WARNING: All the spoilers are uncensored
Introduction:
Succession is a comedy-drama TV series about Waystar RoyCo, an enormous media company that operates globally. It centers around Logan Roy, the 80-year-old CEO of the conglomerate and his three (they’re four actually, but more on that later) children, all of whom share the same goal: to take their father’s place and lead Waystar on their own.
It takes some inspiration from the Murdoch family, and ATN (the news network Waystar owns) is heavily based on Fox News, the American right-wing network. I think that’s enough information to give you an idea of how awful the Roys and their associates are. They make the characters from Mad Men look like saints.
My General Impression:
This show has had such a huge impact on me, to the point that I can’t stop thinking about it, and it’s hard to explain why. I think it has a lot to do about the themes, it explores many subjects that I find intriguing such as: power struggles, complicated family relationships (especially between siblings), moral flexibility and greed.
Another aspect of Succession that got me hooked is the character writing. All the recurring characters have such compelling personalities! The ways they interacted with one another is so vibrant too. I pay a lot of attention to dialogue so I was very entertained.
It’s not a perfect show though. There’s unnecessary overacting at times for the sake of comedy. Also the way it portrays how businesses operate is not very realistic. But these things weren’t much of an issue to me.
The Characters
Logan Roy
Logan Roy is the CEO of Waystar. Many things are left vague about his past, but he’s a basically self-made billionaire thanks to his strong work ethic and deeply evil ways of operating. He is truly frightening. He treats his family awfully so it’s not like he has any reservations about anyone else either. He's a very complex character and Brian Cox, the actor playing him is phenomenal, but I'm interested in writing about his children more.
Kendall Roy
Logan’s first son with his second wife Caroline, and his second overall. Although Logan had reassured Kendall that he’d step down and leave him in charge of Waystar, in the first episode he announces that his mind is changed. He says that he will keep being the CEO and that the one who will succeed him is still up to air. This decision sents Kendall’s life into a downward spiral, because he was lead to believe up to that point that being the CEO of Waystar was his birthright.
Kendall claims that he wants to make Waystar a “good” company, yet he’s repetitively shown to be awful to his employees, his ex-wife and children. His skills as a businessman aren’t that great either. It’s easy to sympathize with him though. I’ve expressed before how I detest “badass” stoic guy protagonists, and in these type of shows they’re very common. To my delight, Kendall is the opposite of that. He is so sad and lonely! Whenever he tries to do something cool he just looks pathetic. Couldn’t help but feel sort of bad for him.
Siobhan “Shiv” Roy
Logan’s third child with Caroline. She’s the youngest of the four and the only daughter. Unlike the rest of her family, she is a liberal, so you’d expect of her to be the nicer one of the bunch. On the contrary, as the show progresses, we get to see that Shiv is power-hungry, manipulative and has little moral inhibition. Like her father, she isn’t loving. Like Kendall, she aspires to be the CEO, only she doesn’t show it that much. I loved those aspects of hers, they were very refreshing, since in most TV shows with male-dominated casts women often serve as the compassionate, morally good type of characters.
However, she’s not one dimensional and has aspects that make her likeable. In particular, it’s sad how none of the men in her life take her seriously and she wants to be part of a system that doesn’t want her by design. People around her really view her as the token woman and only find use in her when sexual scandals arise and they need someone to be like: “We’re not sexist! We have a woman with a good position here”.
Roman Roy
Logan’s second child with Caroline. The youngest boy. When Roman is first introduced, he’s shown to be absolutely incapable of holding his job as the new chief operating officer of Waystar, and him becoming the successor of Logan seems to be the most illogical thing in the world. He’s erratic, immature and has the same sense of humor as an edgy teenage boy. Surprisingly, as some episodes go by we get to see that he has some great qualities in business. He is great at earning the trust of really shitty powerful men because he knows what they want to hear. If those aren’t enough reasons to hate him already, he’s also deep into right wing spaces.
Genuinely one of the most intriguing characters in anything ever. I’ve never sympathized with and loathed someone on the screen at the same time as much as him. It is heavily implied that Roman was the only one of the kids who got physically punished by Logan and the one who suffered the most emotional abuse. As a result, he has developed a twisted sense of worth and a sexual fixation on being humiliated, something which has fundamentally damaged him. Nevertheless, out of all his siblings he is the one who loves his father the most and doesn’t hold him accountable for anything! He doesn’t have a single happy memory with that man and yet... Moreover, one of his most fascinating aspects is his infatuation with the general counsel, Gerri, who is around 20 years his senior. I’m indifferent to 95% of romance out there, but I developed a soft spot for these two, even though it was certain that nothing good would come out of it.
