Thread by @topgallantry

I'm not rly on Tumblr anymore so allow me to make a straight-up fangirl meta LJ post about Tom and Greg because i'm still thinking about Succession and I keep seeing people say Tom and Greg's relationship is "healthy," "sweet," "sincere" and I'm sorry what show are you watching?

please, please allow me, as someone who has shipped many a pair of homoerotic sociopaths, to point out some highlights of the tom/greg dynamic:
- Tom has always wanted to mold Greg into his own image and part of his delight in Greg is that he's succeeded

- Tom and Greg are symmetrical family bookends: they both have carefully navigated into the inner circle of power by pretending to be clueless milkfed nobodies instead of scheming power-grabbers; increasingly they have stopped pretending, both to themselves and each other.

- They're both still doing the act around everyone else, but Greg in particular is just straight up "hey i've finally stopped listening to my grandfather's proxy shoulder angel and i'm ready to act like an entitled douche, where do i sign up" and Tom sees this as opportunity.

- Greg not only has come to completely accept rather than resent that he's Tom's whipping boy (his castrated surrogate Sporus!) but to see it as a stepping stone to having his OWN castrated whipping boy and remember this show is about abuse at all times! AT ALL TIMES.

- When Tom proposes to him, the first thing out of Greg's mouth is "Can I...?" and Tom, because Tom has made Greg in his own image, IMMEDIATELY correctly guesses that what Greg wants is a lackey of his own to ruin and mold and shape into a baby sociopath. The awful synergy!

- Anyone thinking that Tom and Greg are a "healthy" dynamic is forgetting that the show is always showing us how cycles of abuse are created and replicated, and Tom and Greg is Abuse Cycle 101.

- There's something cathartic about the proposal scene, but it's not because Tom and Greg are "sweet," but because Tom and Greg are both simultaneously realizing that they can embrace assholery together, and that's freeing for them! This is how great crime partnerships start!

- What might be considered "sweet" about them is that Tom, being perpetually abused emotionally by Shiv, basically cheats on her emotionally with Greg. In the s3 finale, we see Tom accepting that he feels more loyalty towards Greg than Shiv, and trying to be the dashing —

— romantic hero he always pretends to be, by metaphorically eloping with Greg. That dynamic passes for emotional sincerity in his world, and lets Tom excuse his betrayal of Shiv by still telling himself he's a romantic idealist — but it still relies on Tom having power over Greg.

- And that power is likely only temporary, because Greg has never needed Tom's approval and is court jestering it up until he J. Pierrepont Finches his way onto the throne of Luxembourg. Tom knows this, Greg knows this, and now they both know they both know this.

In short, this is a terrible dynamic that's just as unhealthy as every other dynamic on the show, but what makes it *fun* is that their increasing self-awareness allows them to play up that dynamic until it becomes a parody of itself that they can then enjoy together.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk, please don't ship them! they are not a healthy OTP!!!! but if you do, at least let me read your fic. #succession