Walter Jr was an asshole in this scene

Lost_Found84 · 2023-06-04T16:30:31+00:00

When a deer smashed my car I had to use a rental for a few days before my retired parents could loan me one while I searched. The cost of the rental (which I required to get to work) was less than taking an Uber, but still a good chunk out of my daily pay. Like, the first two hours of work were just paying off the days travel expenses. Not having a car is just unsustainable where I am

Lost_Found84 · 2023-06-04T16:24:12+00:00

In my house I got my mom’s old car for free and she got new one. This happened twice before I moved out. So I guess it was really just the trade in value she was out, which wasn’t much. They were economy cars to begin with and had a good five years on them.

Lost_Found84 · 2023-06-02T23:57:59+00:00

I’ll just add that sometimes I stood and moved to the front when my stop was next and it was a short distance away.

Lost_Found84 · 2023-06-02T17:53:05+00:00

Mine was Everything Now at the Wells Fargo Center. Tickets were a gift, so I don’t know exactly how much they cost, but I know approximately my ex’s price cap so I could make an educated guess.

It was a weird time. For me the “a lot that happened between sale and show” was initiating divorce proceedings. I felt awkward and guilty accepting the tickets but she insisted we go together anyway. It was a great show and great seats, but anytime I hear songs from that album now, they’re definitely colored by that time in my life (though the allegations don’t help either).

Lost_Found84 · 2023-06-02T17:37:14+00:00

Only one that came close for me was Homeland, and that had a lot of the same creative team onboard.

Lost_Found84 · 2023-06-02T17:35:08+00:00

I think the “a lot” you’re referring to is the allegations. If so, I’m talking about the tour for the previous album back in 2018 or so. Gotta imagine it was the peak of their popularity.

Generally I think artists like Swift, U2, and Radiohead end up being ground zero for these scalper bots because they’re literally the biggest shows in town. But I’ve seen artists like Arcade Fire, Smashing Pumpkins, or even Eric Church being more just “normal” expensive. Phoebe is definitely closer to the second group than the first.

Lost_Found84 · 2023-06-02T16:56:46+00:00

The level in question being about Junior year level.

Lost_Found84 · 2023-06-02T16:52:20+00:00

It’s ironic that the position meant that to them, because the person who ended up with it was arguably the one who showed most deference and sacrifice toward Logan. Tom was there when none of the kids were, ready to go to prison to make a good impression, and even referred to as “son” when Logan was hazy.

Most love accomplished!

Lost_Found84 · 2023-06-02T14:30:34+00:00

He drew that gun like it was a wet hot dog.

Lost_Found84 · 2023-06-01T04:18:34+00:00

Yeah, but then I think about Tom putting a sticker on Greg’s head and all is right with the world.

Lost_Found84 · 2023-05-31T19:36:58+00:00

We assume it was his empire that he’s responsible for building because he’s there at the end. Once again, this is a bit of survivor’s bias. It echoes the “genius” granted to people like Matsson and Musk (his real world counterpart). But in reality, when you pull back the curtain, there’s an awful lot of myth making that goes on. Ebba talks about them establishing false credentials for Matsson and admitting that he really doesn’t know anything practical when it comes to tech. Their numbers are also fake. Musk was a self-made man in fact supported by his father’s diamond mine.

I don’t really know what is behind Logan’s curtain; who helped and what it cost. I just know that based on what I saw, Logan was not remarkably better at making decisions than the kids, and there’s an argument to be made that Gerri or Shiv (on a good day) would’ve been better in the driver’s seat, at least in the final days.

Lost_Found84 · 2023-05-31T14:28:15+00:00

I agree he should’ve comforted her, but attaching a security detail to your family is actually a good thing. I guess he didn’t tell them because he didn’t want them to freak out and he thought the security would be more subtle than they were. That’s just a mistake.

Also, as far as Mencken himself, these threats don’t go way just cause he does. Making him go away does not actually do anything to protect Ken’s children, whose status as the 1% will always insulate them from being dealt direct damage from Mencken’s policies. Considering Ken’s children are more at risk from random acts of violence than government policy, a security detail is actually more mitigating to potential threats than any other thing he could’ve done, full stop. Even if he hadn’t tipped the election, those kids would still need a bodyguard.

Now look at Logan. Logan was not absent, relatively. Not in the way a truck driver or someone on deployment is. Ken and Logan worked together in the same company and saw each other all the time. But Logan also verbally and physically abused his kids. His kids learned how to abuse from watching him. He was far more vile and damaging.

So I’m really talking about what the act says about the person. Kendall’s actions say he prioritizes work over his family, which is shitty. Roman and Logan’s actions say they would be or are verbally abusive to children for no reason, which is utterly vile. When you look at someone’s actions and say “thank god they’re absent because it would be abuse otherwise” that tells you how much more vile they are than the person who you apparently think should show up.

