The Interlude

HBO’s wildly popular Succession has effectively placed millions of fans in a chokehold. As a newly-turned fan of the show (I watched all three seasons in two weeks), I’m now also fully engrossed in an effort to see everything Succession — from memes to actor profiles and even the show’s podcast. 

The show, in case you’re one of the lucky few who escaped its grasp, focuses on the uber-rich Logan Roy, owner of a billion-dollar media conglomerate, and his four adult children, who are all vying to take over the company in their father’s stead. It’s a show where the plot revolves heavily around what should be boring business talk, but really, it’s not half as boring as it sounds. 

There’s a lot to love about Succession: the witty writing, the rapport of the actors, brilliant staging, and probably the best theme song to ever exist. But, with all of that, the one thing that I just can’t let myself love are the characters.

Am I obsessed with Shiv’s power turtlenecks, Roman’s giggle, and the innumerable times Logan tells someone to fuck off? Absolutely. But let’s be real — they’re all absolutely garbage human beings. 

A friend asked me the other day, “Who do you think the worst out of all of them is?” and I have a lot of thoughts. Let’s go through them together, shall we?

Willa Ferreyra

I’ll start out with an easy one. Willa Ferreyra is, in fact, the best character. The now-fiancée of Connor Roy, Willa became involved with the Roys when she was hired by Connor as an escort. Since then, they’ve been in a pretty stable working relationship, with Connor supporting her doomed playwriting endeavors, and Willa doing what she can for Connor’s (hopefully equally doomed) presidential campaign. It seems clear to me that, while Willa may have a fondness for Connor, she definitely does not love him the way he loves her.

Even so, Willa doesn’t use this love disparity to her advantage — there’s no backstabbing or  manipulation like we see with the other relationships in this show (that we see yet, at least).

When Willa decides to accept Connor’s proposal, it seems to be in part because she realizes how badly Connor is hurt by his family’s drama. She is slowly transitioning into Connor’s protector, and whether or not she uses this marriage for her own personal gain in the future, it shows that Willa does care for Connor, and is prioritizing his feelings (and his political campaign).

There’s a reason Willa is the most attractive person on this show — because unproblematic people are always the best looking. That’s just science, sorry.

Gregory Hirsch

Poor (not-so) little Greg. I want to believe that Greg has good intentions to start, but he does fall quite quickly into the Roys’ scheming ways, especially when he decides to keep copies of the cruise ship documents. Really, it’s what he has to do in order to protect himself. And I do believe that, though he ended up “selling his soul to the devil” at the end of Season 3, he ultimately has a good heart, which is why he comes right behind Willa.

Greg does what he can to make what he believes will be the best decision for himself, and also grapples a lot with what the “right” decision is. Ultimately, though, he goes back to Logan when Kendall threatens to take him down in the press, and does agree to help Tom betray the Roy children (maybe he didn’t know the exact circumstances, but he did make it quite clear he was willing to do whatever it took to give himself a better position in the company).

Besides that, Greg has a lot of wholesome moments. Watching him gather the courage to ask out Kendall’s assistant is adorable. He’s certainly not the best person, but he also is not the worst.

Oh, and also, he’s got major beef with Greenpeace. Yikes.

Connor Roy

Ah, the Roy siblings. Let me preface here that Logan Roy is an abusive father, as you know. Much of his actions throughout the siblings’ childhoods leave no doubt about that. But how they’ve handled this trauma is a big part of this ranking.

Connor Roy, at his heart, just wants to be loved. He is consistently left out, as the only half-sibling, because he’s the eldest, and because he lives across the country from the rest of the Roy family. His younger siblings don’t try and hide the fact they think he’s dumb, and constantly berate him in group settings.

We get hints that Connor was the one who protected the other siblings growing up. He has pretty much kept himself out of the scummy dealings of the family business so far (whether or not this was his choice is unclear).

He has some pretty egregious political ideals, which are revealed through the course of his presidential campaign. 

