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Posts that deal with subjective content, expressing opinions or providing reviews of other media.

Why I Left Spotify

I have decided to leave Spotify after trying it for the last 8 months or so. Why? It wasn’t because of total dissatisfaction. Instead, a handful of irritants began to wear on me while using it.

What It Does Right

Before going into what I don’t like about Spotify, I do want to do go over two things that it does well. The first is volume levelling. This is something that is a bit annoying with Apple Music and their various apps (and no, “sound check” doesn’t work all that well). Spotify does a commendable job of ensuring that all songs in a playlist have similar volume levels.

I’ve only ever used it for playlists, so I can’t comment on how it might work or not work with an album. I know Apple’s “sound check” will mess up some albums, so I largely leave it off as a result. I’m still very much an album listener, not just a playlist shuffler.

The other thing I rather like is cross-device shuffle synchronization (at least when it works). It is nice that I can stop music on my desktop or an iPad, fire it up on my phone in the car, and take up where I left off. Mostly. The phone app doesn’t always get updated unless you remember to open it while still connected to wifi and before you get in the car.

The First Irritation: Bad Playlist Shuffling

My first, and probably biggest, complaint is with how it builds the playback order for shuffling. Frankly, it does an abysmal job of digging into the entire playlist. Instead, it seems to be biased toward playing the songs that are played most frequently.

But that means it seems to be working against itself: it assumes a song is preferred because it got played a lot. But it was the one deciding to play it. I’m convinced that if I shuffled one playlist long enough I’d end up hearing the same song over and over again (“oh, Geoff like this because he’s listened to it a lot, so I’ll play it again!”).

The supposed “random order” is also fixed for some period of time. This appears to hold even if I restart the app, but not always. I have some smaller playlists where, after the app reached the end, it played everything again in the exact same order. It isn’t clear what it takes to get it to rebuild the shuffle order with any certainty.

That’s not how I expect shuffle to work. I’m expecting that, once it’s played everything, it will build a new order and start to play that. It’s what I’ve experienced with the Music app on my Apple devices. And if I restart the app on a device, the next time I try that playlist, the shuffle order is different again.

The Second Irritation: When Sync Doesn’t Work

The Apple apps don’t seem to try to synchronize shuffling playlists across devices. The “bad”, if you will, is that you can’t take up where you left off on another device. But the “good” is that each device has its own playback order, so you aren’t re-listening to the same sequence of songs.

Spotify playback synchronization works, but only if all instances of the app are active and connected. This can be a problem on iOS and iPadOS, because not all apps get to work in the background, or work at all times in the background.

This leaves me, often, having to re-listen to the same sequence of songs in the car that I just listened to for however long in the office. I’d rather it not do that.

The Third Irritation: The Disappearing Content

Because there’s no option to buy content in Spotify, availability is at the mercy of whatever licence agreement Spotify has with the music distributor. It isn’t a widespread problem, but I have discovered songs on playlists that I could play previously grayed-out because they aren’t available in Canada anymore. On Apple Music, for anything I’ve bought off the store, I still have it, even if it disappears from sale on the store later.

Okay, I get it, they don’t get a licence with no time limit. But if I had a way to buy the song, and get my own irrevocable, perpetual, non-transferrable licence, that could be avoided. But there’s no way to do that as far as I know.

The Fourth Irritation: No Sync of Downloaded Content

If I add audio files to Spotify on one device, they are available on that device and nowhere else. If I do the same with Apple Music, as long as the file is under 5GB in size, it will sync to all my other devices.

So, if I rip a CD (because there’s no digital copy of the music) and add it to my Apple Music library, it’s on all my devices. If I do that on Spotify, they only appear on the device where I added them. It’s annoying.

It Was Interesting, But I’m Done

I’m glad I gave Spotify a shot, because it wasn’t all bad. And if I had to use it because I’ve moved away from the Apple universe, then I could live with it. But while I have something that works better for me, I’m sticking with that.

