Summary: Sandi and Stewy are informed of the plan to acquire GoJo and they accept the idea. The Roys go to Italy for Caroline's wedding. Connor proposes to Willa, who is uncertain if she wants to accept. Kendall demands to meet with Logan that night. Kendall wants to cash out because he's not evil like Logan, but Logan does not accept it and reminds Kendall of what happened to the waiter. Caroline talks with Shiv about her regrets being a mother. Out of spite, Shiv tells Tom that she wants to conceive. Shiv says she doesn't love Tom during foreplay, and Tom is unhappy about what she said. Matsson sends out tweets that he is receiving financing, which endangers the deal. Roman goes to meet with him and learns that Matsson is looking for a merger of equals. Roman expects that he will be destroyed by Logan, but Logan is willing to consider. To celebrate, Roman tries to send a dick pic to Gerri but accidentally sends it to Logan instead. Logan is baffled and contemplates firing Gerri, but Roman says not to. Shiv approaches Gerri to file a sexual harassment case against Roman. A drunk Kendall puts his face underwater while on a floaty.
The Good: This was Roman's episode, and nothing could have prepared me for the way he orchestrated his own fall to follow Kendall and Shiv in losing the backing of his father. After how awful Roman has been the past few episodes, I was truly hoping that the Matsson deal would fall through and screw him over, and that was exactly what happened. It was so satisfying to hear Roman constantly assuring that things were fine as it became increasingly evident that Matsson was screwing them over, and Roman going to meet with Matsson felt like it would be the moment where everything came crashing apart for Roman. Roman's talk with Matsson was great, revealing Matsson to be far more cunning than initially anticipated. He knows that he's powerful, and like Logan, he wants to make a play for further power. As such, he befriends Roman and subtly tells him what he's after without being disrespectful in any way. Poor Roman was ill-prepared for this and it's clear that he's thrown off by Matsson not submitting to what Waystar wants. Still, Roman reports back to Logan and I thought for sure that we would see Roman go down in flames in this scene. But we didn't, and instead Roman again reminds us of how skilled he is. He reports Matsson's motives accurately and provides a compelling case for Logan to work with him, resulting in an all-out success. I may not like Roman, but I recognize his strengths, and it was nice to see a Roy get a success for a change. And then it happened. Roman is such a doofus, and watching him go from this state of ecstasy to sheer embarrassment by accidentally sending his dad a dick pic was simultaneously horrifying and absolutely hilarious. This was perhaps the hardest I've laughed in the whole show, and it fits Roman that he nails down the business aspects of his career only to be brought down by his creepy relationship with Gerri via sending a dick pic to his dad. It's fitting, it's hilarious, and it's the most unexpected climax imaginable to an episode that was very heavy and depressing. I love this sequence so much, and I think that Roman screwing himself over in this fashion was the perfect conclusion to his story. I also got a chuckle out of Shiv immediately trying to take Roman's place at Logan's side, but being absolutely transparent in her motives. Kendall and Logan's meeting is another terrific scene between these two powerhouse actors. I was surprised that Kendall decided he wanted to cash out, but seeing how miserable he was in the previous episode, I understand his choice completely. What came out of left field was Logan denying his request, passing off the cash out letter as a joke. This was brutal and it highlighted how toxic Logan's relationship is with his children. He will belittle them, scrutinize them and shame them for not being good enough. And yet, when they decide to pursue something else for a change, Logan doesn't let them and wants them to come back. He did the same thing with Shiv when he pulled her away from her established career. Logan wants his children to be better but never gives them the opportunity to fluorish and make their own lives. No matter what excuse he makes, his real desire is, as his ex-wife put it, to kick his kids over and over and then see if they come back to him. He wants to beat Kendall down and have him come crawling back, so he will use every card up his sleeve to make it so Kendall comes crawling back to him. And in a cruel twist, this includes using the waiter incident to try to convince Kendall that he's not a good person and that he belongs with his evil family. Logan's methods here are torrid and indicative of how he is a different level of evil than all of his children, and his manipulative denial of his own evil is disgusting. Also disgusting is Logan using Iverson to taste his food to prevent a poisoning attempt by Kendall, which is so laughably paranoid and cruel. Kendall was clearly affected by this meeting with his father, and this leads to a curious ending scene that may have serious repercussions (see: The Unknown). Shiv is still an awful person on every level, but her conversation with her mother helps us better understand why this is the case. Caroline gets worse every time we see her, and now we can see her as the judgemental, vindictive, inadequate parent that she has always been. The last thing you want to hear from your parent is that they regret having you and that's exactly what Caroline tells Shiv. She also holds a grudge against her for choosing Logan when she was a kid, she tells Shiv that she isn't meant to be a parent, and she even tells Shiv that she was unable to have dogs because she knew Logan would abuse them; yet she still decided to have kids, who became the dogs that Logan abused. This is disgusting, depressing, and perfectly indicative of why Shiv grew up to be an awful human being. The conversation between Shiv and Caroline is short, but there is so much context given to their relationship in a short few minutes, and it is captivating. Reeling from this conversation, Shiv goes to her go-to stress relief: abusing her relationship with Tom. She now wants a baby out of spite, and manages to say just about every awful thing she could to Tom. Tom is suitably upset by her foreplay, and why wouldn't he be? She could have done somethign sexy, and instead she preys on what she knows to be Tom's insecurities in their relationship. And then Shiv gaslights him for wanting to talk about it the next day, and says horrific things like "I don't love you, but I love you you know?". Oh my god, poor Tom to have to deal with all of this. Their relationship has always been toxic, but this is on a whole other level and it is brutally affecting to watch as Shiv mistreats Tom so egregiously. Greg and Connor have smaller roles in this episode, but they are still fun. Greg is a delight as he gets it in his head from Shiv and Tom that he can shoot higher than Comfry just because he is associated with her. Hilariously, Greg goes full scumbag mode and starts hitting on literal royalty (and his methods are again hilarious). This will obviously backfire, and I can't wait for that to happen. Meanwhile Connor is absolutely ridiculous as he proposes to Willa and totally puts her on the spot in one of the most cringeworthy moments of the episode (the most cringeworthy moment is, well, you know what it is). It's amusing how Connor practically forces her into saying yes with not-so-subtle underhanded tactics, and it provided a good laugh. The Bad: I was disappointed that Marcia was written out last season, and now she has come back only to be totally underutilized. She is present at this wedding but she hardly does anything and plays no role in the story. This is bitterly disappointing, and I wish that more was done with her. Similarly disappointing are Stewy and Sandi, who have had zero role in the show since becoming board members. This is especially disappointing because of how significant "Retired Janitors of Idaho" was, and ultimately the episode seems to have had no lasting consequences on the show, which is disappointing. Stewy has been hugely underutilized since season 1, and it's disappointing that the show has had next to nothing for the character to do lately. Stewy and Sandi briefly pop up in the opening scene, but they have minimal impact on the episode and do not show up again. It's a shame that Stewy's role has been minimized so significantly. I think that Shiv goes too far into being awful in this episode. Before she was realistically manipulative and you could still see why Tom was with her. But now? She is almost cartoonishly evil and so unsubtle about it that I find it impossible to believe that she can get away with being this terrible to Tom. Subtlety has always been a strong point of this show, and it has notable effects when you take that subtlety away. The Unknown: Will Gerri be fired for the dick pic debacle? What happens to Roman now? Will Gerri turn on him like Shiv suggested? Will Matsson agree to the merger? Will Logan attempt to strong-arm him once they share the company? How will Logan handle this moving forwards? Are Shiv and Tom actually going to have a baby? It sounds like that would be an absolute disaster. What happened to Kendall in that final scene? Was he checking to see what it was like for the waiter to hold his breath underwater? Or has he actually passed out? Could he drown and die in such a sudden way? Best Moment: Roman sending a dick pic to Logan is just the funniest possible scenario. I applaud the episode for setting this up in a realistic way with Roman setting his dad as the recipient through a phone technicality that is easy to miss. Some people may not catch the recipient change and may be in for a horrific surprise when they see Logan's phone ring, but I saw the recipient change and was horrified and laughing watching the entire travesty unfold. Kieran Culkin sells the moment with his acting, and the way Roman looked like he wanted to crawl out of his own skin was absolutely hilarious and made the scene as legendary as it was. Character of the Episode: Roman. Conclusion: This was another great episode. I feel like I say it every episode, but this was another strong story that embodies everything that "Succession" does well. Season 3 has been remarkably consistent, and it has done so much right as it develops the story and its characters. Let's hope that the season finale ends the season on a high note. Score: 73
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Summary: Kendall prepares for his birthday party. Gerri learns that the DOJ investigation will settle for a number and nobody is going to prison. Tom is elated by this and celebrates. Logan has a meeting with Matsson for the GoJo deal, but Matsson cancels to attend Kendall's birthday. Roman and Shiv go to the party to meet Matsson. Kendall is happy to see them. Roman gives Kendall a gift from him and Logan: an offer to buy out his shares. Kendall is upset and learns that Shiv and Roman are here for Matsson, so he keeps Matsson away from them. Kendall meets Rava and learns he got a present from his kids but can't find it. Feeling frustrated and lonely, he lashes out at Naomi who comforts him, and he decides he wants to leave. Roman meets with Matsson and sells Waystar's offer to him. Matsson seems like he may be interested. On the way out, Kendall runs into Roman arguing with Shiv and they all have a nasty spat. Kendall goes back to his apartment.
The Good: This episode is all about Kendall. He's been hyping up his birthday party for several episodes now, and it's finally here in all of its over-the-top glory. This party describes Kendall to a tee. The very first scene indicates all that is wrong with him as we see him deliver a surprisingly good performance of "Honesty" by Billy Joel, and then he reveals that he's doing some dumb over-the-top Jesus stunt that will completely ruin it. This is everything that's wrong with Kendall. He has all of the pieces and has moments where he has put it all together, but then he overthinks and plays to his ego and makes a complete fool of himself every time. This birthday party fell into the same trappings. For as large-scale and glamorous as it was, Kendall had a horrible time at his own party. Despite inviting everyone and receiving so many gifts, Kendall had no personal connection to this party. Outside of his family, not one person wished him happy birthday, and we can see as the party goes on how this tragically makes him feel even more alone. Nothing exemplifies this better than Kendall's reaction to losing the present from his kids. It's never going to be something good, but because it was hand-made just for him, this present becomes the only one that matters. The pile of generic, bland presents means nothing to Kendall, and deep down he yearns for that personal connection with people. The present from his kids represents that, hence why he's devastated when he can't find it, and is disappointed when Naomi gets him a gift that's just like anything else from a random stranger. Kendall's breakdown in this scene is devastating, and his final line saying "I wish I was home" is crushingly sad because we know that his apartment is not the home he's talking about. He wishes to be surrounded by people who love him again instead of being surrounded by strangers who don't know who he is and don't care. Perhaps he's even dreaming of that low-key party he described to Rava, a personal night with her and his kids. But poor Kendall has burned the bridge with Rava. He clearly still wants to be with her, but can't stand her moving past him so he lashes out. Ultimately, his desire to get out leads to him ending his birthday night in stark contrast to how it started. The episode starts with Kendall shouting outside his balcony about how it's his birthday. It ends with a somber look over the edge (suicidal thoughts perhaps?) and Kendall crying in Naomi's laugh, a powerful contrast to how it began. Overall, this episode is magnificent in its exploration of Kendall, and the layers of loneliness that encapsulate him. Kendall is far from the only fascinating element of this episode. Shiv and Roman play a key role as they come to Kendall's party to meet with Matsson. The result is a horrifically brutal spat between the three siblings, which was perhaps the most devastating and tragic scene of the series. I've enjoyed seeing Roman's rise over the past few seasons from bumbling idiot to someone who actually has some business sense. What made him so compelling was that he clearly did have a level of morality that we didn't see in any of the other siblings. But that's changed now. Now that Roman is successful and has his dad's favour, we see how this brings out the worst in him. I don't think any of the Roy siblings have been as ruthless and cruel as Roman in these past few episodes. Kendall once stepped in to stop his father when he hit Roman, and now this episode sees Roman viciously insulting Kendall, goading him into hitting him, a line he knows Kendall can't cross, and then shoving him to the ground in such a humiliating and awful way that shows such little regard for his older brother. It's sad, it's disgusting, and it's so against what the Roman earlier in the season would do. Roman has lost himself in his newfound position and power and it's terrible to behold. He's in need of getting knocked down a few pegs, and I wonder if that will happen with this Matsson deal. Matsson is a fun presence in this episode, and Roman tries to enchant him the same way he did with Mencken in the last episode. Whether or not it actually works remains to be seen (see: The Unknown), but I do hope that Roman gets humbled because his behaviour has become irrational and irritating. Shiv has another rough episode. She came to Kendall's birthday party expecting to help secure the Matsson deal, but she finds that she's been cut out more than ever before despite actually working for Waystar now. Roman and Logan discuss and do everything, and Shiv is treated as barely any more significant than Kendall. It's sad to see her frustrations boil over, and it's made worse by Roman's gloating and needless insults. Roman even makes things personal by attacking her relationship with Tom which, while not necessarily untrue, is needless to discuss in this situation. The spat between Roman and Shiv before Kendall arrives is brutal but very well written. You have two characters feeling contrasting negative emotions lashing out at each other. One feels jealousy and spite in her defeat, the other feels prideful and snobbish in his victory. Then you add a broken Kendall into the mix and the scene becomes one of the show's very best. Brutal stuff. Tom finally returned to his old self at the episode's beginning and I couldn't be happier! The news that nobody was going to prison is suitably great, and Tom immediately going to Greg's office and annihilating it in his raw relief was absolutely hilarious. It was nice to see Tom back to normal and interacting with Greg like he used to. But it's tragically short-lived. You would think that Tom should be celebrating this with Shiv, but brutally it's Shiv who tells Tom to be less happy, and she can't seem to care less that he husband isn't going to prison. This leads to a terrific scene later in the episode where Greg comes to see Tom who is clearly still unhappy. Even poor Tom is confused by it all and can't understand why he still feels so miserable despite all the good news. But we realize that even though Tom is not going to prison, he's stuck in a different prison being married to Shiv and connected with the Roys. Matthew Macfadyen's portrayal of Tom's emotional confusion and his inability to process his sadness is phenomenal, and the broad relatability of these feelings makes the performance connect with you. Greg has plenty of great humour to offer, as always. He has some tremendous scenes throughout the episode. His comedy with Tom is golden as always. The office scene is terrific, and I really laughed at the "prove it" line, and Greg and Tom's contrasting reactions to the compliment tunnel. Greg asking out Comfry is a fun side plot, and his horrific first attempt where he keeps calling her a maiden was hilarious. On the other hand, Greg's conversation with Kendall is dramatic and sad. These two were on such good terms, but now Kendall has turned on him brutally. There's a huge degree of hypocrisy in Kendall calling Greg a leech to his own family, but the insult definitely hits for Greg. But since it's Greg, of course his immediate response is to punch the image of Kendall in the balls over and over again. Brilliant. The Bad: Nothing. The Unknown: Logan told Tom that he will remember that he was ready to sacrifice. Does this give Tom some leverage to work with? Have Roman and Tabitha broken up? We haven't seen Tabitha all season. How did Tom get Shiv? We heard before that he helped her when she was a mess, but what exactly happened between them? Will we ever find out? Will Kendall buy out from Waystar? He definitely should, but I don't know if he's going to. How will Greg and Comfry's date go? Is there actually something there, or is Comfry just dating him out of spite for Kendall? I suspect it's the latter. Is Matsson going to take the deal? I suspect that he may have other plans in mind. What present did Kendall's kids get him? Will Kendall ever find it? They used rabbit wrapping paper, does this mean the rabbit survived the bagel incident? Roman does constantly seem to be making comments about having sex with his parents, and he also mentions being uncomfortable peeing around other men. Does this suggest something about his childhood? Was there some sort of sexual abuse done to Roman? Best Moment: The sibling argument near the end of the episode was brutal and horrifying. The sheer venom spat out by all of the siblings, especially Roman, is heartbreaking to watch and it makes you grateful for the loved ones in your life, loved ones that the Roys can never even dream of having. Sad. Character of the Episode: Kendall. Conclusion: A masterful episode, the best I've seen from "Succession" yet. This had all of the staples of the show so far, excellent acting/writing/dialogue, an engaging event that furthers the main plot, fascinating new character dynamics, a compelling exploration of wealth, and some great comedy. But what sent this over the top was how much emotion was packed into this episode. It becomes extremely impactful when a TV show that rarely outwardly shows us the emotions of its characters decides to linger on emotion for an extended period of time. The emotion took an already great episode and allowed it to reach a further height. Score: 81 Summary: The Roys attend Future Freedom Summit to essentially choose the next President. Logan initially leans towards picking Boyer. However, Roman gets close with Mencken and likes him, while Shiv prefers the democrat Salgado who offers to secure her future as the next CEO. Connor prefers himself obviously. The Roys all gather and discuss their options. Tom slips out to meet Kendall, who continues to spiral and has fired Lisa after she pointed out his shortcomings in the case. Tom refuses Kendall's offer and returns. Logan decides to go with Mencken to Shiv's dismay. Tom agrees to take some of Greg's crimes on to spare him some prison time.
