L ifestyle /C ulture
HBO’s ‘Succession’ Delves Into Antisemitism
T E L EVISION
JARRAD SAFFREN | JE STAFF
I WAS BORN in 1991 and grew
up in the Philadelphia suburbs.

It was a safe and prosperous
time and place for American
Jews. So outside of a few passive-ag-
gressive comments, I never
really experienced antisemi-
tism. But whenever I told a true
outsider to the Jewish world
that I was Jewish, a thought ran
through my mind, unprompted
by the other person.

“Oh, he hates me now.”
I can’t speak for all Jews,
but I’m guessing I’m not alone
here. Historical antisemitism,
and our historical memory of
antisemitism, breeds a feeling
of distrust.

Even in the United States
when times are great, Jews walk
around with an underlying fear.

For the most part, it remains
beneath the surface ... until it’s
proven right.

That was the arc of a recent
episode of HBO’s “Succession,”
a critically acclaimed satire
about a Rupert Murdoch-like
family that owns a multibil-
lion-dollar media company.

In the episode, “Lion in the
22 NOVEMBER 18, 2021
Meadow,” which aired on Nov.

7, showrunner Jesse Armstrong
introduces a significant Jewish
character for the first time in
two-and-a-half seasons. The
character, Josh Aaronson,
played by Adrien Brody, has
to decide whether to forge
an alliance with the show’s
WASP-y antiheroes.

By putting the Jew and
the WASPs together, alone,
at Aaronson’s Long Island
estate, Armstrong lays bare
the palpable distrust that often
exists between the two groups.

And in doing so, he offers a
subtle, and then explicit, and
always nuanced portrayal of
the Jewish psychology that
antisemitism breeds.

Aaronson is a billionaire
shareholder with a 4 percent
stake in the media company,
Waystar RoyCo, of the main
character family, the Roys. But
he is dismayed by the blood feud
playing out in public between
the son, Kendall Roy, played by
Jeremy Strong, who is trying to
take control of the empire, and
the father, Logan Roy, played
by Brian Cox, who may have
overlooked a history of sexual
assault in the organization. The
feud has lowered the company’s
stock price, causing Aaronson
to lose $350 million.

Brody’s character also
has leverage. If he supports a
possible hostile takeover by
another shareholder and the
owner of a rival company,
they stand a good chance of
usurping the family altogether.

So, Aaronson forces the Roys
to come to him to make their
case. He puts the son and
father in the painfully awkward
position of being on the same
team again.

Kendall arrives first and tries
to buddy up with Aaronson,
saying Josh should come to his
40th birthday party. Brody’s
character seems to buy it a
little, for a minute, until the
elder Roy shows up. At that
point, Aaronson leaves Kendall
hanging mid-sentence to
greet Logan.

Minutes later, with the three
of them talking in Josh’s living
room, Logan tells Josh to let the
Roys take care of the situation.

“Sit back here in your castle
and count your gold,” Logan
says. And the distrust becomes
clear in the opening act.

From there, the Jewish
billionaire has the Roys follow
him through a meadow to a
beachside lunch.

JEWISH EXPONENT
Adrien Brody plays billionaire Jewish investor Josh Aaronson in HBO’s
“Succession.” Courtesy of Macall Polay/HBO
Throughout the sequence,
Logan implies that he doesn’t
want to be there. Cox’s character
asks Josh how long the walk will
take and what it will require to
just convince him. While sitting
down to lunch, Logan even says,
“I got a wife at home.”
Josh pushes Kendall to either
halt his whistleblowing against
his father or, when Logan is off
taking a call, to reveal whatever
dirt he has on his father.

Kendall not only demurs, but
angrily accuses Josh and Logan
of plotting against him.

Aaronson’s constant pushing
of the Roys to prove themselves
reveals his own distrust.

Finally, during lunch,
Aaronson demands that the
Roys respect him.

He shouts at them that he’s
not just some guy who “got
lucky at the casino one night”
and now plays a rich person.

So, in act two, the distrust is
not only clear, but on the table.

After Josh’s outburst, he
takes a call from a security
guard about the fastest route
back to the mansion.

That’s when Logan makes
his subtle antisemitism explicit.

“City boy,” he says to Josh,
a New Yorker. “You’re a long
way from your nearest coffee
and bagel.”
Waystar RoyCo is a company
that, according to one of Logan’s
other sons in the same episode,
used to not let Jews “above the
fourth floor.” Josh’s skepti-
cism of the Roys, along with
Logan’s subtle and then explicit
antisemitism, shows that Josh is
well aware of the dynamic.

Even as business partners,
the Jew and the WASPs couldn’t
grow to trust each other. Due
to the partnership, the mistrust
was buried beneath the surface
— until stress laid it bare.

On the walk back to the
house, though, it’s Kendall’s
reaction that captures the
younger generation’s attitude
toward a dynamic that’s
supposed to be a relic of history.

The son sarcastically rips the
father about how his “antise-
mitic bagel comment” really
sealed the deal with Josh.

Kendall thinks it’s absurd
that Logan is antisemitic.

But he is, and Josh, a man
closer to Kendall’s age, under-
stands it and has to be driven
by it. So, in the end, the relic of
history once again drives it.

The summit fails. The Jew and
the WASPs can’t come together
during a difficult moment.

Later in the walk back, Logan
collapses from heat exhaustion.

Josh, who was walking ahead,
comes back to help Logan up.

As the patriarch struggles to
his feet, Kendall tries to confirm
with Josh that they are all good.

Josh tells him to help his dad. l
jsaffren@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0740
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



wishes you a Happy Chanukah!
79 ¢
Promised Land
Chanukah Candles 44 ct
Kedem Sparkling
Juice 25.4 oz
2 U
Kosher Boneless &
Skinless Chicken
Breast Fillet
lb 99
Savion Fruit Slices
8 oz
1 Kedem
Tea Biscuits
4.2 oz
Elite Chocolate Bars
3.5 oz
2 for
Gunter’s Clover Honey Bear
12 oz
4 Fox’s U-Bet
Chocolate Syrup
22 oz
2 for
2 for
$ 2
99 6
99 $
3 1
$ Elite Candy Coins
0.53 oz
Fresh Kosher
Whole or Cut Up
Fresh Chickens
lb 3
49 Kedem Concord
Grape Juice
64 oz
2 for
Manischewitz Matzo Ball Mix,
Potato Pancake
Mix, or Egg Noodles
4.5 - 12 oz
3 for
$ U
3 $
$ 5
3 99
2 for
Manischewitz Chicken Broth
17 oz
3 for
Lipton Onion Soup Mix
1.9 oz
3 49
$ 4
4 50
Challah Bread
ea We also carry many of your favorite Kosher deli, dairy, frozen and grocery products.

Prices effective through December 9th, 2021
www.weismarkets.com JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
We reserve the right to limit quantities. • Not responsible for typographical or pictorial errors.

Products may not be available in all stores.

JEWISH EXPONENT
NOVEMBER 18, 2021
23