I am not saying people should avoid Spotify. How I use it, what I expect, will be different that what others do. For some, Spotify is a far superior service compared to Apple Music. But it isn’t working for me in a way that I would like.

So You Want To Make Content?

Watching a Youtube video by Mary Spender got me thinking about content creation. In it, she discusses her thoughts on the future of her channel, asking her audience for some feedback and guidance. One thing she said really caught my attention, and I think it’s a very important point when it comes to making any kind of content. I was going to leave a comment, but since I do tend to ramble on, I thought it best to post something here instead and leave a link to it. Maybe it will be of value, maybe not.

No Change In My Plans

Okay, yes, I’ve been lax in putting up regular content. And, no, I have no plans to create videos or podcasts. I have toyed with the idea of a podcast, but I’m not sure I can commit to the time it takes to post one regularly enough, let alone be one that is interesting. I have no interest in doing one just to hear the sound of my own voice.

There is no change in my plans because, at the moment, I don’t really have a “plan” in the formal sense. I have some ideas of what I want to do, but that’s about it.

Be Actually Authentic

One point Mary made was that she was only going to make videos on topics that interested her. She wants her content to remain truly authentic. She had no interest in trying to create something viral or in chasing trends. To me, this is the core, central, fundamental, underlying principle for anyone creating anything in this space. If the creator of content isn’t actually into the content, or doesn’t feel some passion or connection to it, that will come through. Their work will appear to be inauthentic. It will be clear it is trying to pander to some short term trend or gimmick, and not contain something that they actually believe in. It will be shallow, hollow, a facade without substance.

I have watched videos from some content creators where it was clear they were only doing it for the money and the views. It became readily apparent in a few cases. A lot of their content was repetitive. It was shallow or vapid, and it was clearly there to either get you to watch or to generate a reaction (not a real conversation). After a handful of videos, I gave up. I believe I have at least one that I’ve told Youtube to stop recommending entirely.

Of Course, Revenue Can Be Important

For anyone trying to make a living off of their video or audio content, obviously creating something people want to watch (or even pay for) is important. If you hope to pay the bills, you obviously need to make something that’s marketable. But that content has to be more than an obvious attempt at a money grab, at least if you want an audience that sticks around for the long haul. Certainly, you can make something that is shocking or outrageous, or is aimed at gaming SEO systems. That might make you some money in the short term. But it can mean that, after you’ve ceased to be “the new hotness”, the audience moves on to the next thing.

Certainly, there are creators who are simply looking to hook into the “next big thing”, and milk it for as much as they can for as long as they can. Copycats are everywhere, in every arena, and in every genre. Streaming services will be flooded with certain styles or genres as soon as one or two become hot commodities. The same goes for games, fashion, and Youtube content. If that works for you, fine. But unless you can stumble upon the next hot trend, it may be a one-and-done situation.

Please, Care About Your Content

As a consumer of content, I ask that you create authentic content you have a passion for. Ideally, also have some expertise. Unless, of course, you’re documenting your growth and development in something new, hoping to teach others along the way.

But don’t just try to chase the most recent hot trend, Make content you care about, because then the audience will care about it, too. And they’ll come back reliably. Some will even pay you, through things like Patreon, to help you create more. I believe that’s the right answer to long-term and enduring success.

 

Erased Vocals, Incorrect Lyrics, Music Brilliance

I stumbled up on this video on YouTube by the Professor of Rock, and learned something about one of my all-time favourite songs, California Dreamin’ by the Mommas & the Poppas. Watch the details about the history of the song, and the consequences first. Then come back and read my thoughts on the subject, because I have some opinions of my own. None of them, though, will necessary conflict or contrast with those in the video.

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Another Submission (And Rejection)

Rejection in writing is a fact of life. I have a short story that I worked on for the first few months of the year. It was originally written for a Writer’s Digest short story competition, but unfortunately, it didn’t win anything. Oh well, it was worth a shot. I revised (and expanded) the story, with a lot of feedback from Jim Bird, a friend who is also doesn’t pull punches when it comes to reviews. I submitted the story to Clarkesworld, but they didn’t accept it for publication. My latest submission was with Asimov, but unfortunately, they also said ‘no’. The next step is to submit it to another Writer’s Digest competition, and we’ll see how that goes.

