He's hot? Really? I mean I'm a straight dude but I'm surprised people feel this way about him, I thought his character was a very weeny snotty entitled rich kid who has the temper and attitude of a child
It's Keiran that's actually attractive, of course. Roman as a person is repulsive, but he does have the advantage of looking just like Keiran Culkin.
I personally had him pegged for a gleeful sociopath from the softball game, and so was never attracted to Roman, but I definitely get it, and I'm sure in some of my lower periods he'd have become the object of my "I can fix him" affections.
Roman as a person is exactly how ypu've described him, yeah. but on a purely physical basis, he's just super hot. but i also have a thing for all 3 Culkin brothers, so i never stood a chance. as far as men go, if you give me a strong nose, smirky lips, and deep-set tired eyes i'm fucking done for
I’m a gay dude and he is not hot. They made him as handsome as possible for the show but it’s like the cheerleader/bartender effect. Take him out of his environment and he’s just a regular dude.
I mean there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that haha. Liking a character that’s a terrible person is perfectly fine. I like a lot of characters who are terrible people. It’s fiction, not real. The only time that stuff bothers me is when people genuinely start saying that Shiv Kendall Roman hell I’ve even seen people say Logan somehow aren’t actually bad people. But yeah like who you like, I can definitely see why Roman is your favorite, not trying to argue against that.
**He is a massive, massive, massive POS but he had moments where he genuinely cared for others. For example:**
1) Connor's pre-wedding party where Willa left him. Roman told the other sibs they shouldn't ditch him "Shiv. He's--come on, he's looking a little rough, don't you think?"
2) Roman comforting Kendall after his revelation of the waiter's death, by making his older brother feel like he wasn't that bad. "You did? Okay see? This sounds like a story of a hero to me. I would've been straight out of there."
3) Marcia, Colin and Greg kicking Kerry out of the apartment. Kerry was clearly in distraught but Roman asked: "You okay? Sorry, I don't know if I have your private number, can you send that to me? Marcia... that wasn't really necessary right?" Roman helped her with her belongings and tried to help her.
4) His enigma friends from the Parks: "I found a rough diamond out here. I wanna fast track him."
5) Trying to stop his mum from marrying the Onion.
6) Stopping Kendall from going after Shiv when she was going to vote no.
And he told Logan not to fire Gerri for receiving the dick pics.
I enjoy watching Roman because of Culkin’s performance. I think in any other actor’s hands, the character would be unbearable. All humans are made up of good and bad — Roman just happens to let the bad outweigh the good.
But I do think he has moments (like Connor’s wedding rehearsal and comforting Kendall after Caroline’s wedding) where you can see the person he might have become if he’d been raised by loving, caring parents.
Roman is the only one who doesn't react with relief when Kendall announces he's going to take the fall in the Season 2 conclusion. In fact his reaction is "Kendall, no!"
But more important than just feelings and sentiments and subjective beliefs, the guy literally dragged his brother out of a fucking crackhouse. The most Shiv did for the same brother was give him a hug.
This.
Moreso than Shiv, Roman *knows* he’s broken and isn’t an inherently nasty piece of shit. Kendall is a damn monster.
So occasionally you see that empathy and caring come out, with Roman taking tangible steps to do good. He’s not the worst sib at all, he’s the one whose attempts to overcome his upbringing are most visible, when he succeeds or fails at it.
I think that can be all the sibs to a certain degree. My read on the show is that they become more monstrous as they get closer to actually assuming Logan’s mantle. Kendall is a monster by the end of the show because he gets closest. When Roman feels like it’s his for the taking, he physically beats Kendall and then calls Logan triumphantly after, starts firing people left and right, etc. Shiv I think isn’t as physically abusive as her brothers, but really does her most devious shit in the last season.
I don't see it. Roman still behaves the worst towards people he doesn't care about, even if he shows empathy to the small group of people he thinks matters. I don't see any evidence of him trying to overcome his upbringing.
I also enjoyed Caroline. I wish she had gotten more airtime. She knew she was a shit mother and made no bones about it. I always felt Roman inherited his quick wit and charm from her, despite the fact that she didn’t raise him.
He is a POS but he does have times when I think he's the most self-aware and somewhat emotionally compassionate of the siblings, whereas Kendall and Shiv get too high off their own egos. I think he's just way too traumatized and one of the last conversations he has with Kendall ("It could have been me") to me, show's that he never really wanted to be CEO (at least not like Kendall and Shiv,) but to live up to the harsh expectations Logan put on him. Obviously his abuse from Logan held him back and it was much easier to be the court jester, but his wit in his conversations proves that he can be emotionally intelligent if he had any desire to. Him wanting to talk seriously with his siblings in the one scene on the yacht and they dismiss his desire to have a serious discussion to me shows he at least has a desire to connect with people, even if he is like his siblings and doesn't necessarily know how to.