Connor Roy
Logan’s first child ever, with his first wife, who is never shown or named. He’s significantly older than his three half-siblings. He doesn’t show much interest in business and spends his days doing irrelevant rich guy things. Connor is used at being the one on the sidelines, so he doesn’t crave Logan’s approval nearly as much as his brothers and sister and he’s a happier person by comparison. He wants to become the president of US, a very normal aspiration, especially for someone without any prior experience in politics or anything else.
Tom Wambsgans
Shiv’s boyfriend (and by the end of season 1 husband) who has a high position job in Waystar. There are worse characters in this show, but there’s something about Tom that makes him more insufferable than everyone to me. Probably the fact that he’s a huge bootlicker. Kendall, Shiv and Roman are all opportunistic, but they do have some core beliefs they stand for. Tom just wants to get richer and there’s no boot he’s not willing to lick to achieve that. Shiv and him have a very dysfunctional relationship, and even though they do kind of love each other, Shiv just wants to be with other men and Tom is basically a goldigger, in a way. Also he’s too ugly and stupid for Shiv and my heart couldn’t take it when they were together in any scene.
Greg Hirsch
Cousin Greg is Logan’s great nephew. He suddenly appears in his life in episode one asking for a job, and Logan gives him one. Tom takes him under his wing and Greg's life changes drastically. Untill then, he didn’t have much money to his name and nothing going for him. Despite his awkward personality and submissive role, Greg is not completely powerless and learns how to climb the corporate ladder pretty quickly.
Tom developed with him a bizarre friendship/mentorship/toxic psychosexual relationship that served as comic relief. In my opinion, Tom is frustrated with how Shiv treats him, but he can’t speak out or he puts his career in risk. So by pestering her dumb cousin Greg, a fellow member of the Roy family, he gets to let off steam.
The Ending
Shiv was 100% right for not voting against the GoJo acquisition. We’ve seen countless times how incompetent Kendall is. His ego is out of proportions. And neither Roman nor she would be any better. Becoming CEOs is just an unhealthy obsession that was cultivated by their shitty dad. The sale was the best option. I’m glad that Logan, Shiv and Roman didn’t get their happy ending. They’re inmates of their own prisons, after years of manipulation by their own father. Nice!
WARNING: Spoilers are highlighted with black
Introduction:
I finished playing Baldur’s Gate 3 (BG3) for the first time on February 2026. It’s a critically critically acclaimed RPG that was released in 2023 by Larian Studios and most of its mechanics and worldbuilding are based on the 5th edition of Dungeons and Dragons. It’s worth mentioning that I haven’t played any of the previous installments of Baldur’s Gate so I can’t compare this game with its predecessors.
My General Impression:
I really like RPGs, I love creating my own characters and have them make decisions that affect the settings they’re in. And BG3 is soooo good at this, it features such great freedom of choice in a well thought out way that very few games actually manage to do. Another element that I greatly enjoyed in the game are the maps. There was something to do in every corner! More often than not, big games like that feel very empty. I also love the turned-based combat it offers, I understand why some people think it’s dull, but personally I find real-time combat exhaustive and I like having time to plan things out.
Now it's time for listing the flaws. I wish it featured a better starting tutorial because I wasn’t familiar with the mechanics of DnD at all before I had played the game. It took me an embarrassingly long amount of time to even get the basics. Also, the worldbuilding of DnD and therefore of BG3, is not amazing. It’s very typical high fantasy stuff as one would expect. For example, all of the goblins are evil, so most of the drows, deep gnomes and duergar. There isn’t much nuance. But maybe it was for the best I suppose, because that way things are easier to understand and I didn’t have to learn three novels worth of lore in order to get what’s going on. My last complaint is that the overwhelming majority of companions and pretty much all the important NPCs are humans or elves or half-elves! It drove me crazy considering there are many other races available in the game.
My Character and the (most important) Companions
The Custom Character: The custom character I created for my first playthrough was Mirla, a deep gnome ranger. I played her as someone who has good intentions but doesn’t always make the right choices. As I said, most of the other characters are humans or elves so she stuck out like a sore thumb. I don't regret picking a gnome though at all. In my opinion, small races (gnomes,dwarves and halflings) make interesting protagonists in fantasy settings since they're underdogs and get made fun of.
In my playthrough I freed Orpheus, fought against the Emperor and commanded the Netherbrain to destroy itself and the tadpoles. Mirla turned into a Mind Flayer as a noble sacrifice and chose to imprison herself in the ending. That’s considered a good ending and I’m glad that I got to do it on my first try.
