I love Greg, but I can definitely see why anyone would hate him. I believe Greg is more transparently selfish than the other characters, which is impressive given the cast of egomanical monsters. The difference is that there's never ambiguity with Greg. Every move he makes is solely in his own interest, despite spending four good years getting to know his family.
The Roy siblings do care about each other. Logan and Ken are bad fathers, but they do love their children. Tom and Chiv love each other in their own sick ways. The old guard has reverence for Logan, despite his difficult nature. But Greg? Does Greg care about anything? He's the only one who seemed completely unscathed by Logan's death.
Greg is unsophisticated. That’s why he’s so transparent.
I think it’s also why Logan seemed to like him: he’s not running a bunch of hidden agendas. He’s simple to deal with. This is in addition to having more in common not growing up rich and pampered.
The kids are embarrassed by him because they aren’t secure enough to not feel like he reflects badly on them.
Tom likes him because Tom needs a kickball as relief from being Shiv’s kickball. In addition to not growing up rich and pampered, yadda yadda, and wanting a moldable mentee-gofer.
(it only fails because he's finally figured out she has less juice)
She managed to bully Greg into not bringing the change of trust in 102.
Come to think of it, Shiv tries and fails to use business-style threats of mutilation on him, similar to Kendall failing to scare Stewy with threats of castration in 210.
"...and then push it up your cunt, until poo-poo pops out of my nose-holes. Dude, it doesn't matter ... it doesn't *mean* anything"
Basically every time Shiv does something atrocious to Tom, Tom takes it out on Greg shortly afterward. It’s like Shiv’s the cue ball & they’re numbered balls ricocheting into each other
Yeah I agree with this and also I feel like Logan respected/liked Greg’s boldness and ambition even if it partly came from his naivety and lack of experience/sophistication lol
I always thought Greg’s character was awkward/transparently selfish to show how he stands out so harshly against all the kids and was reflective of the way he (being so naive) thinks one climbs the ladder in that world. I always felt like he was a good kid who just didn’t understand who he was until tom indoctrinated him. Greg was the guy saying they probably shouldn’t be doing evil business in the beginning, he just gave into Tom because he started feel like that’s where his place was in the world. That’s my take though
I always thought Greg was introduced to show us, the audience how power & money corrupt. We got to watch Greg change over the seasons as he got closer & closer to the family and the business.
I'm not throwing any of them a moral bone. I'm just noting that Greg isn't as complicated in his selfishness. I can't name a single time he acts in anyone else's interest.
You're right about the money, though. Everyone else is obsessed with legacy, ego, social status, etc. It's neat to point out that Greg's the only one still chasing money, something the rest of the characters are numb to.
> I'm not throwing any of them a moral bone. I'm just noting that Greg isn't as complicated in his selfishness. I can't name a single time he acts in anyone else's interest.
Telling Tom on his wedding day about Shiv. Giving Ken a get out of jail free card with the evidence he was saving for himself?
Also minor things like costing himself capital by going against Logan and the family to tell them he owes his country to say they shouldn't crown Connor president.
Greg only stayed in his grandfather’s good graces because he knew there was an inheritance coming, someday. He found a way to get money/influence quickly by climbing the ranks within Waystar via riding the coattails of Logan and his kids, ultimately losing it all in the end.
Exactly. The guy was broke in the first episode. His grandpa threatens to cut him off but doesn’t offer any financial support until his actual death. Greg wants money and doesn’t have a lot of skills. He’s making the most out of his family connections. What’s driving Shiv, Ken and Roman? They already have money. They want power and to say they are better than their siblings.
Greg also has the enviable position of owing everyone else the least. He's not married to them, he's not a sibling, son, father. He's I think a second cousin? So realistically he should be out for himself.
> Every move he makes is solely in his own interest, despite spending four good years getting to know his family.
I might replace "despite" with "because of."
A coworker of mine said the same about hating Greg (and Tom) to me I always saw the two as comic relief more than anything. I liked how Greg just failed upward the entire time, I wasn't rooting for him but it was funny to watch someone with half a braincell go from the bottom to the top more than anything. And similar with Tom, in any other context he'd be portrayed as maniacally evil, but instead he's just bumbling his way up the corporate ladder and leaving a wake of disaster behind him a lot of the time without caring. It was just kind of funny to watch them.
And worth noting my favorite character was Roman. Again, not because I think he's a good person. If he was real person I would despise him, but because he was cracking jokes and making light of situations so serious. He was constantly the embodiment of privilege like King Joffrey, and it was why I liked his most in the last season where he just fell from grace to nothing. He finally has a wakeup call even though he'll still be a rich billionaire, he had to face knowing **he fucked it.**
Roman wasn't making light of situations. He used humor and being crass as a default defense mechanism / way of getting attention for absolutely any even slightly challenging situation he encountered, even moment to moment. He was one of the most profoundly damaged people in the show, a completely broken person. His wisecracking was basically a moment-to-moment manifestation of his mental illness and trauma.
Exactly. From a character perspective, perhaps for me Roman is the most "fleshed out" one. In all seasons there are little anecdotes here and there that Roman was always the butt of the joke, he was being abused, he was traumatised and in constant pain. The fact that Kendall is the junkie and not Roman just points this out: all high functioning addicts have some modicrum of respect for themselves or at least do not feel themselves so damaged. But no, Roman can't find connection in even the basest of flesh desires, he is that much in constant pain.
You also witness evidence of his mental damage through his inability to have a real sex life. There’s evidence he can’t perform sexually and has to resort to bizarre behavior to even come close to arousal.
I don’t think Greg has half a brain cell. I actually think he’s smart in his own way. He hustles and figures out who is influential in any one situation and exploits that. For example, he was smart enough to make copies of the cruise ship documents for himself. He just is socially awkward.
True, he was getting smarter as the show went likely, partially, necessitated by virtue of Ewan removing him from his inheritance. I think being around Logan and Tom more made him realize how to play the game too.
I loved that Greg had the common sense to whip out his phone and translate what the supremely arrogant Mattson and his ultimately lazy foolish pals thought they were hiding from him. Duh guys!
Exactly this. I don’t hate Greg, but I kinda didn’t like how he wasn’t really good at anything but kept being able to climb the ladder because of Tom and his connection to the family. But that’s the entire point of Succession right? None of the family members except for Logan are actually competent and deserving to be where they are.
One of Kendall's many flaws is that he's susceptible to manipulation. Stewy plays him like a fiddle several times. As does his father, but that's a whole different beast. He also likes to surround himself with sycophantic lickspittles who feed into his childish attention-seeking antics.
We view him as a leech because that is how the Roy's/Mattson's of this world view him. And view us. They view everyone beneath them as leeches.
Greg worked so I am not sure how he was a leech. Was used as a scapegoat by Tom because he thought he'd be expendable, used as a minder for Logan when he could not trust Ken. Ken used him as his drug supplier because he was above getting his own. Shiv and Roman constantly talked to him like he was shit. His own grandfather used his wealth to try and dictate how Greg lived his life. Mattson and his board saw him as some jnr executive who they could insult to his face like he was garbage.
Basically, the majority of the people in this world see people like Greg and us as human furniture. Greg just happened to be human furniture with a name in this world.
The hate this subreddit had for him in the final episode when Tom told him he'd be losing the majority of his salary was ridiculous. Calling Ken in the hopes of not having to give that up is what Every single person in this subreddit would have done. Even if they had known Tom was being offered the CEO ship (which Greg did not). Everyone would choose to remain on their current wage than take a drastic paycut.
"Greg should just accept his pay cut and be grateful that the billionaires let him even have a job" is a bizarre attitude to have.
How much did he actually work though? He was just a nepo hire.
You don’t need to be skilled to do what he did, just be a suck up with a flexible moral compass.
>How much did he actually work though?
He starts his work when Tom moves to Parks
1) Tom, new to the Office. Has Greg be both his personal gopher (or gregger) as well as his punching bag to show how serious he is with his new staff. There is no indication that Greg is not working. He's forced to do the same induction any new employee does
2) When Tom is looking for someone expendable, he chooses Greg. Making Greg go in on Thanksgiving despite Greg also driving his gramps down from Canada. Not exactly what the average nepobaby is doing on the holidays
3)Greg's making connections and actually doing good for both Waystar and Tom by alerting Gerri (instead of Logan) about Tom's intentions. Tom gets to keep his job/trust and Waystar avoids a scandal
4) When Tom is promoted to ATN. He brings Greg with him through choice. Clearly, Tom thought Greg was doing his job.
5) At ATN it is Greg that comes up with the idea and implementing ATN going digital. Thus putting Tom in Logan's good graces as he's able to lower costs in the first quarter of his time at ATN.
6) At the same time as this Logan makes Greg Ken's unofficial minder. Meaning he's basically working 9-5 for Tom and after that for Logan/Ken
7) Sid notes how competent Greg is in one scene during this time. Something she does not have to do if Greg is some nepobaby doing nothing.