Compared to his siblings (we’ll get into that), I do think that Connor is the best person. His feelings for Willa come off as earnest, even though they started as a more…”business-oriented” relationship. Still, if Connor truly loves Willa the way it seems like he does, then it appears he’s the only Roy sibling actually capable of feeling love.

Kendall Roy

I feel so conflicted about this. Kendall is, admittedly, not my favorite character, and I find the “dude-bro” energy about him so unbearable. If the Roys were an alignment chart, Kendall would be the true neutral. He obviously has feelings, but he’s definitely gotten lost along the way. We don’t see him interact with his children much, and he seems to only interact with Rava when it is most convenient for him.

Of course, a big tally against Kendall here is the car accident, where he drove under the influence and ran away from the scene. This is a big gray area. Kendall should not have driven under the influence, and he should not have run from the scene, so he does hold some responsibility, but he is not a murderer. The guilt that consumes him shows that he does, at least, feel remorse, though the extent of that remorse becomes self-serving pretty quick. Kendall acts fast to hop on the #metoo bandwagon for his own benefit during the cruise-ship scandals by sharing Logan’s involvement in the cover-up. 

Though he pretends to be “woke” (and maybe, he really thinks he is), he ends up being just another white man masquerading as a feminist for their own gain.

Kendall tries his best, especially at the end of season three, to really separate himself from his father by selling his shares of the company. But however hard he tries, he ends up being suckered back in. 

Tom Wambsgans

Tom falls nicely into the trap of the Roys. Their selfishness is intoxicating, and Tom seems to naturally take on the role of the ladder climber, doing whatever he can to put himself higher up in the company.

Tom’s relationship with Greg (despite being very meme-worthy) is also rocky territory, with Tom consistently asserting his dominance over Greg, sometimes in really weird ways. Right away, Tom throws Greg under the bus to destroy the cruise documents — a pretty shitty move, considering Greg is an eager-to-please newcomer. He browbeats Greg tons, not only in the workplace, but also when Greg starts to confide in Tom about pursuing relationships outside of work.

One of Tom’s saving graces here is that he does actually love Shiv, and puts up with a lot of her shit because of it, including the possibility of going to jail. But he’s still greedy for power, and ultimately betrays his wife for a better position at Waystar-Royco. 

Roman Roy 

I think it’s pretty obvious why Roman’s up near the top. From ripping up the check in front of a random kid in the first episode, Roman has done nothing but consistently prove that he’s a piece of shit. (A funny piece of shit, but a piece of shit nonetheless).

Shall I list every terrible thing Roman has done? I could, but it would probably take too much space. I’ll give you the highlights, lest you forgot:

Most infamously, Roman was caught sending Gerri unsolicited pictures of his junk, even after she told him not to. He also did this in a corporate meeting — and accidentally sent it to his father. He also shoved Kendall on his birthday after throwing some pretty brutal insults his way. Those are just in the last few episodes of the season. He constantly says things that are insensitive.

I don’t feel many people can argue for Roman being a good person, but some may place him higher up on this list. While he’s done some pretty awful things, it’s of note that Roman is also a victim of abuse, both from Logan, and most likely from his siblings as well. He’s the only one that we see Logan physically abuse in “Argestes”.  Even though all of the Roy children have experienced abuse and neglect at the hands of their parents, Roman appears to bear the brunt of it and is often discarded and not taken seriously.

This doesn’t excuse his actions, of course, but I believe it provides some explanation as to why he acts the way he does. I can’t help it — I have a bit of sympathy for Roman Roy, and I don’t believe he is the worst of the worst. He’s a product of his environment.

Caroline Collingwood

Caroline doesn’t show up much throughout the three seasons, but she plays a pivotal role on and off the screen.

As the other half of the top of the Roy family tree, Caroline’s involvement (or lack thereof) in the children’s lives has shaped who they became. Anyone who has spent 15 years married to Logan Roy has to be some level of terrible. It’s fighting fire with fire. 