The Good: I enjoy the concept of this episode a lot, as I often do with "Succession" episodes. Politics are central to this show and it's nice to see them take center stage as the Roys essentially get to choose the next President of the United States. This show always does a great job of illustrating how much the Roys take their power for granted and are out of touch with the real world, and this "President choosing party" is another fine example of that. I enjoyed seeing Roman and Shiv pick their favoured candidates. Roman genuinely seemed to hit it off with Mencken, which was amusing and very smart to build loyalty, while Shiv is, as always, self-motivated as she decides to back whichever candidate gives her the best potential future, and that happens to be Salgado. It's entertaining to see Shiv and Roman spar in the debate room on who to select. This neatly continued the trend of the season which sees Shiv falling out of favour with Logan as Roman gains trust from Logan. Shiv says almost everything wrong in this episode and everything she tries ends up failing. Logan doesn't take her seriously, she says stupid stuff like "my opinion does matter more", and she's petty about everything, especially with how she views Mencken as a personal affront just because he reminds her of other guys she has worked with. Meanwhile Roman is sneaky and clever, and he plays up to Logan perfectly at every turn. Shiv tries to use the knowledge of Caroline's remarriage as a weapon, but Roman, confidently as ever, just uses it as a chance to amuse Logan further, and Roman wins. Perhaps the best moment that encapsulates this episode's sibling dynamic is Shiv and Roman debating on whether Logan is having sex with Kerry or not. Shiv is so confident that she's right, but completely misses the mark on how her father behaves, while Roman understands him and his motives to a tee. This is great writing, and it's always entertaining to see how the relationship between Logan and his children changes with every episode. Kendall and Tom are the other stars of the episode, and I love everything that went on with them. Kendall has a rough episode. He was in a bad place going into this one, and things continue to spiral for him. The worst part is that this is entirely his fault. Lisa does her best to prepare Kendall for questioning, yet Kendall treats all preparation as a joke and winds up doing a horrific job, and after Lisa tells him the brutal truth, he fires her too. It's all going down for Kendall, and once more it's all his own doing. This show is so good at creating complex emotions because seeing Kendall so broken in season 2 made me root for his success, making me forget how utterly incompetent and disappointing the real Kendall is. Now that I'm seeing who he really is once more, I'm reminded by how baffling his decision-making is. The meeting with Tom is a highlight of the episode (see: Best Moment), and it's Kendall's last genuine shot to salvage an ally. I thought for sure that Tom would join him considering how everyone else is not on his side. Shiv continues to downplay him going to prison and mistreat him, while Logan is happy to throw him under the bus without second thought, and Greg continues to rise, even in the wake of Tom's impending trip to prison. Tom's been in a horrible place this season, and Matthew Macfadyen's performance captures the nuance of the situation fantastically. It's so sad that Tom is clearly just looking for someone to listen to his problems and acknowledge them. He can't get that from his wife, nor his friend Greg, so he gives Kendall a shot to be there and understand. At first, Kendall does well by sympathizing and understanding his emotions. But Tom has changed, and his mantra of "having no hope" does make him more cautious and careful. Despite liking what Kendall is saying, Tom has to question whether Kendall can actually win, and so Kendall reveals his true colours and Tom can safely leave him behind as a non-option. Kendall blew it again, and poor Tom is back to square one when it comes to looking for an escape. It's sad that nobody seemed to notice that Tom left for a long time to meet with Kendall, but such is how little anyone in the Roy family values Tom. Poor guy. I can't help but feel for Connor as well. Sure, he's delusional and has no right to even be in contention to become President. But it's still absolutely crushing to see nobody backing him at all. Nobody wants to support his dreams or what he wants, and perhaps more painfully, nobody gives him enough attention to find another hobby or another purpose for his life. They're all perfectly content to let Connor live in his own corner of the world, but when Connor tries to join theirs, that's when the problem arises and nobody has the stones to say it straight to his face. The sham sequence when Logan tries to get Roman and Shiv to express their opinions on Connor as President is painful, and indicative of the dysfunction between the family members. Then you have Greg who throws in his support for Connor, and you can see Connor's elation in this moment. But it's all taken away as Greg hilariously finally decides to make a concrete statement: he doesn't support Connor. When Greg, the one guy who's famously indecisive, isn't backing you, then you know there's a problem. I feel bad for Connor, and despite his delusions, he may be the single most unfairly treated family member in an already toxic family. The Bad: Nothing bad. The Unknown: Are Logan and Kerry having sex? How does Marcia feel about this? Why does Logan continue to snub her like this? Is Kendall screwed? Firing Lisa is obviously a boneheaded move, and it's hard to see him coming back from this. Will Tom join Kendall? It seems unlikely, especially since Kendall looks to be well on his way to another failure, and Tom knows it. Is Kendall going to burn Greg out of desperation? Is Tom going to take the fall for Greg? Will Greg actually keep suing Greenpeace? It's amusing to me that he's actually going through with it. Apparently Caroline is getting remarried. Will we get another episode in England for this wedding? Who is the best pick for President? Logan is backing Mencken now, but is he the right choice? Who is actually going to win? Best Moment: Tom and Kendall in the parking lot. Again, Kendall makes the same mistakes by offering absolutely nothing to the people he wants loyalty from other than "I like you". Tom, surprisingly, isn't rolled over by this despite having every reason to leave Logan's side. Instead, he fights back, and he hits Kendall with a totally valid line, suggesting that he's failed countless times and Logan never has, so why should Tom join him. Kendall naturally has no answer outside of a sloppy blackmail attempt, allowing Tom one last barb to get his frustrations out, reminding Kendall of how insignificant he has become that he is being excluded from conversations on who the next President is going to be. This scene was terrifically acted by Jeremy Strong and Matthew Macfadyen, and a brilliant indicator of Kendall's fall and also of a change in Tom's attitude as we see a more ruthless edge to him. Character of the Episode: Tom. Conclusion: Another excellent episode. This one was another hour of gripping character dealings and development, and I enjoyed seeing the storylines progress with more great acting, great dialogue, and great comedy. In its third season, "Succession" has understood what makes it great, and the season has brilliantly played to its strength to create compelling television so far. Score: 71 Summary: It's the day of the shareholder meeting. Stewy has called and agrees to talk about a deal so Logan meets with them to discuss. As the deal is negotiated, Frank stalls the shareholders. They end up at an impasse when Sandy wants veto power over the next Roy CEO. Sandi later calls with an alternate deal to forego private jets but Logan does not agree. However, Logan has fallen ill with a UTI and is delirious. Everyone is unsure of what to do. Shiv meets with Sandi and negotiates the deal while also giving them a fourth board seat. The President calls for Logan and Roman takes the call. He learns that the President will not be running again, upsetting everyone but Connor. The deal is successful and Karl announces it to everyone. Kendall arrives to make a statement but it doesn't go over well and his mic is cut off. Logan cuts off Kendall completely. He's upset at Shiv for the deal even though it did work. Greg meets with Ewan who officially cuts him out of his inheritance and intends to give the money to Greenpeace. Greg decides that he will sue Greenpeace for the money.
The Good: The one aspect of this show that bothers me the most is how it began. So much of this show hinges on the family dynamics between Logan and his children, so I have always found it an odd choice that Logan was taken out of the equation for the show's first real story arc, and we were stuck watching the kids attempt and fail to keep things together without him. It was a fine enough story, but I had no investment in the characters yet and much of the drama and intensity was lost because of that. Now, after over 20 episodes of brilliant character work, we finally revisit this idea and this time "Succession" totally nails it. I am now invested in this family and I've seen the Roy siblings enough to completely understand how they function. As such, it's so much more fun to watch them try to hold the fort with their father out of commission, and struggle so much to keep things together. I'm very glad that the show gave this idea another shot because it's further made clear that even after all we've seen from Kendall, Shiv, and Roman, it's still going to be an absolute disaster if one of them have to take over control from Logan. The shareholder meeting has been built up for a couple of season now, so it's an enormous deal now that it's finally here. The fate of the company hangs in the balance, so it's gripping to see the negotiations between Sandy, Stewy, and Sandi and the Roys. It's episodes like these where the show's strong acting and writing reaps reward because the desperation of the situation is conveyed remarkably well. Logan's failing health, the time pressure, the fear of losing the company, it's all come together to make a perfect storm at this shareholder meeting, and none of the intensity is wasted throughout what was a highly suspenseful episode. Logan's failing health is primarily what makes this so intense. Every episode up until now since "Lifeboats" has had Logan at the helm to make these hard decisions, but with him out of commission at the most crucial junction, it's hard to imagine any of the other characters making a correct decision on instinct like he does. The nerves on show by everyone in the room are stellar and it leads to a number of great, panicky scenes, such as my favourite moment of the episode (see: Best Moment). The three Roy siblings are all given moments to shine here and they all have their ups and downs throughout the episode. Shiv is the most successful as she is the one who secures the deal with Sandi and saves the company. It's great to see Shiv prey on Sandi's personal desires to secure the deal, and she even goes a step further to play to her own desires, getting herself a seat on the board. It's a decent deal, but unfortunately for her, Logan can see through her and understands that she made a selfish play, and he's not happy about that. Logan scolding her at the episode's end was intense, and it's sad to see that Logan dressed Shiv down the same way that he did with Kendall back in "Lifeboats". Roman was relegated to the background for much of the episode, and he seemed to be the one most unnerved and scared by his father's failing health. But he ended up really shining when asked to speak with the President. At first he is hilariously awkward, but by the end he's able to convey the message effectively to Logan, and seems to have entered Logan's good graces following Shiv's perceived failure. Then we have Kendall, who is spiraling rapidly. As always, Kendall is listening to nobody and running ahead on his high with disastrous results. Sure, he plays a role in securing the deal with Sandy, but he doesn't get much for his efforts. He tries to cash in at the episode's end by appearing at the shareholder meeting, but comes off as awkward and crazy and has a negative effect on his PR. Then, in a power move, Kendall is ghosted by Logan who blocks his number, officially ostracizing Kendall from the family and leaving him sadly alone by the episode's end. He isn't done yet, but it has been a steady fall since the highs of the season 3 premiere for Kendall. The side characters have an excellent episode all things considered. Greg has officially been cut out by Ewan, and it's sad to see him fall into such a vulnerable position because he's trying to keep everyone happy but is indecisive on which side to stay with. Ewan nails Greg down by saying that he has to take himself seriously to truly advance, perhaps the kindest advice that Ewan has ever offered Greg. But I'm sure it went over Greg's head like everything else, especially as Greg hilariously tries to sue Ewan "in a way that says I love you", and ultimately settles on suing Greenpeace, a hilariously stupid idea. Meanwhile Tom continues to panic under the pressure of prison and tries to get Shiv pregnant to give him some motivation to get through it. Shiv is suitably upset by this, though it's revealing of her narcissism that she expects Tom to just take going to prison, yet has double standards when it comes to her being "imprisoned" by pregnancy. These two continue to have a fascinating relationship and it's sad to see their moment of genuine elation ruined by the tension between them. Lastly, I'll highlight the supporting cast of Gerri, Frank, Karl, and Hugo who are all fantastic in this episode and I think they add a welcome amount of depth to the proceedings. Each character offers unique input and has their own degree of comedy, like poor Frank being stuck stalling for so long, Karl being a weasel who sneaks out of bad situations and sneaks into good ones, and Hugo going from sheer loyalty to saying some of the most hilariously outrageous things. I enjoy these characters, and they added a lot to this episode. The Bad: The ending moments with Kendall feel a bit strange and I wasn't able to connect with them like I probably should have. I'm confused by how the episode seems to treat this as a failure for Kendall, which really isn't the case. Stewy, Sandy, and Sandi failing to acquire the company is what Kendall wanted and this ultimately has no bearing on his war with his father, so I was confused by the tone of the show suggesting that this was a defeat for Kendall. I'm also confused by Logan's decision to ghost and block Kendall. I absolutely believe him to be petty like that, but why wait until this point, and why is it such a big deal to Kendall that it happened? I was a bit confused by this note in the story and I could have used some more context for the emotions of the characters. The Unknown: Did that poor rabbit die? I should have expected that it would meet an unfortunate fate under Kendall's care. Jess's reaction to Kendall getting the news was absolute gold though. What disease does Sandy have? Who is going to be the next President? Don't tell me that Connor actually has a shot. Will Logan recover from his UTI? Best Moment: The brief scene when Kendall arrives to scold everyone for not accepting the deal. There's so much happening in this one brief minute and I love it. We have Kendall's pretentious anger, Roman's frustration and concern for his father, and the hilarious visual of Colin removing an imaginary dead cat. This was a chaotic minute that made me laugh at the humour, recoil at Roman's harsh words for Kendall, and scoff at Kendall's self-absorbed speech. Character of the Episode: Shiv. Conclusion: Another terrific episode, one that highlights everything that "Succession" does well. The shareholder meeting is an intense blast, every character is utilized effectively, and the themes at play are some of the most exciting and interesting in the show. I enjoyed this greatly. Score: 75 Summary: One of Waystar's shareholders Josh is threatening to join Sandy and Stewy so he invites Kendall and Logan to his island to talk things through. Kendall initially refuses but ultimately agrees to go. There are tensions between Kendall and Logan but they discuss with Josh. Josh is unconvinced by their relationship and decides to join Sandy and Stewy. Greg meets with Logan who offers him an excellent deal to leave Kendall. Roman looks into a tattoo man who he and Kendall convinced to tattoo Kendall's initials on his forehead. Shiv is tasked with making ATN more critical of the President and she tries to get Tom to do her bidding. Tom is able to talk to Greg and secure him on Logan's side, but can't get ATN to do Logan's bidding. Shiv meets with Mark herself and convinces him, but her approach upsets Karl and Frank.
The Good: The main story is a lot of fun. The idea of Logan and Kendall interacting with all the tension between them has been exciting for the first few episodes in this season, and "Lion in the Meadow" finally allows them an excuse to be together to explore how their dynamic has changed. What we got was splendid. Seeing these two tested by Josh was gripping, and their dynamic never failed to shine in this scenes. Logan saying nice things about Kendall when under pressure before letting him know that it was all a load of crap was sad and powerful. As was Kendall attempting to befriend Josh and seemingly hitting it off only for Josh to show much more interest and energy around Logan instead of him. I love the way this show handles its characters and this was no exception. Josh was a formidable foe for these two, and he preyed on their weaknesses. Logan and Kendall thought they just had to reassure Josh and act tough, but Josh was looking for so much more. Seeing Josh turn the tables on them in their discussion was fantastic, and Josh forced Logan to play to his tune, which is something we don't always see from the Roys. The Roys are so arrogant that they very rarely place value on other key members of their company, and that showed in this episode. Furthermore, I love that Josh did not decide to stick with them. He seems far more cunning than he initially let on. I'm sure his daughter was never sick, and I suspect that he took Logan out on such a long walk to test how much Kendall cares for his father. When Kendall failed to intervene on his behalf, that was likely when Josh decided not to side with them. It's terrific writing because we know that Kendall actually does care for his father, but he's too terrified to step in on his own to help Logan for fear of his wrath; a childhood fear manifested in adulthood. And this weakness ends up being the reason that the Roys lose Josh's support. Brilliant writing. I am enjoying Tom's storyline a lot this season because of how different he feels. So many shows keep their characters static throughout every season, and it would be easy to do the same with Tom, who is such a funny and well-received character. But this show is better than that and we are getting a long-term storyline with Tom. I'm not sure if this is an act anymore as I predicted last episode, and it looks like Tom is genuinely afraid of prison and he realizes too late that he has nobody in his corner to protect him. He thought he had Shiv, but now that he can see her narcissism in full effect, he realizes that Shiv doesn't give a damn about what happens to him. Tom's conversation with Shiv is so sad because you can see Tom understand this, and hearing Shiv neglect to give any thought or time to his worries is so sad. Add on a terrific scene with Greg where Tom realizes that lowly Greg is likely to end up in a better position than him is sad, especially as Tom tries to wrestle him, likely in a confused effort to make some sort of connection with someone around him. This is sad stuff buried under the mask of comedy, and it's great to watch. Roman, Shiv, and Greg have solid side stories in this episode. Shiv finally has her job and she's trying to slip into it but doesn't realize that she needs to establish herself before she does all the "badass" things she wants to do. As a result, she quickly alienates her own people and is only successful when it comes to Tom and threatening other people with Logan's name. Compare this to Roman who has adjusted over time by this point. Roman doesn't just do what Logan has ordered him to do, and he actively pursues the tattoo man, his own project to get some extra leverage over Kendall. It's great to see how Roman has matured over the last few seasons, and his interactions with tattoo man are quite funny, a further reminder of the complete disregard the Roys have for lower-class people. Greg's rise continues to be fun to watch. Kendall tries to assure Greg's loyalty at the start of the episode, but when Logan gives Greg a fantastic offer that could have him go to any department he would like, of course Greg caves in. Kendall has provided no reason for Greg to remain loyal, so naturally Greg ditches him as soon as he gets a good reason to. The Greg/Logan conversation was superb, and Greg does a lot of fun things as always, like chugging his rum and coke in front of Logan. The Bad: This episode does feel a bit slow and inconsequential ultimately. The way "Succession" structures its episodes by introducing a unique conflict to be solved in each episode usually prevents there from being transition or set-up episodes. But in rare exceptions like this episode and last season's "Vaulter", some episodes do feel like they are just stalling time or filling in the gaps before more significant events happen. This episode feels like an extra plot before the shareholder meeting, and as such it does not provide as engaging, intense, funny, or emotional of an experience as the episodes that have come before it. This episode doesn't do anything outwardly wrong, it's just that the type of episode it is prevents it from scoring highly. The Unknown: Greg didn't sign any paperwork with Logan, so is he confirmed to be leaving Kendall? Or is he still weighing his options? How does Ewan factor in with all of this? What will be the consequences of Josh siding with Sandy and Stewy? Is this going to screw over the Roys? Or will they still be able to win at the shareholder meeting somehow? Shiv's attempts to sway Mark appear to have worked. What does this mean for Logan's relationship with the President? Will the President be able to help him out now? Will Roman ever make the tattoo man story public? I suspect that Tom may leave Waystar and join up with Kendall. Will this happen? Best Moment: Logan assuring Kendall that what he said to Josh was bullshit. Another reminder to Kendall that his dad is a manipulative ass and that he made the right choice in cutting him off. Both Brian Cox and Jeremy Strong performed wonderfully in this scene and gave it some real weight. Character of the Episode: Tom. Conclusion: A solid episode of storytelling that never aspired to be more than that. This did what it wanted to do effectively, but this is the type of episode that you enjoy and quickly forget about in the long run. Score: 65 Summary: Kendall becomes infatuated with his social media presence and gives several interviews. Logan refuses to cooperate with the DOJ and plans for future events. Kendall and Shiv attend the same conference and Shiv tries to convince Kendall not to come in to Waystar. Kendall watches a segment from a TV show called "The Disruption" and decides that he wants to appear. Tom tells Shiv that he thinks he might end up in prison and that it might be worth sacrificing himself. She agrees, and Logan does too when he brings it up to him. Tom then hires another lawyer. Kendall impulsively decides to come into Waystar and sends everyone in a panic. Shiv makes an announcement, but Kendall ruins it by playing loud music. In retaliation, Shiv releases a letter condemning Kendall, bringing up issues like his addiction, mental illness, and being an absentee father. Upon learning about this, Kendall walks away from his interview on "The Disruption". Logan tries to make a deal at ATN with the President, but the DOJ find out and the FBI raids the Waystar building.