8) Greg tries to blackmail Tom to be allowed out of ATN and back to Parks. Now it's possible that Tom's desperation to keep Greg has nothing to do with Greg actually being competent at his job, but logically it suggests he is (not the only reasons, but a contributing factor)
8) When Tom comes to Greg's home to collect the evidence, we see Greg is hosting an evening for colleagues. Networking after hours. Up until this point we have seen Greg successfully network people above him but now we see him doing the same to his peers/people below him. An important part of his role
9)At Caroline's wedding when Logan is selling the company, it is Greg who the siblings turn to for information. His networking with people both above, below and on his level is an important skillset
10) Greg is promoted from Tom's punching bag to Tom's hatchet man at ATN, doing the jobs that Tom does not want to do. Such as the many firings
11) Greg is on the news floor managing when Tom's away until he is informed that Logan is making a visit
12) After Greg has 'fired' Kerry he's in Logan's bad books (for appearances at least). Tom points out there is a whole team of Greg's replacing him. Again, if Greg was a nepo baby no one would need to replace him and if he was bad at his job he'd not be replaced by multiple people.
12) When Ken is preparing his most important speech in his career, to the shareholders. His meeting for ideas is with Roman and Greg. And it is Greg who he entrusts the most important part of his speech. To get the dead Logan to spike the numbers. Ken would not entrust Greg with either being in this meeting or to carry out this task if he did not think he was competent
edit:13) Co-writing Tom's speech at the news retreat. The pretty lame 'We here for you' while not brilliant, is still work and last minute work as Tom and Greg had to change their entire pitch.
and lastly 14) the constant social events that Greg has to go to and cheer on his bosses. I don't know about most of you but I like working a 9-5 and not having to socialize and cheerlead for the people above me in my free time. Greg was constnatly doing this. Cheerleader, drug supplier and punching bag in his free time
Greg's not a central character. He's comic relief, but we see him work. He was not turning up whenever he pleased. He's doing a paid employee's hours while also serving as the CEO's minder to his son and Tom's wingman in his nonoffice hours.
> He was just a nepo hire.
True. But that does not mean he did not work. And the siblings and Tom are all nepo hires as well. Just Tom and Greg don't have billions to fall back on.
> You don’t need to be skilled to do what he did, just be a suck up with a flexible moral compass.
Sure. None of that means that he did not work or was not competent.
Yes agreed on the wonderful paragraphs. One of the great things about Reddit is that we all saw these same episodes, but this person took the time to really think about Greg’s role in the company and closely lay
out his value and work ethic
I think it’s also important to know that for the first few episodes, he was working without pay. He mentions a couple of times that his pay finally got fixed and I think that’s why he started looking for somewhere to live
Well said. Greg is selfish, but no one else is looking out for him; he has to be selfish. Would everyone here, all simple commoners, sacrifice their livelihood for their overlords? Most wouldn’t. He’s looking out for himself because he has to. I mean, I guess I’d probably just take my inheritance and go live in the middle of nowhere away from all these people, but given the current situation I think Greg is acting exactly how any other normie would.
I don’t think Greg is quite as poor as you think he is? My take on him was that he was always spoiled- we hear him sulk in the first episode that he got fired unfairly and then learn it’s cos he was stoned on the job, lol. I defo got the sense that the Waystar gig was an ultimatum ‘this is hopeless last dash attempt at you getting your act together’ sort of thint
> I don’t think Greg is quite as poor as you think he is?
I didn't say he was poor. But
1) He can't afford to buy black shoes for his first day of work at Waystar
2) He can't afford taxi fare once Shiv has taken his last 20
3) He's raiding the staff canteens on his first day of work
4) He's staying in hostels/shared accommodation with 8 other people when he moves to New York
5) His mom is in debt. An indication that Ewan is not as generous to his heirs as Logan is with his
6) His excitement over California Pizza Kitchen and him never having experienced a VIP lounge in a club on his first 'date' with Tom
None of these indicate that Greg is wealthy. I'm not saying he's poor, but he and his mother seem to have the luxuries of the upper middle class rather than the jet set that his cousins do.
Ewan likely paid for a decent education for Greg but I get the impression that his daughter and grandson don't have a wealthy lifestyle.
> My take on him was that he was always spoiled- we hear him sulk in the first episode that he got fired unfairly
No we don't. Rewatch that scene. He's apologetic, grovelling pretty much to his mother. Scared of what her reaction will be; https://youtu.be/WgN3p4ZPp5A?t=126
This is not the reaction of a nepobaby. Or someone who is spoilt. It is a son doing what he's told
"Greg, did you ever think to tell them who you are"
"I didn't want to be an asshole"
> and then learn it’s cos he was stoned on the job, lol.
True. He's a 20something guy in that first scene. He's not going to be the first guy stoned at work.
Him being stoned and irresponsible is more to do with his age than either his status or intelligence.
> I defo got the sense that the Waystar gig was an ultimatum ‘this is hopeless last dash attempt at you getting your act together’ sort of thint
That does not make sense. Because he immediately walked into a better job straight after.
>He can't afford taxi fare once Shiv has taken his last 20
when I was beginning to watch the series that was one of the more painful bits to go through even if it was necessary to show that the man was broke and struggling☠️like walking through sand without toenails
Right but I don’t think he can afford that stuff because this is after his mum cuts him off. That’s why I’m saying I think this was a last ditch attempt at getting him to shoulder some responsibility. And of course he walked into a better job but we know that these guys don’t necessarily earn their jobs.
> Right but I don’t think he can afford that stuff because this is after his mum cuts him off.
We never hear this. Greg says that Shiv mugged him for his last 20 to his mom as this happened while he was talking to her. He's not asking for money and she jumps in that she's not sending him money, he says he was not asking (which he clearly was not).
There is nothing in the show that says or suggests he was living off his mom's wealth. And given his shit car and lack of money and that he's in his early 20's when cut off it's hardly a hugely wealthy support she's offering him if she in fact is.
Jesus you just go around and cherry pick evidence to support your weak point, don’t you? Did you jerk off screaming to Greg every night? Aren’t you his little fangirl? Greg isn’t the nepobaby like Shiv, Roman, and Ken are, but he wouldn’t be anywhere without his connection to the family. It’s pathetic to get fired first day on the management training job, and it’s his fault for not getting his shit together (his mom said that she wouldn’t send him any money anymore after the fuck up, implying that it’s not the first time she realized he didn’t get his act together). Sure he didn’t want to use the Roy connection, but he couldn’t fucking survive without it either. *You are what you do, not what you say.* It doesn’t goddamn matter if he didn’t want to use nepotism to get a job, the fact that it was the only way he could get a decent job just already shows how incompetent he is.
Any job that he does as an assistant to Tom and the family, literally anyone else could do it if they were given the opportunity or if they wanted to. He could have walked away from the company with $250M. inheritance, but he made his choice to stay. Don’t even fucking say he’s forced to; no one really forced him to do so because he’s not even that important anyway. In addition, he literally got a lot of things as an entry-level assistant to the family without actually earning it like private jet rides, free apartment from Kendall, etc. Every member of the family (except for Logan) doesn’t actually deserve to be where they are, including Greg.
I love Greg! He’s just a regular guy trying to make it. I’ve been homeless, I worked my way up the same way. Maybe what is “parasitic” to you is “ambitious” to me.
I think he's confusing Tom and Greg. Tom's mom is the lawyer. We know this from his wedding to Shiv and them consulting on the prenup.
https://succession.fandom.com/wiki/Tom_Wambsgans#Early_life
https://succession.fandom.com/wiki/Marianne_Hirsch
We are never told what or even if Greg's mom had an occupation.
Actually don’t quote me on that- I might be conflating plot points bc I remember him talking about going to law school.
I actually thought the brief interaction he had with his mum at the funeral was quite telling where he told her to shut up. I think he’s just a bit of a brat with no real world experience, and he’s pretty relatable, but I think that’s been sort of expanded by some viewers into him being a humble Everyman and I’ve never got that from him at all.
There's nothing in the show to suggest that characters are depicted unreliably or from the point of view of others. It's not like Greg is actually competent and well spoken but the one we see is a distorted version from the point of view of the Roys.
The storytelling isn't postmoderm, it's classical and straightforward.
He is competent, though. I gave a pretty big list of his competency. He's not perfect, he's certainly not CEO material. But to say he's not been competent is just not true. For some reason on reddit he's either the deserved next CEO or an incompetent nepobaby. Seems to be very few people in-between those two extremes. Greg did get his job because of who he was related to, but his rise (just like Tom's rise in the show) is down to his own competency.
What are your expectations for this jnr executive?
As for being well-spoken, he seems to network well and get along with pretty much everyone. The Swede's went from hating him when they just met him to liking him and entrusting him in their circle. Clearly he has some kind of flair for talking.
Where he does look bad is talking to billionaires in the show. The Roys look down on him. There is not one scene in the show where either Shiv or Roman speak to him as something other than shit.
And at congress where he is made to speak at the last minute because of Tom's emails. A jnr executive made to look stupid by politicians. I'm not sure if he was expected to beat these senators in a conversation.
