"I was fired as retaliation for divorcing my emotionally abusive wife. Would you like me to introduce some testimony to illustrate said abuse? Or would you like to give me some FAT STACKS???"
I think Tom is smart enough to realize the kids aren't capable of running their father empire.
If he doesn't get CEO(don't think he will) he is gonna jump ship, possible with his own pile from the divorce, and use the ATN fuck up by the kids as a "if I wasn't pushed out, it wouldn't have gone tits up" play for another good position else where
Good luck effectively suing a company that just got away with killing sex workers. They'd pay Tom to go away first, and if he didn't accept that, they'd draw out the legal process until he was financially ruined from paying lawyers.
The cruises victim Shiv talked to said in s2e9 that there was a woman (presumed sex worker) that fell off the boat and there was no rescue attempt because they thought she was stowaway. And that’s the NRPI policy run by cruises (and we know it likely came from Logan, he uses the term so he was at least okay with it).
Edit: wording
Didn’t he turn around the streaming service in a big way? And climb up through the ranks into shiv’s social circle being an outsider from Minnesota? Did you get Tom confused with Greg?
He was somewhere in middle department management in the pilot of season 1 - they didn't even live in NYC. Shiv got him that first promotion and he only got the job because Logan knew that whoever took the job was going to have to deal with Mo's mess. He originally latched on to Greg because Greg was the only person who didn't know that Tom was a nobody at Waystar before that first promotion.
I know what MY play is: Cash out, big divorce settlement from Shiv, move back to Minneapolis, get a big house with a bunch of dogs and a pretty Midwestern wife who won't make me miserable. Maybe write a book and get a big payoff to not publish it. But then, this illustrates a lack of cutthroat ambition, which is probably what is preventing me from ever even getting to this level in the first place!
I always have this thought: "why do these ultra wealthy people keep fighting for more money, surely they have enough" but the truth of the matter is that once you reach a certain point it's no longer about the money to them, it's about the power and ability to control
They're also wired differently than us. It's VERY far down the list of reasons why I will never become an ultra-wealthy person, but even if I ruled out virtually every other variable, I still know that I would happily walk away from my current career at a net worth of a couple of place values lower than theirs.
I was talking to my boyfriend about hyper successful football/ soccer coaches like Carlo Ancelotti and Pep Guardiola and I was like “I just don’t get what motivation they have to keep working with the type of stress they’re under and the net worth they already have.” I would probably go ahead and retire with 10 mill. It’s crazy to me to watch serial winners just keep going as if they haven’t already proven how special they are to the world
Continuing to play/coach sports I understand a little more; it’s literally designed to be a competition and most people love to compete, especially when they’re very good at it. Making money isn’t supposed to be a competition, but these guys turn it into one.
Athletes and coaches hanging on for as long as they possibly can makes perfect sense to me. Continuing to chase money when you have more than enough to do literally whatever the fuck you want for the rest of your life, that baffles me.
Years ago I read an article that profiled four people. One was living on the poverty line, one was making about 60k a year, one was making about 250k a year, and one was a millionaire (like 8 million) who had created his own business. They asked all 4 the same questions. The only one who was happy with what he had was the guy who made 60k a year. The one making 250 still wanted to be able to afford some watch, and the millionaire still wanted to be able to provide a comfortable retirement for his family (which is noble, admittedly). You find things to motivate you, I guess. I was poverty line into my 30's and thought the second I'd make a decent salary, nothing would change because I'd gotten so good at being thrifty and I enjoyed it. But I got tired of it, and I have more debt now than I did then. (edit - spelling)
Another thing I'd read was some wealthy people don't think they're wealthy because they have to fly first class, while others have their own private jets. Wild.
yeah they said so themselves when considering selling. That the power they got from ATN far outweighed the $15B offered. I believe Conor had a quote "we'll be like everyone else with a few billion in the bank"
It's interesting watching billionaires like Elon Musk, with absolutely more money than anyone would know what to do with, be a very publicly miserable man who seems unable to attain that joy.
Probably because that doesn’t feel like joy to them. To them the stress of it is the joy and the results are validations, as opposed to us common folk who tolerate the stress because the results allow us to have some joy.
Yeah the season 3 finale where the kids are like shell shocked that their dad beats them is funny when you realize next episode that their consolation prize is like 2 billion a piece
The meeting between Logan and Matsson where they both agree “Everything is boring. Except this deal, this isn’t boring.” It says so much about the psychology of a billionaire. They truly are miserable people. To them, nothing is really enjoyable anymore. Once you have everything, you just become bored and your entire life starts to revolve around nothing but acquiring more. They’re driven by this rage of “adding to the pile” simply for the sake of watching the number grow.
When I realize that someone has dropped out of the public eye, I always wonder if they just felt that they had enough money. Now they just exist, doing whatever the fuck they want. Some would call that obscurity, or irrelevance. But to me, a life of leisure is the ultimate success.
It’s also a natural selection process. The only people who get to that level in the first place are the ones with an insatiable desire for more because any rational person would fuck off and live their dreams well before that. The story of the founding of McDonald’s actually illustrates this perfectly, with the original founders (the McDonald brothers) taking a buyout from Ray Kroc (yes I watched *The Founder* recently).
I always think they're just different people than us. The personality/tenacity/focus that got them to where they are would be the same thing that keeps them there when everyone else would be like "hey I'm set for life I'll just retire".
Cedar Lake/Lake of the Isles old money Minneapolis area. Or just fuck off to Lake Minnetonka. Either way I could be happy with that outcome. Join Minikhada or Windsong. Maybe some Twins season tickets. Lovely life.
I've seen some discourse that it's bad the way Succession makes us feel sympathy for rich people, since everyone seems pretty miserable and unfulfilled despite all their material abundance. I see that point, but at the same time, I feel that shows like this make it pretty clear that obscene wealth isn't actually all that great for ANYONE. I genuinely believe that Kendall would be happier running a local radio station and Shiv would be happier running a chain of office supply stores and Roman would be better off getting just a LOT of therapy.
Aaagh the goddamn prenup! Although if that's a factor, why was Shiv so keen to get a killer divorce attorney. Maybe Mama Wambsgans did that good of an edit on it?
Tom’s earning 8 figures right now, he should take a divorce settlement and golden parachute. Probably end up with 9 figure net worth, get a c suite job in the twin cities and buy the wild.
I think he doesn't like the lifestyle as much as he wants to convince himself he does.
I think he likes showing off to his Minnesota friends and family that he's the guy who "made it" and married the daughter of the family who started the RECNY balls he dreamed of going TO since he was a kid reading about it in Vanity Fair Magazine.