The Good: Kendall is again the star of the show here. After a couple episodes of feeling himself again, Kendall's mania has reached a new level here. He's living it up in every scene and making increasingly ridiculous and cringeworthy statements at every turn like talking to a worker at Waystar, shouting "f*** the patriarchy!" for no reason, and allowing himself to be slandered on TV, calling it "good PR". The good tweet/bad tweet game is another example that's amusing to watch, and this episode feels like it's 90% Kendall making increasingly bad decisions while in a state of total enjoyment. It does make me wonder if he is bipolar as he flips between manic and depressed so frequently sometimes. In any case, this behaviour is an effective reminder that Kendall is not the good guy in this story even though it might feel that way. He's no hero, and he's every bit as flawed as the rest of his family. Kendall makes so many unnecessary moves in this episode. He doesn't need to appear for the media, but he does anyways because, despite his denial, he is obsessed with the idea of how he comes across to other people, not realizing that in trying to be "cool", he's actually looking like an idiot. Even stupider is his decision to visit Waystar Royco unnecessarily. Lisa advised against it, but he ignores his genuine legal help and decides to make an appearance just to make his family sweat. And what do you know, it all blows up in his face. By antagonizing Shiv (more on this in a sec), he stirs up dissent and ends up having his name slandered by a volatile letter that completely destroys all of his energy and good vibes. The scene where Kendall returns back to being a shell is fantastic (see: Best Moment), and it's great pay-off for all of Kendall's stupid moves in the past few episodes. A conflict that surprised me in this episode is between Kendall and Shiv. Things went extremely badly with the both of them, and they ended up firing the most deadly shots on each other in this Roy civil war. Their brief conversation at the journal conference suggested some more fascinating differences in how the two operated, but I did not expect things to get so personal so fast with both of them. Kendall's arrival at Waystar was intense and I didn't know what to expect from his presence. What we ended up getting was so petty, mean-spirited, and humiliating, and I was quite shocked by it. Shiv's speech was likely a moment she had dreamed of for a long time: a moment where she finally got to announce her presence and begin her dream to be in control of the company. However, the moment is ruined by Kendall who blasts Nirvana's "Rape Me" all over speakers, and the result is Shiv completely losing her composure and leaving the stage in tears. I was caught off guard by her emotional release, and that really sold how needless, humiliating, and cold Kendall's actions were. Sadly for him, Shiv is not weak and doesn't take hits without punching back. She embraces her inner Logan, just like Kendall did last episode, and releases a brutal letter that condemns Kendall's image permanently and airs all of his dirty laundry for the world to see. The battle between the siblings has gotten nasty, ruthless, and public, and it looks like the Roys are in more danger of destroying each other than anything else. Roman appears to be caught in the middle of all of this. While his siblings get rotten with each other, Roman is the lone wolf trying to better himself and become a good fit for CEO. But it's clear that Roman is also the one who is most in need of some sort of affection or connection, especially from his father, but he gets nothing. This episode makes Roman do an interview recounting past memories of his father and how much he loves him. With such little good memories to share, Roman doesn't have much to say, but tragically he still has to lie and pass off a moment with Connor as something he did with Logan. Even still, poor Roman's only reward for his troubles is to be berated by his father and get called a faggot. It's brutally depressing, and it's clear that poor Roman has been belittled all his life, when all he has needed is just a little bit of love and support. This family really is tragic. Logan spends much of the episode continuing his insane decision-making. He's so stubborn that he refuses to cooperate with the DOJ and pays dearly for it when he tries to go behind their back to secure protection from the President. By the end of the episode, he pays the consequences by getting the Waystar building raided by the FBI. With Waystar's image getting thrown in the mud, the family entering a public blood feud, and the shareholder meeting coming up shortly, "Succession" looks like it is setting up a perfect storm for the Roys, and I'm enjoying it. Tom has a very different atmosphere this season, and I really like it. Where in seasons 1 and 2 he felt like a purely comedic character, he's now carrying a degree of disappointment and pent up fury in every scene he's in. Instead of being an awkward fool, he has had enough of this family and of the way Shiv treats him, and it looks like he's trying to make a play himself. His scenes with Shiv and Logan were fascinating because it looks like he is testing their loyalty to him, rather than exercising his own loyalty. From the look of things, he may be planning to make a move soon, and I'm excited to see what's going to happen and how it affects his relationship with Shiv. Meanwhile Greg continues to be fun. I have some questions about what he's currently up to (see: The Unknown), but his relationship with Tom continues to provide the laughs, and his situation with the watch in this episode is a good bit of comic relief even if it is a bit superfluous. The Bad: My biggest issue with this episode is the storyline with Logan trying to use ATN to connect with the President. The most entertaining parts of this show involve the family dynamics, so having a simple plot that allows the fmaily dynamics to shine is where "Succession" is at its strongest. The problem with all of this ATN/President/DOJ plot is that it doesn't capitalize on the family dynamics and it instead becomes an unnecessarily convoluted plot, especially for those who aren't familiar with how all of these government organizations operate and what their significance is. These scenes ended up taking away from the episode, and I was much less interested in them. The writing and performances are still good, but that fascinating storytelling that I get out of the other scenes and storylines was missing. The Unknown: Was Tom testing Logan and Shiv with his offer to take the fall? Why was he testing them? Why did he call for a private lawyer? Is he thinking of joining Kendall? Why is Greg working at Waystar again? How did he get to return? Does Kendall know about this? Was this Ewan's idea? Is Greg content to work for him for now? There's a great scene where the fixer from last season, Colin, comes to see Kendall and threatens him. Is there any weight to this? Will Kendall's secret be spilled in this season? Logan refused to do it in the previous episode because of blowback, but could that change at some point? Is Kendall going to fail again? If he continues to ignore the advice given by everyone around him, I can't see him succeeding. Will Lisa and the others give up on him if he continues to be so aberrant? What is going to happen following the FBI raid? How does this change things? Best Moment: Kendall leaving the talk show to hide in the control room was a spectacular moment. I really have to praise the score because it elevates the scene significantly, but the score isn't the only thing genius about this sequence. Jeremy Strong is absolutely phenomenal here, and it's amazing to see the joy get slowly wiped off of his face and replaced by the broken depression from season 2 that we are all too familiar with. The scene is so somber and powerful, and it makes Kendall's fall from his manic state feel powerful and impactful. This show has a lot of talking usually, so when a scene goes so long without any dialogue, it immediately feels important and captures a unique emotional feeling that many other scenes in the show cannot. Character of the Episode: Kendall. Conclusion: Another terrific episode. There is more great character conflict, more heartbreak, more intrigue, and more comedy. The story gets deeper and more exciting with every passing episode, and season 3 has been an absolute blast so far. Score: 70 Summary: Logan grows paranoid as he is unable to get in touch with Shiv and Roman. They both arrive at Kendall's place and Kendall tries to convince them to join him. Kendall meets with Sandy and Stewy and offers a deal to avoid a shareholder vote. Kendall again tries to convince his siblings, but after Shiv discusses with Tom and Roman discusses with Gerri, they decide not to side with Kendall. Logan reaches out to Marcia who returns, but gives steep conditions to Hugo for her amicable return. Logan returns to New York and reunites with his children. Logan offers Shiv a new position in the company. Greg confides to Kendall that he is uncertain and Kendall decides to set him up with a lawyer. Greg is unsure of what to do and is further confused when Gerri sends him a lawyer. Greg goes to Ewan who sets him up with his lawyer.
The Good: The concept of this episode is terrific. Roughly half of the length of this episode is spent in Rava's home as Kendall negotiates with Roman and Shiv in an effort to coerce them to join him. Connor is there too, but as usual the poor guy is treated like a side-thought. Still, the dialogue between them all is gripping and there is so much enjoyment and fascination to be had from the character dynamics. Kendall continues to thrive on this manic high, and he has complete confidence that he can convince his siblings to join him. However, he gets a bit lost in this high and overlooks details in an effort to sell to the siblings he wants on his side. Shiv and Roman really want to join Kendall, but they have affirmed their loyalties to Logan and are concerned that joining Kendall is not a smart move. The episode is so fascinating because the idea of the Roy children teaming up on their father feels like it should be central to the main story, but the characters all have individual flaws and quirks that prevent them from wanting to join up with each other. Mostly, it's because their selfish desires get in the way. Shiv wants to join Kendall, but upon realizing that Kendall doesn't see her as a leader, just like her father, she doesn't hesitate to walk out on him, even as he rages at her. Roman is also tempted to join. He and Shiv may emphasize that they are sticking with Logan, but they stick around with Kendall because they are contemplating whether to join him or not. For Roman, things are less personal than with Shiv. But with Gerri in charge, a fear of his father's wrath, and the concern that Kendall may not succeed, Roman makes his own logical choice and opts to stay with Logan. But both Roman and Shiv didn't have the courage or commitment to leave Kendall on their own. Connor had to go first. Connor, who has more reason than anyone else to betray his father, opts to stand by him and he suddenly goes from irrelevant to a catalyst that causes everything to crumble for Kendall (see: Best Moment). These character dynamics and the thought process that leads them all to the decisions that they make is why this episode is so effective. These characters feel so real and so understandable because of this show's terrific writing and acting. Seeing these beautifully realized characters going through such engaging conflicts for an entire episode is exactly what I want from a TV show, and "Succession" did not disappoint with this one. On top of this, there are so many delightful details that keep the episode fun. Roman, Shiv, and Kendall are constantly throwing clever and original barbs at each other throughout the episode. The show maintains a sense of reality since many of these barbs are often funny because of how poorly thought out they are, so the dialogue never feels phony. It feels crushingly real that these three siblings are never able to share a sweet moment together and are constantly at odds in even the most docile discussions. I also have to highlight Connor's presence in these scenes. Connor is always treated like an afterthought and his presence feels exactly like that. People appeal to him so that he feels included, but ultimately it is clear that nobody really cares about his presence, and that's quite sad. It adds another dimension to these scenes when you remember Connor's presence. Lastly, I loved the donuts moment. This is such a small thing, but it's hilarious how a single box of donuts completely changes the dynamic of the conversation, and the suggestion that Logan may have poisoned them is really funny. Logan continues to be a fascinating character. This episode sees him giving into his own paranoia and he constantly panics about all of the events happening that are out of his control, especially Shiv going rogue and ignoring everyone's calls. Seeing Logan so desperate also allowed us a look at his manipulative side. If it wasn't clear before, this episode makes Logan's manipulations completely transparent. He only ever embraces the "caring father" personality when he wants something, and it was disgusting to hear him use that same "number one boy" line with Connor that he used on Kendall back in "Nobody is Ever Missing". It's never been more clear that Logan is full of garbage and doesn't seem to have a caring bone in his body. Marcia returns in this episode and her presence is welcome. I was upset when it seemed like her story was written out of the show unsatisfyingly last season, but it appears that is not the case. She has returned and is hellbent on getting what she wants this time, and it's great to see. Greg is terrific in this episode and offers laugh after laugh in his scenes as he realizes he's completely in over his head. His phone call with Tom is comedy gold ("Tom? This isn't the Tom number", "I know, aren't I clever"), but it also sends Greg into a heightened paranoia, making him afraid of everything. It's so funny watching Greg stumble through every conversation as he tries to make sure that he gets a lawyer on his side. Everyone knows his nature and are trying to prey on him, and even Ewan ends up doing the same with his big confusing sentences (it's an eternal joy to hear Greg awkwardly nod along to Ewan). Greg ending up with an anti-capitalist lawyer is a hilarious development and I'm excited to see where this all goes. The Bad: Where are Kendall's kids? He uses them as an excuse to leave, but we're given no indication of where they actually are. Hell, the meeting between Kendall and his siblings takes place in one of his kids' rooms, so it's strange that we are never updated on where they have gone. I get that this may be done to further show us how irresponsible Kendall is as a father, but I felt myself getting distracted by this question during moments where I should have been getting sucked into the drama. The Unknown: Will Shiv and Roman continue to stick by Logan, or are they just looking for the first opportunity to betray him too? Shiv's new position sounds like another farce and I'm sure she knows it. Is she going to look for another opportunity to take over? Will Stewy and Sandy back Kendall, or are they going to turn on him? What is Connor's next move? It seems like he has been alienated by everyone, so what's next for him? Is Greg going to be doing Ewan's bidding with his new lawyer? Will Greg realize what's going on, or is he now going to be Ewan's puppet? Will Marcia continue to follow her agenda and secure a future for Amir? Will Logan allow this? How long will Marcia be around for? Who sent the donuts? Was it Logan? If so, how did he find out where everyone was? Was he just paranoid, or is someone informing on Kendall? Best Moment: Kendall's rage as each of his siblings turned him down was a terrific scene beautifully realized by Jeremy Strong. After a whole episode of trying to convince them to join him, failure is going to hurt a lot. You can see Kendall fall from his manic state as the rejections kept coming at him, and it was fantastic to see the frustrations boil over. Kendall feels so much like Logan in this moment as he personally dresses down his siblings and unleashes an angry rant very similar to Logan's at the end of "Argestes". It seems like this manic personality quirk has been passed down to him, and Kendall's anger flare-up highlights that he might not be any better than Logan. Great writing. Character of the Episode: Greg. I could give it to a lot of characters, but Greg had one of his funniest episodes yet. Conclusion: I loved so much about this episode. This was an hour of tense negotiations with gripping character dynamics, fantastic acting and writing, and some brilliant moments of comedy. "Succession" at its best. Score: 74 Summary: Kendall leaves with Greg and goes to Rava's since he can no longer get into Waystar. Logan calls Kendall to give him a chance to back down but he does not. Logan convenes on what to do and listens to Roman who wants to go to war against Kendall. Roman, Gerri, and Shiv are sent to New York and everyone else goes to Sarajevo. Logan plans to step back as CEO but is unsure of who to pick. Kendall phones everyone in an attempt to gain allies. Roman and Shiv find out about the CEO selection. Roman calls Logan to give input and disqualifies himself. Logan eventually settles on Shiv who he sends to recruit Lisa Arthur to represent them. However, Kendall has already secured her, and with Shiv's failure, Logan picks Gerri instead to be CEO. Shiv is disappointed and changes plans. Kendall meets with Lisa successfully and invites Naomi over for support. Logan hires a different lawyer and prepares for war.
The Good: It was every bit as captivating to watch the fallout from the season 2 finale as I had hoped. There were no explosive twists, betrayals, humiliations, or character fights in the entire episode but there did not need to be any this early in the season. Instead, the episode opted to focus on the characters and what they decide to do in the wake of such a pivotal moment. I don't think that we've ever seen an episode of "Succession" follow up on a key event directly like this (usually we get a large gap in time between episodes), so this was a uniquely effective way to explore the consequences of Kendall's press conference. The show did not disappoint in the character dynamics. Kendall starts off the episode looking frightened and terrified, but after letting that fear out, he spends the rest of the episode in a manic, excited state and it is glorious. Kendall spent an entire season inhibiting himself, and now that he's free, he feels on top of the world. I don't think he is currently using, but he maintains the same type of confidence that he only had when he was on drugs in season 2. It's so satisfying to see him call everyone to see if he can sway them to join him, like Frank and Shiv. And his mannerisms around Rava, Lisa, Greg, and Naomi are an absolute delight. Meanwhile Logan is as furious and ever and ready for a war. You got the sense that he was impressed in the previous episode, but after a phone call revealed Kendall to be the same bumbling fool (what the hell was that beanstalk line), Logan went back to his usual self, putting everything on the line to go for the kill. I liked Roman once again showing how he's developed by astutely describing why trying to overpower Kendall is the best move in the scenario, and I liked seeing all of the background characters deal with the chaos. Frank recounting Logan's vapid decision-making is hilarious, Hugo gets some great lines in (especially to Tom), and poor Karl is hilarious as he clearly has one foot out the door. The CEO debate is a lot of fun. Karl and Frank throwing their own names in is quite funny, but the actual debate is gripping. I was amused seeing all three candidates immediately find out about the discussion through various means (Frank and Tom), and Roman and Shiv keeping secrets from each other is pretty funny. Logan nicely frames all three candidates by including three categories and having each person check off two of them. The discussion is signature "Succession" with great dialogue, comedy, and an unpredictable result. Roman disqualifying himself by calling Logan was spectacular (see: Best Moment), and Shiv gets to rise as a result. But her success is short-lived as a failure to acquire Lisa Arthur sees her fall back to the bottom with Gerri being preferred over her. Shiv tries the same strategy with Lisa that she used back in "DC", but it's clear that her manipulations are far more effective on people who are not already in the game. When Shiv is dealing with people on a similar level to her, it is suddenly apparent that she's not as smart as she thinks she is. Seeing her fall once again was sad, and I'm curious to see what's next for her. Tom and Greg are a lot of fun in their supporting roles. Greg does a whole lot and accomplishes nothing throughout the entire episode, and he's an absolute blast. Nicholas Braun plays him so well, and Greg was a constant source for laughs. Tom played a more dramatic role for much of this episode and I continued to enjoy him. Shiv is trying to get their relationship back on track, but Tom's misgivings are still carrying on, giving them a unique dynamic in this episode with some nice imagery highlighting the distance between them. The Bad: Nothing I would call bad. The Unknown: Who is going to side with Logan, and who is going to side with Kendall? Karl looked to have one foot out the door, so can he be swayed? Will Frank turn to Kendall once again? Will Shiv after being snubbed by Logan? How will Gerri do as CEO? Will Roman play a role in her new position? How long will it last? What will Kendall's next move be? Will he continue to raise the stakes against Logan? Where do Stewy and Sandy factor in with all of this? How do they feel about the Roy civil war? Will they pick a side? Will Kendall get allied with them again? Best Moment: Roman's call to Logan was so delightfully awkward, and Logan immediately removing him from contention following it was the perfect follow-up. Roman thought he did something good, when in reality he totally destroyed his own chances in spectacular fashion. Character of the Episode: Kendall. Conclusion: This was a strong and energetic start to season 3. I wasn't blown away by anything, but the fallout from Kendall's press conference was gripping and the episode maintained a level of intensity and drama that kept me invested for the entire hour. Score: 69 Summary: Greg stumbles through his testimony. An important shareholder suggests to Logan that he takes the fall for cruises. The Roys go on a holiday on their yacht. Willa's play is reviewed terribly and she is upset. Connor looks for financial support from Logan, but Logan only wants to help if he withdraws from the election. Kendall brings Naomi on the yacht but Logan tells him to send her away and he does. Shiv is planning a threesome for Tom, but Tom is uncomfortable with it. Roman, Laird, and Karl return. Laird praises his performance in securing the deal, but Roman admits that the deal is likely a sham. The next day, everyone discusses who should take the fall for cruises, which ultimately becomes heated. Tom's name is brought up and he's upset. Later, he opens up to Shiv about how unhappy he is, and Shiv speaks with Logan, insisting that he doesn't pick Tom. Kendall and Logan visit Stewy to make a deal but Stewy doesn't agree to it. Logan meets with Kendall and asks him to be the sacrifice. Kendall asks if he was ever going to get the CEO job and if he deserves what happens to him; Logan tells him he's not a killer and that the Andrew situation was NRPI. Kendall and Greg fly back to New York the next day. Kendall appears on TV but decides to blame Logan for everything, using Greg's documents as evidence of his involvement.
