Psychiatrist Breaks Down Succession's Family Dynamics | GQ

you talk about love dad why why because it works we tune into succession each week to get a look at the Roy family in part because it gives us a chance to say well our family's not quite that messed up or hey I know that that's my family hey GQ it's Dr Eric Bender again I'm back to talk about succession and some of the characters in the show [Music] Logan Roy when you talk about succession you have to start with Logan Roy he would have it no other way in the first episode of the Season he's showing some signs of illness and suddenly there's this fight among his kids to see who is going to take over the corporation if you actually look at the theme song though that's where we see the very first images of him we see these children that are dressed up they're playing tennis they're doing all kinds of things but if you notice they're alone the father's in the distance he's walking through a field or even at the table he's at the head at a distance that's very common and that's what is the unifying theme Here for all the kids that their father is not present he's not with them it's a pleasure to have you here tonight to honor my Dad's life and work when his son introduces Logan Kendall says here we are to celebrate my dad and the camera pans to Logan he's alone he's at a table all by himself Logan's complex in that he is a narcissist so what narcissism is if you go by a psychological psychiatric definition include someone who feels that they're special They pursue power Beauty wealth kids don't really fit into that except in how could they help him do that and they can't a narcissistic parent will often use fear-based tactics to scare kids into doing what the parent wants or to just make them feel they won't be loved unless they do exactly what they're told there's an intolerance or Disobedience there's also gaslighting which is a term you might have heard that means someone will say that didn't happen when it actually did what I've decided I'd like to do is to formally ask you to come in and be the next chief executive of this company I don't think I'm the right person well you know I'm pretty smart and I think you are some examples of gaslighting here would be in the conversation that Logan has with shiv saying you're the one you're the one who's going to take this to the next level yet in the future every time she tries to get him to say that he almost pretends it never happened it's been disgusting but I don't think we're quite at the point where no not anytime soon we've uh we've discussed the transition and some arrangements we will bore you no there's going to be a point at which he's just not going to be in control and that is incredibly threatening to a narcissist underneath the narcissism is an incredibly fragile person kids pick up on this in some way usually when they're younger and they realize oh we can't say that we can't do that we can't behave this way because it will really hurt this parent and something awful is going to happen that's why it's really important to start with Logan because everything that happens and unfolds is because of him and because of his narcissism Kendall Roy Kendall is one of Logan's sons and he's really lacking self-confidence he's someone that has responded to this world without a present father by escaping it and pursuing drugs substances he doesn't know how to have a relationship with other people and that's true for all of these kids they don't know how to interact with people the way they should because they were never shown how to do that both by the father as well as by the mother when you talk about Kendall he's already been married and divorced or separated at this point he's this strange figure to his kids they're present when he's on a trip to Italy but they're not really interacting with him in very meaningful ways hello Darlings how are you lovely so um you're all going to be taken up to the house I'll be there in a minute guys sometimes when someone who hasn't been given lots of care and love when they are offered something they really do Dive Right In they really try to pursue it they want more of it it's over stimulating because they've sought it so you will see him overreact to something or jump into a relationship when there's no basis for a relationship there all right so what are we going to do here I feel like we should maybe buy an island put in a giant island-sized bed and just spin to Dundee you want to come to Dundee one of the most heartbreaking scenes even though it doesn't look heartbreaking at first is when Kendall goes in and guts Walter Kendall what the are you doing what the is going on yeah sorry about the cloak and dagger I just needed some time to untangle all your find the profit centers keep the union up our back we're already fully operational on seven why because my dad told me to with Kendall there is this push and pull rebel against the father side with him Rebellion against father's side with him I think each kid has that but Kendall makes an attempt to overthrow his father say there's a vote of no confidence or later to on the news live say his Reign ends now he allowed all these illegal operations to happen but the interesting thing is it's always a push and pull and it's either always the father getting what he wants or Kendall feels like it's always what he would want there's no in between there's no sharing because there was no sharing a narcissistic parent takes up all the room and all the space there is no place for anyone else Siobhan Roy defend that all you want but Jerry can look after herself yeah I know that I'm not defending Jerry yeah hide under the covers with Mommy oh off Siobhan oh you love showing your pee pee to everyone but someday you know you're actually gonna have to something the relationship that shiv has with her brothers and that they have with hers is one of competition and that's a result of the parenting too it's pitting one kid against the other we see that in her marriage to Tom she doesn't want to talk about kids she doesn't want to talk about his fears of going to prison she just wants him there when she wants him and doesn't want him there and she doesn't want him there talk to him in hungry what yeah I don't think I want to do that Jim uh oh hello is this the replicant apartment yeah my meat puppet has stopped working oh chef chef when we talk about chiv I think it's important to mention the relationship she has with her mother I didn't think I've ever won a single battle in my whole life hmm I was 10 mom he's a kid you were 13. and you knew how to twist the knife you knew then and you know now and I might cry oh yeah where's the onion I don't understand what a kid is supposed to do with that even as an adult do you go back and redo your childhood I mean that that's ridiculous Roman Roy I'd lay you badly Bradley you gladly can I remind you Roman that so far as I'm concerned nothing has ever happened between us other than of a professional nature got to be curious though right a young fighter in his prime technically raw but you know hungry if you were to ask shiv and Kendall and even Connor they probably look at Roman and say oh he's the youngest child he's a baby stereotypically people often look at the baby as the one that gets away with anything Roman's relationship with Jerry is pretty interesting he gets turned on when she degrades him not to sound too much