Succession - The Sick Case of Roman Roy

oh yeah this is what it looks like when you resolve all your issues uh-huh of all the Roy siblings on their many shortcomings Roman stands out as the most psychologically damaged Kendall has his addiction problems she of cat trust anyone Conor has never felt loved but Romans issues manifest in uniquely self-destructive ways as he refuses to actually engage with his emotions always needing to expel of those bad feelings by channeling them into action whether it be by joking stimulating himself or lashing out we've seen this archetype before the spoiled rich kid who abuses his power to hurt others but successions writers add New Dimensions to the character by making him a nihilistic comedian who's incapable of taking anything seriously very much the Joker of waystar royco strangely enough Roman is the perfect person to run a tabloid newspaper he knows what people secretly want he's obsessed with sex even if he isn't having it he has no boundaries of what can and can't be said and seems to take genuine pleasure in hurting others but why what has happened in his life that causes him to behave this way let's take a deeper look at the sick case of Roman Roy to see if we can understand what he's running away from [Music] like all of us Roman is a product of cause and effect he's a reaction to a certain set of circumstances despite being older than shiv Roman feels and behaves like the youngest sibling because he's the smallest and least mature if we look at the family Dynamic he had two older brothers to look up to Connor who was mostly ignored and from a different mother and Kendall who seems to take everything personally and then internalize it to his detriment so realizing that neither of those personality types survived particularly well in this household Roman tried something different he made himself unignorable by being a prankster the show-off that never sits still or in the normal upright position and rather than risking getting his feelings hurt he discovered it so much easier to turn everything into a joke as that way you can turn your own pain into pleasure he was going to make a horrible joke so I'm preempting okay okay but as a consequence of this over-the-top Persona his father had to discipline him more and unlike his brothers Logan was physically abusive to Roman even beating him in public locations like at a restaurant in front of other guests dad you beat Roman with a [ __ ] slipper and gestation he cried for ordering Lobster remember the shame of being humiliated and hurt in public like this causes Roman to have no clear boundaries with other people whatever you're not supposed to say or do he'll automatically trespass into that space making his superpower and inability to feel discomfort or shame where others normally would but Roman wasn't just abused by his father throughout the first two seasons we see that he's the punching bag of the entire family physically dominated by his older brothers and even his younger sister all of whom subconsciously treat him like he's the runt of the pack so given he's at a physical disadvantage he has a choice play the victim and try to guilt the others out of bullying him or mask his vulnerability turn everything into a joke and trade verbal blows as in a battle of wits he's never outmatched just like you and quoted in the Thanksgiving episode life is nothing but a competition to be the criminal rather than the victim so it makes sense that once Roman grows up he enjoys the benefits of being from such a wealthy family as it enables him to flex his power over those with less influence than him whether it be employees wait staff Greg Hill verbally humiliate anyone who happens to be in his opportunistic crosshairs because by experiencing how fun it can be to bully others it allows him to make psychological peace with why his family did it to him Roman wouldn't act this way unless he was being bullied himself as we see this cause and effects in action time and time again in season one when Logan berates and dismisses him for not being tough enough he walks outside and punches Greg in the arm to make himself feel better in season 2 when Logan informs him Kendall is back in the folds and tells him to F off he verbally abuses the first employee he passes just for looking at him or in season 4 when Jerry threatens to release the many photos of his junk that he sent her knowing he's powerless in this Dynamic inspires him to run over to Conor and try to bully him into dropping out of the presidential race stating that everyone in the room thinks he's a joke so rather than sitting with his feelings and recognizing that he fears public humiliation he inflicts that same feeling on someone else so his pain is shared and therefore less isolating but this whole Persona is a facade a defense mechanism against feeling anything real you're not a real person you know that you're not a real person you're not real despite the strong front he projects Roman is deeply insecure if he were as confident in his own abilities as he pretends he'd be able to be calm and steady and take himself seriously so that others could too but instead we see this insecurity manifest in his constant fidgeting he's always biting his nails pulling his ears or scratching his hair showing us the little boy who's scared to make a mistake bubbling to the surface Roma you're a [ __ ] his deepest fear is that he'll be exposed as the screw-up of the family as that would only validate that he deserved to be dominated and picked on as a child the problem is that whenever he's given the opportunity to prove himself he falls short further cementing how dependent he is on his father and how incapable he is of surviving or thriving without him we see a clear example of this when he's enrolled in the management training program and has to experience what life would be like if he wasn't born into such privilege and the moment the students are all asked to come up with original ideas for the company Roman's automatic reaction is panic and dismissal what if we [ __ ] it what if I can't think of anything I don't have anything prepared do you know about this as this exercise might accidentally reveal that he's unable to compete with normal people without his father's influence presiding overall while Kendall and shiv often look to betray and topple their father's power Roman has a clearer respect for it and can't truly stand up to him as he views his dad as an Unstoppable winning machine that can never be defeated he's not infallible Rome no sure I just don't think he ever fails or ever will in many ways this is an ideal outcome for Logan as by