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A relaxing Roy family vacation.
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For a prestige TV season finale, there’s nothing harder to clear than high expectations. But Succession finished up its sterling second season as the best and buzziest show on television—maybe there’s some juice left in the whole, Paleolithic air-one-episode-a-week method— with an ending that was as satisfying as it was unexpected. At the end of Succession season two, the Roys gathered on a yacht larger than an apartment complex, kicked off their shoes, and took a few joyrides down a giant inflatable slide, all a decadent warm-up for shanking each other in the front—only for the episode to end with a gloriously placed knife in the back.
The season-long pressure on Waystar-Royco came to a head in last week’s congressional hearings, when it became apparent that some kind of “blood sacrifice” would be necessary, in order for the family to convey to the public and the shareholders that the Roys understood the extent of their corporate malfeasance. (Even though they don’t really.) This week, the family and their apparatchiks meet in a ludicrously outsized pleasure boat to feign relaxation as they putter around the Mediterranean sipping burgundy and champagne while scheming about who should take the fall. As culture editor Adam Sternbergh noted on Twitter, it was an Agatha Christie set-up where no one dies, but everyone wants to be a murderer.
The pretend vacation culminates in a bravura scene at the breakfast table that’s a traffic jam worth rubbernecking: everyone gets tossed under the bus. Everyone gets something delicious to do and say—“Greg Sprinkles”—even as the sequence makes a joke of everything they are doing and saying: the conversation is a farce. None of the blood Roys are ever seriously considered for sacrifice. Logan Roy (Bryan Cox) begins the conversation by “suggesting” it should be him who takes the blame, which no one can do more than half-heartedly pooh-pooh, because it’s a half-hearted suggestion. Instead, as in all meetings with Logan Roy, everyone is triangulating. The non-family members of the team run each other down first, but none of them are bold enough to point fingers at actual Roys. Pathetic Connor (Alan Ruck) offers to sacrifice himself, but has no takers. The group ultimately gangs up on heinous buffoon Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen), who is almost family, but not quite family, as his wife Shiv (Sarah Snook) notes, and so the perfect consensus fall guy, even to Shiv. To protect himself, Tom will later eat a piece of Logan’s chicken, a territory-pissing announcement of his unhinged nature that Logan sees as some gauche breach of decorum—way weirder and worse than, you know, gathering people in paradise for a show trial.
There’s always been the dangerous possibility that Succession could fall into a kind of Game of Thrones trap, where the audience becomes fixated on who will “win” the throne. But creator Jesse Armstrong and his staff have made assiduously clear that the Waystar-Royco “throne” is a porcelain crapper. Every single person on the show would be better off if they walked away, and their inability to do so is a moral indictment of them and the crusty pull of obscene wealth and power.
Though she went into season two as the crowd favorite, one of this season’s major storylines has been the degradation of Shiv for exactly this reason: She keeps walking closer. Formerly the sane-ish, decent-ish Roy, she flushed her strategic skills and vague vestige of morality down the toilet by reversing her life-long course of distancing herself from her father. After committing a series of strategic errors because she wanted Logan’s public approval (in the shape of the CEO chair) so desperately, she also tampered with a witness because—best case scenario— she delusionally believed in her own future power. She ended the season by betraying her brother Kendall, and being so cruel to her husband that she made him— the deranged gas bag Tom, the guy who uses other people as a footstool—look emotionally sensitive. He’s “not a hippie” looking for three-ways with his wife and, you know, it is pretty janky to spring an open marriage as a fait accompli on your wedding night. At least he loves her. Maybe season three will be her redemption arc.
Meanwhile, Roman (Kieran Culkin), the adolescent cut up, finally stops being a smart aleck and tries being grown. He tells his dad the truth about a questionable deal. He asks his siblings if they could have a normal adult relationship. (They make funny voices in response, because, no, they can’t.) Like Shiv, he doesn’t want to announce his emotional affiliations to anyone, but unlike Shiv, he’s willing to stand up for the people he cares about: Gerri, who he romantically defends during the breakfast table, and then Kendall, in a moment that is the flip side of the brotherly bond we saw when Kendall instinctively defended Roman after Logan smacked him in the face a few episodes back. Roman’s now COO of a company that the Roys probably won’t hold onto for much longer, but, hey, kid brother came a long way.