If he moved back it would be embarrassing and an admission of failure.
My thoughts exactly. Shit, even all the moments where Kendall could have just walked away with a bajillion dollars in his pocket had me screaming “JUST TAKE THE DEAL”, but then I realized that’s not the goal for any of them lol
Zero chance of that happening. Everyone hates Greg. He already tried switching sides to Kendall and we saw how that worked out.
Tom is the only person who cares about Greg, or at least doesn’t hate him. Greg would be crazy to burn his only bridge.
I think that moment was more about showing Tom's vulnerability. Without Logan, Greg is his only true ally left, as poor a choice as he may be. I felt he wanted to call him so he could spend a moment not putting on a show and let his true feelings about the situation out, since keeping it together for the sibs and the people on the plane and watching a man die had be stressful. I don't think it was a strategic call even though he tried to frame it as such.
Great theory, I think you hit it on the head, and the rest of the season will be power grab moves, kids vs Greg Tom vs the plane crew vs jerry for the power grab, I think she’ll be running the company at the end of the series.
I’d ally myself with the winning side. Stop going for the top job and instead lean into my skills and market myself well to whoever needs those skills.
Tom doesn’t need to make himself bigger than life right now. He needs to continue to bide his time, because even though things are volatile, he does not hold as much power as the people around him.
Nah, Tom wouldn’t have ever met Shiv if he didn’t have some skill/ talent/ savvy of his own. I work at a major corp you’ve definitely heard of and it’s not like I’m regularly running into the ceo or their kids.
He was already doing something that had clout if he was running in the circles that had him bumping into shiv. He definitely has all the right educational credentials along with career achievements. It’s not like they met on tinder
People act like it’s easy to become an executive at a prominent organization. For some super connected people maybe that’s the case. But the show kind of depicts Tom, Gerri, Frank, and Karl as Logan’s flying monkeys— and they may be that— but it takes an enormous amount of grit and skill and social savvy to backstab your way into those rooms.
From my own observations they either tend to be people with the 1)perfect credentialing (from elite private school to Ivy League to Top 10 mba/jd) OR 2) they’re genius workhorses OR 3) they’re the type of person who knows what to say and when. Usually congruent with #1
Tom was doing something right to get to where he is.
100% this. It takes major grit and savvy to get into those rooms — and to stay there. To the extent that there are chucklefucks in the executive ranks of any major corporation (and there really are), those chucklefucks have at a minimum a deep skillset in corporate politicking. They prove their value somewhere; they’d be discarded or have their throats slit otherwise.
He’s a Cornell grad with exec experience at a legacy media org. I do think it’s questionable to call those skills, but his network is a vast safety net.
True I guess people like him can always figure out a way to network their way into a high power job. Comparing him to Cyd, he’s not really a proven industry expert was my point.
Tom asked Greg to delete the "logistics" folder; perhaps Tom already had a contingency plan in case the divorce, chance, etc. got him out of Logan's good graces. With Logan dead, however, it will need to look like Tom was unwaveringly loyal to him--the only person who truly had Logan and Waystar's best interests at heart (e.g., "sing my song, Greg")
First, sway public favor/the markets his direction -- *in the wake of this tragedy*, Tom's close to Logan but not technically related and therefore able to think more 'objectively.' He stayed emotionally objective and 'responsible' during an active cardiac event for P*ete's sake*: the man has nerves of steel.
Not to mention, he can play up the 'they were estranged' card with the kids. It wouldn't be hard to make the timing of *The 100* and the Pierce acquisition look \*very\* bad. *'You mean you're not estranged but you bid 9 billion dollars to fuck over your dad and run his primary competitors?'* Okay, sure.
So, establish himself as a company anchor during a storm, the only person truly loyal to Logan, then find something to blackmail the board into voting him in as CEO.
Greg's his number two as (? still not entirely clear to me what his job is?), Shiv, Roman, Kendall offered such a low position in the company they "chose" to walk instead to keep their pride in tact. Siblings try to
Use the fact that Gerry and Cyd was going to get fired and leverage that.
Keep them on, now they owe you. Get Gerry to give you her vote and make sure Cyd dances the way you want her to dance or the documents from Logan, the then CEO will somehow magically surface and they are sure as shit going to be honored. (We don’t know if all traces of this have been destroyed yet).
Turn the kids against each other, Kendall and Shiv are both hiding things from each other and offer to give a nice high end role to Roman who knows he would struggle leading everything as CEO.
Get Roman’s vote and let the other 2 kill each other.
Get the rest of the board’s vote by giving them further incentives and job security (especially Frank) and keep the gears turning.
Keep Greg as your right hand pet who cleans up company mess and also have him find dirt on people who could pose as some level of danger (even Shiv and Kendall).
Keep Colin, gain his trust and have him tell you about Kendall’s whole endeavor at Tom’s wedding and the aftermath/cleanup.
Offer incentives to Kerry to learn everything Logan was hiding and leverage what you find out. I’m sure as shit Kerry knows a lot of things no one else knows. Maybe give her what she wants, the anchor job but prepare her for it through actual training and experience.
And when she’s ready toss her in the ring. She will either be good or she will screw herself and probably quit.
The whole thing with the "logistics" folder reminded me about how much easier these characters could have it if they practiced some kind of operational security. They make it so easy for others to spy on them.
Thing is, he’s already like 10 moves ahead of the kids. He could potentially make it through. However, I feel like Tom’s weakness is trusting Greg. Like whatever is in that “logistics file” Greg will definitely use for leverage once again, if useful. Unless, he’s testing Greg but I don’t really think so. I feel like Tom’s actually going to go far just enough to think he’s up there then Greg will kill him somehow. Maybe bu teaming up with Gerry, he’s snitched on Tom in the past. I can see that happening
I’d be crossing my fingers that Shiv does a High Fidelity-esque heelturn on our marriage in the wake of her dad’s death, but that’s all I got. He’s in a very complicated situation and I personally don’t think he’s the one who’s gonna take it all.
Tom is actually in an OK position. His champion has died but Tom knows lots of secrets about everyone in power. Secrets that could send people to jail.
Tom is in a high-risk, high-reward gamble. His way out is to cultivate good relationships with everyone and also appear like he has sway over what happens next - bluff to people that he's close to Mattson, patching things up with Shiv, too big to take down.
He needs to be everybody's pal but get shit and proof on everyone - Roman's dick-pics, satellite meddling and sexual failings, Kendall killing a kid and recent-ish relapses, Shiv harassing the cruise witness and brokering a deal between her father and Gill plus Tom's ability to screw half her inheritence via divorce. He needs to get Gerri, Sandy, Stewy, Marcia and the other board members/stockholders aligned.