The Good: I enjoyed this a ton. It was a perfect choice to have this season finale be personally focused on the Roys as they enjoy a vacation together. There could have been more action and higher stakes here since it's a finale, but Jesse Armstrong exercised restraint and allowed the strength of the characters and their relationships to dictate this finale, and it was stronger as a result. I loved the yacht setting as it gave the dynamics of this episode an isolated feel. The conflicts involved felt less like a high-stakes and intense ordeal, but more of an intimate family ordeal which is easier to emotionally invest in. The problem of needing to select a blood sacrifice was enthralling and it led to so much meaningful conflict throughout the episode. The character dynamics were outstanding throughout. The best scene to showcase this was the breakfast where everyone got to discuss their thoughts on the blood sacrifice. So much was at play under the surface and I was vastly impressed at how deep this was while still being thoroughly entertaining. On the surface, the scene is a fantastic piece of comedy/drama as the characters politely threw each other under the bus in increasingly escalating circumstances. It's a joy to watch and well performed by everybody. But underneath this, there are so many beautiful story beats. Kendall is never once brought up, emphasizing how he was thought to be untouchable but clearly Logan doesn't think so. Logan starts the conversation by offering himself to be the sacrifice, which is what should happen. But this is clearly Logan finding an excuse to hide behind because if he genuinely did want to sacrifice himself, there is nobody in the room who would be able to stop him (just look at how he enforced their attempt to acquire Pierce). This brilliantly reveals the extent of Logan's manipulations as he looks for who to sacrifice. Tom and Shiv have a fantastic story in this episode (more on this later), and this breakfast scene is a perfect scenario for Tom's emotions to explode. He can't stand that Shiv is not standing by him at all, but we later find out that Shiv was trying to erase suspicion since she and Logan were already planning to sacrifice Kendall. Tom has every right to be furious about this, while Shiv's thought-process behind not backing Tom is understandable. The character consistency in this show can be remarkable at times like this. Even Connor gets a good involvement in this sequence as he offers to sacrifice himself for some money, which is hilariously implausible. Add on some other fun moments like Roman stepping up to prevent Gerri from being sacrificed, and Greg's strange fixation on being viewed as "Greg sprinkles", and this scene is wildly entertaining with so much impactful character development. The crux of this episode rests on Kendall and Logan's relationship. Kendall's been meek and subdued all season, and finally it's now his time to shine as he regains his agency and culminates a high satisfying character arc. The scenes with Logan and Kendall are terrific and say so much about their relationship. I fully believe that Kendall would have willingly taken the fall for cruises if Logan hadn't said two key things that made his manipulation starkly apparent to Kendall. The first is of course the "you're not a killer" line. Logan tries to play it off like it's no big deal, but Kendall understands that this is the reason that Logan has undervalued him at every turn. This is the reason that Logan wants to keep Kendall as his right hand, because he never believed that Kendall had the strength to be anything more. So to prove Logan wrong about this, Kendall decides to fire a killer blow at the press conference by destroying Logan's reputation. The press conference itself is a fantastic scene, and Kendall saying "but" and launching into a tirade against Logan is immensely satisfying. Even Logan can appreciate and respect Kendall's fight in this scene, and that final shot of his semi-smile is a phenomenal piece of acting by Brian Cox. Furthermore, this scene is made even more satisfying as it finally pays off Greg's forged documents, which have been a Chekhov's gun all season. Learning that they contained Logan's signatures to directly implicate him in cruises was a huge reveal and highly cathartic. This ties into the second thing Logan said to Kendall that made him turn on him: Logan tells Kendall "NRPI", which is the exact term that Mo had used to justify what he did. This moment is an enormous revelation that was enthralling to puzzle out. Hearing Logan say NRPI means that he almost certainly has been aware of the cruises situation this whole time, and it makes perfect sense. Logan has said that Mo was a close personal friend and was shook up about his death, so of course he must have known what Mo did. That he quotes NRPI without any apprehension tells everything to Kendall. Furthermore, this exposes to Kendall that Logan could have easily brushed off what Kendall did because he has done it to Mo dozens of times, if not more. Yet, Logan did not brush it off as a nothing moment in the season 1 finale. Logan blackmailed Kendall and he has used Kendall's guilt to keep him in check all season. For Kendall to find out that Logan doesn't even believe this to be a big deal is a clear indicator that Logan has manipulated him all this time, and it's now time for Kendall to fight back. There's so much more I can discuss regarding the dynamic between these two, but I can't write forever. Overall, this episode explored their relationship in an incredible way and offered so many fascinating human elements for us to dive into and enjoy. Tom and Shiv continue to have one of the most compelling relationships on the show. It's apparent from the very first scene that this threesome arrangement makes Tom deeply uncomfortable, and I got a lot of laughs out of seeing this manifest as the episode went on. Unfortunately, things took a much more serious turn after the awkward breakfast, and after 11 episodes of trying to look the other way, Tom was finally able to let out his emotions to Shiv. His frustrations with their relationship came pouring out in a wholly realistic way, and his description oh how sad he is in their relationship was genuinely heartbreaking. Sarah Snook continues to be quietly magnificent, and her reaction to Tom's words were fantastic. Shiv uses Tom, belittles Tom, and looks down upon Tom, but she genuinely does seem to love him, and hearing about how sad he is makes Shiv feel pained and guilty. Seeing Shiv beg Logan to not pick Tom is a magnificent scene to follow-up on that. Even more magnificent is Tom's scene with Logan. I don't know what I was expecting Tom to do, but eating Logan's chicken and walking away was absolutely not it. What a fantastic, hilarious moment. I imagine that Tom wanted to make a power move to make it clear to Logan that he isn't just going to take the abuse that's always levelled at him, but true to how Tom does things, his attempt just leaves Logan baffled by what happened. I like what this episode did with Roman. Following his important dealings in Turkey in the previous episode, we spend much of the early parts of this episode examining the fallout. It's great to see Roman take up a more serious role and rise to the occasion. Roman has wanted to show what he's capable of for a long time but has failed repeatedly. Those failures have been funny, but they also made this moment feel that much sweeter. While Laird is happy to fill Logan's head with baloney to collect his paycheck, Roman trusts his gut instincts that the deal was a sham, and is able to give Logan good advice. While Roman likely considers his experience to be a failure, we can clearly see that this is a character victory for him because he has finally showed what he is capable of to Logan, which is what he has been after all along. Tragically, he can't even see that he was successful. Connor has been in the background for much of the show so far, but I always enjoy what he has to offer. He provides some good laughs early on as he becomes a meme, and through his reading of the reviews for Willa's play. Willa chucking the tablet into the water with a comical splash was also fantastic. After this, things take more of a serious turn. Connor is in financial trouble and desperate to keep following his dream, but he's now presented an interesting choice from Logan: give up his dream and get some money to stay afloat, or lose his rich status to follow his dream. This is a fun set-up for Connor in season 3, and I enjoyed the scenes between him and Logan in this episode. The Bad: I feel robbed to have not seen more of Greg at the stand. What little we saw was so funny and I would have loved to see more of how he handled himself up there. The Unknown: What will be the fallout of Kendall's bombshell reveal? How will Logan respond? Will Tom and Shiv's relationship survive? They are on pretty thin ice right now. Is Connor going to give up his campaign? Best Moment: Logan asking Kendall to be the blood sacrifice and their entire conversation afterwards was splendid. You could pick so many scenes to potentially be the best, but this one takes the cake for me. Character of the Episode: Kendall. It's good to have the real Kendall back at last! Conclusion: A terrific season finale to what has been a terrific season. This episode accomplished so much and was an engrossing way to end the season. Season 2 was terrific and took "Succession" to another level. The first season was solid and got better as it went on, but season 2 escalated the quality of the story by diving deep into the characters and their relationships with each other. We learned so much fascinating information, and I looked forward to each episode as an independent character study of the Roys, exploring new facets of them with every episode. Even though I despise these despicable people, I now find them utterly fascinating and I can't wait to see what they do next and what more there is to uncover about them. "Succession" is a damn good character drama, and I hope that it continues to get better from here. Score: 80 Summary: James Weissel reveals all about the cruises situation, and Logan, Kendall, Tom, and Gerri have been called to DC for a hearing. They decide to use Bill as a scapegoat and to feign ignorance of the issue. It starts with Gil questioning Tom, and Tom answers horribly. He returns and panics about being set up as a patsy. Logan and Kendall go up next. Logan deflects to Kendall who delivers an excellent response to minimize damage. Shiv learns that Gil has another witness who is willing to talk. Shiv goes to speak with her and manages to convince her not to testify. Rhea decides to leave the company after being blindsided by this scandal. Logan realizes that they need to make a blood sacrifice. Roman goes to Turkey to secure a deal with Eduard. He pitches well, but suddenly finds himself in a hostage situation.
The Good: The cruises situation has completely gone off the rails in this episode, and the enormity of that threat makes the episode immediately engaging and intense on a level above previous episodes. There is genuine weight to the hearing because if it goes badly, then Waystar Royco could go down in flames. The episode understands this significance, and capitalizes on it from the first scene. Seeing everyone huddled in front of the TV watching the James Weissel interview is both gripping and hilarious. The interview lets us know the scale of the situation, but it also allows for a lot of terrific comedy as the Roys all comment on the interview in an attempt to downplay everything. The hearings make up the majority of the episode, and they are terrific. Up first was Tom and Gerri (I'm disappointed in the lack of Tom and Jerry jokes), and since it's Tom up there, you know how this is going to go. The show does not disappoint with how hysterically disastrous this went. Tom manages to flub each and every question in spectacular fashion, making me laugh more and more at his stupidity. Tom does a spectacularly bad job trying to explain away Mo-Lester's nickname ("I guess he just seemed like he could be one"), he promptly gets nervous and denies knowing who Greg is to a baffled response backstage, and the biggest laugh for me is the exposure of the "you can't make a tomlette without breaking some greggs" email chain that he apparently sent up to 67 times every evening. This entire sequence is a masterpiece in comedy, and I love that "Succession" has the courage to make such a disastrous moment in the story be so unapologetically hilarious. I really have to applaud Matthew Macfayden's acting here because he sells the comedic value of this scene extraordinarily, but then is able to switch gears immediately after and make us feel bad for Tom when he returns backstage. Tom is shaken by the whole thing, and rightfully furious that he was given zero preparation and essentially just told to wing it. Greg's frustration is also understandable, and I found the drama in this short scene after Tom's hearing to be extremely affecting. Kendall and Logan walked out to their hearing with much more pressure on them now that Tom has already failed. This made it all the more satisfying when Kendall stepped up and turned things around on Gil. With Logan being nervous and deflecting, everything relies on Kendall, who hasn't exactly been the best in situations like these in the past. So when Kendall speaks up, I expected him to mess up and say something horribly wrong, but instead he commands the hearing and handles himself superbly. I was vastly impressed, and found myself cheering that Kendall helped pull the company out of a disaster. Connor's dumb little fistbump in the background was the cherry on top. In fact, this wasn't only a good episode for Kendall. All of the Roy siblings stepped up to save their family business in this episode. While everyone else was at DC, Roman went to Turkey to secure a deal with Eduard and did an excellent job. He's still a total dork sometimes (that soccer speech was pure gold), but he's likeable and he performed a good pitch (though I'm disappointed that we didn't see it all on-screen). Getting caught in a hostage situation was not what I expected, but Roman handled himself well. Meanwhile Karl surprisingly provided the best laughs with his panic attack ("you look the same"), and that glorious pan to Karl with his hand raised when Roman asks whether he should raise his hand or not. Shiv manipulating Kira was a dark and fantastically acted scene. Shiv pulled out the most ruthless part of her as she connected with Kira, told her the "truth" and lied to her face about what she thinks about the cruise situation to convince her to not ruin her life by going public with this. This is really dark stuff, and further cements how cold, callous, and self-absorbed the Roys are at heart. Shiv stepped up to remove Kira from the witness list, and I enjoyed this very much. The Bad: I'm disappointed with how the show handled Marcia and Rhea. It looked like Marcia's conflict with Logan was heating up to go somewhere interesting, but now she's just gone. If that's all that the show had in mind for her, I'm extremely disappointed. Marcia had so much more that she could offer the story, and the show spent lots of time building up that she had her own agenda. Now, it's all had no pay-off. It looks like Rhea has had a similarly underwhelming ending. The last two episodes have built up Rhea as a threat in such an enticing way. But now the character has been written out of the story in such an anticlimactic way, with Rhea's conclusion feeling like a footnote in a busy episode. I feel like Rhea's story was expanded beyond Pierce due to Jesse Armstrong wanting to get the most out of Holly Hunter, but the conclusion had to be rushed to make way for the cruises scandal to take central focus in these final episodes. I'm not too pleased with Gil and Nate telling Shiv that they have another witness. I get that they wanted to gloat, but it felt a little bit too easy for Shiv to get this information from them. The Unknown: Who is going to take the fall for cruises? Tom? Kendall? Greg? Someone else? Is Marcia gone already? Will she come back, or is she gone for good? What exactly happened in Turkey? Why did Roman get called in by the government? Is he going to have to pitch to them, or do they have something else in mind for him? Will Shiv actually fight from the inside with Kira? I highly doubt it. Will she need to find a way to keep her in line? Best Moment: Tom's disastrous panel was maybe the hardest I've laughed all season. Character of the Episode: Tom. Conclusion: "DC" raised up the stakes significantly in season 2, and the result was a thrilling and hilarious episode that continued to mark "Succession" season 2 as essential television. Some aspects like Rhea and Marcia's underwhelming exit were disappointing, but the fantastic scenes like Tom's hearing, Shiv manipulating Kira, and Kendall turning things around on Gil made this episode easily overcome its weaknesses. Bring on the season finale. Score: 73 Summary: The Roys head to Scotland to celebrate Waystar's 50th anniversary. Gerri learns that James Weissel is threatening to be a whistleblower on the entire cruises situation. Shiv doesn't trust Rhea and tries to get Roman and Kendall to join her in fighting Rhea. After pettily exposing her in front of Logan, Rhea speaks with Roman and Kendall and manages to get them to not fight her. Rhea organizes a surprise party for Logan. At the party, Logan shows doubt to Shiv about picking Rhea as the next CEO and asks for her advice. Shiv learns that the whistleblower is being backed by someone and that the next CEO will be screwed over by the cruises situation coming to light, and she encourages Logan to announce Rhea, which he does. Kendall hooks up with Jennifer but immediately dumps her after Logan doesn't like her. Ewan threatens to cut Greg out of his will unless he leaves Waystar, but Logan convinces Greg to stay.
The Good: The Rhea storyline is a lot of fun. Shiv was personally defeated by her, so she has an extreme motivation to take her out as a form of petty revenge. Unfortunately for her, her brothers don't share that same motivation. Sure, Kendall is happy to get Rhea to name-drop Rose and embarrass herself, but he has no huge grudge against her, and the same goes for Roman. As such, they are both susceptible to being swayed by the simplest, most obvious flattery, and it's amusing to see Rhea's desperate attempts to reach them actually work. In that great scene between the siblings (fantastic dialogue and so many good laughs), I was thoroughly amused that Kendall and Roman were both unwilling to help Shiv, and Shiv's frustration was totally understandable. The story came to a compelling end as Shiv reconnects with her father and has to choose between her selfish motives and genuinely helping him out. But then an answer comes right to her where she can do both: she can support Logan emotionally and also screw over Rhea in one fell swoop. The stars aligned for Shiv, and she most certainly will feel like a genius for what was ultimately just dumb luck. It remains to be seen what happens to Rhea next (see: The Unknown), but I'm invested to see how this Rhea/Shiv/Logan situation resolves itself. This episode did a good job of exploring Logan's background. We never get more than mere glimpses of the past in this show, but I find that to be very effective. In a way it connects us more with Logan who never spends time reminiscing about the past anyways because "there is too much of it". So seeing these little specks of history revealed to us endears us to his mindset while also revealing information in a very engaging way, relying on us to connect dots with what little information we are given. I also quite liked Ewan's presence in this episode. It was sad to see the two brothers reflect on their childhood in a brief scene only to go right back to each other's throats immediately after. Poor Greg gets caught in the middle with Ewan abusing his wealth to get Greg to leave Waystar, while Logan emotionally manipulates Greg into staying specifically to get back to Ewan. You can't tell me that Logan actually cares about Greg, he most certainly only said what he did just to spite Ewan. The complexity of the relationship between Logan and Ewan continues to be enjoyable, and I am curious to see what more will be done with these characters. This episode has some excellent comedy throughout, and is one of the funnier episodes of the season. Kendall's rap steals the show (see: Best Moment), but his interactions with Jennifer are a blast, and it's especially funny when he tries to shoo away Connor who begs to get Jennifer back to work. Shiv recruiting Tom to flirt with Rhea further reminds us how horrible their relationship is, but it also gives us an excuse to see Tom flirt, which is every bit as funny as you would expect. Greg delights as always with his "Gregisms", the highlight of the episode being him "negotiating a Grexit" with Logan. I also got a laugh out of how fitting it is that Logan ignores all of the well-wishes from his children and instead focuses on discussing things with others while his kids talk about how much they love him. Roman buying a football team for his dad but buying the wrong team was fantastically funny, and a signature Roman moment. There are some nice character moments that I enjoyed. Marcia subtly threatening Rhea by asking her if she's been tested for STDs is quite funny. I also really like that Marcia allowed Rhea to go through with her surprise party, knowing full well that Logan hates them (from back in "Celebration"). Kendall breaking up with Jennifer immediately because Logan disapproved of her is quite heart-breaking. He was absolutely giddy about her, but the moment Logan didn't like her, all of that affection just vanished. Add on Jennifer commenting on how much Kendall talks about Logan and this becomes a sad exploration of how Logan controls just about every aspect of Kendall's life. Poor Connor is always given the short end of the stick. It's quite sad to see how much he tries to get some sort of support and connection with his father, only to be ignored and dismissed at every turn. The Bad: Kendall hooking up with Jennifer was an odd storyline. He was just seen with Naomi in the previous episode, yet now he's hooking up with someone else without even a mention of Naomi? If Kendall was always open to having multiple relationships, I would have accepted this. But he's never been shown to have this quality, especially with how fixated he was on Rava back in season 1. So I'm left confused as to why he started this relationship to begin with, and just what is going on with Naomi. It would be even more perplexing if this is Jennifer's only appearance and if the Naomi storyline just continues like nothing else happened, which I suspect may be the case. I still feel like Marcia's story has been underdeveloped. I wish that we had spent more time getting to know her in the first season because this divide between her and Logan comes right out of nowhere. It's a shame because Hiam Abbass does a magnificent job in the role, but Marcia has never felt important outside of the first few episodes of the show that suggest she is manipulating Logan. I hope the show has more for her to do outside of getting frustrated with Logan in every episode. The Unknown: Who is backing Weissel? How is his reveal going to affect Waystar and the Roys? Will they be able to handle and survive the leak of such devastating information? Will Jennifer return later? Did Kendall really just break up with her because Logan didn't approve of her? What happened with Kendall's relationship with Naomi? Why did he hook up with Jennifer if he was already pursuing Naomi, as we saw in "Return"? Will anyone back Rhea in her new job? Will she be able to survive cruises, or is this going to destroy her? Is Marcia's relationship with Logan in danger? Can Logan repair the damage he has done? Can Ewan do anything else to get back at Greg if he continues to work at Waystar? What happened with Rose? Why does Logan blame himself for her death? Roman suggested that Logan's first wife (Connor's mother) was in a psychiatric hospital. What happened with her? Is there a history between her and Logan that we haven't learned about yet? Best Moment: The "L to the OG" song was absolutely hilarious, and I loved every second of it. Jeremy Strong goes all out for this performance, and the scene is made better by the reactions of all the characters. Logan looks embarrassed, Shiv is laughing intensely, Roman seems jealous, and Greg is just genuinely enjoying himself. The richness of the characters is what makes this work so well and makes it incredibly funny. Character of the Episode: Kendall. Conclusion: This was more good stuff. "Dundee" moved forward in the Rhea storyline and had some nice moments that highlighted Logan's past. It's not the most exciting or intense episode and it does have a few writing flaws, but it's entertaining and does a good job of setting up the season's endgame. Score: 66 Summary: Logan struggles to keep his shareholders in line. Even Caroline is not siding with him. Shiv is kept out of the loop, and Logan decides to fly to UK with Kendall and Roman to meet with her. Shiv is trying to meet with Logan and goes to UK as well. Rhea also arrives to talk strategy with Logan and they end up hooking up. When Sandy and Stewy raise up allegation that Logan was responsible for Andrew's death, Logan decides to bring Kendall and make an apology to the family. Roman and Shiv meet with their mother and make a deal with her. The apology goes well, but Kendall is uncomfortable and leaves the family some money. Kendall meets with his mother and wants to open up to her, but she panics and leaves in the morning. Shiv meets with Rhea who gives her an offer from Pierce that she considers. Shiv finally meets with Logan who chews her out for considering the offer. Realizing that Rhea is stirring the pot, Shiv calls Kendall to warn him. Tom is being investigated for cruises and gets uncomfortable. He forces Greg to reveal his secret documents and they burn them, but Greg is able to secretly save a few of them and tapes Tom admitting his role in the situation.