And then there’s Kendall (Jeremy Strong). The finale is a kind of mirror image of last season’s: both orbit around Kendall’s rapidly reversing fortunes. In the previous finale, Kendall accidentally killed a man just as he was about to take the company from his father. Logan pounced on this horrible accident as a strategic advantage. Kendall’s decision to act for himself went so badly, resulted in such a tragedy, that he seemed to decide to stop doing it. For this entire season, at time tearful, at times suicidal, at times bed-crapping, Kendall has let go and let Logan run him. He has been his father’s mercenary, his unfeeling lieutenant, slicing and dicing Vaulter, screaming at whoever needs to hear it in the back of the plane, and crushing at the Congressional hearings, a person who no longer makes decisions of his own. He’s Logan’s killer.
But in the waning minutes of the finale, the use of that actual term “killer” seems to jolt Kendall out of his season long stupor. (Or maybe it was before: When Kendall actually turned against Logan is a good one to chew over in the off-season.) Logan explains to Kendall that he has to be the blood sacrifice. Kendall is gracious. He accepts it. He gives his father a Fredo kiss. And then he asks: Did you ever think I really could have run this company? Logan hems and haws, but then says, no, because to do so “you have to be a killer.” Logan is speaking metaphorically, but Kendall is a killer, and it has been haunting him for months. That’s instantly where his mind goes: maybe being the blood sacrifice is what he deserves, he says, for the accident. Logan reassures him that’s not true: the guy he killed, he wasn’t even a “real person.”
So Kendall, seemingly at his most pathetic, heads to a press conference where it appears he will take fall for all that has gone wrong at his family’s business. He will say that he knew about everything, and that no one above him knew anything. And then he says the opposite. At the press conference, Kendall betrays Logan, with an assist from that lanky, benign fungus, Cousin Greg, good old Greg Sprinkles. In an immensely satisfying, surprising turn of events, Kendall is, actually, a killer in the way his father meant it. Or is he? Is Logan’s smile in the final minutes one of pride, or one of collaboration? Is that smirk because this was the plan all along, or because Logan finally sees what he’s been waiting for: a true successor? It’s a wonderfully rousing ending that, this being Succession, I’m willing to bet by the end of next season, will no longer seem quite like a happy one.
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Organizers of a hip-hop festival taking place in New York this weekend said Saturday they have dropped five rappers from the lineup at the request of police.
The New York Times reported that the performers were removed from the Rolling Loud festival after a New York Police Department official sent the organizers a letter citing safety concerns if the rappers took the stage.
The traveling Rolling Loud festival was scheduled for Saturday and Sunday at Citi Field in Queens on Saturday and Sunday and included major acts like Wu-Tang Clan and Meek Mill.
RONNIE ORTIZ-MAGRO'S LAWYER ADDRESSES 'JERSEY SHORE' STAR'S ARREST FOR FELONY DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
The performers who were dropped are 22Gz, Casanova, Pop Smoke, Sheff G and Don Q. The police letter said they "have been affiliated with recent acts of violence citywide."
The Times said Rolling Loud confirmed receipt of the letter and said the artists would not perform.
Each of the rappers cited by the police has had encounters with law enforcement, the Times said. Jeffrey Alexander, who performs as 22Gz, was charged with murder in Florida in 2017, but the charges were dropped after police identified another man as the gunman. Casanova, whose given name is Caswell Senior, has served prison time in New York on a robbery charge. The other three artists have faced weapons charges.
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Don Q blamed "misinformation" for his removal from the festival lineup in a statement on Instagram. "I love my city and I never been in any gang activities or had issues at any of my previous shows," he wrote. Casanova added in the comments that the decision "really hurts."
Tariq Cherif, a founder of the festival, wrote on Twitter that the canceled artists would be paid their full booking fees and invited to perform at future festival sites.
Broadway sensation Lin-Manuel Miranda played an eager Julián Castro and actor Woody Harrelson reprised his role as an out-of-touch Joe Biden in the star-studded cold open on “Saturday Night Live,” which poked fun at several of the remaining 2020 Democratic hopefuls.
