Succession’s Roman has turned from a shallow asshole into a multifaceted one in season 3

All of the Roy children in Succession are products of a potent combination of excessive wealth, white entitlement, and emotional abuse. While we meet the Roy children as adults in the series, it’s obvious the games that patriarch Logan Roy (Brian Cox) plays with his children have been going on for their entire lives. As a result, they’re all thoroughly fucked-up adults who still constantly vie for the adoration of their sociopathic father.

None of the four children seems more fucked up than the youngest son: Roman Roy, who is excellently played by Kieran Culkin. Sexually stunted, emotionally immature, and constantly looking for ways to put down those around him, dear Romulus has not always been the one to receive sympathy flowers. In short, he’s been an asshole. However, throughout the third season, the tangled web of Roman’s issues has unwound—he’s transformed from the immature youngest son to an interesting exposition of trauma within the Roy family. Here, we track Romulus’ development from when we first meet him, sexually inappropriate jokes and all, to his current status as the most dynamic character of season three.

Season one: Negging, opportunistic asshole

The early episodes of the series paint Roman as the moody, immature, and wily Roy sibling, who always has heavy-hitting one-liner in his back pocket. He mostly buzzes around the drama between Logan and Kendall (Jeremy Strong), waiting for his moment to swoop into the family company’s leadership.

One of the more memorable Roman moments from season one comes when he walks into his new office at Waystar-Royco, and proceeds to ejaculate on the floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the city. He literally gets off on his own power.

Described by Kendall as a “walking lawsuit,” Roman spouts off misogynistic jokes while boasting a sexual bravado. He implies often that he’s “drowning in pussy,” and uses this against Kendall to put him down. However, this façade begins to collapse, as in private, Roman shies away from intimacy with his girlfriend Grace (Molly Griggs), leading up to her bold declaration that they only have sex every six months.

But this is basically the extent of Roman’s storyline in season one. Over these 10 episodes, he’s a rib-poking, over-compensating dick who slews dagger-sharp words at those around him rather than display any true emotions. When he’s not making fun of Kendall, he’s making fun of Frank (Peter Friedman), or Tom (Matthew Macfadyen), or Greg (Nicholas Braun), and so on and so on. Even in “Austerlitz,” he jokes about the idea of family therapy and how his therapist said he’s surprised he made it through his childhood at all. What would be a sobering statement is instantly deflected with mockery and an assertion that he is in fact, well-adjusted.

Season two: Sick, masochistic slime puppy

The two greatest words to describe Roman were uttered by Gerri Kellman (J. Smith-Cameron) in the fourth episode of season two, when, during a surprising sadomasochistic phone encounter, she calls him a “slime puppy.” With his deeply entrenched mommy issues and a debilitating avoidance of intimacy, this Gerri alliance storyline seemed to crack slime puppy Roman right open.

For Roman, most of season two centers around his sexual ineptitudes and struggles to prove himself in business affairs as he undergoes management training. It becomes even clearer that Rome does not have sex with his girlfriends—and when he does, some incredibly freaky shit comes up. When he and Tabitha (Caitlin FitzGerald) finally have sex—he cringes at the idea of “making love”—after months of dating, Roman asks her to pretend she does not enjoy the sex to make it “feel wrong,” and even goes as far to ask her to act as though she’s dead. Tabitha very reasonably shuts down and Roman proceeds to masturbate with Gerri humiliating him on the other side of the door, calling him sick, revolting, and shaming him. What initially started as a perceived lack of confidence transforms into a complex that would have Freud scratching his head.

In the finale, Roman’s seemingly impenetrable exterior cracks as he seeks emotional support from Shiv (Sarah Snook) and Kendall after being rattled in Turkey. He’s met with childish (yet somewhat humorous) mockery, and Kendall pokes fun at Roman for wanting to talk about his feelings. Most of the time, family conversations become a game of wits and power, but here, Roman lets his guard down, only to be told he should not need comforting. The other children have internalized this notion taught by their father, and now Roman finds himself with really no one to confide in. Sad.