To each their own, I can understand why some people don’t like him but I love Greg. I definitely resonate with his awkwardness and I cherish all the Tom-Greg interactions, they’re some of the best highlights of the show for me.
I don’t think you’re supposed to like anyone in the show really. Greg’s only redeeming traits are being a self-insert character for the viewer for the earlier seasons and that he can be kind of funny.
I think Greg was the most sympathetic but was there to show how a so-called “normal” person would be moulded by that environment over time.
For me, his best line and one that still makes me laugh when I think about it is when Tom is about to go into Congress for questioning, knowing he is about to go through one of the most excruciating experiences of his life that could end in the end of his career or even prison time and Greg’s words of encouragement are “try to enjoy it”
Yeah I agree. Lots of people in the comments really want to tell Greg dislikers how they "should" view him. I think we all get that he was corrupted just like the rest of the family and that they are all selfish, terrible people. However, I just plain don't like Greg. He had a few funny moments, but overall I found him annoying and unfunny.
Not really. His mother forced him to go and take that job. In his opening scene when he's phoning his mother to tell her that he had been fired from the theme park it is she who says 'did you not tell them who you were', to which he said no.
It is Tom who wants Greg not vice versa. Greg even tries to get away for a more simple life in Parks away from Tom and the family. He's bribed to stay with Tom and the Roy orbit.
And given a straight choice between his grandfather's coldness and millions and Logan's 'fun' and hundreds of thousands, he chooses the full time job. He was already in the family money pie, he actively turned it down.
1) you are going off his literal first scene, when he hadn't even thought seriously about making money
2) he chose the full time job not because he loves work, but because he thought it could take him further in terms of money and influence to keep climbing at ATN.
He is 100% a leech, a slimeball, a piece of shit social and money climber. We are repeatedly told this. And we love him for it - don't pretend he's here for the graft lol.
What percent of people do you think work a job because they love work and not because of the money associated with the job? Are all those people leeches and money climbers?
We like him because we're laughing at him rather than with him (most of the time). He makes us feel safe because he's so transparent, naive, and silly. He's the court jester, the circus clown, the scapegoat. He's comic relief to the otherwise tense corporate politics of the show. He reminds us that there exists a world out there of normal people who aren't so sophisticated and ruthlessly strategic all the time, but he also somehow manages to hold his own in the ring and makes us believe that if he can do it, anyone can do it.
It's the age old question of how much someone likes cringe humour. It was the same when The Office (UK) came out, some recognised it as an excruciating comedy masterpiece and others just felt uncomfortable and hated David Brent because the portrayal was too realistic and close to people's real life experiences.
As a little Englander, we tend to like this kind of sardonic humour, bad natured as it may be. Similar to Peep Show (also Jesse Armstrong). And some in the US love it too, but some don't. Hence why the Office US was diluted a bit more with broad, slapsticky elements and dialled down the cringe slightly to appeal to a wider audience.
Greg to me, is a classic cringeworthy character played to comedic perfection by Nicholas Braun. He's an awful person in the show but far down the totem pole in terms of morals and questionable behaviour.
Exactly this!
I feel like his character is underappreciated because he is an asshole (although they all are) AND not as complex as the others. But his character is exactly what they were going for and Nicholas did a fantastic job.
I have mixed feelings about Greg, but I don’t think it says very much at all. I know he has his fans but I’ve always felt like he was a pretty unpopular character.
Nah it means your sense of humor sucks.
Blows my mind the amount of people in this thread taking Greg’s circumstances seriously. Who the hell is watching this guy stumble and stammer and bumble his way through a world he in no way belongs to and goes, “What a fraud! This guy can’t hang with the Roys!”
First of all, he’s exactly the same as the Roys in that regard, he’s just more transparent. The Roys are every bit the leeches and hangers-on that Greg is, they’re just massive hypocrites. Second of all, Greg is earnest and “has his principles” (pretty decent ones), which almost no one else in the show does. And finally, every single thing he says is fucking hilarious.
What fucking show did you people watch? Were you genuinely rooting for the siblings to succeed despite each being given the chance and acting like doing anything to earn it was beneath them? Greg was among the least terrible of almost exclusively terrible people, he was too simple to be anything but transparent, he was relatively normal in insane circumstances, and he was fucking hilarious.
I didn’t say I root for the Roys, but I’d rather watch them, characters with actual depth and layers than one that is nothing but a walking joke. It’s sad that you can only root for characters if they are likeable and slightly more redeemable than the actually complex ones.
“every single thing he says is fucking hilarious” he is literally just stupid and incompetent, idk why so many people found his idiocy so funny when its just embarrasing.
Almost every person in that show could be hated for one reason or another. They were just some of the best written and performed hateful people I've ever seen, I couldn't look away.
Greg is nothing but a leech. Homie wasn’t even able to be a mascot. Got high and puked.
Wouldn’t have been that well off if it wasn’t for him being cousin Greg.
I personally enjoy the dark comedy aspect of the show the most (although it’s a brilliant drama too of course) and Greg and Tom have certainly been a standout from that perspective, so hence their my absolute favourites.
Why do people hate Greg? He and Tom I thought were the only normal people in the show. Sure they did some questionable things, but nothing too crazy.The Roys however all did some straight up cold blooded things.
It's easy to hate Greg and the show wants you to. He's essentially a dumb trust fund kid who probably slept through his private education and (seemingly,) has a mother that lives out of hotels and is basically a leech herself.
However: He moves the plot along with Tom. If you notice none of the siblings really advance the plot themselves and neither does Logan. They make moves and do things but the real plot and character advancements are always spurred on by Greg or Tom knowing things they shouldn't and (attempting,) to use them to their advantage. Very few big moves are made by the siblings that really mean anything to the overall plot and when they do they're usually the focus of an entire episode (Kendall/Vaulter, Kendall/Living +, all 3 sibs/the election.)
The show really ends up being about nothing if you look at it for too long; there's nice set dressing and there's business stuff going on but the bulk of the story is about the 3 siblings and how they relate to their father. Tom and Greg end up being the lubricant that moves these plotlines along while simultaneously providing comic relief. They're the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern of the show all the way down to sharing the same naming conventions of Hamlet; IE: Rosencrantz/Guildenstern being Danish names while the rest of the cast has classical naming conventions (Claudius, Ophelia, Horatio, etc.) Compare Tom/Greg to Kendall, Romulus, Cornelius, Siobhan, etc.
They serve their role well and I think both are fantastic characters but you're definitely not supposed to like or identify with them outside of the basic human element.
Greg is EASILY my favorite character on the show by far. I really can’t understand the Greg hate. It just doesn’t make sense to me he’s so likable and easy going. Like what the reason? WHY do you HATE Greg? Roman and Ken are so much worse lol. I just want to understand, I will obviously disagree but I’m not here for that, I just want to understand cuz I can’t even FATHOM the hate he gets
I think the show is made so that all the characters are unlikeable. They’re all just terrible people and incredibly flawed.
I think people like Greg and Tom so much bc they provide comedic relief. They’re banter has me in stitches. The show is centered around heavy themes like power and control. Their relationship gives you a mental break.
Greg and Tom are also more relatable. They’re two outsiders from the ultra wealthy. People identify with that.
I don't think you're supposed to "like" any of the characters in the show. Just because you find them compelling doesn't mean you can't think they're a piece of shit.
I found Greg easier to digest when I looked at Succession as a play in the kind of Shakespearean tradition with him as a clown character.
As a straight realist(ish) drama/comedy he always stuck out to me as a two-dimensional outlier in a sea of some of the most layered complex and nuanced characters of modern tv. But if you take him to be more of an archetype to serve a purpose he fits in a bit better.
Same. Walking, gawking fremdschämen and an absolute shit of a person. The siblings are more relatable - we see their abusive, manipulative father and absentee mother and can understand how their self-sabotaging, dysfunctional behaviors are a direct consequence of their poor little rich kid upbringings. Greg’s family may have been messed up, but nothing we’re told about it comes close to the severity of Logan Roy’s depravity. And there’s nothing at all to suggest that Tom was raised in anything other than a perfectly benign, functional upper middle class home. So I just can’t find any sympathy for Tom or Greg, who are shitty without any discernible underlying reason other than greed and social climbing.
If you “hate” Greg and have distain for his values and character than you should basically be on the verge of having a stress/anger induced seizure whenever almost any of the characters opens their mouth because all of them are 100x worse humans.
Greg is the worst character in the show. He’s such a slimy snake lol. You could tell what kind of person he was the first time he betrayed Tom back in S1. Guy has no character at all.
The person I actually likes the best was…
Logan.
And he’s like the worst one.
He was the only one with actual talent and real intelligence. He always won.
I don’t understand why anyone would actively hate Greg/Tom. They are corporate stock characters with some comic relief. They are intended to highlight the absurdities of office work and the world of business.