The Good: This episode functions as both a transition episode to the next big storyline and as an exploration of character to deepen the relationships that we already know. As a transition episode, this works brilliantly. In the wake of the Pierce deal falling apart, we need a new storyline to create some forward momentum, and Rhea trying to break Logan's relationships with his children provides that. We're never too sure what Rhea's motivations are throughout the episode, and it's strange that she's spending so much time getting close to Logan. Initially I thought it was because she desperately needed a job after being fired, but by the end of the episode I realized that she's far more ambitious and cunning than she seemed. Rhea stayed close to Logan and earned his trust, and now she is able to trap his children and damage their relationships, starting with Shiv. The Pierce offer being a fake and a trap is terrific storytelling, and it led to an excellent scene where Shiv finally got told off by Logan, whose frustrations with her had grown more and more with each episode. The end of the episode brilliantly sets up an exciting cliff-hanger as Shiv warns Kendall of this new threat and now they will have to band together to take Rhea down. I can't wait to see how this goes down. Outside of set-up, this episode deepens characters in very meaningful ways. Kendall in particular has a great episode. Early in the episode we see Kendall questioning his father's decision. It's not anything openly against Logan, and Kendall is very clearly just raising concerns in a harmless way. But tragically, Logan seems to take this as Kendall acting out from being his puppet, and takes measures to get Kendall back under his thumb. I may be wrong about this, but it seems like Logan decides to visit Andrew's family with Kendall to maintain his control over Kendall. This is absolutely horrific, and forcibly subjecting Kendall to be near the family of the man he accidentally got killed is brutal parenting and one of the most exploitative things we have seen Logan do. To further add to how trapped Kendall is, he visits his mother later in the episode only to be greeted with emotional unavailability. It's quite sad to see Kendall opening up to her right as she jokes about how he used to complain about her emotional deficiencies, and Kendall is proven correct as Caroline deflects his issues and disappears by the morning. Kendall's reaction in the morning is heartbreaking, and it speaks a lot about her relationship with her kids that she makes a deal to see them every Christmas, and yet is unwilling to help her son through difficult times. This is genuinely tragic stuff. I am enjoying Roman a lot more in this season. The car ride with Logan is genuinely uncomfortable and sad. The show doesn't need to tell you that this kind of stuff has happened before in the family, but the way both characters react tells us all we need to know. Logan is in denial, playing down what he did and spinning a story of how it was an unfortunate accident that maybe didn't even make contact. And poor Roman, down a tooth, just nods along with everything trying his hardest to avoid the situation. But the pain doesn't last long for Roman. While talking about Caroline, Roman, Logan, and Kendall all show the positive side of their relationship where they can laugh together, enjoy each other's company, and plan their next move. I love the inclusion of scenes like this because they add to the tragedy that is this family. Roman was disillusioned with Logan earlier, but after he laughs at Roman's joke, you can see genuine joy on Roman's face for being given some positive affirmation for once. This is a destructive relationship made worse by the glimpses of a caring family that we see throughout the show. Tom and Greg pipe in with another great side story. Tom's interview with the investigation team is massively funny as he comes in expecting it to be harmless, but is so easily unnerved by what were quite basic questions for him to deflect. Tom is so suspicious at every turn, and I loved it. His paranoia leads him to Greg, and the two continue to have an excellent dynamic. Tom intimidates Greg into burning the documents, but true to form with Greg, he takes measures to make sure that he still has some insurance. He sneaks away some of the documents by stuffing them in his pants, and it seems likely that he also taped Tom to get something to protect him. The scene in the bathroom where Greg calms his nerves and practices talking to calm is quite funny, and I love Nicholas Braun's nervy performance. The Bad: I understand that this show likes to spend each episode focusing on a specific event, and I think that this is one of the show's big strengths. However, it sometimes leads to some confusion when we have to learn about events that happened in between episodes. In this episode, Shiv made a memo and had some sort of other meeting that she talks with Tom about, but it feels jarring because we never saw it happen. I don't like it when TV feels disconnected like this, and I wish that off-screen events could have been handled better. The Unknown: Is Rhea only trying to become CEO of Waystar Royco? Was that always her goal? Is she manipulating Logan? Will Shiv, Roman, and Kendall come together to take out the threat of Rhea? How will they handle her? What can they do to take her out without pissing off Logan? Did Logan only take Kendall in order to get back control over him? If so, that is absolutely sickening. Is Greg going to set up Tom to take the fall for cruises? Best Moment: Logan dressing down Shiv for her betrayal is a superb scene that wonderfully pays off all of Shiv's mistakes throughout the season. Now it has all culminated in the complete loss of her CEO-track and the addition of a new competitor in Rhea. Character of the Episode: Kendall. Conclusion: An important episode that deepens the story in a lot of interesting ways. Score: 68 Summary: The Roys go to Argestes, hoping that the Pierce deal will be finalized. Shiv stays behind and she and Frank learn that information about cruises is going to leak. The Roys discuss how to handle it and Logan decides to strong-arm the publishers, while also calling Shiv to come to Argestes. Shiv is hesitant but agrees. Tom is hosting a panel but is in a panic when Greg tells him he has to change the ATN tagline. Nan and Rhea arrive to meet with Logan and Kendall, but the cruises piece is posted during the meeting. The Roys all isolate and discuss a strategy. It is decided that Roman and Kendall will do a panel for the Roys as Shiv takes herself out of the equation. Shiv ends up meeting with Rhea who says that the Pierces may still agree to the deal and that Shiv should do the panel. Last-minute, all three of the Roys go to the panel. It goes well but Shiv mentions a "dinosaur cull" which upsets Logan and others. Logan gets frustrated and ends up hitting Roman. The conference ends with a roast and Nan walks out after the Roys are roasted. Logan and Rhea try to stop her but fail. Nan refuses the deal and fires Rhea, who she learns was hustling her.
The Good: I love the idea to explore how a company scandal gets handled from within. The cruises situation is a horrible look for Waystar Royco, and it's a lot of fun watching the characters navigate the chaos. True to form with these things, the concern is never on the victims, their families, and the wrong that has been done. The focus is always on damage control, and the main concern is how the leak of this information endangers the Pierce deal. It's funny to see this accurate take on how little the rich care about the morality of their actions, they are simply blindsided by their own desires. This episode felt very important because the cruises storyline has been building since early in season 1, and to finally see it pay off is enormously satisfying. We understand how big of a deal this leak could be, and that is could be disastrous for the Pierce deal. After spending a whole episode where the Roys acquired the Pierce deal, there is an enormous sense of consequences if things end up falling through. The significance of all of this ensures that I'm emotionally engaged in what's going on, and every scene is elevated as a result. I'm enthralled when everyone is discussing whether they should delay or if they should try to intimidate the publishers. I'm at the edge of my seat when Logan meets with Nan with Kendall constantly refreshing his phone to see if the story has dropped yet. The moment when it appears ratchets up the tension significantly, and I absolutely loved it. The story then comes to an excellent climax with the Roy panel. This sequence is terrific as Shiv and Kendall practically play a tug of war with their approaches about the cruises issue, while Roman comes off as juvenile and thoughtless in his brief interjections. The whole scene is excellent and had me fully engaged, awaiting to see when and how things would go wrong. Surprisingly, the panel goes pretty well but it's the bold jabs of a comedian that kill the deal for Nan. Logan's final effort to keep things together is gripping to watch as he falls into a full-on meltdown trying to get Nan to stay, a culmination of how his health had troubled him the entire time at Argestes. It's so satisfying to see a despicable man like Logan fail, but it's also sad to see this deal go up in flames after so much work went into it, creating a complex web of emotions at the episode's end. I continue to have a blast watching the Roy children all spar with each other and struggle. Shiv had a big episode here as she got called in last second to rectify this situation. At the start of the season I thought that Shiv had a good shot at doing this job better than the others, but these last two episodes make it clear that she has plenty of issues that need to be sorted out. At first I thought that her not wanting to go for the panel was because she was afraid of making a fool of herself again, but it's actually way worse than that: she doesn't think that she should clean up someone else's mess. That is such a conceited and entitled thought, and it caught me entirely off-guard. Add on Shiv screwing up with her "dinosaur cull" comment, and we quickly realize that Shiv is nowhere near as smart as she thinks she is, and that she's too spoiled to do the hard yards required of this job. Meanwhile Kendall is still not much more than Logan's instrument. Seeing him chew people out for his father in the opening scene felt so weird because we got to see Logan's words come out of the mouth of Kendall, which felt wrong in a delightfully well-written way. It's not until Logan physically abuses Roman that we see some sort of independence from Kendall in what was an excellent scene (see: Best Moment). I really am starting to feel bad for Roman since he is constantly belittled and looked down upon. Gerri advocates for him in this episode, and to his credit, Roman does well to secure a deal with Eduardo. But nobody else supports him. Logan has to be convinced to give Roman a job, Roman is the first person that Logan wants off of the panel, and when Logan's frustrations towards Shiv break out, it is Roman who has to deal with it. It's so sad to see Roman shrugging off losing his tooth, and now I can see that Roman has always been the punching bag of this family, and his pointed barbs and jokes are just a way for him to deal with being put down all the time. This is sad, but it is excellent character depth for a character who is starting to become more fascinating. Tom and Greg's side story is hilarious, and I'm glad that the show found some space to include it. These two add so much comedy to every episode, and that remains true here. Tom's "we're listening" catchphrase is good, but it has a pretty funny red flag associated with it, and Tom's exasperation over the situation because "we're actually listening" is quite funny. Tom and Greg's brains combine to come up with "we hear for you", a hilariously awful catchphrase that just got funnier as the episode went on. These two are still my favourite characters in the show, and these comedic B-stories get good value out of them. The Bad: Nothing. The Unknown: Will the fallout from the cruises situation get worse? Will other stories come out? How will this affect Waystar Royco's future? Will Nan reconsider, or is this the end of the Pierce storyline? What happens now that Logan's plan to acquire Pierce has failed? Rhea just got fired. Will we see her again, or is this it for her? Will Eduardo and his rich father play a bigger role in the story? How significant will Roman's deal with him turn out to be? Best Moment: Logan hitting Roman in his frustration came right out of nowhere, and perfectly highlighted the dysfunctional dynamic of this family. Kendall immediately jumping to Roman's defense suggests a childhood trauma of this abusive behaviour, and Tom's shocked face while watching this brilliantly highlights how jarring this kind of stuff must be for him when he has come from a far kinder family. Character of the Episode: Logan. Conclusion: Another terrific episode, and I think I'm starting to love this show. Every episode is now offering up engaging storylines and fascinating character dynamics, while having tremendous directing, acting, editing, soundtrack, and production at the same time. I'm excited to see where this all goes. Score: 75 Summary: Hank calls Fuches who agrees to meet upon hearing that Barry has a kid who Hank has captured. Barry buys guns and heads to Hank's place. Fuches arrives first and has a stand-off with Hank. Fuches says he has accepted who he is and will leave Hank alone if he admits he killed Cristobal. Hank breaks down but ultimately can't do it so Fuches shoots and kills him. Fuches dives on John to protect him while the remaining men all kill each other. Fuches delivers John to Barry and leaves. Barry, Sally, and John sleep in a motel. Sally and John leave during the night and Barry goes looking for them at Gene's place. He ultimately decides to turn himself in while talking with Tom, but Gene abruptly kills him. A few years later, Sally is teaching acting again with John. John goes out to a friend's place and watches the movie made about Gene and his father called "The Mask Collector". Gene is serving life in prison and Barry was buried in Arlington National Cemetery with full honours.
The Good: This episode subverted my expectations in many ways, and I applaud the writing team for creating an ending that surprised and entertained at every turn. I imagined that much of this episode would have been dedicated to Barry's conflict with Hank and Fuches, and yet the situation was resolved in the episode's first half, amusingly before Barry even got there. I went into this episode expecting another massacre by Barry, so having everyone kill each other before he got there ended up playing on my expectations beautifully to create the perfect surprise. Hank and Fuches also received a terrific conclusion. Their conflict occurred far too quickly and I didn't quite feel the significance of their disagreement until their showdown in this episode. Fuches has done the hard yards to change and he has accepted how bad of a person he is, and because of that he is disturbed by Hank's stubborn delusions where he gets to pretend that he's still a good person without accepting the bad that he has done. Hank killed Cristobal, and rather than face that truth and accept it, Hank hides from it and lashes out angrily at anyone who tells him otherwise. This fundamental difference between Hank and Fuches creates an almost primal distaste for each other, one that is fittingly utilized in their confrontation. Stephen Root and Anthony Carrigan are outstanding as Fuches lays bare what he needs from Hank, and Hank crumbles under the weight of his grief. In the end, Hank is killed and Fuches lives, which is fitting with the message of the show. Fuches did the right thing and accepted who he was. The result for Fuches is genuine redemption as he saves Barry's son and gets an opportunity to set things right with Barry in a beautiful final scene they have together. That they don't speak is perfect as it shows Fuches' restraint to manipulate Barry any further. But on the other hand, Hank dies because he was unable to accept the bad things he has done and was never able to achieve true change. Hank's death is tragic, and I love his final scene where you can tell that he sees Cristobal during his final breaths. The image of Hank's lifeless body holding the Cristobal statue's hand is a beautiful send-off for the character, one that worked exceedingly well. Everything else going on around Hank and Fuches also works really well. The action sequences in this show are excellent, and this last one was no exception. It was ridiculous to see everyone get mowed down instantly, and the grenade going off was darkly comical. I appreciate Bill Hader's direction as always, and the sequence of Fuches walking John away from the carnage as everyone agonizes in their pain was brilliantly executed. As for Sally, she finally gets to confess all that she has done wrong to John in a beautiful moment. This feels like John meeting his real mother for the first time as Sally is finally able to be her true self instead of "Emily", and the mother-son moment here works really well, especially to set up Sally's choice to leave Barry and what we see at the end of the episode. I like that Sally's story has come full circle as she ends up leaving Barry in the same way that she left Sam (sneaking out in the middle of the night), giving herself a chance at another life. It's almost funny how Barry is relegated to the background during all of this. As Fuches and Hank have a tremendous philosophical clash, Barry is just buying guns to prepare for his sacrifice, and it's all ultimately pointless. I have to applaud the show for still including so much comedy in this finale, as scenes like Barry walking through a store fully armed really made me laugh. "Barry" may have shifted more towards drama, but it never left the comedy behind. Barry is all prepared for an honourable sacrifice and one final big hurrah, and yet when he arrives he simply reunites with his family and nothing more. There isn't much for him to do here, but that's the point. Barry has nothing more to contribute, all that's left is for him to turn himself in, but he doesn't want to do it. It's funny to hear him make up excuses to Sally to not want to turn himself in. It's easy to understand why. Barry has a family to hold onto and that prevents him from giving himself up; it's the same deal as before, where Barry held onto the idea of a future where he could be happy to prevent giving himself up. But once Barry realizes his family has left him, he has nothing holding him back and he can finally understand that it's time for him to truly redeem himself and pay for his crimes. It's funny that Tom is ultimately the one to talk him down in this situation, but this makes it clear that it was Barry's own choice, not the will of someone else. And in one final ironic twist, Barry is denied his chance at true redemption. Because by now it's far too late, and it would be almost sick to give this man another chance. In one final brilliant scene, Gene shoots Barry abruptly in a scene that's edited in such a comedic way that I can't help but laugh. Only a show like this one would make me chuckle when the main character was killed off. I can't think of a better way that Barry could have died. Surprisingly, the show doesn't end here. After a nice piece of editing that makes you think for a moment that they are going to do an awful "it was all just a theatre production" ending, we get one final timeskip to explore the legacy that Barry left behind. I love this decision so much. In these final moments we get to see Barry tackle one final interesting theme: the inaccuracy in media portraying the lives of real people. This idea was set up back in the aptly titled "tricky legacies", and it pays off enormously here as we get to see just how badly Hollywood butchered the Barry/Gene story. Seeing a movie about this story that we just watched which so enormously misses the point is comical, but also a sad reflection on how true stories can get lost in translation and how difficult it is to trust in what we haven't seen with our own eyes. "The Mask Collector" was a blast to watch, and it's interesting to think about what John would take away from this movie. Would he be happy to know that his dad was a hero? Would he understand that a Hollywood production like this can never answer his questions, considering that he would know how inaccurate the scene of Barry saving his family was? It's difficult to read, but it is engaging to think through these ideas and create our own takeaways from the story. It's also quite frustrating and almost infuriating to learn that Barry was given a hero's burial while poor Gene rots away in prison, having lost everything in his life because of the one awful man who is now being praised as a hero. Sad, thought-provoking stuff. The Bad: This can't help but feel a little underwhelming. A big reason for that is because of the timeskip happening so late in the show. With only 4 episodes to develop a story post-timeskip, the show wasn't quite able to make this final act as emotionally engaging, dramatic, and interesting as it could have been. Barry and Sally's story was fleshed out, but they didn't ultimately end up doing a whole lot in these final three episodes. Meanwhile Hank, Fuches, and Gene all felt underdeveloped and I never got a clear sense of who they were post-timeskip to connect with their emotions in the way that I had with the characters pre-timeskip. It's a shame because so much of this finale was beautifully written, well-acted, and thematically significant, but I didn't have the same level of emotional investment as I did before the timeskip. It's disappointing to learn that Jim genuinely did let Barry just get away. Are we seriously going to pretend that Jim doesn't want any justice for the man who pulled the trigger on his daughter? Barry could offer such valuable information on the Gene Cousineau case, so Jim should absolutely want to keep him imprisoned. Ultimately, Barry getting away from Jim's captivity is just a moment of very lazy writing in a season that was otherwise pretty well done. The Unknown: Will John believe that his father was a hero? Or will he recognize the inaccuracy of "The Mask Collector" and understand that this film is not the truth he would have been seeking? What has Sally told him about Barry? What became of Fuches after he left Barry? Did he continue to live a life of crime until it inevitably caught up to him? Best Moment: The stand-off between Hank and Fuches, and the carnage that resulted was hugely satisfying. Character of the Episode: Hank. Conclusion: Overall, this was an emotionally satisfying, poetic, and enjoyable finale that concluded this series in as darkly comedic of a way as you would expect. I've seen a lot of mixed opinions on the final season of "Barry", but I don't quite agree with them. Yes, this season had its weaknesses, but I found it to be every bit as compelling as the other seasons of the show. Season 2 is still easily the best for me, but I rate season 4 as similar in quality to seasons 1 and 3. There was a darker tone to this season and some heavier scenes, but there is still absurdity and comedy in every episode in this season. While the tonal balance may have shifted towards drama this season, I never felt like "Barry" lost its heart, nor its comedic edge. The storytelling in this fourth season was superb, and every character was given a memorable send-off and conclusion, with all of them coming with their own twists and turns that both surprised and impressed me. As such, I'm very satisfied with this season as a finale, and even though there weren't quite as many laughs as I'm used to seeing from "Barry", I'm overall happy with how the series ended. "Barry" has been a lot of fun to watch and I'm very glad that I got to experience it. The blend between comedy and drama felt unique from the first episode, and I continued to be both captivated and entertained by the show through all four seasons. Bill Hader's sense of humour and his directing style came together nicely to create a visually memorable and funny show that also happened to have some well-written and thought-provoking storylines, even if they weren't the most subtle. At only 32 episodes long, I can easily recommend "Barry" since it offers an incredible amount of content and entertainment with such a small time commitment, and incredible consistency that ensures you will be entertained until the very end. I don't rate "Barry" as one of the greatest shows of all time, but it's still terrific; it's an easy, entertaining watch that I thoroughly enjoyed and I look forward to rewatching in the years to come. Score: 73 Summary: The Roys prepare to meet the Pierces at their estate, Tern Haven and Logan prepares everyone with roles and target individuals to speak with. The family arrives at the Estate and are welcomed. Connor has friction with Maxim who has differing political views, and Shiv accidentally offends Mark with a joke. Logan is unhappy and scolds everyone, upsetting Marcia as well. The two families have dinner and tensions arrive through political issues, specifically regarding ATN. Shiv panics when she is unable to handle the conversation and she leaves briefly with Tom as they both air out their concerns. The discussion shifts to Logan's successor and Shiv ends up blurting out that it will be her, stunning the table. Dinner ends quickly after that. Shiv panics with Tom. Roman tries to have sex with Tabitha and ends up going to Gerri's place instead. Kendall connects with Naomi over their addiction and he manages to sell her on taking their offer due to the freedom that escaping from the business can offer. The next day, Nan meets with Logan, Shiv, Kendall, and Gerri and agrees to the deal if Shiv is made the successor. Logan is unwilling to negotiate and leaves, but is frustrated when the family doesn't call to change their minds. Upon landing in Manhattan, Logan hears that they accepted the deal and everyone celebrates.