The Beginnings of 80’s Music

Rick Beato recently released a video talking about some of the landmark albums that were released in 1978. He admits that the list is incomplete, but it features albums with songs that would come define a new era in music, what generally call “80’s music”.

Releases vs. Calendars

Music styles and genres don’t generally stick to formal calendar boundaries. Music is released when the artists and/or labels figure it’s ready. As such, there isn’t a clear delineation on a calendar when some “era” of music begins. But being who we are as humans, we will often describe something based on the decade we associate it with.

What we think of as “50’s music” didn’t really get started until 1954/1955, and lasted until around 1963/1964. There is “60’s music”, which didn’t get going until 1964 and transformed into “70’s music” closer to 1974. The disco era sort-of started in the mid-to-late 1970’s and by the early 1980’s it was pretty much gone. But in both these cases, there was overlap, there was a transition. There wasn’t a hard bright line that delineated these eras, and certainly not any that line up conveniently on decade boundaries.

A Defining Decade Personally

I turned 16 in 1980, so the 1980’s defined a lot for me personally. I finished high school, then university, and had my first full-time job. It was the decade that I moved out on my own. It was when I bought my first new car. We had the Winter Olympics in Calgary, and the Flames made two trips to the Stanley Cup final, winning in 1989. My brother and I attended Game 1 of the 1986 Cup finals, which was the only game the Flames won in that series.

Music has always been a big part of my life, if only as the ‘soundtrack’ to it. I spent 4 years at the University of Calgary with headphones on or nearby. My knock-off of a Walkman was eventually replaced by a real Sony Walkman for my last year of university, and it or a small boombox were ever-present from 1986 onward. I was always playing music somewhere: around the apartment, in the car, when coding. During university, most of that music was typical 80’s music: Billy Joel, Genesis, The Police, and a host of others. I also listened to a lot of ELO, and they became one of my favourite bands, along with The Moody Blues.

1978 Was A Watershed Year

When you listen to Rick’s list, you get the first or new albums from some quintessential 80’s music acts: Dire Straits, Billy Joel, The Police, Kate Bush, AC/DC, Van Halen, Bob Seger, Devo, Rush, Peter Gabriel. More would come in 1979 with acts that had debut or new albums such as Pat Benetar and Genesis. These groups and others began to transform the sound of popular music, and genres like New Wave would find their footing.

1978 was definitely a watershed year. It is, I would argue, the beginning of what we think of as “80’s music” in western culture.

A Bit Of A Letdown

Warning: the contains spoilers regarding Succession, specifically regarding the series finale. I discuss events in the show that will spoil key plot points, so continue reading at your own risk.

That Was Disappointing

Almost all the critics are raving about the Succession finale, and how the show wrapped up. I found it disappointing. It wasn’t nearly as big a twist as it could have been, and it was, in some ways, a rather conventional way to end the show. The ending also was a bit nonsensical in my mind.

The show was brilliantly written, and the performances were stunning. Its production values were impeccable, and it did a fantastic job of poking fun at the ultra-wealthy. There is no question that these people are completely out of touch with life in the real world. Even Logan, who at least knew a simpler life, has lost any connection to life for ordinary people.

However, for a show purporting to be a dark comedy, I didn’t find it particularly funny. The characters were cruel and selfish. Okay, I won’t discount that it’s just how I’m wired. But I never saw any real comedy, unless you count the fact that the technical business elements were beyond ludicrous. Sure, rich people get away with a lot, but nowhere near what happened in the show. They would have been doing it to other very rich, very well connected people. Those other wealthy people would not have put up with it, and would have the means to make them pay for those transgressions.

At least the showrunners were honest about it. They made it clear they were making no effort to be accurate on the business side of things. Knowing that helped, because then I could focus on the rest of the show.