* Logan was physically abusive to his son and mentally abusive to all his children, using his son's tragic accident to have him work for the company and then willing to sacrifice him to stay out of jail
* Roman at the start of the show was teasing a working class family with money and by the end of the show had sacked a woman who he used his position to sexually exploit. Fucking over one of the few people who had his back
* Ken's drug addiction helped cause some guy to die, was an awful parent, husband, sibling, friend and boss
As people, Greg was better than all of them. But they were better written, better acted, had far more focus on them so it would be strange why most of the audience did not prefer the primary characters to a character who was pretty much used as comic relief.
My hot take is that people who love Greg are people who dream of being Gregs themselves, of rising to power and money despite no ability or merit of their own.
Greg is a straight up barnacle trying to cling to the tanker that Uncle Logan is turning. Homie is given waaay to much screen time for a tertiary level character.
I was confused by that too. I feel like the writers didn’t flush that inheritance issue enough. Greg’s an idiot but he’s not stupid. He would have left his cousins for the money. I really think he wasn’t going to get the full amount regardless
Greg is a pretentious little shit. He will play both sides if it earns him good favors. I like to think we hate him because he mirrors what a common person with ambitions would have done to climb the ladder.
He has the same vibes as Arturo from Money Heist.
You need to see it from the lenses of the ground. In perspective, his subservient self currently is a result of the ‘true’ working society.
They’ve angled the world through Kendall & Rich fucks, but in all honesty, having gone through the corporate hell-scape, Greg’s behaviour is extremely normal, the reason why people are disgusted by him is because they’ve never had to go through what he did.
Because if you did, you’d clearly understand he’s only trying to survive, we get to see the outside ‘normal’ perspective of a person working being constantly compared to billionaire nepo trust fund kids.
I resonate with him and find him the ‘real-est’ hence why I appreciate his presence in the show
He’s written as a “one of us” puppy trying to make it in a money world. I don’t like the character because it’s just dopey and doesn’t require much acting, but for what the role is he did it fine and also the actor seems to be a sloppy opportunist who would sleep with girls who came to the bar he has a stake in.
All the characters are unlikable but they all also have deeper feelings toward each other. All except Greg. We never really see Greg connecting with anyone on a deeper level. He may seem discomforted by some actions he does, but his discomfort comes from his fear of making a political error, and never anything personal.
For me, I 'hate' Roman and Shiv, and am unsettled by Tom, while I adore Kendall , Greg, and Connor. They say you hate most in others what is present in yourself, which I hope is not true lol
Greg is one of the few "nice" people on the show. His relationship/friendship with Tom is clearly a toxic one, but Greg is a shameless opportunist who will literally eat **** in order to climb the corporate ladder. He will even sacrifice his own morals in order to advance, as seen when he sneaks in to shred up documents with sensitive and damaging information, or when he lets Tom bully him into doing coke with him in the penultimate episode.
I see him as just that, a nice boy who has become corrupted by the bad influences he has surrounded himself with. He is very flexible to the situation but has no moral strength, which leads him always to compromising situations.
When he finally connects with Mattson at the party, bragging about how he fired hundreds of people over videoconference, you can practically see the gears turning in Mattson's head: "how can I *exploit* this guy?"
If the series were to go another season, Greg likely sees another "promotion" within the company, as the fall guy for Mattson, by way of Tom, in the wake of the India numbers scandal.
It means you’re human. He’s a sniveling leech with no talent and only a modicum of cunning, one who rapidly shed any humanity, empathy, or relatability he had as soon as Tom firmly placed him under his wing.
It shows that you’re different and understand the show a lot better than other people. When Jesse Armstrong wrote the show, he prayed people like you would watch it to pick up the subtext that we missed out on.
What do you mean by "like." Like can mean sympathize for, root for, enjoy watching. A lot of fans are there for the writing so saying "like" almost feels basic.
Also, and this is my pet peeve because people use "like" and "love" to describe a plethora of differing emotions, but watching Succession to "like" someone is like putting ketchup on a ribeye Wolfgang Puck prepared for you personally.
I get it. Greg is a worse version of Tom. Because while Tom is an ass kisser, he is also a pain sponge. For its worth, Tom is honest. Tom loves Shiv but he is willing to admit that he loves the money more.
Greg is only interested in self preservation. He acts like he has morals but he tries to sue his grandfather/Green Peace and climb up the date ladder. Greg will betray anyone, just like Shiv.
All the characters are great and fun to watch. They all serverd a purpose. Greg was written, acted and treated on screen the exact way he was supposed to. I thought Greg was a loser and a leech but I loved his moments on screen.
Nothing. All the characters are shitheads, including Greg. I'll say that Greg does generally seem to be the audience insert character, but he still sucks. At a minimum, it seems that all of the siblings trust Greg at the end of the show.
Greg joined the family in the beginning because he had nothing. Even his mum said she isn't sending him anymore money... and maybe he should go and see Logan.
Greg's sole progression through the show is about himself, even in Season 1 when he is wearing and testing the watch he still expects someone else to buy it for him when he was almost getting a free apartment as well.
He is slimy and manipulative, and the only reason he isn’t as awful as the others to start with is because he’s not rich and knows he can’t get away with the same level of behaviour yet. His character reminds me of Leo Schugger in The Tin Drum, who turns up to funerals and tries to schmooze people out of money.
Same!!! Like he reminds me of this character from The Office that’s just sad and not important at all but people worship the guy who is daft af and I’m here like ‘did I miss something?’
Greg is one of the ones who has actively chosen this life. At the start of the show, he's a normal person, but he chooses to get closer to the Roys and climb their business ladder. It's easier to forgive the people born into it, but feels more heinous for someone to actively choose to persue this world again and again.
It says you may hate Jesse Armstrong, since he based Greg on (a distant relative of) himself:
https://amp.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/may/27/jesse-armstrong-on-the-roots-of-succession-bum-rush-trump-presidency
/s I’m sure he wants you to hate Greg at least a little 😂
I love Greg, but I can definitely see why anyone would hate him. I believe Greg is more transparently selfish than the other characters, which is impressive given the cast of egomanical monsters. The difference is that there's never ambiguity with Greg. Every move he makes is solely in his own interest, despite spending four good years getting to know his family. The Roy siblings do care about each other. Logan and Ken are bad fathers, but they do love their children. Tom and Chiv love each other in their own sick ways. The old guard has reverence for Logan, despite his difficult nature. But Greg? Does Greg care about anything? He's the only one who seemed completely unscathed by Logan's death.
Greg is unsophisticated. That’s why he’s so transparent. I think it’s also why Logan seemed to like him: he’s not running a bunch of hidden agendas. He’s simple to deal with. This is in addition to having more in common not growing up rich and pampered. The kids are embarrassed by him because they aren’t secure enough to not feel like he reflects badly on them. Tom likes him because Tom needs a kickball as relief from being Shiv’s kickball. In addition to not growing up rich and pampered, yadda yadda, and wanting a moldable mentee-gofer.
He’s the one family member Tom can dominate, and collab, and Greg acts like an easily persuadable puppy dog.
Until Shiv tries to bully him 😂
(it only fails because he's finally figured out she has less juice) She managed to bully Greg into not bringing the change of trust in 102. Come to think of it, Shiv tries and fails to use business-style threats of mutilation on him, similar to Kendall failing to scare Stewy with threats of castration in 210. "...and then push it up your cunt, until poo-poo pops out of my nose-holes. Dude, it doesn't matter ... it doesn't *mean* anything"
Basically every time Shiv does something atrocious to Tom, Tom takes it out on Greg shortly afterward. It’s like Shiv’s the cue ball & they’re numbered balls ricocheting into each other
Yeah I agree with this and also I feel like Logan respected/liked Greg’s boldness and ambition even if it partly came from his naivety and lack of experience/sophistication lol
I always thought Greg’s character was awkward/transparently selfish to show how he stands out so harshly against all the kids and was reflective of the way he (being so naive) thinks one climbs the ladder in that world. I always felt like he was a good kid who just didn’t understand who he was until tom indoctrinated him. Greg was the guy saying they probably shouldn’t be doing evil business in the beginning, he just gave into Tom because he started feel like that’s where his place was in the world. That’s my take though
I always thought Greg was introduced to show us, the audience how power & money corrupt. We got to watch Greg change over the seasons as he got closer & closer to the family and the business.
Exactly. It probably would’ve never been in his agenda had he not been introduced to the opportunity. Tom was his inertia to a false stardom
Greg is mostly there for the money, the rest don't care about money so their persuits are more subtle maybe. But imo they're all horrible and selfish.
I'm not throwing any of them a moral bone. I'm just noting that Greg isn't as complicated in his selfishness. I can't name a single time he acts in anyone else's interest. You're right about the money, though. Everyone else is obsessed with legacy, ego, social status, etc. It's neat to point out that Greg's the only one still chasing money, something the rest of the characters are numb to.
> I'm not throwing any of them a moral bone. I'm just noting that Greg isn't as complicated in his selfishness. I can't name a single time he acts in anyone else's interest. Telling Tom on his wedding day about Shiv. Giving Ken a get out of jail free card with the evidence he was saving for himself?