When her and Logan divorced, the children chose not to spend holidays with Caroline, and while that would sting, she has shown little effort to reconnect with her children. In fact, when she shows up, she usually acts cold or uninterested. At Shiv and Tom’s wedding, she called him “very plausible”. And when Kendall tried to confide in her about the car accident, she quickly changed the topic. 

The cherry on top, of course, is that Caroline gave up the kids’ shares in Waystar when the divorce settlement was reopened. While it’s unclear the extent Caroline knows about her spawn’s attempted coup, the brevity of her phone call in the room where it happened suggests she knows she’s done something bad.

Logan Roy

Ah, the patriarch. We’ve already stated that Logan is an abusive father. Logan had a rough childhood, and unfortunately, only perpetuated this cycle with his own children. 

From the first episode, Logan consistently pits his children against one another, fostering an environment full of distrust and backstabbing. It’s really no wonder the Roy children turned out the way they did.

Logan has very few redeeming qualities, compared to the other characters in this show. But the fact that he is self-made may explain why he’s so selfish and unable to trust when it comes to who will take over Waystar-Royco when he’s gone. 

It’s unclear whether Logan really loves his children or not. As a perpetual optimist, I would like to believe he does love them. But he weaponizes affection for his children wherever he can. Perhaps this is most notable when Logan helps Kendall cover up the car accident. Even though he holds a crying Kendall and says, “You’re my boy,” he uses this vulnerability to his advantage to stop Kendall from going against him. 

Siobhan “Shiv” Roy

If you disagree with Shiv’s placement on this list, just hear me out for a minute. 

What is possibly the worst thing about Shiv Roy is that she does not appear to have any emotions, and will do anything in her self-interest, including throwing her husband to the wayside.

Quick recap, in case you forgot: Shiv cheated on her fiancé and told him about it on their wedding night, essentially forcing Tom to be okay with an open relationship. She originally agreed that Tom should take the fall and go to jail over the DOJ-cruise ship scandal. And, to put the cherry on top, she said some pretty terrible things to Tom under the rouse of dirty talk. She does not treat Tom with affection or respect. Her fight to the top of Waystar-Royco has included all of the worst traits of a #girlboss, going to such lengths as pressuring sexual assault victims not to testify against her family.

What is so frustrating about Shiv might be that she should know better. As the sole woman in the family (excluding Caroline), she is the only person to experience some sort of marginalization at the hands of a male-dominated company. Though she built her own career apart from her family, it appears that her emergence into the progressive political world is more to get back at her father’s right-wing propaganda machine, rather than for any moral reasons. (Not to mention, the second she has the opportunity to become head of that machine, she swiftly abandons her position as a left-wing campaign strategist). 

Essentially, Shiv is the mini-me of Logan Roy. She will do whatever necessary to gain and keep power for herself. 

It’s important to note, again, that all of the Roy children are victims of abuse. How they deal with that as grown-ups says a lot about their personalities. Children who are abused are, in fact, more likely to become abusive themselves as adults, but this doesn’t mean that the Roy children are doomed. Instead of escaping how she was brought up, Shiv seems to lean right into it, possibly because it’s the only way she knows how to act. Regardless, Shiv’s lack of humility and regards for others makes her the worst person on Succession. She’s only continuing the pattern set by her father.

Logan Roy is good for two things: raising terrible children and saying, “Fuck off!”

Watching Succession is like watching a train wreck over and over again. It’s messy, it’s dark, and misery seems inevitable. No matter what, Logan comes out on top. The intriguing thing about Succession isn’t the battle to see who is going to become the chair of Waystar-Royco; what captivates audiences are the complicated relationships. There are so many levels of each relationship, and even more when you factor in the rest of the family. 

What is right and what is wrong isn’t always black and white. I think that’s what is most appealing about this show. So many of the characters are “bad” people, and yet we obsess over them week after week. Who’s to say we wouldn’t make the same decisions if we were in their shoes?