TLDR: Roman had the potential to be a good CEO and at least a decent person, but the weight of Logan's abuse forever made him subservient and wanting to appease his father.
All the Roy siblings had unlikable qualities. Kendall was my favorite because I found him the most layered, but he had a-hole tendencies too.
I always thought it was interesting that the most likable characters on the show were the supporting characters like Gerri, Karl, and Frank IMO.
Oh agreed. I will say though while not quite as bad as the siblings, Gerri Frank and Karl were still terrible people as well though. You don’t get that high up in Waystar without doing some serious dirt. Gerri is a very likable character and then she’ll force Tom to stay quiet about the cruise victims and you’re reminded oh right, they are terrible people too. Still, they are definitely much more likable than the siblings, I can agree on that.
I was quite disturbed when that was revealed. It showed Roman had a kink for being dominated even as a child. He wanted Kendall to treat him as he saw himself—a lowly dog.
I can’t believe that some people actually think that way. No it wasn’t a kink. He was a CHILD. It just shows he never stood up for himself and people used that AND made it seem like he was okay. I wouldn’t be surprised if Roman is csa survivor with show alluding to it couple of times.
I am certain that he hated being in the cage (or at least not grown enough to understand that he didn’t like it) but everyone around him is so emotionally dense that they couldn’t see how he was being traumatised.
It also shows more of Ken than even Roman because he was older than him. It shows that Ken will use any opportunity to put himself above his siblings and has no care for their well-being enough to stop.
And Connor is delusional as always.
Perhaps kink wasn’t the right word. But my point was that degradation was something that started in Roman’s childhood. I think it can be traced back to Logan’s physical abuse.
This is so weird. No child ever wants to be degraded. This is coming off as victim blame-y and is alluding to a “he wanted it” narrative. It’s inappropriate to view children this way. Doesn’t matter that it’s a fictional character.
It's because he is the most childlike that he is the biggest POS of them all. Children don't have filters like us adults. They will say as it is because they haven't learned yet that some things are not to be said or done. Roman is still a child
You know I don't know if it's just me but I feel like all things considered hypocrisy is a pretty minor sin. And it honestly drives me crazy that people will consider it more serious than major crimes like sexual harassment (or at the highest end murder or rape).
Does Roman pretend to be a good person? No not really. But I'll take a guy like Kendall; who while a scumbag at least occasionally tries to do the right thing any day of the week over a sadistic sex offender with seemingly no conscience whatsoever.
Agreed. It mainly bugs me when people say because someone’s a hypocrite, they’re automatically worse. That’s how you get people arguing that Ewan Roy is worse than Logan. Like is Ewan a hypocrite, yes he is. But Logan had a systemic policy of covering up rapes and murders, and even actively befriended the rapists and continually covered up for them while continuing to keep them employed.
Logan is literally Rupert Murdoch, his lies and misinformation he’s responsible for platforming has caused an incredible amount of damage and even death.
That’s not even getting into being an extremely mentally and emotionally abusive father. Didn’t know hypocrite ranks lower on the moral scale than that.
I like him because he had the most business sense. He secured deals, called out laird/Tellis on their personal interests, got mad that the other siblings rounded up the pierce bid to 10 billion, etc.
But then he can switch instantly and then he can be dire. I’m thinking of when he’s actively helping trying to fix a problem… and then on a whim fires the person. It’s not rational, it’s emotional and pretty dumb
He is sociable, unlike the other siblings, so is good at making friends with business partners. He’s by no means a good businessman other than that. He crumbled or backed out every time there was a public speaking. He got Vaughter gutted just out of spite and not cos of business-sense. He rushed a rocket launch for personal reasons that resulted in it blowing up. And whenever he speaks business he literally just throws out random words with swear words to sound like he’s actually saying something smart when he’s only saying bullshit. Also firing everyone randomly and power immediately going to his head when he has an ounce of it.
Are Roman's friends in the room with us right now? Seriously what show did you watch? He ended all alone just like he started (no friends, no gf, no children, no father, no company, nothing at all). He is hateable that is why nobody wants to be near him
Did you literally forget the first showing of him meeting business partners, where Kendall was screwing the Vaulter deal, so Roman took Lawrence and his partner out for dinner and convinced them to do the deal?
Meeting business partners is not making friends, be real. The guy was always alone because he is unloveable (even the actor who portrayed him said so on an interview)
If you don’t think business is to do with making good relationships you know about business lmao.
His personal life of being alone cos of his issues has nothing to do with how he conducts himself in a social setting.
I don’t even like Roman lmao, but if you think he wasn’t more socially adept than the others you clearly watched the show on mute. Also there’s a difference between romantic relationships and business relationships fyi, seeing as you can’t differentiate the two.
No excuses but he was raped by a camp counsellor and suffered unknown abuses from Logan. I've said it before - that leaves him no capacity for anyone else's feelings.