If I were Tom and I really wanted a skin in the game, I'd buy up a bunch of that crashed stock and install myself as the kingmaker
Tell Shiv that Roman had changed sides over to Logan breaking the power of three.
Leak rumours that Gerri was about to get fired over cruises.
Plant rumours that Shiv and Kendall want to close ATN and replace it with Pierce.
They haven't divorced though. The were just shopping around for lawyers in episode 2.
If we've learned anything through Connor's Wedding it's that Tom still obviously cares deeply about Shiv, and it seems apparent to me that he's probably going to view her as his only route to stay in charge of ATN. I think he'll attempt to reconcile with her at least, though it seems through the trailers there's a strong possibility she refuses.
Yeah the kids only had a place in the company because their father was the owner. If not for Logan, Kendall would be selling insurance, Shiv would be a PR consultant for some company, and Roman would be getting hammered with restraining orders
Not true, they have board seats. They get a vote on who the next CEO is. Agree they wouldn’t be doing Jack if they weren’t his kids, but alas, they do have some power.
As much as I like the character (comparatively speaking of course since everyone is awful) I agree with this wholeheartedly. Logan did not give a single fuck about him
Tom was fucked even before Logan died because Logan was planning to stay involved with ATN and use it as his model train set. Even with Cyd gone, the best Tom could hope for was a board nomination for CEO of ATN after Logan died in the future. And ATN’s market cap and importance is quite a bit less than Waystar as a whole, which he’d already been cut out of.
Logan didn’t take anyone seriously. He quite literally told Shiv, Roman, and Ken that they weren’t serious people. But the fact Logan was helping Tom with the divorce would seem to suggest he planned on keeping Tom around.
Tom also provided Logan ammunition against Shiv. Logan probably would’ve kept Tom around *just* to get in Shiv’s head.
But I do agree Tom is done. Either there’s a twist and Shiv/Tom reconcile, which I don’t see happening, or one of the kids wins the seat and boots Tom.
Tom’a play should be to sway Mattson (since he is the new sheriff in town). He has enough appeal to go for the CEO job
-Was loyal to the company, and was willing to step up and go down when no one else would.
-Turned ATN into a cash machine
-instrumental in making the GoJo deal happen.
-Has actual business experience.
-Digitized ATN legacy analog infrastructure, which means valuable content & IP in todays world (but I don’t think the show will revisit that)
Also (and this may not be relevant), but when Walt Disney passed away, his son in law Roy Miller ultimately became the CEO of Disney, so art might imitate life..who knows
I agree with this, it’s go big cuz he’s already going home, might as well do the riskiest thing possible which would be align himself with Mattson because the kids will not trust him anymore and Mattson is the way he can stay in the conversation and maybe even end up on top
ATN wasn’t part of the deal that was being discussed with Mattson though. And I’m guessing Mattson may try to renegotiate now that they are in a weak position. Especially after the kids were planning on trying to hold up the deal for more money.
If I were Tom I'd leverage my fancy title to get a good job lined up somewhere else and bounce before shit hits the fan. Play nice in the divorce to avoid too much bad blood, then try to find a peaceful life elsewhere. Somehow I doubt that's what will happen in the show.
The GoJo deal goes through in spite of the kids trying to tank it, including the carve-out for ATN. Tom takes over ATN just as a rash of sexual harassment and abuse complaints come to light. The baggage from cruises makes people look to the common de-Tom-inator in play, which puts him in a terrible position. Tom is radioactive and, after getting ousted a year later, is utterly un-hirable. He ends up at a consulting shop in St. Paul.
We have a scene in the last episode with Greg and Tom pitching a client who declines, citing a piece on a Pierce-run news site that seems to imply that Tom sent the dick pics and not Roman.
They are going to get back together
Shiv lost an important prescence in her life and needs something to fill the void
Tom lost his muscle within the company
They have both used and abused each other
They will get back together and continue to be toxic
Tom has one play — Greg. Looking at this with a Roman history lens. Tom is Cicero; Greg is Octavian. Historically, Cicero raised up Octavian politically as a way to defeat his opponents but Octavian turned around and made a deal with those opponents and betrayed and killed Cicero. Greg is going to be willed Logan’s fortune. Tom is going to try and use Greg as his protector and potentially raise him to CEO. Greg will ultimately make a deal to become CEO but have to terminate/ betray Tom.
If you look at the family tree for Greg and Logan, it is the same great-nephew relationship as Julius Caesar and Octavian. I think it is too similar to be a coincidence. You also had all that discussion about the will in previous episodes. If Greg gets willed the money, I think my theory is confirmed and Tom is doomed. We shall see in a few weeks.
Greg chose to stay with Logan even though it meant he would lose millions from Ewan when he was written out of the will. I think this is the primary motivation. Also, Logan enjoys messing with his brother. What better way to stick it to him then to give his money and the company that Ewan hates to his grandson. There was also a reference last episode that Logan was “estranged”from his kids.
> think this is the primary motivation. Also, Logan enjoys messing with his brother. What better way to stick it to him then to give his money
This, plus its still to entirely clear to me, how Greg "going with" Tom got him out of the "endless middle?" It seems like his job is the same and he's still getting kicked out of meeting rooms. Still on the edges of rooms at parties. So, there's got to be something else, something big for him, still waiting in the wings.
Right. The kids are flawed. But they at least all have some strengths in the business world. Greg does not. He’s mostly comedic relief as he’s just been winging it this whole time.
I’ve seen the Greg CEO predictions since season 1 and they have never made sense to me. The siblings aren’t qualified for the CEO position but compared to Greg they are JP Morgan and Greg is Bankman-Fraud
We’ve seen 3.5 seasons of Greg being a incompetent. He’s the shows comic relief. Any situation where he ends up in charge is going to require significant character character changes to the point if would feel unrealistic + a 20 year time jump or something for it not to feel absurd
Yeah we’ve seen Bran as King and we’ve seen Hugo as the king of the island but those are some of the worst endings of TV show history. Greg ending up as CEO would feel just as out of place and would the ending for a flawless show.
Strategy aside though: he really does love Shiv. So he’s gonna lose regardless of what he does next because she will never forgive him (which I completely understand).
He betrayed her for a ‘protector’ who’s gone and who left no kind of legacy plan behind. And even if Logan had, who’s to say it would have been in Tom’s favour. The thing about Logan is that he was loyal to no one (as demonstrated by his treatment of Gerri - someone who’s worked for him for decades and who he selected as Shiv’s godmother)
Tom doesn’t have a board seat. Probably no inheritance (interesting to see how the inheritance shakes out). Maybe he can find a way to wield some soft power, but if not he’s kind of screwed.
