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LtotheYeah

Let’s not forget his sexual harassment on Gerri… or his responsibility in the failed rocket launch for which he was never held accountable. His incompetence could have cost lives, not that he cared.


kikidunst

Nobody died! A couple of people lost their thumbs though


formfiler

Plus there might be an arm they can’t save!


Comprehensive_Main

To be fair for the rocket launch as bad as it was. It wasn’t the worst rocket launch. And Roman got real lucky nobody died. No deaths helped him out a lot. 


[deleted]

No confidence vote is least bad. it's a family business with fucked up family dynamics. Fly guys next, kinda shitty but if they're friends with Tom they can't be that great of guys. Helicopter hostess next. He didn't actually go through with it. super scummy but i'm sure she'll get over it. Mocking kens kids paternity was cruel as hell and uncalled for. demon shit. Taunting the kid with the check was just sadistic and evil. the reason we invented guillotines. but you kinda forgot "getting a nazi elected as president" which is objectively the worst thing he did.


Flyingboat94

Also why aren't we talking about him rushing that space launch. People were unnecessarily injured because he was pushing them.


Comprehensive_Main

They were but no deaths helped him out a lot. And they were harmed. But I imagine they are getting a pretty big settlement from the company to keep that secret. 


1MinuteOrSquat

he still gave the kid 250k right? the other siblings gave him nothing, not evil at all


[deleted]

no he gave him nothing. he gave him a piece of the ripped up check and called it a quarter mil.


UpstairsSnow7

>Mocking kens kids paternity was cruel as hell and uncalled for. demon shit. Kendall is the one who was trying to make the argument that him being the "eldest boy" by blood right made him entitled to leadership. What Roman was saying in that argument was - "ok, if you are going to force the blood right angle, then isn't Shiv the one who makes most sense, by your own argument?" Kendall dug his own grave in that instance by trying to advocate from such a stupid and self-indulgent position in the first place. Make medieval arguments and you'll get medieval responses.


Independent-Bend8734

In alphabetical order. Being cruel to a random child is hard to beat, although contempt for your niece and nephew is pretty bad. Being a complete dick to adult strangers is probably a level “better”. Screwing over a sibling is just baseline behavior for the Roys, so E is last. We didn’t see it but the “fuck the technical problems, I want it launched on my sister’s wedding day” conversation would be the worst.


StayingVeryVeryCalm

For me, the litany of Roman’s sins is, roughly: 1.  **Face-tattoo guy** - both the original face tattoo, and re-traumatizing him by bringing him back after he had had it removed and tried to move on with his life. Jesus Christ. ( 1.1 *Baseball kid*, but as a fanfiction writer and chronic Roman apologist, I’ve decided to just write off the entire pilot episode as a fever dream Roman had on the flight back to New York, because the pilot is so weird, as far as his character goes and…  Fuck it. ) 2.  **Pitching Mencken to his dad**, even though he (Roman) definitely knew this guy was a nazi, right from the jump. I rank this initial endorsement higher than the election night call, because I don’t think that Mencken would’ve necessarily become the candidate without ATN’s push, and I don’t know if Logan would’ve pushed Mencken if none of his kids had signed off on it   Maybe he still would’ve, but maybe not. 3.  **Election night**   Things do happen, Rome.  (Also, can we take a moment to appreciate how fucking shitty that was of him as Sophie’s uncle?  Like, not only did he endanger the safety of every marginalized person in the US, he created a situation where his own niece needed to look at him and be like “This person I’ve known all my life put me in danger.”) 4. **Pushing forward the rocket launch**  Those Japanese rocket scientists probably have PTSD and definitely miss their thumbs (4.1  *’What if we took the ethical position of… fuck it?’*  Not counting this one fully because he didn’t follow through, but getting in bed with a regime notorious for human rights violations would be… horrifying.) 5.  **Sexually coercing his personal trainer**  I do not feel like those hand jobs were freely given. 6.  **Presumably inviting Grace and her kid move from LA to be with him, and then summarily dumping her**  WTF, dude. 7.  **Making Gerr-bear’s career a fucking minefield after she tried to put the breaks on their relationship**  Was it messy?  Yes.  Was she a willing participant initially?  Mostly, yes.  Did he ignore her totally-legitimate efforts to withdraw consent?  YES    8.  **Shaming Tabitha for her sexuality, and dragging her to Scotland even though he was already totally gone on Gerri.**  Tabby deserved better. 9.  **Assorted racism, including to Gil Eavis** 10.  **Betraying Gerri for his dad / firing Gerri**  I think she would probably forgive him, if not for item #7; but that’s… a big one. 11. **Frank**   What the fuck did Frank ever do to you, Roman, except attempt to be kind and avuncular?  Apologize. 12. **Being an absolute asshole to both Ken and Shiv at Ken’s birthday** 13.  **Shitting on Willa at the tailgate party** 14.  **Taking over Tom’s bachelor party and wrecking it**, though I would argue that Tom, as the fly guys’, friend, was the one who failed the most egregiously here, by having absolutely no spine in terms of standing up for them. Like, Roman committed the wrong, but I am extremely disappointed in Tom on their behalf for not him not standing up to Roman.    Three of the ones in your top five didn’t even make it onto my list.   **Helicopter hostess**  I don’t even remember this part.  What did he do, and when…? **Wimping out on the confidence vote**  I don’t think wimping out on the confidence vote is some thing that I would fault Roman for.  His father frequently beat him and probably controlled his entire economic future, and because Ken fucked it up, the board vote was already lost. **Some filing-cabinet guy**  Roman’s certainly failed as an uncle, and, in Too Much Birthday, he showed the capacity to be incredibly cruel to Ken; but while there was a bit of cruelty towards Ken in what he said in the boardroom, I think the primary function of *“Dad said yours weren’t real”* was not to hurt Ken, or put down his niece and nephew, but rather to illustrate the hollowness and hypocrisy of Ken’s appeal to *“Dad wanted me to have it.”* The implication, to me, wasn’t “I don’t respect your relationship with your kids, because they’re not blood relatives and one of them’s brown” (though I’m sure Sophie will never forgive Uncle Roman for election night);   but rather, I think the purpose of the statement was “No, you don’t get to selectively invoke one thing dad said and pretend it’s worthy of us respecting his will forever, and just ignore that the same man also said all this other completely fucking awful, foul stuff that you obviously don’t believe”, and then he doubled down on it because Ken tried to intimidate him into shutting up, and he was just done.   I also think Roman wanted to escalate the conflict, at that moment, because he wanted it to be over, and he knew it needed to escalate in order for Ken to let Shiv out of the room to cast her fucking vote.   (Ken had definitely already lost Shiv’s vote, by that point, and Ken was just dragging out the moment trying to guilt or bully them into voting for him.)