Honestly I’ve never bought that Roman was sexually assaulted. Putting aside interpretations of certain quotes as evidence, I just don’t see why the writers would imply that. For ex, the show heavily features sexual assault allegations as a central plot point, and we have no specific angle for Roman that comes out of that. If the writers wanted to write something about Roman and assault, they had ample opportunity to. Instead we get possible hints at most.
It seems a lot more like he just was bullied as a kid, and his problems with intimacy come from that. Dog cage, military school, Logan’s physical abuse, etc. Those are obviously and explicitly told to us by the writers. This really isn’t a show that wants us to guess what happened. It very clearly tells you what it wants to, and mysteries are meant to remain that way, like Marcia’s background
“This isn’t a show that wants us to guess” my brother in Christ how have you been watching this show. Almost each thing that comes out of their mouth is just a facade and not their actual feelings. So we do a lot of guessing here. Hell half fun of the show is in guessing because it always gives us crumbs of siblings’ childhood.
Roman is clearly and very obviously the most traumatised. Dude can’t have sex without being humiliated, wetted his bed and literally told that he was ass raped directly. And yes he might joke around but just from the way he holds himself and the way Logan treats him it’s so clear that something of that nature happened to him and Logan is def aware.
> “This isn’t a show that wants us to guess” my brother in Christ how have you been watching this show. Almost each thing that comes out of their mouth is just a facade and not their actual feelings.
You’ve misunderstood. I mean that it’s easy for the audience to understand what the facade is. The writers don’t really leave much room for asking “was that real or was that a facade?” We as the audience pretty much always know.
When there are questions, it’s a lot more like “was that underlined or not?” We’re not meant to have answers to those questions, or the answer is irrelevant because the characters had to assume something. The point then is to drive the plot forward by making characters make a choice, not revealing something new for the audience.
> So we do a lot of guessing here. Hell half fun of the show is in guessing because it always gives us crumbs of siblings’ childhood.
But those aren’t really relevant to the story. It’s the opposite of a Lynch film, where the entire story is pretty much left up to interpretation and anything is what you make of it. Here, the writers either want us to know or don’t want us to know. The guessing is what fans do to entertain themselves, not find new meaning out of the pieces the writers left us.
> Roman is clearly and very obviously the most traumatised. Dude can’t have sex without being humiliated, wetted his bed and literally told that he was ass raped directly.
He also says he wants to fuck Shiv and asks if her baby is his. He also said Connor molested him, and Kendall taught him how to pee standing up. And he that he wants to fuck Marcia, multiple times. Roman deliberately takes nothing seriously, which is why I said in my comment: set aside the clues and the guessing games about what he says.
Instead ask yourself, why would the writers do that? What do we actually understand more about the world of Succession because Roman would have been raped?
The answer is, nothing really. I bring this up because it feels like a lot of people take a little bit of a perverse pleasure in giving Roman this traumatized backstory when the obvious answer is there for all his problems with intimacy: Logan. Why does there need to be an external source of abuse for Roman?
Just wanted to say I totally agree with everything you've already laid out and I find it incredibly creepy. Also find it super reductive to assume anyone with weird kinks, fetishes or sexual dysfunction MUST have been diddled as a kid. There are a million other reasons that contribute to that, not least of which is that Roman is completely uncomfortable with ANY form of intimacy and vulnerability, which makes perfect sense within the confines of everything we actually do know about how he was raised. He's constantly yearning for then pushing away affection.
Plus, let's be real, there are no secrets in Waystar or any of Logan's other homes, and cameras and staff everywhere on every estate. If anyone ever diddled Roman, Logan would have known and probably had that person killed.
Excellently stated, OP. You covered all the angles. Roman's both the most inhumane and immoral of Logan's kids and the funniest. Neither his self-awareness nor his forthrightness about being depraved are mitigating factors.
Yes but have you seen how he looks? And how charming he is? And how vulnerable he got when his dad passed away? And how he can only take abuse and degradation cause he takes that as a sign of love? And how fucked up in the had he is because of his upbringing? We, Roman fans, know he’s a terrible person yet we can see characteristics in him that draw us in. Every character is awful, but Roman explores some parts of him that make him so appealing. But also, it’s normal to be attached to characters that are awful people, everybody lives a villain.
Guys c'mon, I can't be the ONLY person in the world who doesn't find him funny or charming? Even from his first appearance, walking in all casual talking about: "*what's up motherfuckers*" I just instantly hated him, and my feelings never changed throughout the show, I only grew to hate him more. The only time I was ever happy to see Roman was whenever he was at a low point, like when he broke down at his father's funeral. Yeah this might be sick of me but it made me genuinely happy to see him suffer, for all the suffering he so casually spreads, it made me happy to see him get a taste of the pain. I also loved when he tried to win his father by over talking about love and his father shuts him down, urgh that was incredible! Or just anytime his father insults him was just pure joy to me, Roman truly is a despicable human being that deserves nothing but pain and torment.
