Back in the fifth episode of the final season of Succession, the GoJo Swedes were running rings around the hapless Waystar Royco contingent. On a joint company retreat in a luxury hotel in the forests of Norway, the goal was clearly to leave the American visitors lost in translation.
It’s the perfect setup: speak in your native language, and you can insult the Roy siblings and their coterie right to their faces. So while Matsson, Oskar and the others were freely cracking jokes that the Roys couldn’t understand (“Are you done?” Kendall said at the time, “I dunno, Maybe it’s funnier with subtitles?”), we did just that, and asked a Swedish contact to translate exactly what they were saying. Needless to say, it wasn’t pleasant.
However, as the series went on, Greg – despite being initially branded “two-metres of nepotism” and “the Habsburg giant” – ingratiated himself to the GoJo gang. One night out ended up with... well, we'll let Greg explain: “I danced with an old man. He didn't want to dance, but they made us dance. He was so confused. I drank things that aren't normally drinks.”
Still the Swedes insisted on talking in Swedish in front of Greg, and by the series finale, Greg had grown wise to the practice. While in a French restaurant with Tom, Greg sidles up to the bar with Matsson and Oskar to do shots, but Greg sneakily pulls out a translation app and translates in real time what the two men are talking about. We can all hear them say the word “Shiv” but then the app reveals them saying:
“I think it works”
“How are you gonna do”
“Yes, when you tell her that it won’t be her”
This is golden info, and Greg is straight on the phone to Kendall to try and leverage a big deal for himself, petrified by the idea of suffering a heavy pay-cut (or worse) under Matsson's new order. He tells him: “Dude, I’m in the centre of the fucking universe with knowledge to take down, like solar systems, man,” but that it will come at a price: he wants to be part of the Quad Squad.
The ball then starts rolling on the downfall: Kendall can use this info to reveal to Shiv that Matsson is going to betray her, and then get her to fall in line to back him and Roman, ensuring that the GoJo deal is pulled by their board majority.
This Duolingo move is perfect for both Greg and Kendall. Knowledge is power, in any language. With this on their side, it’s a shoo-in for the ultimate win for Kendall. What could possibly go wrong?
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