Summary: Connor organizes the RECNY, a huge event for investors organized by the ROy family. Kendall plans to do a speech. Kendall is surprised when Logan comes in to work. Kendall defends his choices, but Logan still disagrees with him at every turn. Roman is upset when Frank is re-hired by Logan to show him the ropes. Shiv tries to do damage control when her client's husband posts a picture of his naked butt. Tom learns a horrific secret about Waystar Royco and struggles to handle it. He tells it to Greg and Shiv. Greg tells this to Gerri, who confronts Tom at the ball and threatens him not to reveal anything about it. Connor sees that Kendall may be announcing Logan's announcement at the ball and informs him. Logan takes over and makes the speech himself. He confronts Kendall after, but Kendall was only going to make a joke.
The Good: Kendall and Logan's conflict continues to carry the show. This is the one aspect of the story that has clear-cut stakes and narrative momentum. We know that Kendall wants to take over after Logan and that Logan thinks he isn't good enough, and watching how this dynamic influences their actions has been engaging. It's great to see how Kendall is unnerved by just a single appearance by Logan, and how much this undermines his leadership. Even Stewy is left questioning who is in charge, and there never seems to be any discussion between Logan and Kendall to resolve problems. I've been harsh on Kendall since the start of the show, but this episode does a good job to show us how Kendall's failings are a fault of Logan's poor parenting style. It seems clear to me that Kendall's need for validation originates from the distrust, strictness and cruelty inflicted on him by Logan, who always goes out of his way to insult, belittle, and invalidate his son. The episode's climax demonstrates this well. Kendall was simply going to make a speech and include a joke about Logan's retirement, but Logan's paranoia and distaste for his son leads to him completely taking over Kendall's moment for what was ultimately no reason at all. Simple communication could have corrected this situation, but Logan decided to oppose his son immediately. I wouldn't be surprised if Logan's distrust of Kendall is what leads to Kendall actually trying to get his father out of the company in the future. This episode does well to make us sympathize more with Kendall in general. Despite his position and current power, Kendall is lonely and in a struggling relationship with his wife. To remedy this, he tries to secure a date for himself, but the end result is an empty night with someone who Kendall unknowingly forced to be there because of the power dynamic. It's a sad look into Kendall's disastrous personal life. The side story with Tom is easily the best in this episode. This story follows the basic rules of a side story that can be used to reveal about characters: you give a character a critical conflict to solve, and reveal who they are through their approach to solving this problem. I feel like I have a much better understanding of Tom after seeing how he handled this situation. The story caught my attention by taking so long to reveal what the big secret was, and the reveal itself was well done with Tom's entertaining "virus" metaphor. Tom has been the most entertaining character to watch due to his cringeworthy attempts at charisma, and it's fun to see that light-heartedness collide with a serious situation. Tom showed a surprising amount of morality in handling this situation, and learned the hard lesson that he can't be so soft in this important job. Surprisingly, it was timid, quiet Greg who sold out Tom to Gerri to prevent the story from getting out. While Tom comes off as somewhat naive, Greg has proven that he has what it takes to survive in this company, and he's living up to being a Roy. This stone-cold decision, and the smoothness of Greg's lie to Tom caught me off guard, and it makes me view Greg in a very different light. Greg initially seemed to be a bumbling fool who is an easy punching bag for Tom, but now we see a ruthless, self-serving side to him. I like how this episode handled these two characters, and found this storyline to be quite compelling. The side characters get some decent characterization. We finally get to spend some time with Connor and we learn more about him. He says he wants to be an observer, but it seems more likely that his ideas for the company have never been good, and everyone knows it. As such, he likely has stepped away from the company. We see him coming up with some less than stellar business plans, and his management style leaves a lot to be desired. It was good to see Gerri show a bit of spine, letting us know more about who she is. She threatens Tom, so she is somebody who is okay with/contributing to corruption. Furthermore, we see that she's strictly loyal to Logan over Kendall as she pretends that she's trying to convince Logan not to go on stage, when in reality she wishes him good luck. The Bad: This show has been very messy so far in this first season. After four episodes, nothing particularly interesting has happened, and we're still in the phase where I'm trying to get to know these characters and the relationships with one another. It's fine to build up a story like this, but these early episodes have suffered a lot because I'm not fully invested yet, and it feels like the show is spinning its wheels instead of moving forwards. Surely there are much better ways to get us to know the characters, and surely this could have been done more efficiently without taking so much time. This episode is hurt by other familiar issues. I still dislike every character, making it hard for me to get emotionally invested in this family, and I think there are too many storylines going on that make the show feel less interesting. I can tell that Roman and Shiv are key characters who will likely have importance as the show goes on. However, right now they feel superfluous to the show. This episode has a lengthy side story dedicated to Shiv trying to protect her client's reputation by lowering coverage of the story that her husband posted a naked photo online. This story feels utterly pointless. Why was this included? I couldn't tell you. It has no relevance to the main plot, doesn't inform us anything about Shiv's character, isn't funny, and has no resolution by the end of the episode. What a pointless waste of my time. I feel similarly with Roman so far. All we know about him is that he doesn't care much for his job and spends his time having sex with women. Every episode shows him with a new woman and we repeat the same beat over and over again. It's getting repetitive, and I'm wondering when we're actually going to learn more about this character. Shiv and Roman are two characters who are spinning their wheels right now, and it's starting to test my patience. The Unknown: What was the point of the whole butt storyline? Will it come up again later? Poor Logan does seem to be confused to an extent, and this predated his stroke. What condition does he have? Did he intentionally piss in Kendall's office, or was it just another moment of confusion? Why is Greg talking with Gerri? Is he trying to use whatever information he gathers to improve his standing in the family? What else has Greg been doing behind the scenes? Will Tom find out it was Greg? How will he react? Will Tom incorrectly distrust Shiv? What's Roman's deal? Why does he just sleep around with everyone? Where is this going? Best Moment: Logan's speech and confrontation with Kendall afterwards was exciting. This scene was nicely built up, and that created some tension because I felt like something big might happen. While that wasn't quite the case, this was easily the most engaging sequence in the episode. Character of the Episode: Tom. Conclusion: This show continues its slow-burn approach to setting up the narrative. Some storylines are engaging to watch, but by this point it is becoming more frustrating than fascinating to see this slow-paced storytelling. Something significant needs to happen soon to get me interested in the show. Score: 58
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
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