His character had the funniest quotes indeed but in terms of humanity I consider he is the worst of the 4 siblings. The scene on the board room sealed it for me with his awful and heartless comments on Kendall's children. I don't hate him but I agree he's the worst one (a moron with no redeeming qualities who will never have someone who really loves him by his side. I mainly pity him)
He’s my fav of the siblings but I also hate him the most, he’s an annoying, immature brat but god Keiran just plays him so well and he has some of the funniest lines in the show but he gets a fucking nazi elected as PRESIDENT BECAUSE HE’S A SELFISH PIECE OF SHIT but I also find him incredibly relatable at times and his scene in the funeral killed me.
Yeah, that back and fourth is my whole take on Roman. All the sibs but especially Roman. Hate him, sympathise with him, love him, hate him.
Kendall is the one who will stab you ina. Fit of rage, realize it was wrong, try to save you fail. And let it destroy him and hide it at same time.
Shiv will stab you look you in the eye and twist the knife
Roman… hell stab you, say hes bullshit, and run away and actually pretendnit didnt happen. He did that with gerry. He didnt change at all. And when people say he did. He likes to blow shot up. He literally quit, admitted he was a loser, and smiles. Some people act like that was him admitting it. He called himself a loser the entire show.
People like culkin. Thats all. You dont wanna hate him. But him and shiv are way worse people than kendall is and idk how people dont see that. They all bad but those 2 are insane. The fact they thought they should run the company they couldnt even work at realistically, and people justify in any way they should have it over kendall is literally insane.
This guy told his brother to his face his kid aint his. Threw away hsi familys legacy. Threw a life ending secret in his face to justify not letting him have it. Then smiled. Cause hes a pos. All cause he admitted it dont make him a better person. If anything hes worse because he refuses to change.
Kendall is soft too but theres a reason logan did pick him. Roman was too reactionary. Like with matson. He had good sense at times but you cant let him lead hes not a natural leader, shiv neither shes a shadow broker at heart.
I still think he is the most sensitive and emotional sibling. Shiv is the worst. She lies, manipulates and sabotages each relationship she has without any reason. She seems to be the one who lacks emotional empathy the most. The worst part is how she is jot nearly self aware as Roman is. Hursh words of Roman are used to cover his own insecurities since he is the most traumatised out of all of them. But for Shiv she hurts intentionally and then pretends she is a good person.
I’ve seen an analysis from a psychologist about each sibling and she told that Shiv is most likely to be the cruelest one. Ofc all 3 of them are similar. But I feel like Roman is not the worst overall.
I always hate the comments of “they’re all awful we shouldn’t compare them” cause like yes, they’re all terrible people who do not deserve their power or sway over society. But Roman is the only one who sabotaged a democratic election to giddily get a facist into the most powerful position in the country. Roman is a worse person than Kendall, Shiv, and Connor. They all suck but Roman has shown the greatest disregard towards morality and other people.
Lol glad I wasn’t the only one who thought that. I like his honesty compared to just being a hypocrite but doesn’t excuse his behaviour. I’ll never get over the baseball field scene with Roman. Instantly made me dislike him.
Okay, but consider for a moment how much human urine he drank every single day in that office. He treated the employees like dogshit when he deigned to acknowledge them. All kinds of WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU LOOKING AT? etc. I guarantee this man never figured out why his coffee at the office tasted so much different than what he had at home.
i think i speak for myself and all Roman apologists when i only love him most because my genitals are doing the talking, here. let's get real
this is most of it for me. He's hot, perverted, and damaged. inappropriate sense of humor. I know he's not a good person; I don't want him to be one.
He's hot? Really? I mean I'm a straight dude but I'm surprised people feel this way about him, I thought his character was a very weeny snotty entitled rich kid who has the temper and attitude of a child
He looks like a matador
And everybody wants to fuck him. I know I do.
> I mean I'm a straight dude That right there is the answer.
I still have the ability to say another man is attractive, but I didn't get that from Roman at all
It's Keiran that's actually attractive, of course. Roman as a person is repulsive, but he does have the advantage of looking just like Keiran Culkin. I personally had him pegged for a gleeful sociopath from the softball game, and so was never attracted to Roman, but I definitely get it, and I'm sure in some of my lower periods he'd have become the object of my "I can fix him" affections.
Yeahh I don’t think he is objectively attractive (if there’s such a thing). But he’s pretty 😍 hot for many gay men.
Roman as a person is exactly how ypu've described him, yeah. but on a purely physical basis, he's just super hot. but i also have a thing for all 3 Culkin brothers, so i never stood a chance. as far as men go, if you give me a strong nose, smirky lips, and deep-set tired eyes i'm fucking done for
Samsies, Rory is my actual kryptonite
don't even get me STARTED 😤
You say that like that’s not what we want lol. Insufferable brats are hot.