like a psychiatrist but one reason this might be is because of mother issues now it's degrading it's it's humiliation that she offers him but there's a little bit of a power Dynamic here in the sexual excitement it could be that he has been so degraded by his father over time to make it sexual and to get something out of it he's taking control of it okay I'm very sorry Jerry no you don't get to speak you have always been a disappointment but this is just you have gone beyond the pale uh-huh oh yeah I think his lack of self-confidence though shows whenever he has a chance to be in control of something he really wants the opportunity but he also completely fails Roman is also an interesting one to talk about because of his name sometimes Logan refers to him as Romulus so Romulus and Remus the Twins were both Supple by a wolf very interesting to compare Logan to a wolf but the other point here is that Romulus succeeded he beat Remus Rome was named Rome there's this hope that Roman will do that I mean there's a lot in a name Roman can't do any of that he can barely even say yeah I I don't want my dad here anymore and vote of no confidence he can't say it he's shrinking down in his chair literally and the father just bulldozes over him Conor Roy hey oh wonderful what is it well oh yes yes it's a uh it's a girl perfect it's sourdough starter Connor is delusional that's his way of dealing with a life where he does not have the love from his father but Conor focuses on things that really are not possible hey [Applause] hey there's dinner rolls ripping out there as we speak Potter I Am Alive there are always issues when you serve this many people but I think on the whole it's going very well complacent you're fired you're all fire idiots he focuses on these things that really are inconsequential he doesn't have a basis for reality he's not psychotic he's not having a break from reality he's not hearing things or seeing things he's just delusional he thinks he's going to be president of the United States he's not really held a job one thing that parents who are narcissistic often end up imparting on their kids is that relationships are transactional Connors got this in his life in his relationship with Willa Willa is essentially a call girl and that person becomes his girlfriend but over time you know he wants to marry her again he's detached from the reality here that she probably doesn't want to marry him at all and then he gets offended this is his own narcissism coming out he gets offended that she doesn't necessarily have an answer for him when he says that he wants to marry her come on how bad can it be right yeah why not you know we'll have fun I don't know many people that would want to marry someone who says sure I'll spend the rest of my life with you but that's what she does so in some ways he's okay with that because it's a transaction he's asked her to marry him he will provide she will be with him Tom wamscans so moving outside of the immediate family you have Tom wamscans who ends up becoming shiv's husband Tom seems to be this almost milk toast kind of guy who just follows shiv around literally follows her towards the bathroom when she's visiting her father in the hospital and proposes there's something I have to say to you Siobhan Roy oh my God will you marry me what I love you and I wanted to do something to make all this better and I thought well your dad's still with us wouldn't that be a nice thing we can get a quick wedding is it about my dad dying in a sterile environment that screams big romantic gesture to you but what's interesting about Tom and this outside person is he does Express his emotion he does Express I really love you I want to have you as my wife he does Express I don't want to be in prison he does Express fear and again it's met with nothing because the Rory family doesn't know how to respond to emotions Tom's been mistreated so when he gets a chance to mistreat other people he takes that whereas some people might say you know that feels really terrible when people do that to me I'm not going to do that to anyone else Tom's a Roy now anyone I talk to I effectively kill here that's the death pet Greg take a look I mean I feel like I might not like it in the Death Pit go ahead the invitation to the Death Pit is one Greg does not want but he does it anyway he is somewhat forced to do it but then he realizes this is really bad how can I distance myself from this enough so we steal some pages he doesn't want to do this to other people he doesn't want to be a part of this Tom might be doing some of the things he does also to endear himself to shiv who functions in that way that ruthless cunning way he can't get close to her emotionally so maybe this is the next thing and then she'll like him cousin Greg I'm actually I'm actually here to see you stand back who are you what are you doing I'm Craig I'm good I'm Marianne's Greg your nephew when I was looking at Greg to really try to understand his psychology I found that I didn't have a ton to talk about which I think is really a reflection of his experience in the family he's just there Greg's introduction in the show is very interesting he's in this costume he's just smoked and he ends up vomiting all through the costume Through The Eyes through the mouth around all these children who are at the theme park it's somewhat indicative of his role in the family he's his character and people don't know really what to make of him what do you make of vomiting walking Muppet the other thing about Greg that's important to mention is he's the most human he's the most relatable for a lot of people because you do see him face these situations almost as we do the way audience members do and think what do I do with this how do I respond to this and that's what we're doing while we view the show that's what Greg's doing in real time as he sees this family so he sees the trappings of this family and isn't sure that he really wants to be a part of it and even though he comes across as this Opie kind of guy but cousin Greg is not as goofy as you think he is something I sometimes say to people I work with and see in therapy particularly to parents if I'm seeing their children will be if your child feels at all the way I do and I'm only feeling this for a few minutes we really need to work on how you communicate with your kid so you can learn a lot from the feelings you get when you're sitting with people when I sit and watch succession I really enjoy the episode but I'm ready for time to be up so I think people like to know okay I can get close to this really horrible dysfunctional thing but I can pull back so there's a way to look at what might be scary to us thinking our family doesn't work that nobody loves us and yet we can withdraw from it by turning the TV off at any point [Music]

Channel: GQ

Views: 606,574

Keywords: break down, breakdown, breakdown gq, connor roy, cousin greg, dr eric bender, eric bender, eric bender breakdown, gq, gq breakdown, gq magazine, gq the breakdown, kendall roy, logan roy, psychiatrist break down, psychiatrists, psychiatry, roman roy, roy family, shiv roy, siobhan roy, succession, succession 2023, succession breakdown, succession roy family, succession roys, the breakdown, the breakdown gq, the roy family, the roys, tom succession, waystar royco

Id: jfKeeFMe6EA

Length: 15min 21sec (921 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 20 2023