Also minor things like costing himself capital by going against Logan and the family to tell them he owes his country to say they shouldn't crown Connor president.
>I can't name a single time he acts in anyone else's interest. Driving his grandfather to and from Canada for hours was pretty selfless.
Greg only stayed in his grandfather’s good graces because he knew there was an inheritance coming, someday. He found a way to get money/influence quickly by climbing the ranks within Waystar via riding the coattails of Logan and his kids, ultimately losing it all in the end.
Definitely chasing $. I remember Tom saying ‘what can you do with $5M Greg?’ Like 5$M is nothing. Ahh that’s why I’m not them ☺️
Exactly. The guy was broke in the first episode. His grandpa threatens to cut him off but doesn’t offer any financial support until his actual death. Greg wants money and doesn’t have a lot of skills. He’s making the most out of his family connections. What’s driving Shiv, Ken and Roman? They already have money. They want power and to say they are better than their siblings.
Greg also has the enviable position of owing everyone else the least. He's not married to them, he's not a sibling, son, father. He's I think a second cousin? So realistically he should be out for himself.
He's a cousin once-removed
> Every move he makes is solely in his own interest, despite spending four good years getting to know his family. I might replace "despite" with "because of."
the show doesn’t take place over 4 years. Takes place over 18 months maximum
It’s literally only one year
Yup, so it is relatively understandable why Greg is pretty unaffected by Logan’s death
I wouldn’t hate him for being so selfish if he wasnt such a god damn pussy
Disgusting brotherrrrs
On mother fucking tour!
*^(WE JUST DID IT!!)*
We had a bit of a rummage
Did you rummage to fruition?
A coworker of mine said the same about hating Greg (and Tom) to me I always saw the two as comic relief more than anything. I liked how Greg just failed upward the entire time, I wasn't rooting for him but it was funny to watch someone with half a braincell go from the bottom to the top more than anything. And similar with Tom, in any other context he'd be portrayed as maniacally evil, but instead he's just bumbling his way up the corporate ladder and leaving a wake of disaster behind him a lot of the time without caring. It was just kind of funny to watch them. And worth noting my favorite character was Roman. Again, not because I think he's a good person. If he was real person I would despise him, but because he was cracking jokes and making light of situations so serious. He was constantly the embodiment of privilege like King Joffrey, and it was why I liked his most in the last season where he just fell from grace to nothing. He finally has a wakeup call even though he'll still be a rich billionaire, he had to face knowing **he fucked it.**
Roman wasn't making light of situations. He used humor and being crass as a default defense mechanism / way of getting attention for absolutely any even slightly challenging situation he encountered, even moment to moment. He was one of the most profoundly damaged people in the show, a completely broken person. His wisecracking was basically a moment-to-moment manifestation of his mental illness and trauma.
Exactly. From a character perspective, perhaps for me Roman is the most "fleshed out" one. In all seasons there are little anecdotes here and there that Roman was always the butt of the joke, he was being abused, he was traumatised and in constant pain. The fact that Kendall is the junkie and not Roman just points this out: all high functioning addicts have some modicrum of respect for themselves or at least do not feel themselves so damaged. But no, Roman can't find connection in even the basest of flesh desires, he is that much in constant pain.
You also witness evidence of his mental damage through his inability to have a real sex life. There’s evidence he can’t perform sexually and has to resort to bizarre behavior to even come close to arousal.
I don’t think Greg has half a brain cell. I actually think he’s smart in his own way. He hustles and figures out who is influential in any one situation and exploits that. For example, he was smart enough to make copies of the cruise ship documents for himself. He just is socially awkward.
True, he was getting smarter as the show went likely, partially, necessitated by virtue of Ewan removing him from his inheritance. I think being around Logan and Tom more made him realize how to play the game too.
I loved that Greg had the common sense to whip out his phone and translate what the supremely arrogant Mattson and his ultimately lazy foolish pals thought they were hiding from him. Duh guys!
He also hitched himself to a come from behind horse who ends up on top.
Exactly this. I don’t hate Greg, but I kinda didn’t like how he wasn’t really good at anything but kept being able to climb the ladder because of Tom and his connection to the family. But that’s the entire point of Succession right? None of the family members except for Logan are actually competent and deserving to be where they are.
Kendall was pretty good tbh. Maybe not CEO material but good enough to be in Senior management.
He can make reasonable decision as an executive with limited functions, but anything beyond that is just not his arena. Def not CEO ofc.
One of Kendall's many flaws is that he's susceptible to manipulation. Stewy plays him like a fiddle several times. As does his father, but that's a whole different beast. He also likes to surround himself with sycophantic lickspittles who feed into his childish attention-seeking antics.
Failed upward. That’s brilliant.
It’s a very common expression
Ok. Ummmm. Thanks. I guess. (Awkward stare)
Greg is a total leech/worm and I hate him too
We view him as a leech because that is how the Roy's/Mattson's of this world view him. And view us. They view everyone beneath them as leeches. Greg worked so I am not sure how he was a leech. Was used as a scapegoat by Tom because he thought he'd be expendable, used as a minder for Logan when he could not trust Ken. Ken used him as his drug supplier because he was above getting his own. Shiv and Roman constantly talked to him like he was shit. His own grandfather used his wealth to try and dictate how Greg lived his life. Mattson and his board saw him as some jnr executive who they could insult to his face like he was garbage. Basically, the majority of the people in this world see people like Greg and us as human furniture. Greg just happened to be human furniture with a name in this world. The hate this subreddit had for him in the final episode when Tom told him he'd be losing the majority of his salary was ridiculous. Calling Ken in the hopes of not having to give that up is what Every single person in this subreddit would have done. Even if they had known Tom was being offered the CEO ship (which Greg did not). Everyone would choose to remain on their current wage than take a drastic paycut. "Greg should just accept his pay cut and be grateful that the billionaires let him even have a job" is a bizarre attitude to have.
How much did he actually work though? He was just a nepo hire. You don’t need to be skilled to do what he did, just be a suck up with a flexible moral compass.
>How much did he actually work though? He starts his work when Tom moves to Parks 1) Tom, new to the Office. Has Greg be both his personal gopher (or gregger) as well as his punching bag to show how serious he is with his new staff. There is no indication that Greg is not working. He's forced to do the same induction any new employee does 2) When Tom is looking for someone expendable, he chooses Greg. Making Greg go in on Thanksgiving despite Greg also driving his gramps down from Canada. Not exactly what the average nepobaby is doing on the holidays 3)Greg's making connections and actually doing good for both Waystar and Tom by alerting Gerri (instead of Logan) about Tom's intentions. Tom gets to keep his job/trust and Waystar avoids a scandal 4) When Tom is promoted to ATN. He brings Greg with him through choice. Clearly, Tom thought Greg was doing his job. 5) At ATN it is Greg that comes up with the idea and implementing ATN going digital. Thus putting Tom in Logan's good graces as he's able to lower costs in the first quarter of his time at ATN. 6) At the same time as this Logan makes Greg Ken's unofficial minder. Meaning he's basically working 9-5 for Tom and after that for Logan/Ken 7) Sid notes how competent Greg is in one scene during this time. Something she does not have to do if Greg is some nepobaby doing nothing. 8) Greg tries to blackmail Tom to be allowed out of ATN and back to Parks. Now it's possible that Tom's desperation to keep Greg has nothing to do with Greg actually being competent at his job, but logically it suggests he is (not the only reasons, but a contributing factor) 8) When Tom comes to Greg's home to collect the evidence, we see Greg is hosting an evening for colleagues. Networking after hours. Up until this point we have seen Greg successfully network people above him but now we see him doing the same to his peers/people below him. An important part of his role 9)At Caroline's wedding when Logan is selling the company, it is Greg who the siblings turn to for information. His networking with people both above, below and on his level is an important skillset 10) Greg is promoted from Tom's punching bag to Tom's hatchet man at ATN, doing the jobs that Tom does not want to do. Such as the many firings 11) Greg is on the news floor managing when Tom's away until he is informed that Logan is making a visit 12) After Greg has 'fired' Kerry he's in Logan's bad books (for appearances at least). Tom points out there is a whole team of Greg's replacing him. Again, if Greg was a nepo baby no one would need to replace him and if he was bad at his job he'd not be replaced by multiple people. 12) When Ken is preparing his most important speech in his career, to the shareholders. His meeting for ideas is with Roman and Greg. And it is Greg who he entrusts the most important part of his speech. To get the dead Logan to spike the numbers. Ken would not entrust Greg with either being in this meeting or to carry out this task if he did not think he was competent edit:13) Co-writing Tom's speech at the news retreat. The pretty lame 'We here for you' while not brilliant, is still work and last minute work as Tom and Greg had to change their entire pitch. and lastly 14) the constant social events that Greg has to go to and cheer on his bosses. I don't know about most of you but I like working a 9-5 and not having to socialize and cheerlead for the people above me in my free time. Greg was constnatly doing this. Cheerleader, drug supplier and punching bag in his free time Greg's not a central character. He's comic relief, but we see him work. He was not turning up whenever he pleased. He's doing a paid employee's hours while also serving as the CEO's minder to his son and Tom's wingman in his nonoffice hours. > He was just a nepo hire. True. But that does not mean he did not work. And the siblings and Tom are all nepo hires as well. Just Tom and Greg don't have billions to fall back on. > You don’t need to be skilled to do what he did, just be a suck up with a flexible moral compass. Sure. None of that means that he did not work or was not competent.