The show was also one season too long. Season 3 felt like rehash of Season 2, and we could have done without it in some ways. It would have made for a tighter overall story arc: Season 1 is setup and we see the first positioning of each of the players; Season 2 we get knives going in and out of various backs, with shifting alliances, while adding in Matsson and the Gojo deal; Season 3 we wrap it all up.

But that’s not what happened. We have the show as it is. It’s the final episode, and how it resolved, that left me underwhelmed. The choice of Tom wasn’t nearly as big a twist as far as I’m concerned. Before exploring why, and where I think the show could have gone, let’s examine things a bit, and take some things off the table.

The Mind of Matsson

There were two outcomes to the Gojo deal: the board accepts it or rejects it. For the “accepts it” outcome, we need to try to delve into the Mind of Matsson. All we have to go on, of course, is what he said and what he did.

The first thing we know is that he needs an American CEO to fend off the regulators. This does not have to be permanent, but it has to be long enough that the regulators lose interest and move on to other targets. There are plenty of options in the cast for that role.

The second thing we know is that he isn’t looking for a partner. Matsson was blunt with Tom about that. What Matsson wants is a caretaker and a puppet. The CEO’s job is to run the day to day. In some ways, it’s more “COO” than “CEO”. But Matsson is the brains, and he will make all the important decisions. The CEO is there to do is bidding, nothing more.

These two things inform who could be a potential CEO under Matsson. Before exploring the boring, obvious choices, let’s take a few outliers off the table. Hugo, Kerry, and Peter (Caroline’s lapdog) were never going to make sense, from a business point of view or a plot point of view. Picking any of them would have been a silly ending to an otherwise serious show. It would have been a farce, not a comedy. A show with Shakespearian aspirations wouldn’t have allowed itself to go there.

Conner was also obviously out. That, too, would have been a devolution into farce, neither comedy nor tragedy. Don’t even pretend that Willa was in the picture.

The Obvious, Boring Picks

Karl, Frank, Gerri. From a conventional point of view, any of them would make sense. All are perfectly capable of filling the Puppet CEO role. As a “real world” pick, any of them would be the most conventional choices. They are American, they are familiar with the organization, and they would be fine as minions working for Matsson until the regulatory heat subsided.

Gerri might have chafed under the yoke of Matsson. The guy is a bit of a misogynist, treating women badly. I also think the character had greater ambitions, and actually wanted the job in a real sense, not just on paper. That seemed clear from the earliest episodes of the show.

Karl and Frank would probably have been content with taking the job, collecting their salary and bonus, and retiring when putting in a “real CEO” became an option. Both were nearing retirement age, and the Waystar/Royco CEO job was temporary in nature.

Tom Was Uninspired

Tom getting the job was the boring choice. I don’t find that much of a “twist” in the way that other twists have unfolded in the past four seasons. It also didn’t make logical sense, when examining Matsson and what he said and did.

First, Matsson didn’t like Tom. That was clear from the very first time they met. Matsson seemed to find him annoying, verging on obnoxious, and utterly forgettable. That all of a sudden Tom was someone he could work with, when he clearly didn’t like the guy, seemed silly. Matsson was going to fire him. He didn’t really want him running ATN. And now it’s okay he’s the CEO?

Second, Tom comes with baggage, in the form of a wife who is from the family Matsson is replacing. Does Matsson really want to have to deal with that drama? Tom is not going to end it with Shiv. His actions have been of a man who is desperately trying to avoid a divorce. Sure, Tom poisoned the lawyer pool, but that seems more an attempt to keep Shiv from successfully ending things. How long before Shiv tries to worm her way back into the organization in some way? Marionettes don’t work very well when someone else is trying to pull on the strings.

Third, we know that Tom has ambitions. He made that clear from the moment we met him. Sure, he was more than happy to get his skull neck deep into whatever ass needed to be placated. But Tom wants more, and that is the opposite of what you want in a puppet. Successful puppets don’t have agency or ambition.