physically disciplining Roman as a child he's made him far easier to manipulate as an adult as no matter what tact Roman takes it's always designed to appease his father he'll either act like the court jester to entertain him or he'll pitch the dirtiest tactic possible to give the impression he's actually the toughest but all of this is just over compensation as Roman is never as certain as he tries to come across we see this when he competes against Kendall for his father's approval and suggests that they got Voltaire and one slogan sides with Roman he's happy in the moment but then quickly becomes plagued with self-doubt as he's never actually had anyone take his advice seriously before and his decisions have a track record of blowing up in his face but unlike his siblings the strangest aspect of Roman Roy is his sex life for someone that overcompensates by graphically referencing sex as often as possible Roman is hiding the fact that he has little to no interest in a regular romantic relationship he always needs something to be off about these Dynamics for him to remain interested even the way he selected Tabitha he was looking at her with lust from afar knowing she was about to hook up with Tom thus making her unattainable and then despite it Crossing every line and having the freedom to choose virtually anyone else he then invites her along to shiv and Tom's wedding as his date parading her around like a sick badge of honor however although Tabitha is promiscuous Roman never actually sleeps with her as he wants his Dynamic with her to be different than any other man she's ever dated the most promiscuous option and keeping the relationship celibate is classic Roman Roy it always has to be weird or wrong or upside down in some way it's only when she openly reveals that they don't have sex at the Pierce's dinner party describing their relationship as eunuch besties that Roman feels so ashamed of his current celibacy that he tries to correct it by initiating sex with her but try as he might he just can't have a normal sexual experience needing Tabitha to pretend she's a dead body for him to be turned on which unsurprisingly turns her off completely just be brave okay yes Mommy it's actually in Jerry that Roman finds what he's looking for as she's both forbidden and knows how to play along in just the right way to make him feel like he's being inappropriate and needs to be punished but why why is Jerry the target of his affection and why is humiliation his kink firstly we need to reinvestigate Roman's traumatizing childhood at Tom's bachelor party when Roman recollects the events of his youth it appears that there isn't a clear story to hold on to Roman remembers being locked in a cage and being forced to eat dog food with a leash but Connor and Kendall remembers as he loved playing dog pound and it was a bowl of chocolate cake not real dog food Roman remembers wetting the bed and being sent to military school but Connor remembers it as Roman asked Logan to go so the events that shaped Roman's most painful memories are all things he may have desired himself were these events just painful or were they secretly enjoyable has he become so accustomed to being dominated and hurt using humor to mask pain with pleasure that certain lines have got twisted and now he can't be satisfied without feeling like he's also being punished thank you in Italy shiv consistently marks Roman for having an Oedipus complex quipping how romantic would it be if you could marry mommy on her wedding day Caroline has always been a cold and distant mother she never wanted children and was always far more interested in herself but with Roman specifically she neglected her most basic duties as a mother by never intervening to stop Logan from harming her youngest son so you can um protect me well I can try so it's natural that Roman would be drawn to the first mother figure in his life that he feels will protect him as in this nepotistic family business Jerry is the one woman that Logan truly trusts with his most prized possession his company so just like a child craves their mother Roman wants to be around Jerry all the time at work to make up for the time he never got from Caroline at home he wants her to punish and dismiss him for his naughty Behavior just like when he was a child but still be there to maternally guide him to the top job and essentially choose him to be in charge over his father thus completing his eatable fantasy this is why when Logan betrays the children by selling his company Roman's first instinct is to run to Jerry for help expecting her to take him in her arms and find a way to protect him but like always his emotional needs come second to the priorities of the business and he never finds the love or safety he's been searching for because Roman never seeks anything healthy or attainable he always needs it to be weird or off or impossible so that when it inevitably fails he has a ready-made excuse for why it didn't work out because failing at something impossible is expected but failing it's something basic is exposing so he'd rather treat everything like a joke than discover no one takes him seriously he'd rather look like he's not even trying to have a normal relationship than not be able to sustain one and he'd rather pretend he has no boundaries than let anyone know they've hurt him [Music] and that concludes the sick case of Roman Roy the boy who built an entire Persona around his fear of failure [Music] well if you've made it this far firstly thank you for watching but if you could now give the video a like possibly even leave a comment and click on that subscribe button it will encourage that mysterious algorithm to do its thing and if you want to support the channel personally you can check out my patreon

Channel: Just an Observation

Views: 317,732

Keywords: succession roman roy sick, succession sicko, succession sicko roman, roman roy character study, roman roy video essay, roman analysis, roman video essay, roman roy kieran culkin, roman roy psychology, succession video essay roman, succession analysis roman, just an observation, succession season 4, kieran culkin, succession, why does roman act like that, roman gerry analysis, roman jerri, roman gerri, succession bullying, Roman Roy explained, Roman succession explained

Id: yGaZE7r5Z8o

Length: 13min 39sec (819 seconds)

Published: Wed May 17 2023

Reddit Comments

[u/SpicyNutmeg]

I think it’s especially interesting than Kendall and Connor recall Roman liking the dog pound game and asking for it, while Roman remembers being mercilessly bullied.

I wonder exactly when Roman started getting fun and abuse confused?