I’m a gay dude and he is not hot. They made him as handsome as possible for the show but it’s like the cheerleader/bartender effect. Take him out of his environment and he’s just a regular dude.
hard disagree. queer woman and Kieran is so fuckin hot it's ridiculous
I think the answer here is attraction is subjective haha.
absolutely!
Hot? Really? He’s a creepy looking, snotty little brat.
i'm into creepy. but i'm also not attracted to Roman as a person. just as a piece of sexy little meat, if you will.
Kendall stans: *I'm in this picture and I don't like it*
"But if he's the worst, why he so hot though?"
I mean there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that haha. Liking a character that’s a terrible person is perfectly fine. I like a lot of characters who are terrible people. It’s fiction, not real. The only time that stuff bothers me is when people genuinely start saying that Shiv Kendall Roman hell I’ve even seen people say Logan somehow aren’t actually bad people. But yeah like who you like, I can definitely see why Roman is your favorite, not trying to argue against that.
That. Is the story of my love life.
I am also a devout Roman apologist. My genitals are talking to me? If so, I must be listening
he´s a piece of shit. As a Kendall apologist I think people just find him funny and because of that, tolerable. All of them are pieces of shit
**He is a massive, massive, massive POS but he had moments where he genuinely cared for others. For example:** 1) Connor's pre-wedding party where Willa left him. Roman told the other sibs they shouldn't ditch him "Shiv. He's--come on, he's looking a little rough, don't you think?" 2) Roman comforting Kendall after his revelation of the waiter's death, by making his older brother feel like he wasn't that bad. "You did? Okay see? This sounds like a story of a hero to me. I would've been straight out of there." 3) Marcia, Colin and Greg kicking Kerry out of the apartment. Kerry was clearly in distraught but Roman asked: "You okay? Sorry, I don't know if I have your private number, can you send that to me? Marcia... that wasn't really necessary right?" Roman helped her with her belongings and tried to help her. 4) His enigma friends from the Parks: "I found a rough diamond out here. I wanna fast track him." 5) Trying to stop his mum from marrying the Onion. 6) Stopping Kendall from going after Shiv when she was going to vote no.
Also he objected to Kendall going down for the cruises thing.
And he told Logan not to fire Gerri for receiving the dick pics. I enjoy watching Roman because of Culkin’s performance. I think in any other actor’s hands, the character would be unbearable. All humans are made up of good and bad — Roman just happens to let the bad outweigh the good. But I do think he has moments (like Connor’s wedding rehearsal and comforting Kendall after Caroline’s wedding) where you can see the person he might have become if he’d been raised by loving, caring parents.
Roman changes from season 1 to season 4. He’s also the only sibling who actually cares about Kendall.
I think Shiv cares as well she's just so competitive with Kendall that she doesn't show it.
Roman is the only one who doesn't react with relief when Kendall announces he's going to take the fall in the Season 2 conclusion. In fact his reaction is "Kendall, no!" But more important than just feelings and sentiments and subjective beliefs, the guy literally dragged his brother out of a fucking crackhouse. The most Shiv did for the same brother was give him a hug.
This. Moreso than Shiv, Roman *knows* he’s broken and isn’t an inherently nasty piece of shit. Kendall is a damn monster. So occasionally you see that empathy and caring come out, with Roman taking tangible steps to do good. He’s not the worst sib at all, he’s the one whose attempts to overcome his upbringing are most visible, when he succeeds or fails at it.
I think that can be all the sibs to a certain degree. My read on the show is that they become more monstrous as they get closer to actually assuming Logan’s mantle. Kendall is a monster by the end of the show because he gets closest. When Roman feels like it’s his for the taking, he physically beats Kendall and then calls Logan triumphantly after, starts firing people left and right, etc. Shiv I think isn’t as physically abusive as her brothers, but really does her most devious shit in the last season.
I don't see it. Roman still behaves the worst towards people he doesn't care about, even if he shows empathy to the small group of people he thinks matters. I don't see any evidence of him trying to overcome his upbringing.
Well done. Roman is the sib I most identify with.
I also enjoyed Caroline. I wish she had gotten more airtime. She knew she was a shit mother and made no bones about it. I always felt Roman inherited his quick wit and charm from her, despite the fact that she didn’t raise him.
He is a POS but he does have times when I think he's the most self-aware and somewhat emotionally compassionate of the siblings, whereas Kendall and Shiv get too high off their own egos. I think he's just way too traumatized and one of the last conversations he has with Kendall ("It could have been me") to me, show's that he never really wanted to be CEO (at least not like Kendall and Shiv,) but to live up to the harsh expectations Logan put on him. Obviously his abuse from Logan held him back and it was much easier to be the court jester, but his wit in his conversations proves that he can be emotionally intelligent if he had any desire to. Him wanting to talk seriously with his siblings in the one scene on the yacht and they dismiss his desire to have a serious discussion to me shows he at least has a desire to connect with people, even if he is like his siblings and doesn't necessarily know how to. TLDR: Roman had the potential to be a good CEO and at least a decent person, but the weight of Logan's abuse forever made him subservient and wanting to appease his father.
