‘ What are words? Just complicated air flow…’ – Kendall Roy
In most TV shows, the character development happens through the storyline, however, Succession is a symphony of chaos created by the characters who are the active drivers of the storyline. The show is loosely based on the Murdoch family who own a media conglomerate. It focuses on the potential successors of the conglomerate and how they try gaining power over the patriarch, Logan Roy. Succession’s entire premise is the comedy that is subtly injected through the dramatizations of the characters and the grandiose of the story.
The show’s premiere episode featured the Waystar Royco family taking a helicopter to a field to play baseball and the youngest kid, Roman, tries to bait a helper’s kid into making a home run by promising him a million dollars if he did, and promptly tears up the check when he didn’t make it past second base. That’s just the sheer audacity of the show. The four children of Logan Roy are entitled brats, who live life with no consequences and tbh, they really don’t have to because they can never be ‘cancelled’.
As first-generation billionaires, they have never had to pay for their crimes or illicit activities, and we see this in enticing detail throughout the series that these characters know very little about what consequences mean. For example, when Roman is in charge of launching a satellite rocket but instead pushes the deadline further to gain more appreciation from his father but instead leads the rocket to blow up. His reprieve? That no one died and one guy merely lost his hand. Another instance is rather dark when, Kendall Roy, leads a waiter at his sister’s wedding to help him score more drugs while already high and ends up crashing the car and abandoning the waiter to die. Kendall makes a deal with his father that he wouldn’t lead the bear hug against his father in return for his crimes to be covered up and avoids jail time. While consequences are not a matter for the Roy children, their tragic awareness of their power is the crux of their issues. They are severely self-aware of their shitty personalities and their choice in not trying to change their outcomes is simply because it benefits them to remain the way they are because of their father manipulating them. It’s almost like they don’t have any autonomy on how their life progresses and they are following a predestined journey that has been already written for them.
One character stands out because he is the only outsider in this family dramedy- Tom Wambsgans. Son-in-law of the only daughter Siobhan Roy; he’s not only the blood outsider of the company but also in socio-economic background. And the kicker? He reeks ‘outsider’ from the first time you lay your eyes on him. He didn’t grow up with ‘fuck you’ money like his wife, instead gained that attitude by virtue of marrying the heiress of a multi-million-dollar media empire. For these reasons alone, Tom Wambsgans makes for an interesting character study.
Enter Tom Wambsgans – the insecure, middle-American boy who had a mediocre upbringing, is now suddenly running in the big leagues with no idea wtf he’s doing or… saying for that matter. He’s the black sheep of the family, and he knows it; the portrayal of the character by Matthew McFayden absolutely kills it in delivering this unbelievable performance, where you are left constantly questioning if McFayden is self-aware for his character. Tom’s mediocrity is the true driving force behind the character as it allows for him to make the most bizarre statements and feel shame immediately while he realizes he doesn’t have consequences anymore. He constantly plays tennis with his personality by living like a Roy while simultaneously feeling invisible.
Throughout the entirety of the show, you’re almost in disbelief of the range of self-unawareness of the character. He knows he’s never truly going to be accepted by the rest of the siblings and his way of trying to get their attention is sometimes just plain ridiculous. His slimy personality really shines when he has to share screen space with the other characters and not when he’s alone unlike Roman or Kendall. His character exists in a vacuum with other characters only, such as his wife or Cousin Greg. This is mainly because he spends most of his time on the show trying to prove himself to the family, but failing hilariously each time. In the initial episode, Tom buys Logan a Patek Phillipe watch, and when he presents it to him, Logan treats it the same way when he was given ‘bread goo’ (sourdough starter) by his eldest son Connor – with disinterest and disdain. Tom is so smug that he made this extravagant purchase as a gift and handles it so cautiously; shows how much Tom cares about the watch but to the uber rich Logan, it doesn’t really matter – after all, what can you gift a man who literally launches satellites into space?
In the entirety of the show so far, the only Roy sibling who comes close to being friendly with him is the youngest brother, Roman. He revels in Tom’s ridiculousness, dumping him in circumstances that further drive the mediocrity of the character. In the episode ‘Prague’, Roman is in charge of planning Tom’s bachelor party, which was supposed to be in Prague, Czech Republic. But obviously, Roman being the irresponsible selfish git, he ends up getting access to a ‘designer warehouse party’ near some train yards in Brooklyn and calls it a day. This was also the episode that went to great lengths to show how much of an outsider Tom was to this outrageous lifestyle. In a conversation between him and Shiv, she tells him that he can cross the boundaries on his bachelor trip, but when it comes down to it, he calls her in haste and hesitantly asks if it was a quid pro quo arrangement, like if it was an “eye for an eye”. Shiv dismissively declares “I cannot negotiate right now, but you know, we know?” But such is the attitude of his bride, the small things like her relationship are inconsequential to her, the only thing that really matters is attracting the attention of her father. For Tom, as much as he cares about his career, he much more bothered about his relationship dynamics with his future wife and family.
Tom finds his grounding when Cousin Greg is introduced into the family. Greg is technically family but because his grandfather is also an outcast, Greg becomes an outsider. This is when Tom seizes the opportunity to bully Greg throughout the show which becomes quite the comedic journey for the audience to follow. Tom wants to teach Greg the ropes in the Waystar Royco world while also having someone to be an emotional punching bag. When Greg receives his first paycheck, he wants to go to California Pizza Kitchen because that’s where they make the Cajun Chicken Linguine the way he likes it, but Tom tells Greg that his palate is uneducated and that he will teach Greg how to be rich.
Season 2, is when the relationship between these two reach a level of equity but also shows how much Tom bullies Greg behind closed doors. When in a litigation Tom is called out for sending Greg emails taunting him, saying ‘ You cannot make some Tomlettes without breaking some Greggs’ ; which sounds like a euphemism for if shit goes sideways, whatever dangers falls upon Tom will attack Greg as he is also aware of all the illegal ongoings at the company. However, when Greg suggests a separation of their professional partnership, Tom absolutely loses it and starts throwing water bottles at Greg in desperation. The Tom-Greg relationship is a toxic one, which both are aware of but they both truly need this in order to thrive within the Roy family and their corporation.
Audiences really get a kick out of seeing how much of whipped husband Tom is to Shiv. He becomes highly preoccupied around her and is submissive to her whims and desires, such as, when Shiv pronounces on their marriage night that she would like an open relationship and the conversation ends with him agreeing to it, regardless of his opinions. He will do anything to keep the relationship afloat in cumbersome waters. This is a drastic departure from the negging asshole he is to Greg. This is also proof of how much Tom needs Greg to raise his confidence, while being a cuck to his wife – to Tom, it’s breaking even on a mental level.
While Shiv and Tom plot to take over Waystar Royco together, Tom cannot but feel blindsided when Shiv is announced to be a potential successor. All of this boils down to an outburst in the finale of season 2 when Tom wonders out loud “if the sad that he’ll be without Shiv, would be less than the sad he gets from being with Shiv”. This is heart wrenching because at the end of the day, Tom doesn’t belong in their world and he tried too hard but finally found the strength to vocalize the discomfort that comes with compliance. By the end of season 2, Tom has announced being done with the schemes of his wife and being a useless pawn in the company. The future of Tom is exciting albeit unsure because of the way his character resigned in season 2.
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