It just wasn’t that big of a twist, at least to me. Logically he makes no sense. Emotionally he is a goofy choice. Not an odd or “out in left field” choice, but one that just doesn’t work. This outcome isn’t consistent with how the show has gone for the past four seasons.

The Kids

Before I get to my pick (and you can see where I’m going), let’s examine the plot had Shiv not turned on her brothers. This would have been the conventional ending. It’s the one most of us probably expected during the opening episodes. It was one that is anything but a plot twist, and would have been inconsistent with the rest of the show.

Ken was in the best position from the outset to take over. It looked at the start that Ken was the “favourite son” of Logan, as much as he could be. While the effort was half-assed, Ken was sort of being groomed for the job. At least about as much as a self-absorbed egotist like Logan would have groomed someone. In some ways, the “groomed but not really groomed” makes sense as an approach for someone not willing to leave capable assassins lurking about.

It was also clear that Ken was an abysmal choice. For a guy who was going to run a communications company, he couldn’t communicate. Ken couldn’t string more than three words together at a time without someone writing them down for him. He was hopelessly bad at expressing himself, and he spoke in tongues most of the time. Ken was a horrible person, unclear on what he really wanted, and ill-suited to the job.

So were Shiv and Roman. Shiv is a flake, and Roman is a playboy gadabout who wilts in the face of any serious heat. Picking any of the three would have been the boring, uninspired story choice. Worse, picking a Roy sibling would have been a good “studio” decision because it would open the potential to make a sequel series. A sequel is unnecessary. The social commentary has been made, and there’s no point in belabouring it.

The Real Twist

The real plot twist would have been picking cousin Greg. We first see him as a doped up, lazy, uninspired young man puking in a mascot costume. He makes his entry into the family by using his grandfather, Logan’s older brother Ewan. Tom sees what he believes is a kindred spirit, an “outsider” trying to climb a ladder using richer, well-connected people. Tom also sees what he thinks is a convenient underling, someone he can “punch down” on knowing they aren’t going to walk away. And Tom gets to push around a family member, one he believes can’t or won’t fight back.

Greg, though, is both a twist and logically consistent. He doesn’t come with the family baggage like Tom, who is still married to Shiv and is unlikely to change that situation. Ewan will never be a problem, because he’s disowned Greg. With his payout, Ewan will never get involved in Waystar/Royco again.

Matsson likes Greg, and he has figured out that Greg doesn’t really have any real ambition. Greg would make the ideal puppet. He knows his way around the company, he’s not going to get out of line, and he’s just happy to be there. Of the main characters outside of Logan, it is Greg that is the only one who’s shown a real spine when it comes to dirty work.

Greg has had to deliver all manner of bad news, including firing people en masse. He’s more than willing to swing the axe, which would take heat off of Matsson, since big changes will be needed. It was also Greg who had the sense to keep all that incriminating evidence from the cruise line. It never occurred to Tom to do something with it.

Tom is completely incapable of anything truly underhanded, let alone messy or dirty. The man also folds under any kind of pressure. The only person Tom has ever been able to push around is Greg, and as the series has unfolded, it looks more like Greg is allowing it to keep Tom in the dark. Greg was manipulating Tom far more than the other way around. Greg could have been the show’s Keyser Söze.

The best twist on top of all this would have been that Matsson was actually working with Greg to make sure the deal happened. And Matsson would be doing it without his own people knowing, so they play their part properly. That would have been brilliant in my mind. Finding out that Greg, looking like a mole for the Roy children, was really working for Matsson all this time would have been a twist within a twist.

Glad I Watched It, But…

Even though the ending is less than satisfying to me, I’m not completely disappointed, either. I wasn’t sure about the show at first, but I’m glad I did see it. The writing, the performances, and the larger social commentary was incredibly well done.

But is it worth a re-watch? There I’m not sure. I’m glad I didn’t buy it to add to my library. As good as the individual elements are, I don’t see this as something I want to watch again. It also may not age particularly well. It’s a product of its time, and a lot of the themes may feel a bit tired in a few years.