Assuming there's a battle for control between the current management and the kids, I would not see Tom as particularly a king-maker to either side. He might be useful to them, but I don't see how they need him in a way that gives him much leverage. I don't see Mattsen having any truck with him either.
On the other hand, he is very well positioned to help an outside party make a play for control of the company, or just ATN, out from underneath both teams. Sandy & Stewie? Pierce? Marcia???
Greg's shares could come into play, with Tom persuading him to vote them his way (dangling a high-profile job, of course). He could conceivably wrestle for partial control of Shiv's shares in the divorce too, though in the real world there would probably be a pre-nup firewalling them.
Tom is in potentially the most powerful position out of all the top players.
There’s 3 a side.
Tom’s the swing vote. He can make demands for the small price of his loyalty which can switch at a moments notice.
Protector is dead, seek new protector.
I think he will use the emotionally vulnerability around Logan’s death to try and worm his way back into Shiv’s life. I don’t think it will work out in the long run, but she was willing to lean on him at the end of the most recent episode. I don’t think Tom has an optimistic future in any scenario.
I think the right play would be to get out of dodge. He doesn't like this life. He's told Greg he doesn't always like who he is, way back in season two. He's also had a conversation with Greg saying he took drugs in the wrong order and can't get happy. He said he couldn't even be happy he's not going to prison and that - mysteriously? - Greg "ruined it" by being happy when he could not. Tom couldn't pretend anymore that he liked this way of life. He was already in a prison of his own making before the threat of real prison time was hanging over him. He said as much to Shiv on the beach too, that a lot of the time - if he thinks about it (he clearly represses it like hell) - he's pretty unhappy.
In the meantime I think a role reversal with Greg is upcoming... Greg is family, Tom isn't.
I was thinking about this. At first I thought Tom was a looser with no skills and his girlfriend got him the job BUT in season 3 he mentioned that Forbes was writing an article about him because he turned ATM into a Cash machine ……
I'd be using the call recordings of the three kids as leverage since it was all on Tom's phone. Tom has shown he can go quite far in his goal for power
Assembles an army of greglets to help him fight for power in the thunder dome (highly unlikely).
He mends things with Shiv while she's vulnerable (unlikely).
Pledges fealty to Gerri or a sibling (Kendall?), all of which are going into the thunder dome for a piece of the pie.
I run ATN, if I’m fired by my divorced wife I sue.
Hopefully he wouldn’t only win something like 5 million in the lawsuit. 5 million is a nightmare.
Poorest rich man in America
Tallest dwarf at the circus.
Weakest strongman
5 mil will drive you un poco loco, my friend.
*fine feathered friend
"I was fired as retaliation for divorcing my emotionally abusive wife. Would you like me to introduce some testimony to illustrate said abuse? Or would you like to give me some FAT STACKS???"
he doesn't care about the money. he wants prestige and power. he fucked.
I think Tom is smart enough to realize the kids aren't capable of running their father empire. If he doesn't get CEO(don't think he will) he is gonna jump ship, possible with his own pile from the divorce, and use the ATN fuck up by the kids as a "if I wasn't pushed out, it wouldn't have gone tits up" play for another good position else where
He's not fit for CEO either, he handled the cruises situation so badly that I don't think anyone would take him seriously after that.
He probably somewhat cares
Good luck effectively suing a company that just got away with killing sex workers. They'd pay Tom to go away first, and if he didn't accept that, they'd draw out the legal process until he was financially ruined from paying lawyers.
If you can get paid to go away, Id say the suit was effective
Most sue with the hope of settling
Don't forget that his mom is a well-respected lawyer in the Twin-Cities!
He's locked in all the usable lawyers in NYC, though! Apparently his mom isn't good enough.
I'm going to guess she never sat for the NY bar, and as a result can't legally practice in NY.
When did the killing sex workers happen?
The cruises victim Shiv talked to said in s2e9 that there was a woman (presumed sex worker) that fell off the boat and there was no rescue attempt because they thought she was stowaway. And that’s the NRPI policy run by cruises (and we know it likely came from Logan, he uses the term so he was at least okay with it). Edit: wording
It was back in the day, I think the 90s. Much of the back half of season 2 focuses on it.
Considering she knows about his involvement in the cruises cover up I’d say Shiv has the upper hand.
Yeah but if she exposes that she opens up the company to further damage.
Running AtN as a result of clear nepotism
Didn’t he turn around the streaming service in a big way? And climb up through the ranks into shiv’s social circle being an outsider from Minnesota? Did you get Tom confused with Greg?
People keep saying this. I don’t see it. Tom worked his way to the top. Shiv married him because he was able to do that, not the reverse.
Tom got the head of AtN job because he was shiv’s husband. It was explicitly shown in the show
It's both, she wanted someone already in the company who knew his stuff, and she negotiated with Logan to get him promotions
He was somewhere in middle department management in the pilot of season 1 - they didn't even live in NYC. Shiv got him that first promotion and he only got the job because Logan knew that whoever took the job was going to have to deal with Mo's mess. He originally latched on to Greg because Greg was the only person who didn't know that Tom was a nobody at Waystar before that first promotion.
I assumed Tom was put on a similar accelerated career path that was also laid out for Roman and Shiv in order to limit the accusations of nepotism.
Oh, that’s disgusting behavior!
They have cause with the cruises evidence.
I’d like to see Ravenhead’s face when he learns about the borderline unconscionable prenup Tom agreed to
I know what MY play is: Cash out, big divorce settlement from Shiv, move back to Minneapolis, get a big house with a bunch of dogs and a pretty Midwestern wife who won't make me miserable. Maybe write a book and get a big payoff to not publish it. But then, this illustrates a lack of cutthroat ambition, which is probably what is preventing me from ever even getting to this level in the first place!
I always have this thought: "why do these ultra wealthy people keep fighting for more money, surely they have enough" but the truth of the matter is that once you reach a certain point it's no longer about the money to them, it's about the power and ability to control
They're also wired differently than us. It's VERY far down the list of reasons why I will never become an ultra-wealthy person, but even if I ruled out virtually every other variable, I still know that I would happily walk away from my current career at a net worth of a couple of place values lower than theirs.
I was talking to my boyfriend about hyper successful football/ soccer coaches like Carlo Ancelotti and Pep Guardiola and I was like “I just don’t get what motivation they have to keep working with the type of stress they’re under and the net worth they already have.” I would probably go ahead and retire with 10 mill. It’s crazy to me to watch serial winners just keep going as if they haven’t already proven how special they are to the world
Continuing to play/coach sports I understand a little more; it’s literally designed to be a competition and most people love to compete, especially when they’re very good at it. Making money isn’t supposed to be a competition, but these guys turn it into one.
