’ll look out for that during my rewatch!

[@amsheel9921]

​@brandovlogs Season 3, Episode 8

[@ivanacvetanovic7611]

Logan had such a compulsion to appear as all powerful and invulnerable in front of his children. Another example, which I found pretty funny on rewatch, is the scene in the season 1 finale where Kendall hands him the bear hug letter. Logan appears completely unmoved and intimidating to Kendall - who is at this point very unsure about the rightness of what he is doing and almost crumbles - and even dramatically throws the letter in the toilet. But the moment Kendall leaves, Logan's facade falls and he frantically fishes the letter from the toilet and then we see him panicking while telling Marcia about what's in it and that there's a hostile takeover planned. (Which may also be a hint at what happened when Logan died... Tom said he was fishing for a phone in a clogged toilet, and that was right after Roman, his most forgiving and obedient/loyal child, sent him a message where he finally stood up to him, over being ordered to fire Gerri, and ended with "Dad, are you a cu*t?"_

[@icedmochafiend]

thank you for saying logan did actually love his children. every time i say that i get dog piled into oblivion, lol. logan was horribly abusive to his children and damaged them beyond comprehension, but he did love them imo-he just didn’t love them the right way, because he did not know how to. or maybe he thought that the “right way” of loving bred weakness. the abuse he was subjected to in his childhood made him into the titan he became, why wouldn’t he want the same for his children?

[@easschung9442]

Brian Cox has literally confirmed it himself too.

[@ivanacvetanovic7611]

@@easschung9442 Yes, that Jesse Armstrong himself told him that.

[@ivanacvetanovic7611]

You shouldn't be dogpiled fo r saying it when it's the creator/showrunner himself who confirmed Logan did love his children.

[@Δ-Δ-Δ-Δ]

You get dog piled (whatever that means) because you're wrong.

[@phillylady]

This review perfectly explains my feelings about Logan Roy. He was a deeply narcissistic person who had so much self-hatred, so much anger, and so much trauma, that he was unable to raise his kids to take over his life’s work. The final moments between the children is simply Logan’s lasting effects on them.

[@hdattila]

We have good reasons to doubt everything Ewan says. The man is the Connor Roy of his generation. It is very likely he has no idea what he is talking about.

[@lumieremarketing6147]

What a cope. The children are illsuited because they are lazy and spoilt. Ken did not have what it takes to run a multibillion dollar media conglomerate. At some age we need to accept accountability, as Roman did, “we are BS”

[@glassbowl2147]

@@hdattila What? Think of it from the writers perspective, why would they do a whole scene of ewan talking about logans past, say in an interview "it reveals a new layer of him", and their intended purpose was for the audience to doubt everything he says?

[@PeachesandCream225]

@@lumieremarketing6147 such cope the kids are only fuck ups because Logan raised them to be or should I say Logan didnt raise them really. You are your environment

[@ivanacvetanovic7611]

@@lumieremarketing6147 He meant ALL of them. The kids, Logan, the company. He said company was BS. And you watched the entire show and came away with "Logan was a great man, the company was amazing, it's just the kids being spoiled that was the problem:?! Succession may be a show for smart people but a lot of it can apparently go completely over the head of people with zero viewing comprehension.

[@Okkotsu86275]

Logan Roy is a fascinating toxic character, ripped straight out of Shakespeare and Greek story. Which makes it fated that his play by a great Shakespearean actor like Brian Cox, who arguable put on his best performances in his illustrious career, playing the character. Logan is that same class of other iconic characters. Your videos are brilliant and provide more rich nuance for the characters you cover. I seriously hope to see one for my guy Kendall in the future. Thank you for this video.

[@Aleczandxr]

My pleasure! Kendall had some focus in the one before this one, though yeah he hasn’t had a full video focused on him. Not sure if I’ll do that but good to know that you’d be interested if I did!

[@jmecular56467]

I love your take on the way the Rose reveal adds to our understanding of Logan's character. In terms of him believing that he brought home the polio that lead to her death, I also think there's an interesting element of "I've already done the worst thing imaginable (being responsible for the death of a beloved sibling), so what else matters?". It's a kind of original sin that makes all others pale in comparison, and thus makes it easier for Logan to harden himself towards the horrible things he goes on to do. It may also mirror Kendall's role in the death of the waiter and how it haunts him for ages, before eventually being something he's able to use to become a "killer" in the final episode.

[@ivanacvetanovic7611]

It also shines light on Logan using Kendall's guilt against him - in his head he probably thinks that this is the right way to make him tougher by torturing him with it. Or it's how he justifies it to himself, at least. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger and all that BS.

[@josefk7437]

The business is dying like him. The one who inherits Waystar Royco gets to bury the corpse of the obsolete dead business.