Would I recommend it to others? I would have to know the person in question. I have friends that I think would find it very entertaining. There are others that I believe would find it a bit vacuous and shallow, even with the brilliant performances behind it. Still others would find it frustrating, and possibly even incomprehensible.

Succession isn’t for everyone. You have to be comfortable with a show with absolutely no good guys. There is no one to root for. If you’re hoping for something like Billions, where at least they get the financial aspects pretty close, you will be very disappointed.

To wrap up: it is brilliantly written, with incredible performances, and stunning production quality. It earned every award it has received, and may have deserved some it didn’t get. But it is an acquired taste. I’m glad I watched, but I probably won’t watch it again.

And That’s It? (spoilers)

Warning, this contains spoilers for Season 3 of The Mandalorian. Continue reading at your risk.

That’s it? All that build up to end in Mando and Grogu hanging out in a cabin in the countryside? Seriously? The ending of this season was entirely underwhelming. It’s hard to know where to begin on this mess.

Too Many Loose Threads

Nothing got resolved about the Mythosaur, it’s as if it was never part of the story. IG-11 is “miraculously” put back together to be the new Marshall. The Darksabre is destroyed, which implies it was never that important. Who the hell knows what’s happening back on Coruscant, even though it was important enough to dedicate 1/8th of the season’s story to it (seriously, it could have been a 10-second sequence). Oh, and what ever happened to those giant chicks they got? Did they become dinner in some subsequent episode? And where’s the pirate gone? Is Moff Gideon really ash, or did his super-duper armour protect him?

Yeah, yeah, stuff for Season 4. If there is one. If Disney decides to end it here, I’d be fine with that. The only good season was the first. The second was okay, although the “let’s set up another spinoff” thing was getting a bit wearisome. This third season was a pointless mess.

It all wraps up so Mando and Grogu can go off on new adventures. Yeah, this is such a satisfying end (spoiler alert: it isn’t).

All Filler, Little Content

There was, at best, 2-3 hours of actual story in this season, and 5-6 hours of useless filler. All the stupid side quests did nothing to advance the overall plot, and weren’t a way to introduce any new meaningful characters. As cool as it was to see Uppa back in his X-Wing, and as amusing as it was to see him show just how incompetent the New Republic is, again, it added nothing overall. This whole season could have been a movie, and then it might have been more satisfying.

If there is a Season 4, maybe getting back to a more episodic form might be better. Although a different title might be in order (maybe The New Adventures of Mando and Grogu?). It might be entertaining. But part of Star Wars is that there is a grand arc, a bigger story that the stuff we watch (or read) is part of. The entire franchise is premised around it. And as bad as Lucas might have been at dialog, he had a knack for telling stories within stories. Season One of The Mandalorian fit within that. The next two started to drift somewhat.

All I can say now is thank goodness for Andor and The Bad Batch. Maybe we can get some stories about the Adelphi Rangers?

It Took 7 Episodes To Get Here? (spoilers)

Warning, this contains spoilers for Chapter 23 of Season 4 of The Mandalorian. Read at your own risk.

Took Long Enough

So it took us 7 episodes (and about 7 hours) to finally get to the point of this thing. Seriously? Take away all the side-quests and distractions, and this should have been the third episode of this season, not the seventh. It could have even been the second episode. We didn’t need to know what was happening with Dr. Pershing. They could have left it as mysterious. A two-minute holo comms sequence with Moff Gideon and Kane, the “His research is lost” line in the holo-Zoom staff meeting, and leave it at that. The “let’s fight pirates” bit. The useless “have to fix IG-11” and it turns out it wasn’t necessary. The rescue, the droid behaviour mystery. Seriously, none of this advanced the narrative.

Too much of this season feels like padding, like fan service and not story telling. It’s like they don’t actually know what story they want to tell, or maybe don’t have a story to tell. I mean, cool, we get some great cameos from some great performers. But we don’t have to try to jam every character the series has presented (that’s still alive) into the season. That’s just not necessary.