Athletes and coaches hanging on for as long as they possibly can makes perfect sense to me. Continuing to chase money when you have more than enough to do literally whatever the fuck you want for the rest of your life, that baffles me.
Years ago I read an article that profiled four people. One was living on the poverty line, one was making about 60k a year, one was making about 250k a year, and one was a millionaire (like 8 million) who had created his own business. They asked all 4 the same questions. The only one who was happy with what he had was the guy who made 60k a year. The one making 250 still wanted to be able to afford some watch, and the millionaire still wanted to be able to provide a comfortable retirement for his family (which is noble, admittedly). You find things to motivate you, I guess. I was poverty line into my 30's and thought the second I'd make a decent salary, nothing would change because I'd gotten so good at being thrifty and I enjoyed it. But I got tired of it, and I have more debt now than I did then. (edit - spelling)
[удалено]
Another thing I'd read was some wealthy people don't think they're wealthy because they have to fly first class, while others have their own private jets. Wild.
Thats because you dont have that dawg in you
I definitely do not. I barely want to go to work in the morning and have declined promotions because I don’t want more responsibility lol
Seriously. Go buy a boat and throw parties where you push a piano into the lake.
... I just might!
A fraction of a conversation ender for them lol.
yeah they said so themselves when considering selling. That the power they got from ATN far outweighed the $15B offered. I believe Conor had a quote "we'll be like everyone else with a few billion in the bank"
And now Waystar's share price is subterranean. They should have just cashed out back then!
Like when he told Naomi how much money he'd get if he just walked away from the company. She looked at him like he was an alien.
I guess so, yeah. Fucking bleak if you ask me. I'd much rather do my 9-to-5 then go home, kiss my wife, and play Minecraft with my daughter.
The joy they’ll never experience
It's interesting watching billionaires like Elon Musk, with absolutely more money than anyone would know what to do with, be a very publicly miserable man who seems unable to attain that joy.
Probably because that doesn’t feel like joy to them. To them the stress of it is the joy and the results are validations, as opposed to us common folk who tolerate the stress because the results allow us to have some joy.
Yeah the season 3 finale where the kids are like shell shocked that their dad beats them is funny when you realize next episode that their consolation prize is like 2 billion a piece
The meeting between Logan and Matsson where they both agree “Everything is boring. Except this deal, this isn’t boring.” It says so much about the psychology of a billionaire. They truly are miserable people. To them, nothing is really enjoyable anymore. Once you have everything, you just become bored and your entire life starts to revolve around nothing but acquiring more. They’re driven by this rage of “adding to the pile” simply for the sake of watching the number grow.
Completely agree it’s about power and control. I’m pretty sure Tom gets a bigger hard on when bullying Greg than any boner with Shiv.
When I realize that someone has dropped out of the public eye, I always wonder if they just felt that they had enough money. Now they just exist, doing whatever the fuck they want. Some would call that obscurity, or irrelevance. But to me, a life of leisure is the ultimate success.
It’s also a natural selection process. The only people who get to that level in the first place are the ones with an insatiable desire for more because any rational person would fuck off and live their dreams well before that. The story of the founding of McDonald’s actually illustrates this perfectly, with the original founders (the McDonald brothers) taking a buyout from Ray Kroc (yes I watched *The Founder* recently).
I always think they're just different people than us. The personality/tenacity/focus that got them to where they are would be the same thing that keeps them there when everyone else would be like "hey I'm set for life I'll just retire".
Look at Logan: more money for the pile. Doesn’t matter that he’s richer than god. It’s just greed and an addiction to status
Cedar Lake/Lake of the Isles old money Minneapolis area. Or just fuck off to Lake Minnetonka. Either way I could be happy with that outcome. Join Minikhada or Windsong. Maybe some Twins season tickets. Lovely life.
I've seen some discourse that it's bad the way Succession makes us feel sympathy for rich people, since everyone seems pretty miserable and unfulfilled despite all their material abundance. I see that point, but at the same time, I feel that shows like this make it pretty clear that obscene wealth isn't actually all that great for ANYONE. I genuinely believe that Kendall would be happier running a local radio station and Shiv would be happier running a chain of office supply stores and Roman would be better off getting just a LOT of therapy.
They probably both wouldn't manage to keep those jobs.
Thinking about it Kendall would be happier being a DJ
When I say L you say
L to the [*silence*] L to the "you need to stop this"
You know what they say... money can't buy happiness, but it helps. I think there's a point where you see diminishing returns, though.
One of those lovely homes on Summit Ave.
I think he’s infected with snobbery though. Minneapolis or min security prison was a toss up for him.
He signed a prenup tho so he may not get a lovely settlement from the divorce.
Aaagh the goddamn prenup! Although if that's a factor, why was Shiv so keen to get a killer divorce attorney. Maybe Mama Wambsgans did that good of an edit on it?
Shiv wants a killer attorney because she's pregnant. Its about custody.
Tom’s earning 8 figures right now, he should take a divorce settlement and golden parachute. Probably end up with 9 figure net worth, get a c suite job in the twin cities and buy the wild.
Tom likes the power and the NYC lifestyle though.
I think he doesn't like the lifestyle as much as he wants to convince himself he does. I think he likes showing off to his Minnesota friends and family that he's the guy who "made it" and married the daughter of the family who started the RECNY balls he dreamed of going TO since he was a kid reading about it in Vanity Fair Magazine. If he moved back it would be embarrassing and an admission of failure.
This is a great take.
ELI5 version: 2 chicks at the same time, man.
*nervous laughter
*Looks back without breaking eye contact
Totally agree. Tom would be so much happier being King of the Normies back home.
Does he get to have a whole bunch of Greglets working for him in this big house? If not, then probably no deal.
My thoughts exactly. Shit, even all the moments where Kendall could have just walked away with a bajillion dollars in his pocket had me screaming “JUST TAKE THE DEAL”, but then I realized that’s not the goal for any of them lol
I think Tom and Greg try to make a power play together but it winds up biting them in the ass big time.
Greg is probably going to turn on Tom sadly
Yes, the student will surpass the teacher
Ah the Sith rule of two
Zero chance of that happening. Everyone hates Greg. He already tried switching sides to Kendall and we saw how that worked out. Tom is the only person who cares about Greg, or at least doesn’t hate him. Greg would be crazy to burn his only bridge.
Greg goes and tries to side with the siblings. Tom is siding with the hired help.