Season three: An asshole with feelings

One of the most jarring lines of the third season comes at the end of “The Disruption,” when Logan takes aim at Roman for showcasing what he considers weakness. It’s rare to see a moment in the series involving just Roman and Logan, and this brief conversation exchange illuminates some of the reasons why Roman is the way he is. After thinking he did something his father would appreciate in an interview, Roman’s only mocked by Logan for his expression of emotion and love. His dad even calls him a homophobic slur in an attempt to emasculate him. Roman laughs it off, and admits the anecdote Roman shared with the publication was actually a memory with his eldest sibling, Connor (Alan Ruck), pointing out it’s one of the only happy moments in his entire childhood.

It’s a sobering moment, to think about a child not having a single heartwarming memory with his father, and the inevitable impact that would have on an adult. It also provides other reason for Roman’s behavior, as his domineering, fearsome father considered any true expression of love weak and measly. As a result, Roman overcompensates, and tries to avoid any moment of weakness by being constantly on the delivering end when it comes to interpersonal offenses.

With the focus shifted away from his dynamic with Gerri for the majority of the season, Roman’s inner turmoil takes center stage. A more empathetic side arises as it becomes clear he values his family a lot more than the other Roys could say. In “The Disruption,” Roman falls back and refuses to sign the damning letter Shiv penned about their brother, citing his conflicted feelings due to Kendall having changed his diapers as a baby. It’s a sign that even with all the bullshit and company business, there are some lines Roman will not cross when it comes to family—even if his siblings will. Often, while the others look for ways to subvert family dynamics, Roman tries to maintain the peace or status quo as a method of survival.

A couple of episodes later, with Logan becoming unhinged due to a urinary tract infection, Roman is the only one of Logan’s kids who appears genuinely focused on the wellbeing of his father. While Shiv looks for ways to get her father on stage to speak in front of the shareholders, Roman makes Logan’s health his primary focus, looking for a way to make him better. Even when playing into jokes about his father’s death—like during his conversation with Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård)—it’s very clear that the idea of his father’s death upsets Roman, despite his less-than-ideal relationship with him.

After appeasing his father over the course of many episodes, the youngest Roy son finally gets his chance to throw everything back in the face of the siblings who have diminished him for his entire life in “Too Much Birthday.” He’s daddy’s favorite in this moment, he’s the one making business deals happen, and, as a result, finally finds himself on the receiving end of what Logan considers love. He then seeks to humiliate the two Roys who have always been the center of Logan’s attention, projecting the feelings of being unloved onto Kendall and Shiv. While he ends up going too far by literally pushing Kendall over, it makes sense given that Roman has spent his entire life feeling diminished and unworthy, and now wants to revel in the crumb of praise he’s finally receiving. Even though he’s being a total dick, his behavior is more understandable as we now know where all of his pent-up venom comes from.

It very much feels like something bad is on the brink of occurring when it comes to Roman, but this is ultimately what’s made his character the most interesting of the season. While Kendall and Shiv’s daddy issues continue to play out in predictable cycles, more and more of Roman surfaces. In one moment, he’s flashing “fuck me” eyes at a fascist politician, channeling the darker, unfeeling parts of himself; the next, he’s standing up for his fucked-up family, trying to maintain some semblance of cohesion. As everyone seeks control of the company, Roman is just trying to make sure literally anyone loves him.

While each of the Roy children’s desire to please their father stems from the loveless and traumatic environment in which they were all raised, something about Roman’s troubles seem especially deep-rooted. It seems possible that Roman was sexually abused by one of the many immoral men that worked in the company for decades, or by a motherly figure. His family jokes about how much he wants to fuck his mom Caroline, with things reaching a fever pitch in “Too Much Birthday.” The background behind this dynamic begs explaining.

Over the course of three seasons, Roman has moved from a riffing man-baby to a complicated and thoroughly traumatized adult whose motives now don’t seem as clear-cut as they were before. He surprises us with his sensitivity in one moment then reverts back to spewing poison the next. And like never before, this season Kieran Culkin has tapped into a sympathetic performance of a character who’s one of the worst of the worst on Succession.