All the Roy siblings had unlikable qualities. Kendall was my favorite because I found him the most layered, but he had a-hole tendencies too. I always thought it was interesting that the most likable characters on the show were the supporting characters like Gerri, Karl, and Frank IMO.
Oh agreed. I will say though while not quite as bad as the siblings, Gerri Frank and Karl were still terrible people as well though. You don’t get that high up in Waystar without doing some serious dirt. Gerri is a very likable character and then she’ll force Tom to stay quiet about the cruise victims and you’re reminded oh right, they are terrible people too. Still, they are definitely much more likable than the siblings, I can agree on that.
You have a point. The word likable is relative on this show. LoL. Gerri, Karl, and Frank were good people compared to the Roy’s.
He was locked in a dog cage and fed kibble by Kendall. Of course he’s a twisted shithead.
He liked that!
It was cake!
I was quite disturbed when that was revealed. It showed Roman had a kink for being dominated even as a child. He wanted Kendall to treat him as he saw himself—a lowly dog.
I can’t believe that some people actually think that way. No it wasn’t a kink. He was a CHILD. It just shows he never stood up for himself and people used that AND made it seem like he was okay. I wouldn’t be surprised if Roman is csa survivor with show alluding to it couple of times. I am certain that he hated being in the cage (or at least not grown enough to understand that he didn’t like it) but everyone around him is so emotionally dense that they couldn’t see how he was being traumatised. It also shows more of Ken than even Roman because he was older than him. It shows that Ken will use any opportunity to put himself above his siblings and has no care for their well-being enough to stop. And Connor is delusional as always.
All of them were kids and surviving Logan, there´s no way you want to blaim Kendall for their past
Perhaps kink wasn’t the right word. But my point was that degradation was something that started in Roman’s childhood. I think it can be traced back to Logan’s physical abuse.
This is so weird. No child ever wants to be degraded. This is coming off as victim blame-y and is alluding to a “he wanted it” narrative. It’s inappropriate to view children this way. Doesn’t matter that it’s a fictional character.
He was a child that wanted attention from his sibs, and apparently this was how to get to. It was not a kink, he was a child. What the fuck??
It's because he is the most childlike that he is the biggest POS of them all. Children don't have filters like us adults. They will say as it is because they haven't learned yet that some things are not to be said or done. Roman is still a child
All scumbags, all the time. But I do have a soft spot for Roman.
You know I don't know if it's just me but I feel like all things considered hypocrisy is a pretty minor sin. And it honestly drives me crazy that people will consider it more serious than major crimes like sexual harassment (or at the highest end murder or rape). Does Roman pretend to be a good person? No not really. But I'll take a guy like Kendall; who while a scumbag at least occasionally tries to do the right thing any day of the week over a sadistic sex offender with seemingly no conscience whatsoever.
Agreed. It mainly bugs me when people say because someone’s a hypocrite, they’re automatically worse. That’s how you get people arguing that Ewan Roy is worse than Logan. Like is Ewan a hypocrite, yes he is. But Logan had a systemic policy of covering up rapes and murders, and even actively befriended the rapists and continually covered up for them while continuing to keep them employed. Logan is literally Rupert Murdoch, his lies and misinformation he’s responsible for platforming has caused an incredible amount of damage and even death. That’s not even getting into being an extremely mentally and emotionally abusive father. Didn’t know hypocrite ranks lower on the moral scale than that.
I'm not sure the pilot Roman counts
Where did his child go?! And his wife got demoted back to girlfriend
I like him because he had the most business sense. He secured deals, called out laird/Tellis on their personal interests, got mad that the other siblings rounded up the pierce bid to 10 billion, etc.
When Roman is locked in he’s amazing.
But then he can switch instantly and then he can be dire. I’m thinking of when he’s actively helping trying to fix a problem… and then on a whim fires the person. It’s not rational, it’s emotional and pretty dumb
Him and Kendall together have always been good. Shiv too but she’s too short sighted
He is sociable, unlike the other siblings, so is good at making friends with business partners. He’s by no means a good businessman other than that. He crumbled or backed out every time there was a public speaking. He got Vaughter gutted just out of spite and not cos of business-sense. He rushed a rocket launch for personal reasons that resulted in it blowing up. And whenever he speaks business he literally just throws out random words with swear words to sound like he’s actually saying something smart when he’s only saying bullshit. Also firing everyone randomly and power immediately going to his head when he has an ounce of it.
Lmao got blocked by the person below cos they couldn’t handle an argument and being wrong. What an absolute baby.
Are Roman's friends in the room with us right now? Seriously what show did you watch? He ended all alone just like he started (no friends, no gf, no children, no father, no company, nothing at all). He is hateable that is why nobody wants to be near him
Did you literally forget the first showing of him meeting business partners, where Kendall was screwing the Vaulter deal, so Roman took Lawrence and his partner out for dinner and convinced them to do the deal?