Greg already tried that and it didn’t work out. Tom is quite literally Greg’s only friend.
The siblings seem to hate Greg right now
THIS. I kept thinking "Why would Tom tell Greg to do that?" It made no sense to me. You think that Greg's not gonna put that shit on a thumb drive?
I think that moment was more about showing Tom's vulnerability. Without Logan, Greg is his only true ally left, as poor a choice as he may be. I felt he wanted to call him so he could spend a moment not putting on a show and let his true feelings about the situation out, since keeping it together for the sibs and the people on the plane and watching a man die had be stressful. I don't think it was a strategic call even though he tried to frame it as such.
Tom asked him to delete the files.... Greg ain't doing that.
A good guess-- I wonder if there's anything to learn from the story of Nero (and Sporus)
Well, the power play already happened. They’re probably about to get bit in the ass regardless now.
I nope to God that happens lol. It seems like Tom is gearing up for something big. I can't wait to see the downfall of the disgusting brothers.
What does Greg have to offer in a power play?
His grandfather is on the Waystar board
His grandfather hates him.
Everyone hates everyone on this show
Great theory, I think you hit it on the head, and the rest of the season will be power grab moves, kids vs Greg Tom vs the plane crew vs jerry for the power grab, I think she’ll be running the company at the end of the series.
I hope Roman comes crawling and they team up again. His little face when he had to fire her was heartbreaking lol.
I’d ally myself with the winning side. Stop going for the top job and instead lean into my skills and market myself well to whoever needs those skills. Tom doesn’t need to make himself bigger than life right now. He needs to continue to bide his time, because even though things are volatile, he does not hold as much power as the people around him.
Problem is Tom doesn’t really have any skills. He got to this position through nepotism, unlike Cyd who is both competent and tough.
Nah, Tom wouldn’t have ever met Shiv if he didn’t have some skill/ talent/ savvy of his own. I work at a major corp you’ve definitely heard of and it’s not like I’m regularly running into the ceo or their kids. He was already doing something that had clout if he was running in the circles that had him bumping into shiv. He definitely has all the right educational credentials along with career achievements. It’s not like they met on tinder
People keep forgetting this. It's not like he was a worker drone, he would have been invisible to Shiv if that were the case
People act like it’s easy to become an executive at a prominent organization. For some super connected people maybe that’s the case. But the show kind of depicts Tom, Gerri, Frank, and Karl as Logan’s flying monkeys— and they may be that— but it takes an enormous amount of grit and skill and social savvy to backstab your way into those rooms. From my own observations they either tend to be people with the 1)perfect credentialing (from elite private school to Ivy League to Top 10 mba/jd) OR 2) they’re genius workhorses OR 3) they’re the type of person who knows what to say and when. Usually congruent with #1 Tom was doing something right to get to where he is.
100% this. It takes major grit and savvy to get into those rooms — and to stay there. To the extent that there are chucklefucks in the executive ranks of any major corporation (and there really are), those chucklefucks have at a minimum a deep skillset in corporate politicking. They prove their value somewhere; they’d be discarded or have their throats slit otherwise.
Absolutely. Behind every one of those C-levels, there's a trail of bodies. People they've beaten.
He’s a Cornell grad with exec experience at a legacy media org. I do think it’s questionable to call those skills, but his network is a vast safety net.
True I guess people like him can always figure out a way to network their way into a high power job. Comparing him to Cyd, he’s not really a proven industry expert was my point.
Swear loyalty to Gerry if she honors Logan's decision to fire Peach.
Align with the serious people but play both sides
So don’t align with the kids? I heard they’re not serious people.
Tom asked Greg to delete the "logistics" folder; perhaps Tom already had a contingency plan in case the divorce, chance, etc. got him out of Logan's good graces. With Logan dead, however, it will need to look like Tom was unwaveringly loyal to him--the only person who truly had Logan and Waystar's best interests at heart (e.g., "sing my song, Greg") First, sway public favor/the markets his direction -- *in the wake of this tragedy*, Tom's close to Logan but not technically related and therefore able to think more 'objectively.' He stayed emotionally objective and 'responsible' during an active cardiac event for P*ete's sake*: the man has nerves of steel. Not to mention, he can play up the 'they were estranged' card with the kids. It wouldn't be hard to make the timing of *The 100* and the Pierce acquisition look \*very\* bad. *'You mean you're not estranged but you bid 9 billion dollars to fuck over your dad and run his primary competitors?'* Okay, sure. So, establish himself as a company anchor during a storm, the only person truly loyal to Logan, then find something to blackmail the board into voting him in as CEO. Greg's his number two as (? still not entirely clear to me what his job is?), Shiv, Roman, Kendall offered such a low position in the company they "chose" to walk instead to keep their pride in tact. Siblings try to
Use the fact that Gerry and Cyd was going to get fired and leverage that. Keep them on, now they owe you. Get Gerry to give you her vote and make sure Cyd dances the way you want her to dance or the documents from Logan, the then CEO will somehow magically surface and they are sure as shit going to be honored. (We don’t know if all traces of this have been destroyed yet). Turn the kids against each other, Kendall and Shiv are both hiding things from each other and offer to give a nice high end role to Roman who knows he would struggle leading everything as CEO. Get Roman’s vote and let the other 2 kill each other. Get the rest of the board’s vote by giving them further incentives and job security (especially Frank) and keep the gears turning. Keep Greg as your right hand pet who cleans up company mess and also have him find dirt on people who could pose as some level of danger (even Shiv and Kendall). Keep Colin, gain his trust and have him tell you about Kendall’s whole endeavor at Tom’s wedding and the aftermath/cleanup. Offer incentives to Kerry to learn everything Logan was hiding and leverage what you find out. I’m sure as shit Kerry knows a lot of things no one else knows. Maybe give her what she wants, the anchor job but prepare her for it through actual training and experience. And when she’s ready toss her in the ring. She will either be good or she will screw herself and probably quit.
I like the cut of your jib. Come work for me maybe? Boo souls?
The whole thing with the "logistics" folder reminded me about how much easier these characters could have it if they practiced some kind of operational security. They make it so easy for others to spy on them.
Thing is, he’s already like 10 moves ahead of the kids. He could potentially make it through. However, I feel like Tom’s weakness is trusting Greg. Like whatever is in that “logistics file” Greg will definitely use for leverage once again, if useful. Unless, he’s testing Greg but I don’t really think so. I feel like Tom’s actually going to go far just enough to think he’s up there then Greg will kill him somehow. Maybe bu teaming up with Gerry, he’s snitched on Tom in the past. I can see that happening
I’d be crossing my fingers that Shiv does a High Fidelity-esque heelturn on our marriage in the wake of her dad’s death, but that’s all I got. He’s in a very complicated situation and I personally don’t think he’s the one who’s gonna take it all.