The Good: The premise of this episode is brilliant, and is a big part of why this is so intense and captivating. We have been building up to this Pierce deal for a long time, so there is an air of importance to secure this deal, and we understand the consequences if the Roys fail to secure it. Because these basics in storytelling were addressed, the episode is put in a position to succeed, and with the masterful writing and production of this episode, it succeeds in a big way. The visit to Tern Haven is fresh and exciting as we get to see the Roys interact with another rich family who are entirely different to them in an attempt to win over their trust. Every character has to mask who they really are and attempt to sell what they are doing, and it is so compelling to watch everyone attempt (and fail at) this. It's an engaging charade to watch, and it ultimately devolves into simple brass tacks by the end of the episode, providing a compelling climax. Every character is so much fun to watch as they attempt to win over the Pierces. Seeing such a compassionate and friendly Logan is amusing, and it's even funnier seeing the shocked reactions of other characters as they openly express how strange it is to see this version of him. While Logan is a master of putting on a guise, his children are far worse at it. It's hilarious to see Connor, Shiv, and Roman make mistake after mistake during the stay, alienating and offending the Pierces at every turn. Connor's rivalry with Maxim is really funny because of how volatile Connor is, and it ends in hilarious fashion with them somehow making peace and Maxim landing a new job. Shiv's barb about Mark's PhD is quite funny, especially because of how clearly rude it is even if Shiv didn't mean it that way. Shiv pretty much makes a fool of herself throughout the visit, especially at dinner, and it's both hard to watch and hilarious seeing her say just about everything wrong as she tries to sell to Nan. Then there's Roman who has the episode's funniest moment with his discussion about "The Electric Circus". He totally dug a hole for himself with that one, and I laughed at Shiv quizzing him further since apparently teasing Roman is more important to her than maintaining appearances. The lengthy dinner scene is the episode's major setpiece and it is phenomenal. The dialogue is written delightfully well, and we see so many great conversations that provide laughs, raise the suspense, and lead to exciting moments of conflict. What started out as simple veiled negotiations turn disastrous due to the incompetent Roys all failing to provide adequate answers and making fools out of themselves at every turn. Whether it's Roman talking about "The Electric Circus", Marcia antagonizing Logan out of frustration, Shiv being woefully awkward, or Tom failing to defend ATN, a company he doesn't even like, the Roys handle every situation poorly and the dinner is disastrous as a result. But of course, nothing goes worse than the successor announcement, as Shiv forces her father's hand and drops the bombshell at a terrible time, stunning everybody at the table in a terrific scene. This entire sequence was a brilliant piece of suspense/comedy and I thoroughly enjoyed all of it. The night after had some good storylines occurring as well. Shiv's regret and anxiety after what happened is exactly what you would expect her to feel, and Sarah Snook plays it really well. Roman's sexual escapades are funny to watch, and we are getting a better idea of what it is that he needs. It's a shame that he can't express his desires effectively to Tabitha, but it seems like he's found someone who understands it in Gerri. Kendall and Naomi's night is a blast to watch and is the most compelling part of the episode. Kendall has been so subdued and sad, so it's surprisingly endearing to see him smile and connect with someone even if it's only through the influence of drugs. Of course we are still concerned for him, and when he and Naomi got into the helicopter I was terrified that Kendall was about to make yet another fatal mistake, which was a great misdirection to lead into their emotional conversation. Kendall is trying to convince Naomi to take the deal, but it's clear that what he says comes from the heart as what he truly wants. More than anything, Kendall wants to escape from the political world he lives in, and he truthfully tells Naomi how he feels about sacrificing it all for money: it's a relief, it's freedom, and it's a burden off of his back. This moment was terrific and nicely got into what Kendall has been feeling all season and how desperately he needs to get out of this family business. Furthermore, it looks like Kendall's little bit of honestly and humanity managed to undo the damage caused by the rest of the family at dinner and gave the Roys a shot to make this deal happen. Despite being so broken, when Kendall is able to be his real self he is genuinely capable of doing great things; it's just when he puts on a mask and has to play the part of the family, he loses sight of his own strengths. The episode's conclusion works wonderfully. After the Roys did practically everything wrong, somehow (mostly thanks to Kendall) they have ended up in a position where they can secure the deal. The hard negotiations were engaging to watch, especially because of how Logan drops the charade and is his usual ruthless self when dealing with the Pierces. He's cocky, arrogant, aggressive, and commands the room throughout the scene. He emphasizes the importance of money and he firmly holds his ground of not naming a successor, and impressively, it works. Watching Logan walk out of the meeting after working so hard all weekend was quite a shock, and it's not until his outburst on the helicopter that we understand that it was a tactic. Ultimately, the tactic works and Logan's celebration after landing in Manhattan is a fantastic moment, filmed beautifully to feel triumphant and powerful. As despicable as Logan is, I managed to sympathize with the emotional feeling of achievement, and that made this moment highly effective. What a perfect way to end an intense, funny, and unpredictable episode. The Bad: Marcia's conflict with Logan feels like it has come out of nowhere and is something that needed much more build-up than what we had got. She was steadfast at his side last season, but inexplicably Logan has slightly cut her off and now there is tension between them. I struggle to connect much with this conflict because we know so little about Marcia and her relationship with Logan, and I'm unclear why this conflict has arisen now and never before. Marcia as a character has been underwhelming thus far because I don't have a good understanding of who she is and what she wants, and the show hasn't given her enough screentime to truly flourish as a character. The Unknown: Why is Marcia so upset with Logan? Is it because he's not keeping her in the loop anymore? Or is there something else at play? Has Shiv destroyed her future with her awful performance in this episode? I can't imagine that Logan will be too happy to commit to her after this. Did Logan even intend to make Shiv his successor? It's strange that he's so hesitant to name anyone, and that suggests that he was not committed to Shiv succeeding him and he may have only promised it to her to get her to leave Gil's political team. Is Tom going to get fired? Did Logan know this and willingly sacrifice his position? Greg has some newfound confidence. What happened while everyone else was away? Will Tabitha break up with Roman? The failed sex scene seems like it will spell the end of their relationship. Best Moment: The entire dinner scene is a masterclass in uncomfortable tension and manages to combine suspense and humour in such a compelling way. If I had to zero in on a more specific moment, I have to go with Shiv saying "just tell them it's gonna be me", a moment that left everyone at the table, as well as everyone watching the episode, absolutely stunned. Character of the Episode: Logan. Conclusion: An excellent episode that showcases the absolute best of "Succession". Engaging character dynamics, some delightfully awkward scenes, and a compelling negotiation plot that is a blast to watch unfold. Season 2 continues to deliver compelling and interesting television. Score: 77 Summary: Kendall calls Rhea before the upcoming meeting. Tom and Shiv head to Waystar Royco for Shiv's first day. A board meeting is held and Tom is tasked with checking the background of Ravenhead, who is suspected to be involved with Nazism. Logan, Kendall, and Frank keep the meeting with Rhea secret but Shiv suspects something. Rhea arrives and she doesn't accept any offer. Before she leaves, a gunshot rings out and the building goes into a panic. Tom and Greg end up together in a safe room, but it's the wrong safe room. Greg asks Tom to be transferred elsewhere, and Tom is enraged. Afterwards, they make up and Tom agrees to let him go after being impressed by Greg "blackmailing" him with the cruise documents. Logan, Kendall, and Shiv end up together and negotiate with Rhea. They get through with their proposal and convince Rhea, who will tell the family. Shiv meets with Kendall after and Kendall admits he isn't a competitor and has a vulnerable moment with her. Roman goes to management training and works with Brian, who he becomes friends with. Later, Roman is unable to have phone sex with Tabitha, but pleasures himself when Gerri belittles him. Connor attends Mo's funeral, and Willa rewrites his script to save face when Pantsil arrives at the funeral.
The Good: The main plot was very engaging. The meeting with Rhea was a huge deal that was built up suitably well, with some extra tension added from Shiv not knowing about the meeting, but quickly figuring out that something was going on. Initially the meeting doesn't go well, but after the episode is spiced up by a shooter threat, we get to see the meeting for real. Conveniently, Logan, Kendall, Shiv, and Rhea all end up together in a safe room to do the negotiations, and this time it works out wonderfully. It makes me question how much of this was planned (see: The Unknown) and how much was accidental. I don't imagine that Logan, Kendall, and Shiv thought through their plan together, but what's compelling is that when they all worked together like this, the result was magnificent. Rhea went from not even considering the option to being sold due to the combined teamwork of Kendall, Shiv, and Logan. It's a sad reflection of how much better this family would be if they actually worked with each other instead of going at each other's throats constantly. It was magnificent to see Shiv's negotiating skills, Kendall's straight-to-the-point strategy, and Logan's reputation all come together to create the perfectly crafted argument. I really loved this sequence. Even better yet was how the episode ended. After an episode full of political manoeuvring, we had a surprisingly emotional sequence highlighting the extent of Kendall's depression (see: Best Moment). Tom and Greg have a great episode with lots of strong scenes. There is tension between them due to the idea of Greg moving elsewhere to get a different job, and the start of the episode establishes that well as Greg is talking to Cyd about other opportunities and Tom gets him to go get a latte that he doesn't even need (and Greg hilariously turns up with it to the board meeting). This tension comes to a head after the shooter situation when Greg decides to talk to Tom about moving since they have plenty of time together now. But Greg innocuously ends up saying the worst possible thing by describing a "business open relationship". Tom flips out, and it's clear from the onset that he's letting out his frustrations with Shiv on poor Greg, who has basically been a punching bag this entire time. The water bottle barrage is both sad (because of how little control Tom has over his life) and hilarious (the image of Greg being pelted by water bottles is inherently funny), a great climax to the episode. But true to form with these two, they are able to get along just fine afterwards. Tom gets some enjoyment out of seeing Greg having the balls to blackmail him, and I really like the decision to have Tom love this. Tom has been a loose cannon a lot of the time, but he seems to genuinely care about Greg, so why wouldn't he be happy and impressed that Greg made some moves for himself? This is great character writing, and I continue to enjoy the dynamic that these two have. Plus, these two are just so funny in every scene. Several other moments throughout the episode made me laugh like Tom's interview with Ravenhead and Greg's paranoia about the safe room leading to him fearing an "attack child" coming in to get them. This show has no business being as funny as it is. The side stories with Roman and Connor add a lot of great comedy. It's a blast to see Roman doing management training with the "normos" and he continues to be a total prick to absolutely everyone around him for basically no reason. His interactions with Brian are pretty amusing, and it was nice to see Roman actually take a liking to him and instruct Gerri to make him rise within the company. The phone scene with Gerri was certainly unexpected and curious (see: The Unknown). Roman's sexuality has been a weird topic in the show since the start, but it looks like we're finally uncovering what exactly his problem is, and it looks like affirmation of Roman's own insecurity through degrading comments is the awkward thing that gets him off. Meanwhile, Connor's presidential campaign continues to be great. Mo's funeral is chock full of great comedy from the reveal of the nickname's origin (Mo-Lester) to Connor's hilariously wooden eulogy written by Willa (who was amusingly proud of her terrible writing). I'm enjoying this storyline, and it will be fun to see Willa help Connor get out of making the terrible decisions that I expect from him. The Bad: Nothing I would call bad. The Unknown: How much of the shooter incident was staged? Did Logan and Kendall just get lucky, or did they arrange for this tragedy to happen somehow? Logan seemed concerned at times, so I doubt it was staged, but this incident benefited Logan too much for it to not be staged. It's tough to tell. If it was staged, did Logan sacrifice an employee for this meeting? That would be very dark. Furthermore, it's strange that Tom, Greg, and several others were sent to an incorrect safe room. Does this mean that Logan had already reserved his safe room for the meeting with Rhea and wanted to remove anyone who may get in the way? Did Logan intend for Shiv to help him and Kendall seal the proposal with Rhea? Is that why he invited her? Or was it all a happy accident? Either way, it's still a good story to tell. Will Pierce accept the proposal? Is Kendall's shoplifting going to get him in trouble? Where will Greg be relocated to? So does Roman get off on his insecurities being preyed upon? That's very strange, and I have to wonder about the significance of this. Why was it necessary to make this such a core aspect of Roman's character? What else can we understand from this weird fetish he has? Is he into Gerri specifically? Will we see Brian again? If not, I hope Roman's influence gave him a great career. Pantsil is back again. Is she going to continue to investigate the Roys for the rest of the season? Will she uncover any big information about them? Considering secrets like the cruise ship documents, and Kendall's accident, there is potential for her to find something bad. Best Moment: The moments with Kendall at the episode's end were fantastic. After an engaging episode of comedy and stone-cold negotiations, it felt like a total shock to see the extent of Kendall's pain coming out as he talked with Shiv. Sarah Snook was phenomenal here as she conveyed Shiv transitioning from playing "the game" to realizing that her brother was in a lot of pain. Poor Kendall just needs some direction for himself, and it's heartbreaking to hear him ask Shiv to take care of him because he doesn't know "what I would be for". Then add on a brilliant final image as Kendall goes onto the roof once more and we get a subtle, quiet reveal that Kendall was likely spending time up here because he found comfort in the idea that he could always jump as a way out. But after a suicide, the glass walls have been doubled in height and Kendall's comfort has just vanished. The final image of a depressed Kendall resting his face on these glass walls is heart-breaking, and an unexpectedly somber end to an otherwise exciting and entertaining episode. It's the unexpected addition of genuine emotion that makes this sequence so brilliant, possibly the best 5 minutes of the entire show. Character of the Episode: Tom. Conclusion: This was an excellent episode. Every storyline was thoroughly engaging. There was engaging plot development, compelling character interactions, and plenty of laughs to keep things entertaining. Then we concluded with a surprisingly emotional sequence to add the cherry on top of the best episode of "Succession" so far. Season 2 feels like it's well and truly in action now. Score: 74 Summary: Greg meets with Pantsil who is writing a biography on Logan, and leaves upon realizing what it is, but he has given some information. Logan is obsessed with the idea of buying out Pierce, a news network, and forces the idea upon everyone who remain skeptical. Logan rehires Frank, who was well liked by Pierce. Shiv hears about this and tells Tom that she wants him to rebel against Logan's decision when they go to a retreat in Hungary. At the retreat, Logan is upset when he learns someone talked to Pantsil for the biography, people are opposed to his Pierce acquisition plan, and Pierce has heard of the plan and are resistant. At dinner, Logan lashes out at everyone and plays a made-up game "boar on the floor" where he humiliates Tom, Greg, and Karl. Kendall exposes that Roman was the one who called Pierce as Roman intended to use a connection with Tabitha to secure the deal. Logan calls him a moron and declares he will go through with things anyways. Shiv goes to see Connor who is recording an awful anti-tax campaign video but she can't stop it. She has sex with a man she meets at a bar. After the retreat, Tom is upset with Shiv for getting him to do something he didn't want to do, and is further upset when she tells him she had sex with someone else. Roman meets with Gerri who advises him to get management training. Frank tells Logan that Pierce's CEO wants to meet. Logan calls Shiv and says he wants to bring her into the company.
The Good: I really liked most of this, particularly in how the story was executed. The Pierce problem is much more engaging than last episode's central problem of what to do with Vaulter. This decision to acquire Pierce feels like a big deal because we are told that if this goes wrong, it could potentially burn down the entire company, giving us an incentive to invest in the decision-making process. Furthermore, the process is so much more fun to watch in this episode because of how many players are in action trying to sway things to go their way. Just about everybody has some stake in this, and it's hugely fun seeing how they approach the problem. For example, Tom is put in an impossible situation where he wants to side with Logan, but Shiv and several others are pushing him to be a leader in a rebellion that would never work. Meanwhile Roman and Kendall both want to acquisition to happen, but they end up butting heads due to tensions between them. Kendall is basically Logan's lapdog scouting for weaknesses, while Roman is just trying to impress his father but he continues to fail spectacularly. Add on some other interesting dynamics with Karl opposing Logan in secret, Greg trying to hide that he met with Pantsil, and a few other story threads, and this is a very fun episode to explore. Then we get to the boar on the floor scene. Wow. Talk about massively over-the-top. This sequence is all about showing us Logan's psyche and how it is that he dominates everyone around him to get what he wants. Logan came to Hungary to relax, but upon being pressured by "traitors" through the biography meeting, the opposition to the Pierce acquisition, and then a leak to Pierce, Logan snapped in rage just like he did back in "Which Side Are You On?". Despite practically nobody in the room actually supporting his beliefs, Logan abuses his power to bully everyone into accepting him. He humiliates Tom, Greg, and Karl using only his status and power in such a childish and barbaric way that it is shocking. Logan's relentlessly cruel here, and Brian Cox sells his fury perfectly. If only Logan actually took the advice of the people around him, maybe he would have a better standing within the company and within his family. I want to highlight Tom in particular in this episode. The poor guy had an absolute nightmare of a trip and spent the entire episode being bullied and pushed around against his will. Tom's not a great guy, but it's easy to empathize with him when he is put under so much pressure. He just wants a cushy job and the affections of his wife, but right now that is impossible for him. He spends his weekend away getting verbally and physically abused by Logan, despite the fact that he was one of the only people in the room that genuinely supported Logan's decision to acquire Pierce. All that because Tom was voluntold to represent the people who were against the acquisition, making the situation feel entirely unfair. Impressively, through all of this carnage, Tom valued his friendship with Greg as he refused to reveal the damning information that he knew, information that may have spared him from this entire situation. And how is Tom rewarded for a tough weekend where he kept his morals? With Shiv revealing to him that she has already started to take advantage of their open relationship, messing around with some random guy while he suffered trying to enforce her ideals; ideals that Shiv selfishly placed onto Tom. Tom got walked all over in this episode, and regardless of the type of person he is, I feel bad for him because he is being screwed over by worse people. More on Tom. Poor guy had the worst time this episode and the retreat was a nightmare trip. Pressured by his wife and even Gerri and Karl, sides with Logan ultimately yet he still finds himself embarrassed and humiliated. He even stood by Greg and didn't reveal his secret, the one leverage he had, which was honorable. Sweet to see them eating together later. Then at home it gets worse as he expresses his frustration with Shiv only to learn that she fucked someone else, I just feel bad for the guy. He did nothing wrong in this episode but just got screwed. Connor's presidential video is hysterical and brought me a lot of laughs. I can't believe he actually posted it online. The anti-tax stance is an absurdity, and I'm amused by Willa helping him because he is her financial source. This is sure to be an exciting presidential campaign, and I expect to laugh lots. The Bad: This episode is brutally uncomfortable and it doesn't make you feel good. The writing and storytelling rules, but emotionally this feels like too much. Especially for a comedy/drama this is bleak to a whole other degree. I feel awful and uncomfortable watching Logan rule his power over everyone else in the room, and those emotions have nowhere to go since there is such a limited amount of empathy that I feel for all of the characters being bullied. It is fascinating and emotionally affecting, but considering that I don't really care about anyone in this show, it doesn't feel like it is worth putting myself through the wringer in this scene for awful people. This is a complicated feeling to describe. I've enjoyed plenty of TV episodes that make you feel bad, but this one makes me feel bad in a different way that significantly diminishes my enjoyment of the episode. The Unknown: What will become of the biography? Will it still be written? Will Greg's secret be kept? Will anyone else find out what he did? Is Frank going to stick around now? Will he be firmly behind Logan? He indicates that his return is like a "moth to a flame", which is kind of sad. Is this genuine? Greg admits that Ewan has been giving him orders. What has Ewan told him? Has Greg listened? So Connor has kicked off his campaign (god help us all). How is it going to go? How will Connor's actions reflect on the rest of the story? Tensions are heating up rapidly between Shiv and Tom. Will Tom reach a breaking point soon? What happens then? Is Roman going to do management training? Best Moment: The boar on the floor game is intense, uncomfortable, and brilliantly acted. Even with my reservations, I can't deny that it's an excellent scene. Character of the Episode: Logan. Conclusion: This is a very strange episode for me, and one that is hard to score. I recognize the brilliance of the storytelling, and I enjoyed much of what we got in the episode. It's just that the "boar on the floor" sequence is so brutally uncomfortable and awkward that it becomes a bit too unpleasant for me to enjoy. This is one of those episodes where I understand why people love it and I recognize how well-executed it is, but it's just not for me. Score: 65 Summary: Jim tortures Barry using VR and learns that he gave $250,000 to Gene. Suspicious, Jim leaves. Barry escapes but cuts his hand and passes out. Gene gets a call from an agent looking for advice on the movie. He tempts Gene by saying they are making the movie with Daniel Day Lewis and Mark Wahlberg. Gene is suckered in and agrees to meet, but it's a trap set by Jim, who now suspects that Gene hired Barry to kill Janice. Hank sends four men to kill Fuches but they are all killed. Hank then tries to send a rocket at Fuches' house, it fails, and Hank barely escapes. Hank decides he will track down Barry. He watched Gene's house where Sally arrives with John, looking for help. Hank captures them and calls Barry. Barry wakes up and answers and learns that Hank is holding them hostage.