Grogu’s New Toy

I was so worried they had pulled a deus ex machine with IG-11 when he came strolling in. But when it was clear he’s just a mech, okay, maybe that’s something that can work. At least Grogu has a bit more mobility, and can do more than make baby noises and Force Grip stuff. It was funny watching him stumble around a bit while he figured the machine out, and pounding away on the “yes” and “no” buttons.

The only concern I would have might be budget. It’s way cheaper to digitally composite a floating egg (which can be closed, reducing detail and fidelity requirements) than an intricate machine. But whatever, not my problem. At least Grogu can be a more active participant in things.

Expect It To Feel Rushed Or Incomplete

There’s only one episode left in the season. That can mean one of two things. First, that they’re going to rush the final conflict between the Mandalorians and Gideon. Don’t be surprised if the New Republic just happens to show up, riding to the rescue. Given how sloppy the story telling as been so far, that wouldn’t be surprising at all. But it would also be a massive disappointment.

The other alternative is that the Mandalorians are chased off “for now” in a lame attempt to set up the next season. Assuming there is one. I have not seen a lot of positive comments or reviews so far, and I see a lot more “glad I skipped this season” instead.

And that leads to the question: will there be a fourth season? With poor reviews, what appears to be a disappointed (and possibly shrinking) audience, this could very well be it for this story line. It could live on in comics and novels. But these aren’t cheap to make, and Disney’s pockets aren’t infinitely deep. I’d rather see the budget put toward ensuring Andor retains it’s high standards and quality. Money spent making another disappointing season like this would be a waste.

When The Plot Twists

Warning: This contains spoilers from episode 3 of season 4 of Succession. Major plot points will be discussed, so read at your own discretion. If you haven’t watched the episode yet, don’t read any further. Seriously. Just stop now, watch it, then come back.

A Brilliantly Simple Plot Twist

It is amazing when a show’s team decides to take the story in a new and radical direction. This happened on Succession, in the most recent episode of the final season of the show. Episode 3 of the 4th season, Conner’s Wedding, starts off as expected. We see the first stages of a ludicrous and over-the-top wedding. Logan is plotting and scheming, testing his youngest son. Tom is trying to find more ways to stay useful and be important. The early scenes are basically a carry-over from the previous episode. The closest to a ‘surprise’ we get is that Logan tells Roman, his youngest, to let Gerri know she’s on the way out.

And while the plotting and scheming continue, we get the twist. Not the “Gerri is fired” twist. The “Logan is dead” twist. At some point, we knew that Logan would have to either retire or die. The show is named “Succession”, not “Game of Org Charts”. Someone has to succeed the old man. And for most of the second and third season, it didn’t look like Logan was going anywhere any time soon.

The whole thing plays out while the main characters are basically in no control of where they are going, physically. The children and Cousin Greg are on a boat, leaving dock and sailing toward the Statue of Liberty. Logan and his team, along with Tom, are in a plane in the air. There’s no hopping into a luxury SUV or limo to meet at some office, apartment, restaurant, or karaoke bar. Boats don’t turn on a dime. Planes can’t just park where they are.

The brilliance was, after a few minutes of “perhaps he’s faking it to test the kids”, it was clear that Logan really was going. There’s a body on the floor of a plane. A flight attendant is giving CPR. We hear the distinct sound of a defibrillator being fired. Doors are closed. He doesn’t just pop up, and there would be little point of playing out a lifesaving routine since nobody is using Facetime or Zoom for this. A visual performance wasn’t required. It was all done without the grabbing of chests, shortness of breath, or all the other trappings of an “old man death scene”. We see him get on a plane. We get to hear phone calls.

It’s Par For The Show

Really, this fits with how Succession has played out from the start. There is plenty of absurdity, over-the-top behaviour, a sense of entitlement, and basically no boundaries or limits. There are also virtually no consequences except those imposed by the limits of physics and what the universe allows, which does track for the most part with the real world. The ultra-wealthy are largely immune to the artificial consequences imposed by society. They only thing they can’t ignore is things like gravity and mortality.