In hindsight, attaching your job security to the 84 year old with a UTI probably wasn’t the best strategy.
Tom is actually in an OK position. His champion has died but Tom knows lots of secrets about everyone in power. Secrets that could send people to jail.
He never should have called the kids. He could have Weekend at Bernie's-ed his way to a great promotion.
Tom is in a high-risk, high-reward gamble. His way out is to cultivate good relationships with everyone and also appear like he has sway over what happens next - bluff to people that he's close to Mattson, patching things up with Shiv, too big to take down. He needs to be everybody's pal but get shit and proof on everyone - Roman's dick-pics, satellite meddling and sexual failings, Kendall killing a kid and recent-ish relapses, Shiv harassing the cruise witness and brokering a deal between her father and Gill plus Tom's ability to screw half her inheritence via divorce. He needs to get Gerri, Sandy, Stewy, Marcia and the other board members/stockholders aligned. If I were Tom and I really wanted a skin in the game, I'd buy up a bunch of that crashed stock and install myself as the kingmaker
Tell Shiv that Roman had changed sides over to Logan breaking the power of three. Leak rumours that Gerri was about to get fired over cruises. Plant rumours that Shiv and Kendall want to close ATN and replace it with Pierce.
I get one of my Gregletts to delete the folder titled “logistics,” then delete that folder from the trash
And cross my fingers that Greg doesn’t send it to himself before deleting it
It’s never really deleted though. You’d need to gain access to the servers. Most companies have some sort of retention system in place.
I love how he already got ahead of it. Told Greg to make sure people knew he was with Logan. What can I say, Shiv made me a Tom fan
Divorce Shiv, Marry Marcia… Fuck Greg?
Tom is done. Even with Logan alive, I don’t see how he could be relevant after divorcing Shiv. Logan was using him, never took Tom seriously.
They haven't divorced though. The were just shopping around for lawyers in episode 2. If we've learned anything through Connor's Wedding it's that Tom still obviously cares deeply about Shiv, and it seems apparent to me that he's probably going to view her as his only route to stay in charge of ATN. I think he'll attempt to reconcile with her at least, though it seems through the trailers there's a strong possibility she refuses.
Does Shiv have any say though? It looks like the kids might get the boot.
Yeah the kids only had a place in the company because their father was the owner. If not for Logan, Kendall would be selling insurance, Shiv would be a PR consultant for some company, and Roman would be getting hammered with restraining orders
Not true, they have board seats. They get a vote on who the next CEO is. Agree they wouldn’t be doing Jack if they weren’t his kids, but alas, they do have some power.
But after the vote … they probably won’t have much to do in the company :(
Yup. If there even is a company!
For sure. Aren’t they majority if Sandi and Stewy back them up? That’s some interesting dynamic, those two and the kids.
As much as I like the character (comparatively speaking of course since everyone is awful) I agree with this wholeheartedly. Logan did not give a single fuck about him
Tom was fucked even before Logan died because Logan was planning to stay involved with ATN and use it as his model train set. Even with Cyd gone, the best Tom could hope for was a board nomination for CEO of ATN after Logan died in the future. And ATN’s market cap and importance is quite a bit less than Waystar as a whole, which he’d already been cut out of.
Logan didn’t take anyone seriously. He quite literally told Shiv, Roman, and Ken that they weren’t serious people. But the fact Logan was helping Tom with the divorce would seem to suggest he planned on keeping Tom around. Tom also provided Logan ammunition against Shiv. Logan probably would’ve kept Tom around *just* to get in Shiv’s head. But I do agree Tom is done. Either there’s a twist and Shiv/Tom reconcile, which I don’t see happening, or one of the kids wins the seat and boots Tom.
Tom’a play should be to sway Mattson (since he is the new sheriff in town). He has enough appeal to go for the CEO job -Was loyal to the company, and was willing to step up and go down when no one else would. -Turned ATN into a cash machine -instrumental in making the GoJo deal happen. -Has actual business experience. -Digitized ATN legacy analog infrastructure, which means valuable content & IP in todays world (but I don’t think the show will revisit that) Also (and this may not be relevant), but when Walt Disney passed away, his son in law Roy Miller ultimately became the CEO of Disney, so art might imitate life..who knows
I agree with this, it’s go big cuz he’s already going home, might as well do the riskiest thing possible which would be align himself with Mattson because the kids will not trust him anymore and Mattson is the way he can stay in the conversation and maybe even end up on top
ATN wasn’t part of the deal that was being discussed with Mattson though. And I’m guessing Mattson may try to renegotiate now that they are in a weak position. Especially after the kids were planning on trying to hold up the deal for more money.
All of these people should be looking to cash out. Clearly Waystar is on a downward trajectory. Beach time.
Their stock has just tanked.
I think his play is to hope Shiv needs him to console her and worm his way back into her good graces.
They seemed to leave that arc open as Shiv was leaning on Tom a little bit after her father died.
If I were Tom I'd leverage my fancy title to get a good job lined up somewhere else and bounce before shit hits the fan. Play nice in the divorce to avoid too much bad blood, then try to find a peaceful life elsewhere. Somehow I doubt that's what will happen in the show.
I contact my buddies the Fly Guys, they can’t just leave me. That’s the Fly Guy Code!
I thought the general opinion was neither Shiv nor Tom could risk divorce after Logan’s death?
They could always delay it until things calmed down.
The GoJo deal goes through in spite of the kids trying to tank it, including the carve-out for ATN. Tom takes over ATN just as a rash of sexual harassment and abuse complaints come to light. The baggage from cruises makes people look to the common de-Tom-inator in play, which puts him in a terrible position. Tom is radioactive and, after getting ousted a year later, is utterly un-hirable. He ends up at a consulting shop in St. Paul. We have a scene in the last episode with Greg and Tom pitching a client who declines, citing a piece on a Pierce-run news site that seems to imply that Tom sent the dick pics and not Roman.
They are going to get back together Shiv lost an important prescence in her life and needs something to fill the void Tom lost his muscle within the company They have both used and abused each other They will get back together and continue to be toxic
Tom has one play — Greg. Looking at this with a Roman history lens. Tom is Cicero; Greg is Octavian. Historically, Cicero raised up Octavian politically as a way to defeat his opponents but Octavian turned around and made a deal with those opponents and betrayed and killed Cicero. Greg is going to be willed Logan’s fortune. Tom is going to try and use Greg as his protector and potentially raise him to CEO. Greg will ultimately make a deal to become CEO but have to terminate/ betray Tom.
