Greg's Sideways Chop

Hey have you guys heard of a little show called Succession

This post is spoiler-free! It’s safe to tread here.

Every classic property has a breakout character. Happy Days had Fonzie. Star Wars had Boba Fett. And Succession has Greg Hirsch.

Succession is teeming with perfect performances; it should be hard to pick out the breakout character. Every member of the main cast is Emmy-worthy, and Jeremy Strong actually deserves TWO Emmys per year.

But Cousin Greg stands out for a few reasons:

• He’s the audience surrogate. He starts out as a normal guy with no money, like many of us. By the end of S2, he’s sipping rosé on a yacht and saying, “It's fine. I'll drink it. It's just not my favorite.” Without tremendous moral fiber, Greg represents what would happen to any of us if we were steeped in the Roy family’s wealth for a while.¹

• He’s usually tangential to the family drama,² so he gets to tell a lot of jokes. He’s good at it.

• He literally stands above the crowd. Nicholas Braun, who plays Greg, is 6’7”. Let me say that again: he is six feet and seven inches tall. Greg’s best scene partner is Tom, played by Matthew Macfadyen.³ Macfadyen is 6’3”, and Braun dwarfs him. Look:

  

• Greg’s voice alone is so funny. He has a soft and uncertain way of speaking in a cast full of strong, sure quippers. Roman and Shiv get some really good jokes in, but Greg is often funny simply by contrast.

I won’t spoil Succession for any of you, because I want you all to watch it.⁴ But today’s Perfect Thing needs little exposition. On the show, Greg gets pressured into doing something shady, and he comes up with a little safety plan. While he is doing said shady thing, he sings this to himself:

cousingregshow @cousingregshow

Greg is chopping it up #Succession

Very few of us will ever be involved in a high-level corporate coverup. But all of us have done something monotonous, and many of us have stepped side-to-side or sang something nonsensical while doing it. It’s relatable and it’s cute.

But the key—and I cannot stress this enough—is not any of that. The key is that he follows the up-and-down chopping motion…

… with a sideways chop.

God, I love Succession.

Have a great day!

1. I wrote this before the season 3 finale

2. Or he used to be…

3. Mr. Darcy, if you’re nasty.

4. Even though waiting a week between 3.8 and 3.9 gave me a stress ulcer