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Note: Spoilers ahead forSuccessionseason three, episode seven, Too Much Birthday.
Last nights episode ofSuccessionwas chiefly, crushingly, mortifyingly, and gruesomely about Kendall Roy.
He is the saddest birthday boy.
Kendall longs for approval, especially from his family.
Lili Loofbourows writing about this season pokes at this idea (IsSuccessionStuck in a Rut?
The title suggests epic continuance, an ever-changing handoff from one generation to the next.
You expect youre sitting down forThe Forsyte Saga.
The show looks like a marathon, but its really just running in place.
Except maybe for Tom Wambsgans.
At various moments, it has seemed like there might be a hidden undercurrent.
Maybe hes wearing a wire?
Maybe hes going to betray the family to get out of jail time and just hasnt done it yet?
Yet as season three has played out, Kendalls betrayal looks less dramatic.
Hes every bit as sad as he ever was, and Logan is nearly as powerful.
Theres another scene inthat season-two finale, though, that in retrospect looks like a much bigger deal.
Tom is legitimately hurt in a way he cant seem to shake off as he has in the past.
It was a way to get out while saving face.
No one hovers around in the background mentioning that the authorities are here to question people yet again.
Government officials dont phone the Roys and remind them that theyll need to offer a blood sacrifice.
So its not especially surprising when the specter of Toms imprisonment suddenly vanishes.
It always lived more in Toms fear than in any detailed part of the plot.
But for all his morose terror, something about Tom seemed excited about the prospect of leaving.
It was the promise of change.
When that promise dissolves, Tom is supposed to revert to the norm like everyone else.
But he cant get it up.
The most galling is Greg.
Greg is buoyant and optimistic; Tom cannot manage to pretend hes happy about any of it anymore.
Now that hes back in, he cant pretend the game is fun again.
He knows what it looks like to live another life.