[@Δ-Δ-Δ-Δ]

Logan was terribly insecure. That's why he bullied everyone around him into submission. I loved when Ewan was around because he was literally so unimpressed and so over him. Though I also had a laughing attack when Logan called him the f*cking conscience of the prairies.

[@EMbrokehp]

The Rose element is one the best unsolved mysteries of the show for several reasons. First, it's so realistic. In every family, both healthy and toxic, there are skeletons in the back of the closet that everyone shares, and you'll never get the whole story of how those skeletons got there. Your elders might share bits and pieces over the years, you might hear something from a family friend who's in the know, but it's a real possibility that you won't know the entire truth about the darkest chapters of your family history. Second, we never learn how the kids found out about the aunt they never knew in the first place. We know from their reactions at the funeral that they didn't know all of the details. Uncle Noah and his wife were likely dead before Ken's birth, and Ewan doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who would tell the four kids much. Was their sum total of Aunt Rose that she died young? Given how the Roys treat the living, it's no wonder that even a long dead baby can used as a tool in their sick games of hurting others just so that they can get ahead.

[@whirlwind872]

When I first watched Succession, I thought Logan was a titan. But after finishing the show, he's actually a pathetic and weak man. He cannot take criticism and can't stand losing. He'll get angry and bully people into submission when things don't go his way. His business empire is declining as he's stuck in the past, and he failed to raise his kids to be even functional humans. The most impressive thing about him is how he manages to convince everyone he has it all together when he actually is falling apart from every angle. At the funeral Kendall said he was comfortable in this world and he liked it - yet this is just downright wrong because we see multiple instances of Logan's social anxiety shine through. He was not comfortable in this world. And that's why he tried to bully everyone around him.

[@jackj.pelletier1666]

He felt the same ennui and fear of the meaningless inherent in living a life devoid of healthy emotional connections. I think he came very close to realizing this when he had a stroke in season one, and after he decided to sell Waystar to Gojo right before his body gave out. He knew at both points that it all meant nothing, that none of his success would matter once he was gone and so his only control over this existential anxiety was to snatch that power from all of his children to keep his semblance of power and seem less meager than he was.

[@mondoseguendo6113]

He was a classic malignant narcissist. A narcissist is the epitome of weakness.

[@misssoso5859]

It's way too simplistic to reduce Logan to his core weakness. All of his kids were weak and pathetic too, but did you see them achieve the gigantic levels of success that Logan achieved? Of course not. Logan did have certain strengths that most people lack. He used this strength in toxic ways, true, but it is still strength even if it's immoral. Logan mystified himself as this unstoppable titan, but while this image is certainly false, it doesn't mean that Logan's brutal strength was false too.

[@jhxcczs]

@@misssoso5859 In my opinion the show shows that you don’t really have to be the smartest, most capable business person to become successful, you just have to be the one willing to do the things most people can’t stomach: lie, manipulate, bully, kill… As Kendall said in one episode, there’s nothing special about Logan, he’s just a hooker… I also think that’s why his children try so hard to be like him but fail: they are horrible people but suffer greatly while Logan has learned to detach himself from everything. Want to succeed in a capitalist/corporate world? Just be horrible, truly horrible.

[@phillylady]

@@misssoso5859 His kids were not allowed to succeed because Logan, at every turn, trashed their efforts. Whether it’s Kendall trying to introduce new innovative ideas, Shiv’s once promising career, even Roman could have been better if he wasn’t working so hard to please his father only to be called a moron. Succession started with Logan rescinding his offer of successor to Kendall after he saw Kendall being profiled by a magazine as “The Heir with a Flair”. Logan was so angry that he gave his wife, Márcia, his seat on the board undercutting his own kids. Was Márcia more suited to takeover than Kendall? He was so angry at the prospect of Kendall outshining him. This actually is implied as the partial cause for his stroke in the premiere episode. He wooed Shiv from her successful political career by offering her the top position, and then invited Roman in, only so the kids would be at each other’s throats. In the end the kids became Logan, and this is why his life’s work is now in a third party’s hand.

[@BigHenFor]

"I come to bury Caesar. Not to praise him..." How honest was Ewan's eulogy? And where and how? Logan Roy's carers did more than let things lie with him. Between them and his school he gained scars on his back when he was beaten. Scars that he was careful not to show his children. Even when they were adults. But we the audience got to see them. And the people who helped him out of the swimming pool. No-one else. Wouldn't Ewan have known that? Did he have his scars too? And when and how? The eulogy tells us something, but it is from Ewan's perspective. And I am minded by the fact that funeral orations are given by the living for the living, and not the dead. Rashomon, the film by Akira Kurosawa tells the story of the rape and murder of a bride and her husband's murder from the perspectives of a bandit, a woodcutter, the bride, and the samurai's ghost, and is very much a psychological thriller. Funerals like Logan Roy's become a psychological thriller because thry are telling us how the living saw the dead, and how their assessment reveals more about them than what actually happened. All narratives are in part at least self-serving. And people can be complex, contradictory, and mysteries even to themselves. But one thing is more certain: they cannot give you what they haven't got. Would any of the Roy children know the price of a jug of milk? No. But, by the time he died, neither could Logan. He had forged his life and his family through his personality. And when the only tool you have is a hammer... So something would break, as much as something was broken in the smith that wielded it.