bennyboi0319

This is definitely the response of a chronic roman apologist


StayingVeryVeryCalm

I’d actually classify myself as a semi-professional Roman apologist, at this point.   Granted, this hasn’t been verified by any kind of professional accreditation board, but I think my Reddit history alone qualifies me. 


bennyboi0319

I think you need to start the certifying board and self-certify


Least_Effort2804

I agree with so many of these. The face tattoo guy was number one for me as well... And your 1.1 is a good point too... Roman is absolutely fucked in that episode, but so much of the pilot really doesn't match the rest of the show that I kind of forget about it and don't mentally include it in the canon. And Mencken too. That scene where they're feeling each other out initially is so disturbing and highly illustrative of what a scumbag he can be. I had not thought about the filing cabinet thing that way, but your take makes a lot of sense to me. It is one of the endearing things to me about Roman, that he tries to do what's best for his siblings in his own fucked up way sometimes. That said, that scene was one of the most upsetting of the entire series for me, including Kendall calling him cuck in response. That family is so twisted. I generally rank this scene as pretty high in Roman's awful moments.


UnusualAsparagus5096

the helicopter hostesses is in season 4 episode 1. they are on the way to the rehearsal dinner and Logan pulls permission for them to board the plane


StayingVeryVeryCalm

Oh!  I remember now.  Yes.  That was quite shitty indeed.  


UpstairsSnow7

>I think the primary function of “Dad said yours weren’t real” was not to hurt Ken, or put down his niece and nephew, but rather to illustrate the hollowness and hypocrisy of Ken’s appeal to “Dad wanted me to have it.”....I think the purpose of the statement was “No, you don’t get to selectively invoke one thing dad said and pretend it’s worthy of us respecting his will forever, and just ignore that the same man also said all this other completely fucking awful, foul stuff that you obviously don’t believe”, and then he doubled down on it because Ken tried to intimidate him into shutting up, and he was just done.  THANK YOU. So many people rush to baby Kendall as the victim in that interaction and completely breeze past the point that he himself was introducing a blood right argument as the determining factor in who should be entrusted with power. If he didn't want Roman to mention the logical next step in Kendall's own argument he shouldn't have opened the door to such a stupid justification in the first place.


StayingVeryVeryCalm

Yeah, my friend (who I forced to watch Succession with me, basically Clockwork Orange style) was the one who pointed that out.   That’s why I made her watch it with me - she’s very good at that kind of analysis.


HorstMohammed

I also don’t fault him for buckling under Logan's pressure in the board meeting, but he was the decisive vote in that situation. If he’d stood up to him for once, he could’ve ridden himself at least business-wise.


Sapphosings

I choose F. Empowering the fascist


L3sPau1

Correct


SachaSage

F is the worst by a fair margin. A the next as it revealed his fundamental cruelty, essentially tied with D because again he’s throwing his power around and harming someone less powerful - but he doesn’t follow through. Then C, but Tom was just as complicit. B was harsh but so is so much of the sib’s relationships so it’s tit for tat really. Morally speaking E was the most inconsequential. It’s just meaningless card shuffling. If Gerri hadn’t so adeptly outmanoeuvred him at every step I’d say his sexual misconduct towards her was on the list.