The sketch — a satirical take on the Democratic LGBTQ town hall hosted by CNN earlier this week — was kicked off by moderator Anderson Cooper, played by Alex Moffatt, who quipped that the forum would cover “issues affecting our community: LGBTQ and straight girls who make Pride all about them.”
Emmy-winning actor Billy Porter made a cameo as the event’s emcee, introducing each of the Democratic candidates to the stage in turn. First up was Cory Booker, played by Chris Redd, who said his “girlfriend was in ‘Rent,’ so yeah, I get it” — a reference to Booker’s real-life girlfriend Rosario Dawson.
Pete Buttigieg, played by Colin Jost, took to the stage next — his arms sticking out awkwardly by his side; followed by an exuberant Elizabeth Warren, played by Kate McKinnon (“Warren-ing! Warren-ing!” Porter exclaimed as he invited her to the stage).
Miranda as Castro then appeared, first apologizing to the crowd for not being gay and then reminding them that “I am Latino, which we can all agree is something.”
“Look, I’m young, I’m diverse, I’m Latino-bama,” he declared before attempting to launch into a “Hamilton” song.
Harrelson’s Biden was the last candidate to appear.
Related: Kate McKinnon on 'SNL'
“You know me, I went to bat for marriage equality, and I believe we’re all equal whether you’re gay, lesbi, transgenital or queer ― you’re OK with Joe,” he said.
When asked about his earlier support for the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, Harrelson’s Biden responded, “I’m glad you asked that question and let me answer by telling you a false memory.” He then began a meandering story which, as he put it, happened in “the year 19 ... umm ... 26.”
The sketch closed with Harrelson’s Biden kissing Moffat’s Cooper on the lips.
“You just helped me win a bet, Joe,” Moffat’s Cooper quipped.
Exclusive
GettyEddie Van Halen has been flying between the United States and Germany to get treatment for throat cancer ... and we've learned he's been doing it very quietly for years.
As for how Eddie developed the cancer ... we're told he believes it's from a metal guitar pick he used more than 20 years ago. Seems Eddie would cradle the pick in his mouth, and he's been told that could well have been the source of the cancer, despite the fact he was a heavy smoker. Back in 2000, shortly after he was diagnosed, doctors removed around 1/3 of his tongue.
Eddie was diagnosed nearly 20 years ago. Sources with direct knowledge tell us ... over the years there were times some of the cancer cells migrated down to his throat, and doctors would scrape them out.
Our sources say ... Eddie has flown to Germany for 5 years to get radiation treatment, and for the most part it's worked to keep the disease in check.
As for his current condition ... there are lots of rumors, but people who know him say he's seems to be doing okay -- at least on the surface.
Saturday Night Live opened its show this week at CNN’s Equality Town Hall, featuring an early cameo from Pose’s Billy Porter, who introduced the 2020 presidential candidates one by one.
And one by one, they were each faced with concerns about their problematic pasts, beginning with Chris Redd’s Cory Booker, who expertly dodged a question about his evolution on same-sex marriage. Asked how he responds to those who say he’s not gay enough, Colin Jost’s Pete Buttigieg replied, “You know, I've heard that, but there's no wrong way to be gay… unless you're Ellen this week.”
Kate McKinnon’s Elizabeth Warren fared a lot better. “If someone doesn't want to serve gay people at their small business, I bet that's not the only thing that's small,” she said. “And when people say gay and trans people shouldn't be included in civil rights protections, well, I wish their parents had used protection.”
And then there was Hamilton creator Lin Manuel-Miranda debuting his Julian Castro impression. He strode out onto the stage to cheers before apologizing for not being gay. “However, I am Latino, which we can all agree is something,” he said, nicknaming himself “Latinobama.”
Finally, season premiere host Woody Harrelson made his triumphant return to SNL as Vice President Joe Biden and managed to be only slightly more awkward than Biden was at the actual CNN event earlier this week.
“The vast majority of people in America are not homophobic,” he said. “They're just scared of gay people.”
“That’s what homophobic means, Joe,” Alex Moffat’s Anderson Cooper replied.