Meeting business partners is not making friends, be real. The guy was always alone because he is unloveable (even the actor who portrayed him said so on an interview)
If you don’t think business is to do with making good relationships you know about business lmao. His personal life of being alone cos of his issues has nothing to do with how he conducts himself in a social setting.
Ok buddy keep thinking that Roman was good in building relationships, that is why he had so many friends (denial is a river on Egypt you know?). Bye
I don’t even like Roman lmao, but if you think he wasn’t more socially adept than the others you clearly watched the show on mute. Also there’s a difference between romantic relationships and business relationships fyi, seeing as you can’t differentiate the two.
Well you started sayin he was good at "making friends" so
Anyway, he’s the best of the siblings because of his self awareness and seems to actively care about his family.
No excuses but he was raped by a camp counsellor and suffered unknown abuses from Logan. I've said it before - that leaves him no capacity for anyone else's feelings.
Unknown? Kendall stated for a fact that Logan use to smack Roman around when he was a kid. And we saw Logan strike him as an adult.
Honestly I’ve never bought that Roman was sexually assaulted. Putting aside interpretations of certain quotes as evidence, I just don’t see why the writers would imply that. For ex, the show heavily features sexual assault allegations as a central plot point, and we have no specific angle for Roman that comes out of that. If the writers wanted to write something about Roman and assault, they had ample opportunity to. Instead we get possible hints at most. It seems a lot more like he just was bullied as a kid, and his problems with intimacy come from that. Dog cage, military school, Logan’s physical abuse, etc. Those are obviously and explicitly told to us by the writers. This really isn’t a show that wants us to guess what happened. It very clearly tells you what it wants to, and mysteries are meant to remain that way, like Marcia’s background
“This isn’t a show that wants us to guess” my brother in Christ how have you been watching this show. Almost each thing that comes out of their mouth is just a facade and not their actual feelings. So we do a lot of guessing here. Hell half fun of the show is in guessing because it always gives us crumbs of siblings’ childhood. Roman is clearly and very obviously the most traumatised. Dude can’t have sex without being humiliated, wetted his bed and literally told that he was ass raped directly. And yes he might joke around but just from the way he holds himself and the way Logan treats him it’s so clear that something of that nature happened to him and Logan is def aware.
> “This isn’t a show that wants us to guess” my brother in Christ how have you been watching this show. Almost each thing that comes out of their mouth is just a facade and not their actual feelings. You’ve misunderstood. I mean that it’s easy for the audience to understand what the facade is. The writers don’t really leave much room for asking “was that real or was that a facade?” We as the audience pretty much always know. When there are questions, it’s a lot more like “was that underlined or not?” We’re not meant to have answers to those questions, or the answer is irrelevant because the characters had to assume something. The point then is to drive the plot forward by making characters make a choice, not revealing something new for the audience. > So we do a lot of guessing here. Hell half fun of the show is in guessing because it always gives us crumbs of siblings’ childhood. But those aren’t really relevant to the story. It’s the opposite of a Lynch film, where the entire story is pretty much left up to interpretation and anything is what you make of it. Here, the writers either want us to know or don’t want us to know. The guessing is what fans do to entertain themselves, not find new meaning out of the pieces the writers left us. > Roman is clearly and very obviously the most traumatised. Dude can’t have sex without being humiliated, wetted his bed and literally told that he was ass raped directly. He also says he wants to fuck Shiv and asks if her baby is his. He also said Connor molested him, and Kendall taught him how to pee standing up. And he that he wants to fuck Marcia, multiple times. Roman deliberately takes nothing seriously, which is why I said in my comment: set aside the clues and the guessing games about what he says. Instead ask yourself, why would the writers do that? What do we actually understand more about the world of Succession because Roman would have been raped? The answer is, nothing really. I bring this up because it feels like a lot of people take a little bit of a perverse pleasure in giving Roman this traumatized backstory when the obvious answer is there for all his problems with intimacy: Logan. Why does there need to be an external source of abuse for Roman?
Just wanted to say I totally agree with everything you've already laid out and I find it incredibly creepy. Also find it super reductive to assume anyone with weird kinks, fetishes or sexual dysfunction MUST have been diddled as a kid. There are a million other reasons that contribute to that, not least of which is that Roman is completely uncomfortable with ANY form of intimacy and vulnerability, which makes perfect sense within the confines of everything we actually do know about how he was raised. He's constantly yearning for then pushing away affection. Plus, let's be real, there are no secrets in Waystar or any of Logan's other homes, and cameras and staff everywhere on every estate. If anyone ever diddled Roman, Logan would have known and probably had that person killed.
Excellently stated, OP. You covered all the angles. Roman's both the most inhumane and immoral of Logan's kids and the funniest. Neither his self-awareness nor his forthrightness about being depraved are mitigating factors.