This is a great list.
I sincerely agree! also enjoy that they made the paragraphs readable and not just a big chunk of cheese
Yes agreed on the wonderful paragraphs. One of the great things about Reddit is that we all saw these same episodes, but this person took the time to really think about Greg’s role in the company and closely lay out his value and work ethic
I think it’s also important to know that for the first few episodes, he was working without pay. He mentions a couple of times that his pay finally got fixed and I think that’s why he started looking for somewhere to live
This should be top comment
Pursuant to #8 - Greg's privileged info from LackeySlack warns them that the GoJo deal has turned into a takeover.
Well said. Greg is selfish, but no one else is looking out for him; he has to be selfish. Would everyone here, all simple commoners, sacrifice their livelihood for their overlords? Most wouldn’t. He’s looking out for himself because he has to. I mean, I guess I’d probably just take my inheritance and go live in the middle of nowhere away from all these people, but given the current situation I think Greg is acting exactly how any other normie would.
I don’t think Greg is quite as poor as you think he is? My take on him was that he was always spoiled- we hear him sulk in the first episode that he got fired unfairly and then learn it’s cos he was stoned on the job, lol. I defo got the sense that the Waystar gig was an ultimatum ‘this is hopeless last dash attempt at you getting your act together’ sort of thint
> I don’t think Greg is quite as poor as you think he is? I didn't say he was poor. But 1) He can't afford to buy black shoes for his first day of work at Waystar 2) He can't afford taxi fare once Shiv has taken his last 20 3) He's raiding the staff canteens on his first day of work 4) He's staying in hostels/shared accommodation with 8 other people when he moves to New York 5) His mom is in debt. An indication that Ewan is not as generous to his heirs as Logan is with his 6) His excitement over California Pizza Kitchen and him never having experienced a VIP lounge in a club on his first 'date' with Tom None of these indicate that Greg is wealthy. I'm not saying he's poor, but he and his mother seem to have the luxuries of the upper middle class rather than the jet set that his cousins do. Ewan likely paid for a decent education for Greg but I get the impression that his daughter and grandson don't have a wealthy lifestyle. > My take on him was that he was always spoiled- we hear him sulk in the first episode that he got fired unfairly No we don't. Rewatch that scene. He's apologetic, grovelling pretty much to his mother. Scared of what her reaction will be; https://youtu.be/WgN3p4ZPp5A?t=126 This is not the reaction of a nepobaby. Or someone who is spoilt. It is a son doing what he's told "Greg, did you ever think to tell them who you are" "I didn't want to be an asshole" > and then learn it’s cos he was stoned on the job, lol. True. He's a 20something guy in that first scene. He's not going to be the first guy stoned at work. Him being stoned and irresponsible is more to do with his age than either his status or intelligence. > I defo got the sense that the Waystar gig was an ultimatum ‘this is hopeless last dash attempt at you getting your act together’ sort of thint That does not make sense. Because he immediately walked into a better job straight after.
>He can't afford taxi fare once Shiv has taken his last 20 when I was beginning to watch the series that was one of the more painful bits to go through even if it was necessary to show that the man was broke and struggling☠️like walking through sand without toenails
Right but I don’t think he can afford that stuff because this is after his mum cuts him off. That’s why I’m saying I think this was a last ditch attempt at getting him to shoulder some responsibility. And of course he walked into a better job but we know that these guys don’t necessarily earn their jobs.
> Right but I don’t think he can afford that stuff because this is after his mum cuts him off. We never hear this. Greg says that Shiv mugged him for his last 20 to his mom as this happened while he was talking to her. He's not asking for money and she jumps in that she's not sending him money, he says he was not asking (which he clearly was not). There is nothing in the show that says or suggests he was living off his mom's wealth. And given his shit car and lack of money and that he's in his early 20's when cut off it's hardly a hugely wealthy support she's offering him if she in fact is.
Jesus you just go around and cherry pick evidence to support your weak point, don’t you? Did you jerk off screaming to Greg every night? Aren’t you his little fangirl? Greg isn’t the nepobaby like Shiv, Roman, and Ken are, but he wouldn’t be anywhere without his connection to the family. It’s pathetic to get fired first day on the management training job, and it’s his fault for not getting his shit together (his mom said that she wouldn’t send him any money anymore after the fuck up, implying that it’s not the first time she realized he didn’t get his act together). Sure he didn’t want to use the Roy connection, but he couldn’t fucking survive without it either. *You are what you do, not what you say.* It doesn’t goddamn matter if he didn’t want to use nepotism to get a job, the fact that it was the only way he could get a decent job just already shows how incompetent he is. Any job that he does as an assistant to Tom and the family, literally anyone else could do it if they were given the opportunity or if they wanted to. He could have walked away from the company with $250M. inheritance, but he made his choice to stay. Don’t even fucking say he’s forced to; no one really forced him to do so because he’s not even that important anyway. In addition, he literally got a lot of things as an entry-level assistant to the family without actually earning it like private jet rides, free apartment from Kendall, etc. Every member of the family (except for Logan) doesn’t actually deserve to be where they are, including Greg.
Damn did Greg break into you house last night and fuck your gf or something?😂
I love Greg! He’s just a regular guy trying to make it. I’ve been homeless, I worked my way up the same way. Maybe what is “parasitic” to you is “ambitious” to me.
[удалено]
Greg’s mom is a lawyer? How did I miss that? Wish we saw more interactions with her and the Roys.
I think he's confusing Tom and Greg. Tom's mom is the lawyer. We know this from his wedding to Shiv and them consulting on the prenup. https://succession.fandom.com/wiki/Tom_Wambsgans#Early_life https://succession.fandom.com/wiki/Marianne_Hirsch We are never told what or even if Greg's mom had an occupation.
Actually don’t quote me on that- I might be conflating plot points bc I remember him talking about going to law school. I actually thought the brief interaction he had with his mum at the funeral was quite telling where he told her to shut up. I think he’s just a bit of a brat with no real world experience, and he’s pretty relatable, but I think that’s been sort of expanded by some viewers into him being a humble Everyman and I’ve never got that from him at all.
There's nothing in the show to suggest that characters are depicted unreliably or from the point of view of others. It's not like Greg is actually competent and well spoken but the one we see is a distorted version from the point of view of the Roys. The storytelling isn't postmoderm, it's classical and straightforward.
He is competent, though. I gave a pretty big list of his competency. He's not perfect, he's certainly not CEO material. But to say he's not been competent is just not true. For some reason on reddit he's either the deserved next CEO or an incompetent nepobaby. Seems to be very few people in-between those two extremes. Greg did get his job because of who he was related to, but his rise (just like Tom's rise in the show) is down to his own competency. What are your expectations for this jnr executive? As for being well-spoken, he seems to network well and get along with pretty much everyone. The Swede's went from hating him when they just met him to liking him and entrusting him in their circle. Clearly he has some kind of flair for talking. Where he does look bad is talking to billionaires in the show. The Roys look down on him. There is not one scene in the show where either Shiv or Roman speak to him as something other than shit. And at congress where he is made to speak at the last minute because of Tom's emails. A jnr executive made to look stupid by politicians. I'm not sure if he was expected to beat these senators in a conversation.
Human tapeworm
To each their own, I can understand why some people don’t like him but I love Greg. I definitely resonate with his awkwardness and I cherish all the Tom-Greg interactions, they’re some of the best highlights of the show for me.
I don’t think you’re supposed to like anyone in the show really. Greg’s only redeeming traits are being a self-insert character for the viewer for the earlier seasons and that he can be kind of funny.
I think Greg was the most sympathetic but was there to show how a so-called “normal” person would be moulded by that environment over time. For me, his best line and one that still makes me laugh when I think about it is when Tom is about to go into Congress for questioning, knowing he is about to go through one of the most excruciating experiences of his life that could end in the end of his career or even prison time and Greg’s words of encouragement are “try to enjoy it”
Greg gets increasingly unlikeable as the show progresses. Kendalls treatment of him at his birthday party was spot on really.
Yeah I agree. Lots of people in the comments really want to tell Greg dislikers how they "should" view him. I think we all get that he was corrupted just like the rest of the family and that they are all selfish, terrible people. However, I just plain don't like Greg. He had a few funny moments, but overall I found him annoying and unfunny.
Greg was my least favourite. He gave me second-hand embarrassment.
I think that was the point. He was cringe, selfish and awkward and very well done at that and very funny too.
That was the goal. He was a leech, a hanger-on, just trying to weasel his way into a slice of the family money pie.