“Look, you know me, I went to bat for marriage equality and I believe we’re all equal,” Biden added, “whether you're gay, lesbie, transgenital or queef, you're OK with Joe.” Then, to prove just how gay friendly he is, he planted a kiss on Cooper.
“You just helped me win a bet, Joe,” the CNN host said. “I think we’re done here.”
LOS ANGELES — Robert Forster, the handsome and omnipresent character actor who got a career resurgence and Oscar nomination for playing bail bondsman Max Cherry in “Jackie Brown,” died Friday. He was 78.
Publicist Kathie Berlin said Forster died of brain cancer following a brief illness. He was at home in Los Angeles, surrounded by family, including his four children and partner Denise Grayson.
Condolences poured in Friday night on social media.
Bryan Cranston called Forster a “lovely man and a consummate actor” in a tweet. The two met on the 1980 film “Alligator” and then worked together again on the television show “Breaking Bad” and its spinoff film, “El Camino,” which launched Friday on Netflix.
“I never forgot how kind and generous he was to a young kid just starting out in Hollywood,” Cranston wrote.
His “Jackie Brown” co-star Samuel L. Jackson tweeted that Forster was “truly a class act/Actor!!”
A native of Rochester, New York, Forster quite literally stumbled into acting when in college, intending to be a lawyer, he followed a fellow female student he was trying to talk to into an auditorium where “Bye Bye Birdie” auditions were being held. He would be cast in that show, that fellow student would become his wife with whom he had three daughters, and it would start him on a new trajectory as an actor.
A fortuitous role in the 1965 Broadway production “Mrs. Dally Has a Lover” put him on the radar of Darryl Zanuck, who signed him to a studio contract. He would soon make his film debut in the 1967 John Huston film “Reflections in a Golden Eye,” which starred Marlon Brando and Elizabeth Taylor.
Forster would go on to star in Haskell Wexler’s documentary-style Chicago classic “Medium Cool” and the detective television series “Banyon.” It was an early high point that he would later say was the beginning of a “27-year slump.”
He worked consistently throughout the 1970s and 1980s in mostly forgettable B-movies – ultimately appearing in over 100 films, many out of necessity.
“I had four kids, I took any job I could get,” he said in an interview with the Chicago Tribune last year. “Every time it reached a lower level I thought I could tolerate, it dropped some more, and then some more. Near the end, I had no agent, no manager, no lawyer, no nothing. I was taking whatever fell through the cracks.”
It was Quentin Tarantino’s 1997 film “Jackie Brown” that put him back on the map. Tarantino created the role of Max Cherry with Forster in mind – the actor had unsuccessfully auditioned for a part in “Reservoir Dogs,” but the director promised not to forget him.
In an interview with Fandor last year, Forster recalled that when presented with the script for “Jackie Brown,” he told Tarantino, “I’m sure they’re not going to let you hire me.”
Tarantino replied: “I hire anybody I want.”
“And that’s when I realized I was going to get another shot at a career,” Forster said. “He gave me a career back and the last 14 years have been fabulous.”
The performance opposite Pam Grier became one of the more heartwarming Hollywood comeback stories, earning him his first and only Academy Award nomination. He ultimately lost the golden statuette to Robin Williams, who won that year for “Good Will Hunting.”
After “Jackie Brown,” he worked consistently and at a decidedly higher level than during the “slump,” appearing in films like David Lynch’s “Mulholland Drive,” “Me, Myself and Irene,” “The Descendants,” “Olympus Has Fallen,” and “What They Had,” and in television shows like “Breaking Bad” and the “Twin Peaks” revival. He said he loved trying out comedy as Tim Allen’s father in “Last Man Standing.”
He’ll also appear later this year in the Steven Spielberg-produced Apple+ series “Amazing Stories.”
Even in his down days, Forster always considered himself lucky.
“You learn to take whatever jobs there are and make the best you can out of whatever you’ve got. And anyone in any walk of life, if they can figure that out, has a lot better finish than those who cannot stand to take a picture that doesn’t pay you as much or isn’t as good as the last one,” he told IndieWire in 2011. “Attitude is everything.”
Forster is survived by his four children, four grandchildren and Grayson, his partner of 16 years.