The Good: Barry didn't have a huge role in this episode, but he continued to carry most of the drama in the show. Barry's VR-style torture is a unique idea, and compellingly executed. It's unclear how long Jim left him with it on, but it's evident that it was really breaking him down. These scenes are intense and well-done overall. We got to see the facade Gene has been putting on crumble to great effect in this episode. The man said he had changed, but he's still the same guy with the same weakness, and this time he's really getting punished for it. Once again, Gene's ego completely ruins everything for him. He said he had changed and he was honourable, yet the mere mentioning of Daniel Day Lewis and Mark Wahlberg immediately makes him sing another tune. Suddenly it's not about protecting Janice's legacy, it's about "getting her story out there". Barry isn't an evil bastard anymore, he's a "sympathetic soul". Gene swings whichever way the breeze takes him as long as he's still the center of attention. It's frustrating to watch Gene fall back into these habits, and immensely satisfying when we learn that it's all a trap. It's absolutely fitting that the man who conned him was a former student, and it's even more fitting that the mistake Gene made was the exact same mistake he made with Lon all those years ago. He really hasn't changed at all, and now it looks like Gene will face some major consequences for his enormous ego. Hank steals the show in this episode. His attempts to take out Fuches are absolutely hilarious and I thoroughly enjoyed them. The FUBAKs is a really funny concept, and I loved Hank's reactions to each of them like he had just received exciting new toys. Even better was the reveal of the heads in boxes, and Hank opening each one ("why am I still opening these?") was really funny. Then it all culminates in a fantastic sequence as Hank comically misses the one rocket he brought to kill Fuches (his henchman "was thinking budget") before we launch into a hilarious gunfight that culminates in Hank falling down a hill Looney Tunes-style. The sequence is all done in a oner, which is quite impressive, but is also laugh-out-loud funny throughout. Then the episode takes a turn towards the end as Hank captures Sally. It's surprising that it's taken this long to see Hank and Sally in a scene together, and it's great that we get one before the end of the series. Poor Sally's paranoia has taken her back to LA, and it's sad to see her PTSD continuing to engulf her as she fails an attempt to confess due to the lingering trauma of the man she murdered. Now it looks like things are going to come crumbling down for her and her family, and it's an exciting cliffhanger with Barry preparing to go save them. The Bad: I find it hard to believe that Jim would be so sloppy that he lets Barry escape his garage. did he really not tie up his feet? Or bolt the chair into the ground? Or take out all the weapons from the room? Jim has been the one competent character in this series so far, so to see him suddenly become incompetent is frustrating. Even if he believes that Gene is the real target and not Barry, surely he wouldn't just let Barry get away like that? The man killed his daughter! I have suspended my disbelief in a lot of places for this show because of how generally incompetent most people are, but Jim is the one character who I have been told should be competent. So I struggle to get over this issue. There was a possible inconsistency in this episode with Sally calling Gene's phone. We heard in the previous episode that Gene changed his phone number after he ran away. If that's the case, then how was Sally able to contact him? There's no way that she should have his phone number. This is most likely an oversight by the writers. The Unknown: What's next for Gene? Will he be put behind bars for this "crime" he committed? Will Barry get involved somehow? How will Gene's story intersect with everything else that's going on? Is Hank going to give Barry the address to Fuches' place? What will happen when they meet? What is Hank going to do with Sally? Will John find out who his parents really are? Have Sally and Gene been in somewhat regular contact? How does she have his number? Why did Jim leave Barry in a position where he could easily escape? Best Moment: Hank's failed rocket followed by a gunfight was a beautifully shot sequence and also absolutely hilarious. Character of the Episode: Hank. Conclusion: A compelling and funny episode to set up the endgame of the series. This isn't exceptional television, but it more than did its job of setting up the series finale while still providing enough story beats and laughs to stand out on its own. Score: 68 Summary: Logan meets with the Roys when Stewy does an interview against Waystar Royco. Logan agrees with Shiv's suggestion to immediately fight back. Later, Logan meets with Roman and Kendall to get them to look into Vaulter, who have been underperforming. After doing some research, Kendall wants to invest in improvement while Roman wants to shut them down. Logan agrees to shut them down and sends Kendall to gut them. Kendall initially tries to give them a shot to improve and stop them from unionizing, but it fails. In response, Kendall shuts down Vaulter. Tom gets to his new job at ATN and brings Greg with him. Shiv gets offered a promotion by Gil. Shiv meets with Logan who wants a three-year track for her, but Shiv wants it to be sooner. Shiv tells Tom about Logan's offer and says it's a deviation from him taking control, but Tom is concerned by the development. Later, Shiv talks out against Gil and quits while he fires her at the same time.
The Good: I enjoy the character dynamics on show through the Vaulter problem. Kendall really feels like a shell in these latest episodes. Vaulter was his investment, and we expect that Kendall would put in a big fight to keep it running. For a bit, it seems like he's going to ignore his father's wishes and keep vying for Vaulter, but the end of the episode puts in a nice twist when we learn that Kendall was simply extracting whatever final value he could from Vaulter. He guts them heartlessly, reminding us that he's purely his father's pawn now, and the scene is brilliant. The follow-up with Kendall is great. A beautiful image of Kendall sitting in his father's office shows how subservient he has become, and a brief scene where he steals some batteries from a convenience store illustrates how desperate Kendall is for some agency, but he's too terrified to take control anywhere near where his father can see. Lawrence getting soundly beaten was also quite satisfying because of how much of a prick he has been. Lawrence jerks around Kendall at every turn, and that was an awful move because Kendall was the only one that genuinely believed in him. As a result, Lawrence had no friends to hide behind, and he had alienated the one person who was backing him. I feel like he deserved this. Roman's competition with Kendall when it comes to evaluating Vaulter is a lot of fun. Roman is happy to have bested Kendall when Logan goes with his plan, but he hilariously doubts his own decision later in the episode, showing once again how weak he is when it comes to leadership. It's hilarious to see him thinking that he's the best choice to be named successor when I'm certain that he's currently Logan's last option. Shivs political story looks like it has come to an end, and that's likely for the better. She's forced to choose between her father's proposal and her ongoing commitment with Gil, and she makes her decision rapidly. To be fair, it's an easy decision for her. Keep working with her ex, or do the job that she's been dreaming about for years? Shiv opts for the CEO job, and continues to be an awful person by quitting her job by insulting Gil and letting out all the frustrations that she had towards him. Even more troubling is how Shiv is hiding her true feelings from Tom. Tom is under the impression that he's supposed to be the one getting everything, but now Shiv has sneaked in and taken the position instead, and lies to him about her intentions. This is horrific communication, and Shiv is setting up this relationship for failure yet again. Shiv knows she's lying to him, and Tom knows that she is likely lying to him. How hard is it for there to be some honesty in this relationship? Apparently it's nearly impossible. It should be fun to see how this conflict boils throughout the season. We've already seen Tom's tempers flare up at dinner with Roman, so I wonder what more we're going to see. Greg continues to be a lot of fun to watch. His hunt for a house is amusing, and it has a surprisingly sweet conclusion when Kendall gives him a free place to live. Greg's skepticism is hilarious after being so consistently teased by Tom, but his celebration is sweet and nice to see. Of course Kendall has his own agenda and just wants a party to do drugs, but it's still a nice moment. Poor Greg has also been dragged to ATN alongside Tom, which is pretty amusing. I'm glad that I get to see more of their dynamic since they are so funny together. The Bad: The biggest issue with this is that the main plot isn't interesting. Vaulter is a familiar company for us, but you can't convince me that Vaulter's fate, whether they stay or go, will be an important plot point for the future. They haven't amounted to anything important in 11 episodes up until now, so I had no reason to believe that this company's fate will be important to the show. The plot allows for good character exploration, but in terms of plot, it feels almost like filler. The Unknown: How did Shiv respond to Stewy's interview? Will we see Lawrence again now that Vaulter has been gutted? Marcia did not seem to be happy that Logan and Shiv had a secret that she wasn't allowed to listen in on. Will she try to find out what it is? How important is it to her to know these things? Will there be consequences for Shiv for leaving Gil's campaign under such negative circumstances? Why is Kendall stealing from shops? Is this his only way to keep some form of agency in his life? How will Tom's plan to digitize ATN go? How will Tom handle Shiv's change in their plan? Does this mean that Shiv will try to take it all for herself and leave Tom in the dust? Best Moment: Kendall gutting Vaulter was cold, and Jeremy Strong played it perfectly showing us that the Kendall we knew before is gone and right now Kendall is just an instrument of his dad's will and nothing more. Character of the Episode: Kendall. Conclusion: Another solid episode of character exploration, though a relatively uninteresting plot brings this episode down a bit. Score: 65 Summary: Kendall is taken out of rehab to make a media statement on why he sided with his father again, and he does a good job. However, this doesn't change things for Logan. Logan meets with Laird, his banker, and is given advice to sell. He sets up a meeting with all of his children to discuss. Roman makes a pitch, but Logan is unimpressed by it. Shiv is skeptical, but Logan wants her to be CEO. After some negotiating, she agrees and they decide to tell nobody. Logan decides not to sell. Logan takes Kendall with him to meet with Stewy and Sandy. Logan doesn't go in and instead Kendall goes in to tell them that there will be no deal and that Logan will fight with everything he's got.
The Good: After all that happened last season, Kendall is exactly where he should be: struggling to recover and return to who he was before. Saddled with the knowledge of wat he's done and being forced to keep this secret forever, Kendall is suitably jumpy. Jeremy Strong portrays him so well, showing him scared and nervous in absolutely every situation, the anxiety of never knowing if this will come back to haunt him eating away at him from the inside. This is gripping to see, and Kendall is terrific in every scene. His shellshocked media appearance is pretty bad, but he keeps his calm and says exactly what needs to be said (to Logan's hilarious comment of "that's the first fucking thing he's done right in his life"). After that, Kendall goes back to being a husk, and it's amusing to see him sticking to the fake media story to hide the truth from everyone he interacts with ("Dad's plan was better"). I'm curious to see what more there is for Kendall this season, and if there is a way for him to get some agency back. It's fun to catch up with the other Roys, and their disdain for Kendall is what you would expect to see. They don't forgive the betrayal easily at all, and are infuriated by the fact that Logan doesn't seem to be punishing Kendall, blissfully unaware of the horrors he is going through. I enjoy the central role that Shiv and Roman play in this episode, and seeing them each going to talk to Logan about his decision to sell is engaging. It becomes clear in retrospect that Logan never intended to sell and looked to weigh his options with Shiv and Roman, but during the episode there is some genuine suspense and intrigue for what comes next. Logan's meeting with Roman is first, and it's another glorious reminder of how dumb he is. Roman comes up with some ideas, but always misses the bigger picture, and Logan's disappointment is made clear through him appointing Kendall as co-COO to prevent Roman from doing anything else stupid like blowing up another rocket. Logan's conversation with Shiv forms the centerpiece of this episode. Throughout the series Shiv has been completely disillusioned. She sees through Logan's plans, and we can tell from her conversation here that it's because she learned that Logan never had any real plans for her, and got disappointed by expecting more. But this time, it's different. Logan breaks through her many layers of skepticism, dismissal, and nihilism to get to the heart of what she wants. Shiv has wanted the CEO position more than anything, and her resentment for Logan has been because he cut her off from this position. But when faced with the possibility of her father actually opening his arms for her, she breaks down just like Kendall in the final scene of "Nobody is Ever Missing". It's clear that the desire to be recognized by her father has plagued Shiv for many, many years, and now we get to see Logan using this weakness to get what he wants from Shiv so that he can name her as his successor. This scene is layered and brilliantly acted by Brian Cox and Sarah Snook, who are both so good at feigned emotion and real emotion in their characters respectively. In all of this, there is still a fun background story as the Roys find three dead raccoons stuffed in the chimney (a nice metaphor for the 3 Roy kids fighting to climb the ranks?), and we get reminded of the disillusionment of the wealthy. Logan underpaid the catering service already, and now after getting suitably poor service, he underpays them further. We don't need a reminder that Logan is awful, but of course that's not going to stop him from doing terrible things to lower class people regardless. The Bad: Nothing bad. The Unknown: Will Kendall's secret get out? Will people find out from a loose end somewhere, or is he going to confide in somebody when he really shouldn't? What is Logan's long-term plan for Kendall? Does he intend to keep using him for his own gain, or will he cut him off eventually? How are Stewy and Sandy going to respond to Logan essentially declaring war on them? What's their next move? How did Logan's conversation with Roman end off? I can't imagine Logan had any big plans for Roman. Is Logan's deal for Shiv real? Does he intend to go through with it? Or is this another twisted scheme that he is manipulating her for? Will Shiv cooperate with him? Will she tell Tom what happened? Did Shiv actually get Tom a promotion, or was that a lie? Best Moment: Logan and Shiv's negotiations definitely stole the show. Such brilliant acting, and such fascinating layers underneath this relationship. Character of the Episode: Shiv. Conclusion: This was a rock solid premier for season 2, introducing interesting new storylines and being consistently entertaining throughout. Score: 66 Summary: Kendall delivers a letter to Logan about the bear hug. Logan is furious and knows he's in a bad position. Logan informs his children, who all meet with Kendall and pressure him. Leaving the meeting, Kendall is stressed and wants to do some coke, but Stewy tells him he has none. At the wedding, Roman watches the satellite launch, but it explodes at the launch pad. Roman is terrified, but relieved when he learns that nobody died. After "winning a debate" with Gil, Connor decides that he wants to run for President. Shiv and Tom head to the bedroom and Shiv admits that she has been cheating and doesn't want a monogamous marriage. Tom is uncomfortable but accepts it. Later, with Shiv's permission, he kicks Nate out from the wedding. Kendall goes looking for coke and runs into Greg who tells him about cruise documents he has copies, and Kendall is impressed. Kendall finds a waiter who was fired by Logan and drives him to a place where he says he can find coke. However, a deer causes the car to crash in a river. Kendall escapes, but the waiter dies. Horrified, Kendall walks back to the wedding, cleans himself up, and makes appearances. The next day, Logan summons him and says he will clean everything up, but Kendall has to opt out of the bear hug. Crying, Kendall embraces his father.