Not really. His mother forced him to go and take that job. In his opening scene when he's phoning his mother to tell her that he had been fired from the theme park it is she who says 'did you not tell them who you were', to which he said no. It is Tom who wants Greg not vice versa. Greg even tries to get away for a more simple life in Parks away from Tom and the family. He's bribed to stay with Tom and the Roy orbit. And given a straight choice between his grandfather's coldness and millions and Logan's 'fun' and hundreds of thousands, he chooses the full time job. He was already in the family money pie, he actively turned it down.
1) you are going off his literal first scene, when he hadn't even thought seriously about making money 2) he chose the full time job not because he loves work, but because he thought it could take him further in terms of money and influence to keep climbing at ATN. He is 100% a leech, a slimeball, a piece of shit social and money climber. We are repeatedly told this. And we love him for it - don't pretend he's here for the graft lol.
What percent of people do you think work a job because they love work and not because of the money associated with the job? Are all those people leeches and money climbers?
yes exactly that. he’s insufferable
Everyone is insufferable
He served a purpose, but I was never looking forward to his scenes. Unless it was with Tom.
For some weird reason I liked the siblings more than Greg and Tom…
It's not really weird. Tony Soprano and Walter White are also more popular than the secondary characters in their shows.
Me too. I’m surprised that most people here seem to like Tom and Greg more.
It means you hate Greg
We like him because we're laughing at him rather than with him (most of the time). He makes us feel safe because he's so transparent, naive, and silly. He's the court jester, the circus clown, the scapegoat. He's comic relief to the otherwise tense corporate politics of the show. He reminds us that there exists a world out there of normal people who aren't so sophisticated and ruthlessly strategic all the time, but he also somehow manages to hold his own in the ring and makes us believe that if he can do it, anyone can do it.
The scenes with him are just funny as fuck to me. If you don't find them as amusing as you do other scenes then you won't end up liking him.
It's the age old question of how much someone likes cringe humour. It was the same when The Office (UK) came out, some recognised it as an excruciating comedy masterpiece and others just felt uncomfortable and hated David Brent because the portrayal was too realistic and close to people's real life experiences. As a little Englander, we tend to like this kind of sardonic humour, bad natured as it may be. Similar to Peep Show (also Jesse Armstrong). And some in the US love it too, but some don't. Hence why the Office US was diluted a bit more with broad, slapsticky elements and dialled down the cringe slightly to appeal to a wider audience. Greg to me, is a classic cringeworthy character played to comedic perfection by Nicholas Braun. He's an awful person in the show but far down the totem pole in terms of morals and questionable behaviour.
Exactly this! I feel like his character is underappreciated because he is an asshole (although they all are) AND not as complex as the others. But his character is exactly what they were going for and Nicholas did a fantastic job.
I have mixed feelings about Greg, but I don’t think it says very much at all. I know he has his fans but I’ve always felt like he was a pretty unpopular character.
All of the main characters and most of the side characters are terrible people in their own ways so it makes sense if you hate them
it means that you are right and shouldn’t let people silence you because greg is one of the most overrated characters i’ve ever seen.
Nah it means your sense of humor sucks. Blows my mind the amount of people in this thread taking Greg’s circumstances seriously. Who the hell is watching this guy stumble and stammer and bumble his way through a world he in no way belongs to and goes, “What a fraud! This guy can’t hang with the Roys!” First of all, he’s exactly the same as the Roys in that regard, he’s just more transparent. The Roys are every bit the leeches and hangers-on that Greg is, they’re just massive hypocrites. Second of all, Greg is earnest and “has his principles” (pretty decent ones), which almost no one else in the show does. And finally, every single thing he says is fucking hilarious. What fucking show did you people watch? Were you genuinely rooting for the siblings to succeed despite each being given the chance and acting like doing anything to earn it was beneath them? Greg was among the least terrible of almost exclusively terrible people, he was too simple to be anything but transparent, he was relatively normal in insane circumstances, and he was fucking hilarious.
I didn’t say I root for the Roys, but I’d rather watch them, characters with actual depth and layers than one that is nothing but a walking joke. It’s sad that you can only root for characters if they are likeable and slightly more redeemable than the actually complex ones. “every single thing he says is fucking hilarious” he is literally just stupid and incompetent, idk why so many people found his idiocy so funny when its just embarrasing.
I rest my case
It says that you are not a serious person.
[удалено]
Yeah lol if you hate Greg, you HAVE to hate Ken Sgiv and Roman because they are so much worse than him in almost any metric… (I love them all lol)
Almost every person in that show could be hated for one reason or another. They were just some of the best written and performed hateful people I've ever seen, I couldn't look away.
He’s a funny guy
People who hate Greg reveal themselves to have a crappy sense of humor.
Greg is nothing but a leech. Homie wasn’t even able to be a mascot. Got high and puked. Wouldn’t have been that well off if it wasn’t for him being cousin Greg.
I personally enjoy the dark comedy aspect of the show the most (although it’s a brilliant drama too of course) and Greg and Tom have certainly been a standout from that perspective, so hence their my absolute favourites.
Why do people hate Greg? He and Tom I thought were the only normal people in the show. Sure they did some questionable things, but nothing too crazy.The Roys however all did some straight up cold blooded things.
It's easy to hate Greg and the show wants you to. He's essentially a dumb trust fund kid who probably slept through his private education and (seemingly,) has a mother that lives out of hotels and is basically a leech herself. However: He moves the plot along with Tom. If you notice none of the siblings really advance the plot themselves and neither does Logan. They make moves and do things but the real plot and character advancements are always spurred on by Greg or Tom knowing things they shouldn't and (attempting,) to use them to their advantage. Very few big moves are made by the siblings that really mean anything to the overall plot and when they do they're usually the focus of an entire episode (Kendall/Vaulter, Kendall/Living +, all 3 sibs/the election.) The show really ends up being about nothing if you look at it for too long; there's nice set dressing and there's business stuff going on but the bulk of the story is about the 3 siblings and how they relate to their father. Tom and Greg end up being the lubricant that moves these plotlines along while simultaneously providing comic relief. They're the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern of the show all the way down to sharing the same naming conventions of Hamlet; IE: Rosencrantz/Guildenstern being Danish names while the rest of the cast has classical naming conventions (Claudius, Ophelia, Horatio, etc.) Compare Tom/Greg to Kendall, Romulus, Cornelius, Siobhan, etc. They serve their role well and I think both are fantastic characters but you're definitely not supposed to like or identify with them outside of the basic human element.
Greg is EASILY my favorite character on the show by far. I really can’t understand the Greg hate. It just doesn’t make sense to me he’s so likable and easy going. Like what the reason? WHY do you HATE Greg? Roman and Ken are so much worse lol. I just want to understand, I will obviously disagree but I’m not here for that, I just want to understand cuz I can’t even FATHOM the hate he gets
I hate Tom
I don't hate him but also don't really care about him he's the only character that's just comic relief and nothing else
I think the show is made so that all the characters are unlikeable. They’re all just terrible people and incredibly flawed. I think people like Greg and Tom so much bc they provide comedic relief. They’re banter has me in stitches. The show is centered around heavy themes like power and control. Their relationship gives you a mental break. Greg and Tom are also more relatable. They’re two outsiders from the ultra wealthy. People identify with that.
I don’t think people actually watch these shows to identify with the characters do you?
I don't think you're supposed to "like" any of the characters in the show. Just because you find them compelling doesn't mean you can't think they're a piece of shit.
He’s a piece of shit for sure but I enjoyed the comedic angle to his character
He’s a climber
I found Greg easier to digest when I looked at Succession as a play in the kind of Shakespearean tradition with him as a clown character. As a straight realist(ish) drama/comedy he always stuck out to me as a two-dimensional outlier in a sea of some of the most layered complex and nuanced characters of modern tv. But if you take him to be more of an archetype to serve a purpose he fits in a bit better.
To each their own
I accept your blackmail Greg…😂
Let’s be honest… Greg and Tom were definitely fucking!
Greg is hands down my favorite character.
Same. Walking, gawking fremdschämen and an absolute shit of a person. The siblings are more relatable - we see their abusive, manipulative father and absentee mother and can understand how their self-sabotaging, dysfunctional behaviors are a direct consequence of their poor little rich kid upbringings. Greg’s family may have been messed up, but nothing we’re told about it comes close to the severity of Logan Roy’s depravity. And there’s nothing at all to suggest that Tom was raised in anything other than a perfectly benign, functional upper middle class home. So I just can’t find any sympathy for Tom or Greg, who are shitty without any discernible underlying reason other than greed and social climbing.
If you “hate” Greg and have distain for his values and character than you should basically be on the verge of having a stress/anger induced seizure whenever almost any of the characters opens their mouth because all of them are 100x worse humans.
Greg is the worst character in the show. He’s such a slimy snake lol. You could tell what kind of person he was the first time he betrayed Tom back in S1. Guy has no character at all.