[@Aleczandxr]

Okay, but nothing in the video states that it’s not from Ewan’s perspective and I am well aware that people are complex and quite literally alluded to that here. Ewan’s eulogy was incredibly honest. And it is a perspective we had been sorely lacking in for the entirety of the story. As such, it lends a new, true and substantial dimension to Logan that should be taken seriously, as alluded to by Jesse Armstrong. We’ve seen the other side of this perspective the entire show, so dismissing Ewan’s in this way is incredibly bizarre.

[@SaberRexZealot]

I thought Season 4 would really suffer with Logan’s absence after the third episode, but it was handled beautifully. The show was always going to end with the consequences of his death.

[@helenhassan4956]

I'm glad you are doing this series on Succession. I love Hunter x Hunter and have been a fan ever since I watched your multiple videos of it. Back in the day, after watching HxH I tried my best to scour the Internet for recommendations to watch next and was sorely disappointed. Even thogh they are not animated, Succession and The Wire are two of those shows I have watched years later that speak to me in the way that HxH did.

[@rohanbesra4831]

@brandovlogs I have a question, which version is the best? The OG or the remake? Cause I've been of getting into it lately

[@justmyopinion79]

The poison dripped through, onto Logan too.

[@davidwilfand916]

What a fantastic analysis.

[@Aleczandxr]

Thank you!

[@ahmedsattar122]

A person can' t build an empire through being good and merciful.

[@certbozo]

Thanks for putting me on to succession . After catching up I see how Tom and shiv dynamic is SSS

[@emmanuelmondesir]

I respect competitors but at some point you either have to pick your battles or leave the arena entirely to truly enjoy what you won.

[@revolversnake126]

Kenbros I just gotta ask... how are we holding up?

[@YungM.D.]

It doesn’t make any sense! There’s no fucking logic! He was the eldest boy!! But seriously, as tragic and brutal as it was, couldn’t have been a more appropriate ending for our #1 boy

[@Jay-Jones]

Bout to tomahawk the competition...like guns of the Navarro

[@justmyopinion79]

We in pain, big time. But we expected it too.

[@ninoninononinoni8795]

as much as I love succession, after that ending I still need time to rewatch it. it's like an open wound.

[@combobreaker449]

He was a mountain of steel flying at such great speeds, the force slowly melted him down and everything was crushed in its path

[@self-proclaimedcomedian1037]

Charles Schwab ova' here (beautiful analogy)

[@sizdimitri]

I love your videos, always insightful.

[@strangething7379]

Hope to see a video on Tom now that the show is done and we have the finale in our hands! Looking forward to the next Succession video if you make more, and definitely your next AJpiece!!

[@seemonuzumaki723]

Great video. The tiny details really go such a long way with these characters and this story.

[@easschung9442]

This video bookended by Ewan's speech at the beginning and Kendall's at the end is beautiful.

[@YungM.D.]

My man is churning out these vids! Got into your channel because of your FMA, Monster and Death Note videos (and the one Mad Men video); glad to see you’re expanding to other mediums of storytelling as well!

[@justmyopinion79]

I mean he's been doing the medium of live-action analysis for years now, this is nothing new.

[@austynkozak4073]

I found ur channel a while ago from your Haikyuu Video essays (which are amazing) but didn’t subscribe… I decided to watch one piece with my best friend, and got caught all the way up, and decided to see if you had and OP content and now I’m hooked! I am now subbed lol

[@austynkozak4073]

Also I just started Hunter x Hunter, so I have those to look forward to

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

This videos are so cool! Love your content!😊😊😊❤❤❤

[@XYZ_Vu]

This was a fantastic commentary on how Logan Roy could have become who he was. It certainly has truth in a significant role of what made Logan Roy Logan Roy. I do appreciate Kendall‘s funeral speech, when he talked about some of what Logan was. Particularly the idea that he feltComfortable in almost any room anywhere.

[@voiceofamericast]

Superb job

[@fishpastethe4th340]

Can't wait for your thoughts on the finale!

[@Aleczandxr]

Posted them on Twitter! Not sure if I’ll end up doing a video on it. EDIT - actually I think I’ll be doing one, as long as a Twitch donation goal is reached!