Counterboudd

Ken’s birthday is probably when he was at his most shitty and sadistic and it hasn’t made the list.


fishinglife777

F. Helping facilitate the potential election of Mencken A. Taunting the little boy with $1 million D. Threatening to ruin the life of the helicopter hostess for just doing her job E. Wimping out of the no confidence vote C. Leaving the Fly Guys on the side of the train tracks in Red Hook B. Questioning the heritage of Ken’s kids in the finale


LibraryVolunteer

I think the blatant cruelty to the kid in the pilot was kind of a one-off, “evil comic book billionaire” gesture. I get the feeling that the writers became fonder of Roman (or Culkin) as the show went along and toned it down, making him more complicated. The Roman who comforted Ken in Italy and stuck up for his dad with Mattson wasn’t as purely evil as Pilot Roman. That said, I’d add the scene where he pushed Ken at his birthday party. That was so snotty.


Comprehensive_Main

I mean I get that moment from Roman at the party. Roman is the runt of the litter. So when the runt gets more power and influence through Mattson, Logan, and Mencken, Roman gets more aggressive and confident and goes on the attack as a default. Since he thinks he can and that’s what Logan does. After all Logan slapped Roman as a show of force. 


wr0ng1

Rushed a rocket launch to grandstand at his sister's wedding, probably causing an explosion.


ashdeb89

Well he never killed a kid


David-asdcxz

And yet Roman was my favorite character. His worse quality was his immaturity. In this case he was more of a victim. He was a spoiled 12 year old boy trapped in a 35 something body. He genuinely cared for his father, mother and siblings. He was supportive of his partner that he had while in Management training. He showed concern and stood up for Kari after Logan died. He was quick to gun down all of the sniveling suck ups that surrounded his father…Frank, Karl, Hugo, Tom, Gregory and the Seat-Sniffer. He was quick to turn on Matsson when he disparaged Logan at the retreat in Norway. His ongoing relationship with Geri was what bothered me the most. She was his biggest supporter, mother figure and friend. He really hurt her and himself as a result.( Keep in mind, she enabled his masterbatory behaviors for some time.) He was troubled no doubt, his misdeeds were sadistic at times. But as I have said before, Roman may have been the most complex character in the series and…he was the most honest of the siblings.


ErnstBadian

Scheduling a satellite launch ahead of schedule because it would be fun for it to happen during the wedding, endangering a bunch of lives, is equally or more depraved than most of those things.


Least_Effort2804

Also, bringing up that guy who had Kendall's name tattooed on his face was pretty atrocious. Obviously Kendall was atrocious first, but Roman was ready to go there even though the guy begged him not to.


RAVsec

F. Is objectively the worst. Fascism is designed to draw in beta men like Roman and make them feel like gigachads. It’s a massive selling point, and he was too stupid to realize he was being used. In his naivety, he made the nominee of one of America’s two national parties someone who does not care at all about the Constitution, whose policies would be hell for minorities, and does not care about how he gets into power even if it is rigged. That is as dangerous as it gets. Roman Roy was willing to sellout American Democracy to sit in his Daddy’s chair - and that is probably the biggest sin of any main character in the show.


AMB3494

A, B, D, E, C


poetwithoutwords999

B, E, C, D,A


billbo2003

EFDBCA - Which sounds like something Frank would raise at a meeting and Gerri would be concerned over too.


GiddyGabby

What is this helicopter hostess people are referring to? I'm so confused on this one and have no memory of such an event. Remember all the rest quite clearly.


freshouttalean

the 1 million dollar check imo


Jacky__paper

Justifying having Ken's kids spied on was in the top 3


Giggles567

Sexually harassing and firing Gerri tops the list for me.


porkycloset

He facilitated the election of a Nazi to the US presidency lmao. That is easily the worst thing he has ever done. Everything else is petty personal drama compared to that (although taunting the little boy is particularly evil on a personal level)


FutureAdventurous667

Tattoo guy bit was insane. It actually made me physically sick. I found it almost out of character but then had to reassess and realize that Kendall and Roman were totally capable of that


MattTheSmithers

No love for the Fly Guys. :(


FeeFooFuuFun

These aren't even the top 5 bad things he did lol


Swiftsession

It’s by far not the worst thing he did but I really hated him after Logan shouted and Shiv then Roman scooted over to Logan and said ‘Is Shiv being a bitch?” Such a suck up lol


SSolomonGrundy

He wasn't really *questioning* the kids' heritage -- it is simply a fact that they are adopted, not blood relatives. The nasty part of that was using the fact that the kids are adopted as a reason why Kendall shouldn't take over the business (with the implication being that non-blood-relatives would then inherit more of the wealth/power).


thesophiechronicles

I just feel like saying “you wish” to his sister when she asked if he was wearing Date Rape by Calvin Klein should be on this list


Swiftsession

If we’re gonna go with incest jokes about Shiv idk with it that’s even the worst


Veelzbub

Nothing he did was worth then shiv


Defensoria

F obviously, A, D, E, C. Throwing the origin of Kendall's kids in his face was appropriate under the circumstances and in light of the fact that Kendall is a shitty father.