A picture of Mirla during Act I :)
Lae'zel is a githyanki fighter. As most of the githyanki, she was raised in a very militant society that instilled in her a strong sense of honour and zero tolerance for showing vulnerability.
She was surprisingly likeable and cute even though she looked down on every other race and wanted to deal with every single issue through intimidation and violence. She was also not ar human/elf/half-elf and that’s another reason why I ended up liking her so.
In the finale she left with Orpheus to help her people.
Shadowheart is a gothy half-elf cleric. After a few hours of gameplay, it is revealed that she’s a worshipper of Shar, the malicious goddess of loss.
Despite her mysterious past and edgy appearance, she was one of the kindest and most reasonable companions. She also was one of the best written ones to me and the more information about her past was revealed the more intriguing she became. Plus, I loved her voice it was very soothing.
I wasn't able to prevent her from killing Nightsong because I’m dumb, but I helped her restore her memories, forsake Shar and save her parents.
Astarion is a half-elf rogue with suspiciously red eyes. After like 2.5 hours max, it is revealed that he’s a vampire. On top of that, he was a slave for 200 years before the events of the game! He’s one of the most beloved characters online so even if you’ve never played the game, there's a great chance that you’ve encountered horny art of him.
He's very sarcastic. Sometimes in a hilarious way, sometimes in an annoying way. Due to his very painful past, I couldn’t really be mad at him for being an asshole. He had plenty of vulnerable moments that I enjoyed though. I understand why Astarion is so popular with the fans and I really liked him as a character, but he just didn't do it for me.
It was very cathartic when I let him kill his master, Cazador. I chose to not let him ascend because that required letting so many people die.
Gale is a human wizard. He has what is best described as a magic ticking time bomb inside his chest, because he flew a bit too close to the sun.
Gale was a wise and funny (in a gentle way unlike Astarion) guy. I barely used him and I'm not sure why. As a result, I don’t really have anything remarkable to say about him.
I didn’t let him become a god, that would have obviously been a bad thing.
Wyll AKA Blade of Frontiers is a human warlock who has sworn to protect people from monsters. There’s a dark secret beneath his heroism and friendly demeanor: He gave his soul to a cambion in order to obtain powers and his father exiled him from Baldur's Gate because of that.
Wyll was easily my favourite companion. I’m a sucker for nice, righteous characters who hide their sadness. I loved his backstory and every time I think about it I get emo. I didn’t romance or even slept with anyone in the game because I’m a dull person, but in my next playthrough I’m going to do his route.
I saved his father even though that renewed his contract with the cambion. Moreover, he assumed the title of the Blade of Avernus instead of becoming a politician, which I think is for the best.
Karlach is a tiefling barbarian. Despite her intimidating appearance, she’s very sweet and cheerful. Karlach was also a slave before the events of the game AND she's a ticking time bomb. Give her a break.
Another popular character, and I can see exactly why. It was so nice seeing a strong athletic woman who was not mean or evil. She was also very powerful so I always had her at my party during combat.
In the finale of my playthrough she went with Wyll to Avernus to fight demons. I loved that cutscene it was adorable.
The (less important) Companions:
Halsin is a druid elf. He was OK. I didn't make much use of him, but he was helpful when I invaded the goblin camp.
Jaheira is another white-haired half-elf just like Astarion. She's a druid too, just like Halsin! It bothered me so much, I wish there had been more variety. She has some interesting quests in Act 3 with the harpers. After finishing the game, I learnt that she’s originally a character from Baldur’s Gate 2
Minsc is a human ranger. He was basically the stupid muscular comedy relief character who refered to himself in the third person. I liked him and his hamster fine, but I didn't make use of him at all. He's originally from BG2 too.
Minthara is a drow paladin. I didn't recruit her because I didn't know it was an option! I killed her in the goblin camp... I will make sure to recruit her it in my next playthrough she seems interesting.
Trainspotting by Irving Welsh
Trainspotting is about dysfunctional twenty-somethings living in an impoverished town in Scotland. The main character, Renton, is a heroin addict who goes through periods of quitting and relapsing time after time. A movie was released in 1993 based on it and it's considered pretty good, but I haven't watched it yet.
Coup de Grace by Marguerite Yourcenar
A short story set in the Baltics during the Russian Civil War. To explain this book as simply as humanly possible, it follows a mercenary during his stay at the home of a childhood friend.
A relative translated it from french to greek (for fun, they're not a professional translator) and sent it to me and other family members as a pdf. to read. I enjoyed reading it wholeheartedly and it left me devastated, in a good way. The style of writing was very beautiful and original and it was my favourite aspect of it. The main character is morally awful but it was so intriguing to read from his point of view. I also don't think I've ever read something set in the Baltics so it was interesting to get a taste of that.