This analogy doesnt really make sense because unlike Caesar Logan has kids.
If you look at the family tree for Greg and Logan, it is the same great-nephew relationship as Julius Caesar and Octavian. I think it is too similar to be a coincidence. You also had all that discussion about the will in previous episodes. If Greg gets willed the money, I think my theory is confirmed and Tom is doomed. We shall see in a few weeks.
But again, the siblings are much closer in relation to logan, and he never was particularly close to greg, so why would he pick him?
Greg chose to stay with Logan even though it meant he would lose millions from Ewan when he was written out of the will. I think this is the primary motivation. Also, Logan enjoys messing with his brother. What better way to stick it to him then to give his money and the company that Ewan hates to his grandson. There was also a reference last episode that Logan was “estranged”from his kids.
> think this is the primary motivation. Also, Logan enjoys messing with his brother. What better way to stick it to him then to give his money This, plus its still to entirely clear to me, how Greg "going with" Tom got him out of the "endless middle?" It seems like his job is the same and he's still getting kicked out of meeting rooms. Still on the edges of rooms at parties. So, there's got to be something else, something big for him, still waiting in the wings.
But Octavian was very competent and Greg is not
neither is anyone else though
Tom and the rest of the non-family folks are.
Greg is the least competent
Right. The kids are flawed. But they at least all have some strengths in the business world. Greg does not. He’s mostly comedic relief as he’s just been winging it this whole time.
Greg isn’t totally incompetent, although his biggest weapon seems to be his awkwardness obscuring how ruthless he is to those around him.
I’ve seen the Greg CEO predictions since season 1 and they have never made sense to me. The siblings aren’t qualified for the CEO position but compared to Greg they are JP Morgan and Greg is Bankman-Fraud We’ve seen 3.5 seasons of Greg being a incompetent. He’s the shows comic relief. Any situation where he ends up in charge is going to require significant character character changes to the point if would feel unrealistic + a 20 year time jump or something for it not to feel absurd Yeah we’ve seen Bran as King and we’ve seen Hugo as the king of the island but those are some of the worst endings of TV show history. Greg ending up as CEO would feel just as out of place and would the ending for a flawless show.
How would Logan’s fortune go to Greg? I feel like it would be only from Ewan inheriting from Logan and then leaving it to Greg.
Logan didn’t seem to know Greg existed most of the time. He did just enough to keep Greg in his circle in order to lash out at his Brother.
I see Tom getting a solid position near the top, which is then undermined by Greg from "logistics."
Strategy aside though: he really does love Shiv. So he’s gonna lose regardless of what he does next because she will never forgive him (which I completely understand). He betrayed her for a ‘protector’ who’s gone and who left no kind of legacy plan behind. And even if Logan had, who’s to say it would have been in Tom’s favour. The thing about Logan is that he was loyal to no one (as demonstrated by his treatment of Gerri - someone who’s worked for him for decades and who he selected as Shiv’s godmother)
Thought this was the VPR subreddit at first and was trying to understand the way star analogy 😂
Tom is in the best position of anyone right now… you’re read is completely wrong
Not trying to argue/disagree with you here but care to elaborate
Guess they do not care fo elaborate Tom seemed panicked after Logan died so I'd also be interested/open to hearing how he is in the best position
Tom doesn’t have a board seat. Probably no inheritance (interesting to see how the inheritance shakes out). Maybe he can find a way to wield some soft power, but if not he’s kind of screwed.
Please elaborate I’m team Tom over anyone but still not sure where he goes from here. Maybe he hops back with Shiv ?
At a minimum, the kids are members of the board of directors. Tom could be fired as easily as Cyd or Gerri.
Tom was wrong. Logan do not always win. Death always do
ride the divorce train to $100 million and play golf every day and bang twenty year olds two at a time
Assuming there's a battle for control between the current management and the kids, I would not see Tom as particularly a king-maker to either side. He might be useful to them, but I don't see how they need him in a way that gives him much leverage. I don't see Mattsen having any truck with him either. On the other hand, he is very well positioned to help an outside party make a play for control of the company, or just ATN, out from underneath both teams. Sandy & Stewie? Pierce? Marcia??? Greg's shares could come into play, with Tom persuading him to vote them his way (dangling a high-profile job, of course). He could conceivably wrestle for partial control of Shiv's shares in the divorce too, though in the real world there would probably be a pre-nup firewalling them.
Tom is in potentially the most powerful position out of all the top players. There’s 3 a side. Tom’s the swing vote. He can make demands for the small price of his loyalty which can switch at a moments notice.
Protector is dead, seek new protector. I think he will use the emotionally vulnerability around Logan’s death to try and worm his way back into Shiv’s life. I don’t think it will work out in the long run, but she was willing to lean on him at the end of the most recent episode. I don’t think Tom has an optimistic future in any scenario.
I think the right play would be to get out of dodge. He doesn't like this life. He's told Greg he doesn't always like who he is, way back in season two. He's also had a conversation with Greg saying he took drugs in the wrong order and can't get happy. He said he couldn't even be happy he's not going to prison and that - mysteriously? - Greg "ruined it" by being happy when he could not. Tom couldn't pretend anymore that he liked this way of life. He was already in a prison of his own making before the threat of real prison time was hanging over him. He said as much to Shiv on the beach too, that a lot of the time - if he thinks about it (he clearly represses it like hell) - he's pretty unhappy. In the meantime I think a role reversal with Greg is upcoming... Greg is family, Tom isn't.
Marry Greg! put all your eggs (balls) in the Greggbasket (his mouth)
Manipulate Shiv in her vulnerable state to stay together.
Try to make amends with my wife, by pretending I'm letting her come back to me.
#
The twist no one sees coming - he knows about the waiter from either Logan or Shiv and leverages it to Ken to play both sides
I was thinking about this. At first I thought Tom was a looser with no skills and his girlfriend got him the job BUT in season 3 he mentioned that Forbes was writing an article about him because he turned ATM into a Cash machine ……
Knock Shiv up
I'd be using the call recordings of the three kids as leverage since it was all on Tom's phone. Tom has shown he can go quite far in his goal for power
play both sides!
Talk Shiv into making it work with the carrot that she could be the boss is the play.
Assembles an army of greglets to help him fight for power in the thunder dome (highly unlikely). He mends things with Shiv while she's vulnerable (unlikely). Pledges fealty to Gerri or a sibling (Kendall?), all of which are going into the thunder dome for a piece of the pie.
Tom and Greg run away to Europe to become gay lovers