[@aditchandrachud9216]

He did several things to keep his empire standing like throwing Kendal under the bus several times, manipulating and gaslighting every single person on the show, I feel he never loved any of his children, like never, not even in the toxic way -- he didn't love himself either, but he just loved Wasystar Royco, Logan was too lost in his mad ambitions and corporate fantasies to even give two shits about anybody else. I like the take on Logan, but I think this is a bit of an over-reading, perhaps the whole show is an exaggerated dark comedy so it's irrationality makes sense - but Logan's motives don't seem that human either

[@haera1471]

More Succession videos ❤❤

[@veronicab15]

It's not about *what happens to you but how you react to it* .

[@quazeemakande6143]

this was amazing

[@Aleczandxr]

Thanks!

[@cbushin]

Kendall had a similar experience with the waiter.

[@mr.jeorgexiii1732]

I hear that garlemald theme in the background😊

[@jonatassantos188]

"Logan wrongly believed that he was the one who infected Rose and indirectly killed her. However, the truth is that his toxic personality, poor parenting, and dysfunctional love affected all his children. Rose did not die because of Logan, but his children were deeply messed up because of him."

[@petersamoaa8535]

Could please add the link for Jesse Armstrong with HBO talking about Logan funeral. You said that you will add it in the description but it didn’t added

[@robotube7361]

All men and women that come across as cold and terrible are deeply hurt. We were all once kids that smiled and were good souls.

[@contemptman3646]

Weird to think of the man as weak, but you ain't wrong. Ewan said it loud and clear.

[@movies4all534]

Will you review the finale of succession????? Please do

[@Aleczandxr]

I don’t know. I think it depends on if people are interested, as well as if I can find an angle that hasn’t been discussed already.

[@Aleczandxr]

Actually as long as a Twitch donation goal is reached, I’ll do one on the finale!

[@e5141981]

Ewan hated everything Logan represented but financially benefited from it. Hypocrite level 1,000

[@seemonuzumaki723]

He admits his hypocrisy during his speech, while saying that in spite of it, he tries. Hate him if you want, but he's an honest and very good character.

[@e5141981]

@@seemonuzumaki723 this is baffling to me. He thinks Logan is responsible for doing evil through his empire, yet has a seat at the board. instead of not having any part of it, he financially benefits from what he hates passionately. Please explain to me how I am supposed to see this character in a positive light?

[@easschung9442]

@@e5141981 Because it's possible to enjoy characters that you don't personally like because this is fiction? Unless you have the disposition of a 5 year old I guess.

[@norankpost2]

We know nothing about how Ewan got his money

[@unc1589]

The man at the top receives the least understanding. If someone cared enough they would have easily saw through his hardened shell. But people flee when tyrants rage.

[@rellis881]

I love succession I think it's one of the coolest shows ever on but like with so many other things there's so many people that put a whole psychology they spend their whole lives trying to decipher the lives of characters these characters are characters of someone else's imagination and I think people forget that there's so much commentary and commentary is not good commentary like it was 25-30 years ago now it's people that are trying to get into the psyches of fictional characters these people never existed the writers didn't invest as much as the consumers of this fiction it is weird now the world we live in from everything from Star Trek to Star wars to game of thrones succession billions walking Dead The sopranos all of these people these weirdos that it's like you guys live through these characters I think you forgot that these are fucking characters and the writers they're brilliant people some of these riders are astonishingly brilliant but it would have taken them 30 years to come up with the psychology that these lazy boy commentators come up with you guys have come up with a whole psychology philosophy for fictional characters it's kind of taking the fun out of things even marvel movies this shit is straight up fantasy and you guys have done a psychological synopsis on characters that don't exist anywhere but in someone's imagination it's just weird

[@whirlwind872]

You're not giving the writers enough credit. They absolutely do imbue these characters with the level of depth you're describing. Characters 25-30 years ago weren't as multidimensional as the ones today, you're stuck in the past. With the advent of the internet, the creators of these shows can make things vastly more complex because they know there will be wide spread discourse about their show and as a group effort the fans will dig into all the details. 30 years ago that effort would have been wasted - communication was more difficult and people couldn't just binge analysis videos to inspire their own theories. Shows had to be made so any individual viewer can grasp its full depth. Nowadays, many shows pack way more depth and detail into the narrative than any 1 viewer could ever unpack. The creators know the community at large will uncover the details. Anyway, sorry these modern masterpieces are too sophisticated for you to wrap your head around.

[@memicoot]

Everyone on this cast is top tier. The writers, actors, cinematographers, music scorers. I’m sorry you don’t see the layers that are there because they are beautiful. Maybe one day you will.

[@justmyopinion79]

Absolute rubbish

[@motjon]

You're just a lazy, uninvested, common denominator TV viewer. Stick to marvel movies and adult cartoons.

[@xerokarydi0001]

Have you never done literary analysis in school?