Succession's Kieran Culkin Still Hasn't Figured Out Roman And Gerri
"Succession" is a show where the audience doesn't necessarily have anyone to root for, because the show, by design, is exploring the underbelly of some of the most despicable people on the planet. But there's an innate need to want something to root for. That, for a lot of viewers, came in the form of the characters' romantic relationships. Apologies to those who are still processing what the series finale had to say about Shiv and Tom's relationship, but the most compelling liaison across all four seasons was between Roman Roy (Kieran Culkin) and the much older Gerri Kellman (J. Smith-Cameron).
The Waystar Royco general counsel is crossing so many ethical lines by off-and-on humiliating Logan Roy's baby boy to the point of orgasm, but the magnetic energy between the two characters led to the most compelling relationship on the show. Their arrangement is taboo, it's dangerous, and it's "wrong," which makes every second they share on screen even sexier. Gerri is a fan-favorite for a reason, but what does it all mean? During a recent interview between Culkin and Claire Danes for Variety, Culkin admitted that the text of "Succession" never fully clarified what their relationship meant, but that he "knew that it made sense:"
"Something in my belly said, 'Yeah. This is working. I don't know what it is or why.' And if I tried to identify it, I feel like Roman wouldn't be able to identify it. So I tried to remain in the dark. I sort of thought, 'When the show's over, I can figure it out' — and I still haven't."
Danes' assessment is that Roman's interest in Gerri was probably Oedipal, and while that's probably closer to what series creator Jesse Armstrong was going for, I have an alternate assessment of why this relationship came to be.
She's hot, she's mean, she rules
Breaking news, but refined older women being mean to you is one of the hottest things you can experience. Of course, I'm not talking about entitled Karens berating minimum-wage service workers or clownish politicians causing material harm to marginalized communities by abusing their power. No, I'm talking about consensually submitting to a woman like Gerri Kellman, allowing her to poke at your deepest insecurities like it's her plaything, and telling you that you're "pathetic" or a "little slime puppy." Humiliation kinks are ridiculously common, an extension of the "step on me" style of thirsting that dominates social media.
Roman and Gerri's symbiotic relationship was birthed out of Roman recovering from humiliation after he failed miserably at phone sex. Gerri instructs him to "masturbate all your ideas out" and relentlessly insults him. Things famously advanced when Roman did the five-knuckle shuffle behind the bathroom door as Gerri denigrated him. Roman loves to be Gerri's "revolting little worm, giving us the legendary line, "I'd lay you badly, but I'd lay you gladly," in season 3.
Sex is being presented on screen at lower numbers now than they were in the 1970s, and there's been an alarming, puritanical push from folks to eliminate it altogether. Showing a pair like Roman and Gerri is doubly exciting for that reason alone. Look, I could spend hours playing armchair psychologist dissecting the intricacies of the power-play and Freudian explanations for why Roman and Gerri connected in this way, but that is far less interesting to me than just accepting at face value that these two play this game of cat and mouse because it's fun, it feels good, and it's titillating as hell.