There Was Nothing Fake About Greg And Tom's Bathroom Brawl In Succession's Finale
This article contains spoilers for the series finale of "Succession."
One of the most enjoyable parts of watching the hit HBO series "Succession" was getting to see its wild television bromance between Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen) and Gregory Hirsch (Nicholas Braun). The two were both semi-outsiders to the Roy family clan, because Tom was only an in-law, married to Siobhan Roy (Sarah Snook), while Greg was Logan's great-nephew, the grandson of the patriarch's brother, Ewan (James Cromwell). They're both awkward and tall and a little too ambitious, and they became one of TV's greatest odd couples of all time.
The duo came a long way in four seasons, from being two outsider oddballs to the Disgusting Brothers to being the CEO of Waystar-Royco and his personal whipping boy. Along the way they've had their fair share of tussles, even trading physical blows, but nothing compares to the final throwdown they had in the series finale, "With Open Eyes." In an interview with Variety, Macfadyen revealed that the fight looked so exceptionally real because it was, and he and Braun were hitting one another with significant force. You have to break a few Greggs to make a Tomelette, after all.
A bathroom blitz
In the finale, Tom discovers that Greg called Kendall (Jeremy Strong) and told him about Tom's being named as the new CEO of Waystar-Royco. It's a massive betrayal, and Tom asks Greg to chat with him in a bathroom. They end up physically fighting one another, slapping and wrestling in the restroom before Tom straightens his hair and walks back out. It turns out that the pair were really fighting each other in those cramped quarters, as MacFayden told Variety:
"I think we did, like, four or five takes, and a couple of angles. It was only a tiny bathroom on the set, so the operator can only get in one corner or the other. And we had a stunt coordinator, but we just decided to go for it and hit each other. It was really good fun. [...] That was real slapping, yeah! We just thought, 'Oh, let's go for it.' I trust Nick implicitly, and vice versa. He really hit me — you can see my shock, because he just conks me on the face. He slaps me on the face in that take they used."
The fight, which starts when Tom slaps Greg across the side of his head and then Greg full-on face-slaps Tom, isn't the kind of choreographed fights we're used to seeing on scripted TV and feels more like a pair of co-eds scuffling on a reality TV show, but that's part of the charm of it. "Succession" feels so carefully produced and tightly written that having moments of real spontaneity can be a breath of fresh air.
A new dynamic for the Disgusting Brothers
The fight was kind of funny because of the cramped surroundings and the two men just slapping away at one another, but it signaled a change in the pair's relationship. They've always been contentious as well as friendly, but that was a betrayal on Greg's part that pushed Tom over the edge. He's thrown things at Greg (water bottles, mostly), flipped a desk during a rage at the man, and more, but this beatdown felt unusually rough. Then again, Tom ended up forgiving Greg anyway, because (according to Macfadyen), he just really likes the guy being around. Their friendship is a strange and toxic one, but it made for compelling television.
Tom now has more power than he really knows what to do with, and it's interesting to think about how his relationships will change — not only with Greg, but with his wife Shiv. The finale's big shakeup, putting Tom at the top, changes everything, creating more questions about the future than any other ending could have. The only thing that seems for certain is that Tom will always need his Greg, even if it's just to beat up on.