In Succession - Sh*t Show At The F*ck Factory, Season 1 Episode 2
Episode by episode, series by series
Scripted by Tony Roche - the man we have to thank for adding ‘omnishambles’ to the English language - Shit Show At The Fuck Factory plays a lot like an episode of The Thick Of It; more specifically Spinners & Losers, the second of the 2007 New Year specials in which the big, sweary beasts of Westminster square off in pursuit of a new Prime Minister.
In Shit Show, the power vacuum’s the result of Logan Roy’s ill health. But seeing the Roy children plot and scheme, you could very easily be watching Malcolm Tucker and Jamie McDonald jostling for position. Kendall and Co. just aren’t as good at bollocking one another as the Gorbals Mafia.
There’s also a welcome whiff of Jesse Armstrong’s Peep Show about Succession’s second episode. From Cousin Greg farting around back at the apartment, pondering which of the sibling’s messed-up schemes to support and precisely which pair of slippers it was that Marcia wanted him to retrieve to Shiv and Roman literally wrestling on the floor of an empty lecture hall - the El Dude Brothers would be proud. You know, if they weren’t so crippled with self-hatred.
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