Some lines and moments haven't left my brain ever since I read it. The ending was so so good...
WARNING: Spoilers are highlighted with black
Description:
Mad Men is a period drama set in the '60s and it's about some people who work in an advertising agency in New York. It was created by a writer on Sopranos, another popular show which is widely praised for its writing and it's 7 seasons long. The main character is Don Draper and the rest of the reccuring characters are mainly his coworkers, his clients, his family and his love interests.
My General Impression:
I'm a big fan of the sixties art-wise and historically and that played a huge role to how much I ended up enjoying the show. I also loved the dialogues and the banter between the characters and I even liked the coorporate aspect of the show, even though I wasn't sure if it'd be my thing. Most characters are very hateable because of how immoral and they are, especially for today's standards, but in a way that is very interesting to watch. My main complaint is how the show is pretty repetitive and there are arcs that certain characters go through again and again. I also feel like I have to address that there's so much adultery going on, which doesn't affect negatively the quality of the show, it just becomes funny after a point. I don't know if anyone has ever counted the total number of times someone in the cast cheats on their partner, that number would be astronomical. According to imdb, Don alone had 19 mistresses throughout the show.
Main Characters
Don: He's the creative director of the agency. I usually don't like the kind of main characters who are stoic, excellent at what they do and for the lack of a better term "badass" (for example Spike from cowboy bebop or Corto Maltese*) like Don. However he's written to be complex and flawed enough to be interesting and he wasn't always portrayed as this super intelligent plus charismatic guy. I didn't root for him for a second though but as I said, most characters are supposed to be unlikeable. I'm satisfied with his his ending.
Peggy: She gets introduced in the first episode as Don's new secretary and she's my favourite character in the whole show. She's the most grounded character out of everyone and in retrospect I don't think I'd even finish watching season 1 if it weren't for her. Her storyline had to do mostly about being a woman in an openly sexist workplace and her desire to rise through the ranks. I appreciate how her struggle was shown in a somewhat realistic manner and it wasn't another story about how a woman proved herself and everyone started respecting her and that sexism was defeated etc etc.
Pete is a young man of prestigious background who works as an account executive. He's one of the most love-to-hate characters to me, he's self-entitled to the extreme and wants everything to go his way all the time. He didn't deserve his wife Trudy or anyone who gave him the time of day, but there were moments that I did empathize with him. His peak to me was in seasons 5 to 6, some of the greatest moments in the show were with him. I had the time of my life watching him fail and go through intense situations.
Joan is the office manager in the beginning of the show. Peggy and she (the women with the most screentime in the office) didn't get along at first but they developed a strong friendship after many years of working together, in a way that felt authentic. She manages to keep her composure despite every man in the show disrespecting her and I'm glad in the end she got what she wanted.
Sterling: I don't really have anything to note, but it feels weird to not mention him because he's a very important character. He works at the agency too. His arc about his fear of death was really good. He's (guess what) also very hateable, especially in the first two seasons.
Betty: Betty is a stay at home mom and Don's wife (until the end of season 3, in which they get divorced). I'm a Betty apologist. Yes she is a bad mother and a very immature person. But I just can't help feeling bad for her. This is not an excuse for everything but she was product of her time and it's weird how many fans of the series admire Don, who is a bad parent too but can't stand Betty. Everyone got a somewhat good ending expect for her, in the second to last episode she was told that she had less than a year to live... Why her...
* I know a lot of people consider cowboy bebop one of the greatest anime of all time, but I've tried to watch it twice and I just couldn't get through it. It has a great atmosphere and it is visually beautiful but I just couldn't care about anything that was going on! Spike is so boring. I've also only read only one issue of Corto Maltese and I didn't think much of it, but I want to give it another shot because I love sailors and comics with nice inking.Other Characters I have stuff to write about:
Ken, another employee at the agency had fascinating character development. He started as a cheerful, chill guy and ended up completely cynical, neurotic and even revengful. His job took everything from him! He wrote as a hobby and even had some of his work published! But he was forced to quit doing that. Despite everything he still didn't cheat on his wife though, not even once. Congratulations.
Bob (also an employee) doesn't appear in many scenes but in the ones he is in, he's amazing. Very mysterious and manipulative, but charming and with good intentions at the same time. Like Don if he was friendly and helped others.
Michael, a copywriter who gets introduced in season 5 is probably my favourite character right after Peggy. He's more talented creatively than Don but he lacks basic social skills and that holds him back from getting opportunities. Like Betty he has a tragic ending, his mental health was never great to begin with but it deteriorated so much that he had to be hospitalized and he never returned to the show.