I mean, if Ken was as vile as Roman, you wouldn’t want him around the kids, right? I sure as hell don’t think Roman should spend more time around any children, do you?

Lost_Found84 · 2023-05-31T14:05:21+00:00

We have no idea how he built it, though. Who was around, what mistakes were made. In the show he frequently made moves that no one in his boardroom agreed were smart, but everyone pretty much got out of his way.

It also has to be noted that before he died, he basically sold the empire off, and one wonders if he wouldn’t have had to do that if he’d made smarter moves that hadn’t put the company at risk in the first place. The debt, the cruise lines, the antiquated approach to technology, these were his decisions and he fumbled the ball so badly that he finally realized selling was his only option.

It’s completely reasonable to think Logan ran it into the ground himself, which is why he was eager for the buyout. People talk about Kendall running it into the ground as if Logan hadn’t already done a lion’s share of the damage; and as if Kendall didn’t get higher price than Logan likely would’ve.

Lost_Found84 · 2023-05-31T13:47:29+00:00

“You think you’re sex life is bad because you faked an orgasm? Well, I faked it 26 times in one night! Motherfucker just would not stop.”

Lost_Found84 · 2023-05-31T13:39:14+00:00

I think Roman’s joke is a shittier thing to do because it literally only exists because he’s a shitty person who thinks shitty things about his niece and nephew.

Meanwhile Ken did want them at the funeral, he wanted them at his birthday, and had two conversations with Rava in the space of a few days about their kids. The only reason he didn’t see his kids this week is because Rava drove them to a different state against his wishes, so this idea that he’s entirely absent is false. He acts like a whiny baby when he doesn’t get what he wants, but sometimes what he wants is to have his kids around.

Also, the only reason the characters are absent from the show is that the kids grew up too much to realistically film. It’s hard to say exactly how much he does and doesn’t see them since the show would never depict them. It’s obviously not much, but “is acting CEO of a major corporation” is actually a semi-legitimate reason for having your time taken up. Roman has no semi-legitimate reason for his comments. They come from a place that is just pure, unadulterated malice. That’s the difference.

When it comes to your dad and shitty uncle, you might wonder what your uncle’s kids would’ve gone through (should he have had any) and whether having a father who verbally shits on you would’ve been worse than having one that isn’t around. Proximity can mean you feel the effects more from one person than the other, but it doesn’t actually reduce the vileness of someone who would verbally abuse children vs someone who didn’t. There’s a possibility that the only reason your uncle ranks better is cause he wasn’t your father. If he was, his general relative vileness may have been a lot more apparent. You may have even wished him to be absent as it would’ve been an improvement over having to fully experience him.

Lost_Found84 · 2023-05-31T12:54:50+00:00

He also said they weren’t real. One was a buy in, and the other was half filing cabinet guy.

It’s not just “a shitty joke about Ken’s kids”, it’s a shitty joke at the expense of his own niece and nephew who are children. Compared to how his dad and brother speak about the kids (for no reason mind you) he’s fucking father of the year.

I mean, average income kids whose dad is a truck driver have distant relationships. People move after divorce = distant relationships. It sucks, but it’s a thing; and it’s an entirely different thing than treating a child like their status as adopted makes them a lesser member of the extended family.

I would still want to see my distant dad occasionally. But uncle Roman can just fuck off forever from every single family function I organize.

Lost_Found84 · 2023-05-31T12:34:26+00:00

Is racism towards children more vile than just ignoring them? Is that the question?

Lost_Found84 · 2023-05-31T12:28:00+00:00

I don’t think the themes would’ve necessarily been undercut by Ken winning. It would’ve just been a full circle moment. My thinking was that, whichever sibling won, that was probably the sibling who most resembled a young Logan. People assume Logan, particularly young Logan, was less of a hot mess than his kids were, but we really don’t know that.

The idea that he couldn’t have got to the heights he did without being skilled is very much against the themes. All these billionaires are ridiculous, but people are falling for survivor’s bias and assuming Logan was not ridiculous himself just because he’s still there. It easily could’ve been Kendall, because having the power is what makes all your flaws not cause a collapse. Logan could tell everyone to fuck off because he had the power. Kendall couldn’t say fuck you once without it getting awkward. That has nothing to do with expertise. Power insulates. Ken would’ve done as well or better than any of them.

Lost_Found84 · 2023-05-31T12:16:54+00:00

From a moral sense, he’s objectively the worst sibling. But he’s also the funniest by far. He’s basically the Joker. Just this unhinged ball of chaos that makes the show instantly more enjoyable whenever he’s around.