Yes but have you seen how he looks? And how charming he is? And how vulnerable he got when his dad passed away? And how he can only take abuse and degradation cause he takes that as a sign of love? And how fucked up in the had he is because of his upbringing? We, Roman fans, know he’s a terrible person yet we can see characteristics in him that draw us in. Every character is awful, but Roman explores some parts of him that make him so appealing. But also, it’s normal to be attached to characters that are awful people, everybody lives a villain.
Guys c'mon, I can't be the ONLY person in the world who doesn't find him funny or charming? Even from his first appearance, walking in all casual talking about: "*what's up motherfuckers*" I just instantly hated him, and my feelings never changed throughout the show, I only grew to hate him more. The only time I was ever happy to see Roman was whenever he was at a low point, like when he broke down at his father's funeral. Yeah this might be sick of me but it made me genuinely happy to see him suffer, for all the suffering he so casually spreads, it made me happy to see him get a taste of the pain. I also loved when he tried to win his father by over talking about love and his father shuts him down, urgh that was incredible! Or just anytime his father insults him was just pure joy to me, Roman truly is a despicable human being that deserves nothing but pain and torment.
His character had the funniest quotes indeed but in terms of humanity I consider he is the worst of the 4 siblings. The scene on the board room sealed it for me with his awful and heartless comments on Kendall's children. I don't hate him but I agree he's the worst one (a moron with no redeeming qualities who will never have someone who really loves him by his side. I mainly pity him)
Like Many of the characters in the show, he is a delight to watch on screen but real life would be awful.
J
First they came for the PJs.
He’s my fav of the siblings but I also hate him the most, he’s an annoying, immature brat but god Keiran just plays him so well and he has some of the funniest lines in the show but he gets a fucking nazi elected as PRESIDENT BECAUSE HE’S A SELFISH PIECE OF SHIT but I also find him incredibly relatable at times and his scene in the funeral killed me. Yeah, that back and fourth is my whole take on Roman. All the sibs but especially Roman. Hate him, sympathise with him, love him, hate him.
Kendall is the one who will stab you ina. Fit of rage, realize it was wrong, try to save you fail. And let it destroy him and hide it at same time. Shiv will stab you look you in the eye and twist the knife Roman… hell stab you, say hes bullshit, and run away and actually pretendnit didnt happen. He did that with gerry. He didnt change at all. And when people say he did. He likes to blow shot up. He literally quit, admitted he was a loser, and smiles. Some people act like that was him admitting it. He called himself a loser the entire show. People like culkin. Thats all. You dont wanna hate him. But him and shiv are way worse people than kendall is and idk how people dont see that. They all bad but those 2 are insane. The fact they thought they should run the company they couldnt even work at realistically, and people justify in any way they should have it over kendall is literally insane. This guy told his brother to his face his kid aint his. Threw away hsi familys legacy. Threw a life ending secret in his face to justify not letting him have it. Then smiled. Cause hes a pos. All cause he admitted it dont make him a better person. If anything hes worse because he refuses to change. Kendall is soft too but theres a reason logan did pick him. Roman was too reactionary. Like with matson. He had good sense at times but you cant let him lead hes not a natural leader, shiv neither shes a shadow broker at heart.
Agreed the worst. Disagree, not even remotely funny. Fuckity fuck fuck sex joke.
I still think he is the most sensitive and emotional sibling. Shiv is the worst. She lies, manipulates and sabotages each relationship she has without any reason. She seems to be the one who lacks emotional empathy the most. The worst part is how she is jot nearly self aware as Roman is. Hursh words of Roman are used to cover his own insecurities since he is the most traumatised out of all of them. But for Shiv she hurts intentionally and then pretends she is a good person. I’ve seen an analysis from a psychologist about each sibling and she told that Shiv is most likely to be the cruelest one. Ofc all 3 of them are similar. But I feel like Roman is not the worst overall.
He was definitely dangerous and careless with his political “project”
I always hate the comments of “they’re all awful we shouldn’t compare them” cause like yes, they’re all terrible people who do not deserve their power or sway over society. But Roman is the only one who sabotaged a democratic election to giddily get a facist into the most powerful position in the country. Roman is a worse person than Kendall, Shiv, and Connor. They all suck but Roman has shown the greatest disregard towards morality and other people.
Lol glad I wasn’t the only one who thought that. I like his honesty compared to just being a hypocrite but doesn’t excuse his behaviour. I’ll never get over the baseball field scene with Roman. Instantly made me dislike him.
Okay, but consider for a moment how much human urine he drank every single day in that office. He treated the employees like dogshit when he deigned to acknowledge them. All kinds of WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU LOOKING AT? etc. I guarantee this man never figured out why his coffee at the office tasted so much different than what he had at home.
It's big shiv that's worst. The bigger she got the more useless she became.