least one counterfactual to the Roy’s. There really wasn’t anyone that seemed legitimately happy and maybe a well adjusted, happy person in the Roy world would have made for a better story.

Maybe Gerry? She claimed to have had a very loving marriage before her husband died, she was mostly a moral person, and she did not destroy her relationships to get to the top—though she did covet the role and she certainly had to bend her ethics to appease Logan.

I think the show purposely treats happy and fulfilled people who do not crave power as muggles. They exist but they really aren’t seen or even noticed by the Roy’s. The Roy’s even had a name for them: RPI’s (no real person involved). In the Succession world happy people who are satisfied with their position in life aren’t real people and they are basically ghosts wondering the same space but of a different world. I am pretty sure that that was deliberate as every detail in Succession seems to be totally deliberate.

There were moments where the Roy’s experienced happiness and satisfaction. These moments were always with the people they loved when they were able to forget about their covetous ambitions: the kids in the boathouse at the end of season one, the kids in the kitchen in the finally, or Logan singing a traditional Scottish folk song with his friends. The Roy’s seemed genuinely happy in these moments and could have easily lived lives filled with these opportunities, but instead decided that they coveted ambition and power more and gave up more of such moments for pain and sorrow.

I agree with everything you said about Ted Lasso and I did enjoy it. And while it is great to watch a show that is so positive and where people can change from bad to good so easily, I don’t think it’s reality. Everyone wants to change, most people try to change, but few actually do and it is rarely because a happy, well adjusted person shows up in their lives. I could see a couple people changing and overcoming their weaknesses, but everyone? It just didn’t ring true. But, I did like it and I think you did an awesome job explaining what made the show magical.

I think it would be a pretty funny SNL skit to have Ted Lasso wander into the world of the Roy’s and what hijinx might ensue with that juxtaposition 😁

Thanks for your post. It made me think and it definitely showed insight that I had not considered.