And to be fair, he’s the one who defended Gerri when Logan was still alive, with the very reasonable argument of “maybe we shouldn’t fire Gerri for receiving photos of my dick.” So really even Roman had the tiniest bit more humanity than Logan.

Really we don’t get enough hate for Logan, who everyone pretends is at least super competent despite every one of his wins being as much about luck and already established power as any particular skill or acumen he has.

Lost_Found84 · 2023-05-30T23:59:16+00:00

I’d agree this is why Shiv is the way she is. I’m just saying it’s also why the audience feels the way they do towards her. We’re talking about a character who mistreats those closest to her, never acknowledges a guilty feeling about it, even calmly behind closed doors. The options are not either be hysterical or be a sociopath. There’s plenty of in between, but she chooses to try her hardest to look like a sociopath.

And to be honest, there’s really no strong evidence that she isn’t a sociopath. So when we think about why people hate Shiv so much, it could be because she’s a woman. But it could also be because she’s written as a cold, unapproachable sociopath and it’s completely normal for average, non-sexist people to feel the least of amount of warmth for the character that emanates the least amount of warmth.

Lost_Found84 · 2023-05-30T23:21:50+00:00

The reason people talk about Kendall being conflicted is that the viewer actually has access to his conflict. Shiv is talked about as being cold and heartless because that’s exactly how she acts. She doesn’t express remorse or air regrets. She rarely seems to doubt herself, even when she’s in the middle of changing positions. She appears to sincerely not care or even be aware of a single thing she’s done wrong; and if she does care, she puts up such a good front it seems as though she doesn’t care.

That’s why people have a hard time connecting with Shiv. No one is as guarded and closed off when it comes to their interior monologue as she is. We’re talking about someone who schedules their grieving, but the audience was almost never there for that appointment. We’re kept on the outside and refused the opportunity to understand her. For as toxic as Roman is, he’s a walking wound. He’s horrible at hiding his vulnerability and so the audience actually has access to that vulnerability and can feel some sympathy. Shiv is extended less sympathy because the character almost never shows a vulnerability that the audience can connect with.

Lost_Found84 · 2023-05-30T21:45:51+00:00

I didn’t say equal confession. I said any confession at all.

And Shiv did not desperately try. She had one clear avenue that might have prevented it, but at the expense of her own deal, so she just faked a phone call instead. In the next episode, she’s freely collaborating with the guy because that’s just “how it is”.

This is what I mean. People are trying to credit her where credit is not due at all. She and Ken both preferred the fascist takeover to ruining their own game plan; and then on what is probably literally the next day, she just became a full on fascist collaborator.

I do not have to hand it to the Nazi collaborator. She doesn’t get a win in the pro column here. Ken and Shiv BOTH helped the Nazi win and then collaborated with him, but only one admits to feeling fucked up about it, while the other one gaslights themselves and a portion of this audience into thinking they’re anti-Nazi while openly collaborating with Nazis.

“Oh fuck you, you don’t have values” is a line that could just as easily be directed at her as at Greg. Shiv’s anti-Nazi stance is just as hollow as Ken’s “feminism” from season 3 was. It’s self-serving noise that gets dropped as soon as it’s inconvenient. If you collaborate with Nazis for financial gain, you were never anti-Nazi and you don’t get pro-democracy kudos.

Lost_Found84 · 2023-05-30T03:46:24+00:00

Thank f-ck they didn’t film on top of the building.

Lost_Found84 · 2023-05-30T03:40:05+00:00

But none of the kids learn anything, so self-awareness is all that’s left. A bad person is a bad person. But a bad person who holds themselves up as a moral arbiter is just insufferable. That’s why Kendall’s cringiest moments are him insisting he’s doing this for his kids; him admitting to Shiv that he doesn’t think he’s a good father is almost cleansing, because he’s at least stopped insisting on this false do gooding narrative. But Shiv never really strays from it. Kendall is disgusting for retracting his honest confession about the waiter, but Shiv never honestly confessed about anything in the first place. There’s no humanity offered forward for her to retract.

All that said… yeah, my read on Shiv’s final decision is that she finally decided to do right by her husband after dragging him through so much mud. Of course she’s too prideful to admit her reasoning, but I do choose to believe it had more to do with assuaging her internal guilt about the damage she did to her marriage than it did about raw pettiness towards Ken. And that read does redeem her somewhat, but it’s also very debatable because of how completely inaccessible she is in general.

Lost_Found84 · 2023-05-30T02:53:35+00:00

I felt pretty sick of him when he let Jane die, but he also had a remorse arc right after that sorta backpedaled my hate. It wasn’t until Season 5, when it became apparent that Walt was not acting in self defense any more, that I truly started to root against his wellbeing.

Lost_Found84

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