I’ve been watching the show regularly from the start, but I’m still not certain I’m a “fan” in the conventional sense. All of the characters are irritating, there are no good guys here, and none rise to the level of anti-hero. Even Cousin Greg is, frankly, obnoxious. The writing and acting, though, are absolutely brilliant. Everyone in the show is scheming and plotting, and most of them actually aren’t very good at it. Having a real curveball thrown at them from time to time is how the showrunners keep the characters off-balance. This curveball, though is a doozy. While it looked like we would get more of the usual plotting and changing allegiances, the story takes a hard right turn, knocking over the crockery and spilling everyone’s drinks.

It Isn’t What I Thought

It wasn’t until I was reading some summaries during season two that I learned the show is meant to be a dark comedy. There was little I found “funny” in a sense that you’d laugh at it. The business elements are entirely fictional, and a complete and utter mess. Unlike Billions, where they actually get a lot of the technical aspects around markets and trading right (or at least close), Succession makes no effort to do so. And that is, apparently, by design. It’s meant to be absurd, not just in how the characters play our their parts, but in how their weird and twisted world works. And if anyone thinks “well, rich people get away with lots”, even rich people aren’t that stupid, and there are limits. You don’t get to be rich without at least a modicum of intelligence.

When I first started watching, I was sort-of expecting something like Billions, just focussed more on the family and business dynamics of who takes over when the old man is gone. It was clear after a few episodes that all the business jargon was used more or less at random, meant to sound “business-y” without worrying about details. Once I got a handle on that, it was then only about the characters and their interactions. The plots and schemes and twists and turns. And the sheer ineptitude of the of all these people.

Which is how the show is brilliant on multiple levels. That ineptitude isn’t necessarily that far from the truth. It’s further demonstrating that being rich doesn’t mean you’re smart. And it isn’t unusual to see ultra-wealthy people somehow believe that they are smarter than everyone else, when the truth is that they are just luckier. They were in the right place at the right time and stumbled onto something that let them build insane levels of wealth. But they succeeded in part because they were at least surrounded by smart (or smarter) people who could actually do the work. If you want to see a so-called “genius” at work, without the supporting talent, just watch the implosion of Twitter.

In For A Bumpier Ride

The ever-changing landscape of who is working with whom in Succession is now in new territory. The first half of season one was off-balance, in part because we’re still learning who the characters are. Things settled down into a pattern in the latter half, plus for the next two seasons. Sure, there were lots of small twists and turns. Characters would be loyal to some faction at one point, only to betray them when it looked like things were better on “the other side”. None of what we were seeing for the past two seasons was particularly surprising. It was, for me, getting a little stale.

They could have gone on like this for some time. At some point, though, they were either going to have to do something more radical. Of course, the showrunners could have simply introduced new characters to add a different dynamic to the show. It could have chugged along while we all waited for it to jump the shark.

But instead, they blew the shark up, and I’m thankful they did it. Not having Brian Cox on the screen is going to be unfortunate, since the man is a brilliant performer. The show, however, needed to get to the point. It was losing its focus for the past two seasons, becoming more of a soap opera (albeit with writing and acting that were several orders of magnitude better, and characters that weren’t glorified cardboard cutouts). In some ways, Logan’s death gets the train back on track. We’ve had too many side-trips that didn’t really advance the plot. Hopefully we’re done with those. We have seven more episodes to find out.

Not Among The Finalists

I got my email today from Writer’s Digest, informing me that I was not among the finalists for the short story competition. I would have been pleasantly surprised if I had been. The story I wrote was put together pretty quickly, and I didn’t have time for an outside editor to look at it. There are changes I’m going to make to the story, and I will get someone else to look it over. I’m considering trying to submit it to Clarkesworld, but they’ve closed submissions for now. They were flooded with “stories” cranked out using things like ChatGPT. If nothing else, I’ll post the story here.