The Clumsy Interloper

The inspiration for The Clumsy Interloper was derived from a quote from HBO’s Succession performed by Karl Muller directed toward Tom Wambsgans in S4E4 “Honeymoon States” when Tom “respectfully” threw his hat into the ring for interim CEO:

“SORT-OF” SPOILER WARNING AHEAD. IF YOU HAVEN’T FINISHED SUCCESSION YET, THERE IS A SUCCESSION. IT’S IN THE TITLE.

“You’re a clumsy interloper, no one trusts you and the only guy pulling for you is dead. Now you’re just married to the ex-boss’s daughter and she doesn’t even like you. You are fairly, squarely fucked.”

In a show bereft of a moral center, I always felt Tom’s callow vulnerability in a family of sharks was endearing. In time he adopted the cutthroat ethos of the Roy clan and became as irredeemable as any of the siblings, but this moment highlighted his exquisite suffering at the hands of his vaulting ambition.

Clumsy (adj): done awkwardly or without skill or elegance.

Interloper (noun): someone who becomes involved in an activity or a social group without being asked, or enters a place without permission

I used The Clumsy Interloper not to align myself with Tom’s character, but rather to allude to my relationship with life. When I am idling in traffic, alone with my thoughts for a brief blinking moment, the unconscious weight that I am metaphysically flailing about in a reality that I can’t square tickles my frontal lobe. Mild tremors of panic arise and I instinctively put on my blinker, change lanes and wonder when was the last time I had a Blizzard from Dairy Queen. I am a clumsy interloper in a world without a proper invitation. One day I just “became” and 42 years later I’m still figuring it out.