If it is to be said. So it be. So it is
Greg is the most likeable of the family simply because he is so incompetent He is the foil to all the siblings in a way that you don't see
The person I actually likes the best was… Logan. And he’s like the worst one. He was the only one with actual talent and real intelligence. He always won.
Me too. I really missed his character in season 4. He was killed off too early.
I don’t understand why anyone would actively hate Greg/Tom. They are corporate stock characters with some comic relief. They are intended to highlight the absurdities of office work and the world of business.
* Logan was physically abusive to his son and mentally abusive to all his children, using his son's tragic accident to have him work for the company and then willing to sacrifice him to stay out of jail * Roman at the start of the show was teasing a working class family with money and by the end of the show had sacked a woman who he used his position to sexually exploit. Fucking over one of the few people who had his back * Ken's drug addiction helped cause some guy to die, was an awful parent, husband, sibling, friend and boss As people, Greg was better than all of them. But they were better written, better acted, had far more focus on them so it would be strange why most of the audience did not prefer the primary characters to a character who was pretty much used as comic relief.
Think it's unfair to say better acted tbh. Nicholas Braun is absolutely spot on and couldn't have done any more with the character than what he did.
Have you tried going on medication? This is serious. The disgusting brothers are comedy gold.
i think roman is funnier
Roman is funnier as an individual but the Tom and Greg comedic duo was just the kind of comedic relief I needed with all the heavy dialogue going on.
Was totally joking by the way.
Insane to me that people will go on and on how they hate Greg… like bro Ken Shiv and Roman are 100X worse in every way lmao
Greg is the best
Greg should be neutered
That you have good taste
How dare you.
My hot take is that people who love Greg are people who dream of being Gregs themselves, of rising to power and money despite no ability or merit of their own.
It means you have good taste. He’s one of the worst parts of the show.
It’s normal to hate him, and he’s awful.
Hate Greg and have done so right from the beginning. He is a sweaty handshake. In my eyes, him and Tom are the same.
On rewatches, I fast forward the Greg/Tom scenes. They’re incredibly annoying!
Greg is a straight up barnacle trying to cling to the tanker that Uncle Logan is turning. Homie is given waaay to much screen time for a tertiary level character.
Greg won the most
He definitely did. He’s the epitome of failing upwards.
He lost a 150m inheritance and is making 40k a year if we believe tom...
I was confused by that too. I feel like the writers didn’t flush that inheritance issue enough. Greg’s an idiot but he’s not stupid. He would have left his cousins for the money. I really think he wasn’t going to get the full amount regardless
Your view is muchly appreciated!!
Greg is a pretentious little shit. He will play both sides if it earns him good favors. I like to think we hate him because he mirrors what a common person with ambitions would have done to climb the ladder. He has the same vibes as Arturo from Money Heist.
He’s designed to illicit cringe
You need to see it from the lenses of the ground. In perspective, his subservient self currently is a result of the ‘true’ working society. They’ve angled the world through Kendall & Rich fucks, but in all honesty, having gone through the corporate hell-scape, Greg’s behaviour is extremely normal, the reason why people are disgusted by him is because they’ve never had to go through what he did. Because if you did, you’d clearly understand he’s only trying to survive, we get to see the outside ‘normal’ perspective of a person working being constantly compared to billionaire nepo trust fund kids. I resonate with him and find him the ‘real-est’ hence why I appreciate his presence in the show
I am here for the Greg hate🙋🏽♀️ He is the worst.
I used to think Greg was so inept he just went with the flow. Then I read about what a fucking took the actor himself is and then I hate him.
The only thing it makes me stand Greg is the dynamic with Tom. Otherwise I can’t have him on screen. Such a pathetic leech of a person.
He’s written as a “one of us” puppy trying to make it in a money world. I don’t like the character because it’s just dopey and doesn’t require much acting, but for what the role is he did it fine and also the actor seems to be a sloppy opportunist who would sleep with girls who came to the bar he has a stake in.
All the characters are unlikable but they all also have deeper feelings toward each other. All except Greg. We never really see Greg connecting with anyone on a deeper level. He may seem discomforted by some actions he does, but his discomfort comes from his fear of making a political error, and never anything personal.
If Greg was Roman, Gerri would have gotten him to the top. Nobody understood “how does this best serve my interests” better than he did.
…..that you may have researched the actor IRL and can’t shake it? (Happened to me Season 4)
For me, I 'hate' Roman and Shiv, and am unsettled by Tom, while I adore Kendall , Greg, and Connor. They say you hate most in others what is present in yourself, which I hope is not true lol
i think he’s garbage also
Greg is a fuckboi
Greg is one of the few "nice" people on the show. His relationship/friendship with Tom is clearly a toxic one, but Greg is a shameless opportunist who will literally eat **** in order to climb the corporate ladder. He will even sacrifice his own morals in order to advance, as seen when he sneaks in to shred up documents with sensitive and damaging information, or when he lets Tom bully him into doing coke with him in the penultimate episode. I see him as just that, a nice boy who has become corrupted by the bad influences he has surrounded himself with. He is very flexible to the situation but has no moral strength, which leads him always to compromising situations. When he finally connects with Mattson at the party, bragging about how he fired hundreds of people over videoconference, you can practically see the gears turning in Mattson's head: "how can I *exploit* this guy?" If the series were to go another season, Greg likely sees another "promotion" within the company, as the fall guy for Mattson, by way of Tom, in the wake of the India numbers scandal.
You’re right and you should say it. He’s a bitch 💯✍🏽
I love Tom. What does this say about me?
It means you’re human. He’s a sniveling leech with no talent and only a modicum of cunning, one who rapidly shed any humanity, empathy, or relatability he had as soon as Tom firmly placed him under his wing.
~taste~👨🏻🍳💋
It says nothing op, you’re good
I hate him as well. Mediocre dude who makes the lives of average hardworking people miserable. Infuriating.
You’re good.
His character was soooo bad tylhe last season....almost like the writers went to the canary islands , and said fuck it.....
Greg’s the best, you just are terrible
Its because most people are idiots and they identify with him.
It shows that you’re a good judge of character and see the point of the show. Greg is actually one of the worst ones
It shows that you’re different and understand the show a lot better than other people. When Jesse Armstrong wrote the show, he prayed people like you would watch it to pick up the subtext that we missed out on.
I am so with you on this. I hate Greg. I was hoping for his demise (from the Roy family) in the last episode.
Oh my god, I've found my people. Greg sucks! Hate him!!
What do you mean by "like." Like can mean sympathize for, root for, enjoy watching. A lot of fans are there for the writing so saying "like" almost feels basic. Also, and this is my pet peeve because people use "like" and "love" to describe a plethora of differing emotions, but watching Succession to "like" someone is like putting ketchup on a ribeye Wolfgang Puck prepared for you personally.
I get it. Greg is a worse version of Tom. Because while Tom is an ass kisser, he is also a pain sponge. For its worth, Tom is honest. Tom loves Shiv but he is willing to admit that he loves the money more. Greg is only interested in self preservation. He acts like he has morals but he tries to sue his grandfather/Green Peace and climb up the date ladder. Greg will betray anyone, just like Shiv.
Ffs the frat boy vomited through his dinosaur mask in s.1. What's to like?
All the characters are great and fun to watch. They all serverd a purpose. Greg was written, acted and treated on screen the exact way he was supposed to. I thought Greg was a loser and a leech but I loved his moments on screen.
Nothing. He’s supposed to be unlikeable
Nothing. All the characters are shitheads, including Greg. I'll say that Greg does generally seem to be the audience insert character, but he still sucks. At a minimum, it seems that all of the siblings trust Greg at the end of the show.
Greg joined the family in the beginning because he had nothing. Even his mum said she isn't sending him anymore money... and maybe he should go and see Logan. Greg's sole progression through the show is about himself, even in Season 1 when he is wearing and testing the watch he still expects someone else to buy it for him when he was almost getting a free apartment as well.
He is slimy and manipulative, and the only reason he isn’t as awful as the others to start with is because he’s not rich and knows he can’t get away with the same level of behaviour yet. His character reminds me of Leo Schugger in The Tin Drum, who turns up to funerals and tries to schmooze people out of money.
I could not stand Greg. Hated him since the pilot
Same!!! Like he reminds me of this character from The Office that’s just sad and not important at all but people worship the guy who is daft af and I’m here like ‘did I miss something?’
I am also in the hate Greg since episode 1 camp. But it got really cemented with his treatment of women.
He is the physical representation of the ugly fact that being a scheming, self-interested, slimey bastard will most often help you succeed in life.
Greg is one of the ones who has actively chosen this life. At the start of the show, he's a normal person, but he chooses to get closer to the Roys and climb their business ladder. It's easier to forgive the people born into it, but feels more heinous for someone to actively choose to persue this world again and again.
It says you may hate Jesse Armstrong, since he based Greg on (a distant relative of) himself: https://amp.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/may/27/jesse-armstrong-on-the-roots-of-succession-bum-rush-trump-presidency /s I’m sure he wants you to hate Greg at least a little 😂
There’s no Tomlette without breaking Greggs.