The Good: Kendall has been the star of this first season, and he takes center stage in this episode too. This bear hug is a big move, and unlike the vote of no confidence where Kendall can hide behind his father's health, this is a clear betrayal of his family and Kendall has to cope with that. The confrontations with everyone are terrific. Kendall does his best to not waver and keep his calm, but the pressure is telling. Logan is as frightening as ever, and watching Kendall struggle to form words as he reverts to a childlike level of fear when facing Logan's wrath is superb stuff. The family argument later in the episode is also terrific. Logan telling his children what happened as an "advantage" to get into Kendall's head is pretty ruthless, and it led to a tense and exciting scene (that also happened to have a great joke as Connor announces his Presidential ambitions). But credit to Kendall, he kept his cool and stuck to his guns in this power play, forcing himself to make it happen. But because it's Kendall, something had to go wrong. The plan was sloppy as usual, and the opening scene hilariously shows how little was thought out. The letter being printed in the wrong place, there being no organization about who gives the letter to Logan, and Kendall yelling at his son on accident is all hysterical incompetence that's joyful to watch, and it's setting up a much bigger error from Kendall later in the episode. Kendall managed to keep his cool through all of the familial confrontations, but he needs some drugs to help cope with it all. And there's Kendall's fatal flaw creeping up again. His need for coke leads to him tracking down a poor waiter who was scolded by Logan, and a series of bad decisions later ends with Kendall crashing the waiter's car into a river, killing the waiter. This event may seem out of place at first glance, but Kendall's actions directly led to it, and the event was pivotal in the episode. The first 45 minutes were nonstop discussions that advanced the plot and satisfied character conflicts, but everything after the crash happens in near silence, carried by Jeremy Strong's superb acting. This was a tragedy, but Kendall is ultimately to blame for what happened, and this will certainly destroy his career if it gets out, similar to what the Chappaquiddick Incident did to Ted Kennedy. As such, Kendall is freaked out by the whole thing, and I absolutely love that "Succession" was so willing to slow the pace down and allow so much time for Kendall to process exactly what had happened, showing us that he understands the consequences and is horrified by them. Seeing Kendall so traumatized while trying to cover his tracks is heartbreaking, and his fear and stress while communicating with everyone afterwards is heartbreaking, especially during the dance scene with his family. I felt so bad for him, and the sheer weight of the situation allowed for me to fully empathize with a character who I've struggled to fully connect with all season. The conclusion to this episode works perfectly as a conclusion to Kendall's overall story this season. Kendall's been trying to prove himself all season as capable enough to take over from his father, but we've been shown time and time again that he's just not cut out for this. Unfortunately, it is as Logan says. Kendall is spoiled, Kendall doesn't have the experience necessary to do this job, and Kendall isn't the type of man who can handle the emotional fallout of the tough decisions that have to be made. This car crash is the ultimate example of these character flaws, and Logan is able to exploit what happened to ensure his victory over Kendall's latest, and probably final, attempt to gain power. Kendall is shellshocked after what happened, and the fear follows him. There's a marvelous shot where one of Logan's men comes to get Kendall and Kendall stands there frozen, looking like a little kid who has just been caught doing something wrong. He's shut down, and he's scared, and he doesn't know what will happen next. Logan uses this to his advantage and in a fantastic final scene he manipulates Kendall into rejoining the family and moving on together with his father. It's unclear how much of this is genuine and how much of this is manipulation on Logan's part, but what's important is that Kendall believes what is said, and the simple act of his father offering an embrace is all it takes for Kendall to revert to tears, letting out all of the pain he currently feels. These tears have been waiting all season, not just from the tragedy in this episode, and this is Kendall finally recognizing the fact that he just isn't cut out for this and that he needs his father's help to get out of the mess he's made for himself. It's so heartbreaking, so powerful, and so well told. The other characters don't hit this same level of phenomenal storytelling, but their stories are all very entertaining and impactful. Shiv and Tom finally get to clear the air and have that emotional conversation they've been long overdue. Setting it up are some great scenes at their wedding as everyone gives sappy speeches, but the tension of Shiv's affair remains. And as Tom and Shiv prepare for their wedding night, the tension finally breaks and Shiv reveals her desire to be non-monogamous. It has been sitting there in plain sight all season, and now finally Shiv talks about it, and Tom has to contend with if he can handle this reality. The performances in this scene are terrific, and both characters effectively express the complexity of emotions that one would feel in this situation. And we arrive at the sensible conclusion too. And by sensible, I don't mean the ideal conclusion for the characters, but the realistic one. Tom and Shiv should probably be finished after this, but because Tom so desperately wants this to work, he works with Shiv and conforms to her will. It's sad, it's real, and it's brilliantly executed. At least the episode doesn't end on the sad aspect of this conclusion, as we get a fantastic follow-up scene where Tom finally shows some spine by kicking Nate out of the wedding. That scene is fantastic, and something I never knew I needed. Nate has been so scummy, so it's delightful to see Tom take full control over him, using his power to force Nate out. I loved the scene, and I appreciate the little nod of respect between Greg and Tom afterwards. Greg did not get as much screen-time as I expected in this episode, but his big scene with Kendall made a lasting impact. I've been suspecting that Greg is more calculating than we expected, and this episode absolutely confirmed that. I completely missed Greg copying documents back in "I Went to Market", but he did, and now he's using it to his advantage to try to make his way upwards in the company. Much like Kendall, I was impressed by Greg's unexpected power play. Greg has no enemies, nobody takes him seriously, and he has every chance to continue his rise. Roman didn't have a major role in this episode, but he had what may have been the funniest storyline in the entire season. I've barely mentioned it in previous episodes because it was never relevant, but Roman just could not shut up about how he was in charge of the satellite launch in Japan, and how he was accelerating the release date. He bragged about it at every turn, and it was clear that this was the one actual job he was doing at Waystar Royco. So what happens? In an incredible moment of black comedy, we watch as Roman watches the launch alone in the bathroom only for the rocket to dramatically explode, his one job ending in a colossal failure. The moment is absolutely hilarious, and made better by Roman figuratively and literally washing his hands of the whole incident immediately after. Roman is silent afterwards, and it's so funny to see him go from bragging to avoiding all discussion on the topic, ignoring the issue, knowing that he's screwed. And to add on to Roman's stupidity, there are plenty of emails tracing back to his negligence, and it doesn't help that he's told absolutely everyone what he's done, destroying any shot at plausible deniability. Man, watching this family be completely incompetent at everything never gets old. Luckily for Roman, things work out for him, and his story ends with a fantastic line as Roman gives the incredible line "guess who didn't kill anybody but maybe just lost a couple of thumbs; this guy!". Comedy at its finest. Connor remains in a background role, which is where he's been all season. But that's fine when he's so incredibly funny whenever he's on screen. Connor is so delusional and lives in his own reality, and never is that more clear than when he claims that he wants to run for President of the Untied States. His entire thought process, his "debate" with Gil, and pretty much every conversation he gets into is really funny, and Connor has been perhaps the most reliable source of comic relief throughout the first season. He's hardly been important to the main plot, but the entertainment value he provides is enormous. The Bad: I found the conversation between Shiv and Nate to be confusing, and I'm not sure what exactly they were talking about. Even after rewatch, I couldn't figure out what was going on. I might be missing something, but I still think that the dialogue could have, and probably should have, given us more context as to what was happening. The Unknown: Is Connor actually going to run for President? I can only imagine the laughs that would bring, so I hope he goes through with it! Will Greg's important copies come into play later? How will he get utility out of them? Is Greg allied with Kendall now? Kendall was quite impressed with Greg's plays. Shiv tells Tom that she was a mess when they hooked up. Why? What happened to her before? How did this relationship start exactly? Will Kendall ever oppose his father again? How will Stewy and Sandy react to Kendall backing out? What will be their next move? Will Kendall ever face consequences for the car accident? How much of Logan's compassion at the episode's end was real? Did he genuinely feel fatherly protective instinct for his son, or did he just manipulate Kendall entirely only to mitigate the threat he posed? Best Moment: We're spoiled for choice, but I have to give it to the sheer emotional release of Kendall crying in his father's embrace, a culmination of 10 episodes of storytelling. That it's unclear how much, if any, of this emotion from Logan is real just adds to the brilliance of the scene. Character of the Episode: Kendall. Conclusion: A lot came together for "Succession" in this season finale. Not only is this the best episode of the season, but it's where the show finally sunk its hooks into me. I've become invested in the character dynamics at play, and I was fascinated by so much of what went on in this episode. This was a big success of a season finale. Season 1 of "Succession" was rough going for a decent amount of its run, but by the end it definitely won me over. Starting a TV show strong with an engaging hook and compelling characters is an art that I find is often overlooked in modern TV shows. So many shows nowadays don't put in effort to suck in viewers in the first episode, and "Succession" is one such show. And it's a real shame, because with where season 1 went, this actually looks like it's going to be a great show if handled correctly. The first five episodes struggled a lot to engage me, and I found myself being tired out by how horrible everyone was, especially since I didn't know much about these people. But starting with episode 6, I started to get more into the series, and as we learned more about the characters, I got more interested in what was going on. It all culminated in this excellent season finale, and now I can safely say that I'm invested in the show. It's just a shame to me that so many people will likely stop watching the show due to the weak first few episodes, missing the good stuff that comes in the back half of the season. Every Roy character ultimately won me over. I still despise them all, and I'm impressed by the ambition to run a TV show with zero likeable characters, but I find these characters to be very interesting and compelling now. Logan is a monster, but his complicated relationship with his children is so fascinating to watch. Kendall, Shiv, Roman, and Connor are all awful people, but they deal with unique struggles, and I enjoy seeing their bad choices completely blow up the world around them. Then there's Tom and Greg, the standouts of the season. They definitely aren't good people, but they are so funny and entertaining to watch that you can't help but root for them. Overall, I enjoyed this first season. It took time to get going, especially due to the show's struggle with introducing the story and characters in an interesting way, but it found its way in the end. Score: 73 Summary: The Roys and Tom's family arrive in England for Tom and Shiv's wedding. Shiv is trying to get information from Tom about the cruise to use against Logan. Kendall meets with Stewy about their alliance and is worried he is going to be cut out. Kendall confides with Frank for advice. Tom meets Nate and becomes suspicious of Shiv. He pulls her aside and they open up to each other. Shiv says she is not cheating and Tom tells her about the cruise. Logan decides to come to the wedding and arrives late. Shiv threatens to release the cruise information unless Logan stops bringing up Gil's wife. Logan and Gil end up making a deal. Sandy phones in to talk with Kendall and says that they have been contacted by a reporter, likely because of Frank. He urges Kendall to accelerate the plan to that weekend at Shiv's wedding.
The Good: This is a good concept for an episode. Much like "Austerlitz", this benefits from assembling the entire cast at one location, setting up dynamic and exciting character interactions and exploring the characters in unique ways. The wedding setting is an engaging set-up for secrets and schemes to come out, and there is some suspense created by Logan's impending arrival. While not the most intense or exciting episode, this is a good setting for an episode filled with dealings and machinations. The tension between Shiv and Tom is the definite highlight here, providing a meaningful emotional crux to structure the episode around. Poor Tom is being completely abused by Shiv here. Shiv is cheating on him and going to every length to hide this from him, lying openly to his face and manipulating his good-heartedness. Tom even asks her if they should call off the wedding, but Shiv refuses that too. Tom gives her every out in the event that she needs it, but her persistence convinces the poor guy that she's still all-in on this relationship. It's devastatingly sad to see Tom buy into this and in the name of "trust", divulge sensitive information that Shiv has been trying to manipulate him into giving up to her so she can use it for her own means, ignoring the risk that it will pose to Tom's career. This is awful from Shiv, who spends the day before her wedding scheming and plotting instead of preparing for what should be the biggest moment of her life. Tom is excited to be married and spends the day agonizing over his relationship with Shiv, while Shiv spends her day making moves in her career by blackmailing her father and Gerri to get what she wants, while fending off Nate's advances (he's still amusingly the absolute worst). There's some extra disgust created by Sarah Snook's acting as it's clear that Shiv is also fighting off her own temptation to cheat at her own wedding. This is ruthless and horrible from Shiv, and it contrasts in a very sad way with poor Tom, who just wants to focus on the wedding. The real kicker comes at the end of the episode when Greg comes to Tom with further proof of Shiv's cheating, and Tom is too scared to even hear him out because he doesn't want to believe that Shiv would use him like that (see: Best Moment). These two seem to be on route to disaster in their relationship, and it is quite sad to see. This episode has a surprisingly tragic aspect to it. Kendall is currently plotting against his family, and by the episode he learns that he's going to have to betray everybody at the wedding, which could potentially destroy his relationship with everyone. The episode brilliantly utilizes this opportunity to have a moment of family closeness between Kendall, Shiv, and Roman, highlighting that despite their character flaws, this family has a genuine bond between them that is continually put on the line by each character's attempts at pursuing power. This added an unexpected air of tragedy, and I wonder if the show will play into this aspect in the season finale. The rest of Kendall's story is quite good. He is still doing drugs, and this leads into a brilliant scene where Kendall lashes out at Rava, after she offers support to him knowing that he's doing drugs again. Kendall is far gone from his family at this point, and it's clear that his outburst is the frustration coming out, frustration at his failing family life and frustration over the betrayal that he's going to have to do soon. Kendall is still Kendall of course; he agonizes over the idea of this betrayal, and he continues to make rookie mistakes that make his life difficult, like confiding in Frank for no real reason. There are plenty of other interactions that consist of the rest of the episode and offer some entertainment. Logan's arrival leads to some very good moments of dialogue. Logan and Gil's verbal sparring is quite fun to watch and they have a couple of nice scenes together. It's clear that Logan is much more experienced in this department, and he always comes off as the man with greater control over the situation. Shiv's machinations lead to some great confrontations with Marcia and Gerri, two very well written and well acted scenes. Greg continues to bring the laughs whenever he is around, and I liked his interactions with Caroline, who calls him "Greg egg". Caroline doesn't make a huge impression in this episode in terms of political plays, but she's amusing and politely vicious in a way similar to Olenna from "Game of Thrones", asking everybody how long she thinks the marriage will last. The Bad: Nothing I would call outright bad. This episode is mostly table-setting for the season finale outside of the Shiv/Tom stuff, so it gets hurt by being a set-up episode. The Unknown: Did Frank leak what he learned from Kendall to Gerri? Kendall's very naive to think that Frank is purely sticking by him. What did he tell her, and what did Gerri do? Will Kendall be able to go through with the takeover at Shiv's wedding? This will surely damage his relationship with his family badly, possibly even permanently. Will Logan honour the deal with Gil? Shiv appears to have outmanoeuvred him completely, and Logan isn't the kind of man to simply take that. Will he somehow blow this all up in Shiv's face? Is Tom going to turn a blind eye on Shiv's cheating? Can he live with this? Is the knowledge going to eat away at him? Will this ruin their relationship? Is Shiv going to keep seeing Nate? Why did Logan give Kendall a job offer? What is his angle? Roman isn't having sex with Tabitha either. Is he asexual? Best Moment: Greg tells Tom what he saw, but Tom is absolutely not hearing it. Poor Tom just really wants this relationship to work, and is terrified to think that Shiv would lie to him so convincingly. Tom goes to every extent to not hear what Greg has to say and is neck-deep in denial by this point. It's so sad to see, and beautifully acted by Matthew Macfayden. Character of the Episode: Tom. Conclusion: Another solid episode of dealings and character interactions. "Succession" hasn't fully captured my interest yet, but it has started to produce fairly consistent television. Score: 66 Summary: Flashbacks show Princess Carolyn living with her mother in North Carolina as a housekeeper. She gets pregnant with the son of the Wallace family, the house they serve. Princess Carolyn's mother is excited but there is a miscarriage. Princess Carolyn gets into UCLA and leaves. In the present, Princess Carolyn goes to North Carolina to meet with Sadie who is looking for someone to adopt her unborn baby. Princess Carolyn tries to win her over, but struggles to balance her conversations with her life as she gets constant calls from L.A., which ultimately leads to BoJack falling off a building and being hospitalized after a dangerous stunt. Sadie notices how manipulative Princess Carolyn is and passes on her. Princess Carolyn returns to LA unsuccessful.
The Good: I appreciate that we got a deeper look into Princess Carolyn's past and what shaped her as a person. Everything didn't quite work perfectly (see: The Bad), but it was a good story that's worth telling. Princess Carolyn's mother is drunk, manipulative, and sometimes abusive in her parenting style. I thought the character was well realized. She seems like she genuinely cares about her children, but her stubborn beliefs that her lifestyle is ideal, and her inability to cope with her kids moving on in their lives made her a bad parent. We also get to see how Princess Carolyn's manipulations manifested from a young age with how she convinces Cooper to convince the coach that he's good enough, even if he's not. This business strategy is something that Princess Carolyn employs time and time again throughout the episode with just about everyone she talks to. It's fun to see the rest of the main cast checking in by phone with her, but Princess Carolyn uses her skillset to get rid of them as quickly as possible, creating red flags for Sadie to notice and ultimately call her out on by the episode's end (see: Best Moment). I appreciate how entertaining it is to watch how things fall apart in LA. Most of the humour in this episode comes from these check-ins, and every character is fun to watch. BoJack's good times on set being disrupted by Mr. Peanutbutter upstaging him is true to what I would expect to happen, and it's amusing to see BoJack's jealousy clash with Mr. Peanutbutter's obliviousness. Todd struggling to answer questions in his new job is an amusing development as well. On the more serious side, Princess Carolyn's advice for Diane is consistent with her manipulative behaviour. Princess Carolyn encourages Diane to manipulate Flip into doing something, and then absolves her of all blame after it led somewhere bad. You get the sense that this is what Princess Carolyn does, she manipulates others to get what she wants, but absolves herself of blame if anything goes wrong. In this case, Princess Carolyn's lack of involvement with her job and her thoughtless encouragement leads to BoJack getting into a horrific accident, but she clearly has absolved herself of any blame for what happened. It is a sad and relatable scenario though, as most people can relate to putting their every effort into getting something done (the adoption), only to get nothing to show for their efforts. Princess Carolyn sacrificed a lot to appeal to Sadie, and ultimately it was all for nothing. There are a few fun jokes that I got a laugh out of. The Wallace family having an empire built on answering machine tapes is quite funny. The flea market has some funny jokes in it, like a sign saying " stuff I stole to make money to buy heroin", and a shirt that says "stop pausing and just watch the show". The Bad: This episode does not go far enough into Princess Carolyn's past to entirely work. We learn about her backstory, but much of it is stuff that we could have already guessed based on what we knew about Princess Carolyn before this episode. "Ruthie" gave several hints about Princess Carolyn's troubled relationship with her mother involving miscarriages, and also told us the truth about Princess Carolyn's necklace. Seeing these scenes actually happen did not feel fascinating, instead it just felt like checking items off a list to show us. This made Princess Carolyn's backstory feel somewhat forgettable and less emotional than I was expecting. I thought this episode was lacking in jokes. We didn't get the usual amount of background humour as I've come to expect, and if there were North Carolina centric jokes, I didn't understand very many of them since I don't know much about North Carolina. "BoJack Horseman" has quite a bit of reference humour, and the negative aspect of this type of humour is that if the viewer is not well versed in the topic being jokes about, the jokes will fall flat. I don't think many people are well versed in North Carolina, so the jokes in this episode won't work very well for a significant portion of the audience. The Unknown: How bad is BoJack's injury? Will this be a key storyline in this season? Will Princess Carolyn find other opportunities for adoption? Best Moment: Princess Carolyn tries to make a big play to convince Sadie that she's the best pick, but Sadie is not falling for it. Sadie has seen Princess Carolyn manipulate just about everyone for her own needs, and is not afraid to call her out on it. In response to this, Princess Carolyn has nothing. Without her selling abilities, she has nothing to offer and has to contend with the fact that she's not the best choice. So in the character's best moment in the episode, Princess Carolyn gives up the facade and gives her genuine advice to Sadie based on her own experiences. Finally, an honest moment. Princess Carolyn gets no reward for it, but it's nice to see her show something genuine. Character of the Episode: Princess Carolyn. Conclusion: An episode that has some good ideas and fills in some solid backstory for Princess Carolyn, but it doesn't quite hit those lofty emotional highs it's aiming for. Score: 67 Summary: Kendall is doing a new business venture and meets with girls and gets a deal. Stewy convinces Roman to move Tom's bachelor party to a nightclub so he can meet with Sandy Furness. Roman agrees and takes all the guys there. Greg meets with Logan who asks him to make sure Kendall doesn't overdose. Tom tries to get the stones to have sex but keeps anxiously calling Shiv, who is working with Gil. The suicide of Gil's wife is exploited by Logan on TV. Shiv later meets with Logan who tries to buy her off. Shiv refuses and Logan threatens her and later pulls out of attending her wedding. At the nightclub, Tom eventually gets with a girl and Greg ends up doing drugs to stop Kendall from doing them. Kendall meets Stewy and meets with Sandy who is looking to buy his share. Kendall refuses but ultimately decides to partner with Sandy to take down his father. His personal business venture fails and Kendall tells Frank to tear down the girls by spreading rumours.
The Good: This is possibly the funniest episode yet, thanks mostly to Tom and Greg as usual. The nightclub setting is a fun location for engaging dealings to occur, but it's Greg and Tom on their own adventures who delight the most. Greg is hyper-focused on his one job to protect Kendall, and it's really fun to watch his snort coke and regret everything while trying to accomplish his mission. Meanwhile Tom's overthinking is consistently hilarious, and he steals the show with some fantastic scenes where he described finally getting sexually active only to reveal he swallowed his own load, and another great moment as he celebrates the sight of Greg doing cocaine. These two characters are always amusing to watch, and they allow me to still engage with the show in spite of how fundamentally unlikeable the characters are. Connor is closely behind them in terms of comedy, and he has some great moments in this episode, particularly his 9/11 questions and the fact that he seems to tell every girl he sees "I love you". I imagine there's probably some trauma hidden behind this, but for now it's amusing to watch. On the plot side of things, there are interesting dealings happening here as Kendall meets with Stewy and Sandy to form an uneasy alliance. I feel for Roman in all of this because he thinks he's the top dog here, when really he is being used by Stewy to get to Kendall. It's sad to see Roman sabotage Tom's bachelor party only to get absolutely nothing out of it since Kendall was Sandy's goal, never Roman. Back to Kendall, he had a solid story setting up his decision to ally with Sandy. We see Kendall trying a separate business venture, and he's surprisingly good at this stuff. He was dire while working at Waystar Royco, but he seems to be enjoying himself more in this new role. Unfortunately for him, the Roy name haunts him and is preventing him from ever truly succeeding with this new job. So Kendall embraces the Roy within him by annihilating the girls he was just working with using tactics eerily similar to Logan, and he decides to screw over his family and find another way to inherit the company. This story was told solidly, and watching some backroom business deals get made is always intriguing to watch. Shiv is growing on me, especially with how she has the courage to act out against her father, something her brothers entirely lack. Shiv impressively sees through Logan's flattery and is able to get to the heart of their meeting. Logan is perturbed by Gil Eavis and is actively trying to shut him down, and that means he has to deal with Shiv as well. But Shiv calls him out, and it looks like Logan has gone with a more sinister plan B to take her down by potentially revealing her affair, which doesn't bode well (see: The Unknown). Shiv can feel the pressure too, as she goes from happily having sex with Nate to having a quiet night with him, clearly unnerved by what has happened. It can be easy to feel bad for Shiv considering her situation and the strength she shows, but it's important to remember that she is cheating on Tom and doesn't feel bad about it, and she's no better than the rest of her scum family. Perhaps it's a weakness of this show that its characters are difficult to root for, but at the very least they are all proving to be complicated in their own ways. Lastly, I'll praise the use of setting in this show. Every episode in this first season has had a different central location, and this allows every episode to feel fresh, unique, and visually cinematic. There are some lovely shots here and the night club setting is used effectively. Add on the uniqueness of Austerlitz in the previous episode, and I've been very impressed by the visual style in this show. The Bad: This episode is funny and has good plot progression, but it doesn't do enough to prevent it from feeling like a transitional episode setting up Kendall's next moves against his father. There are plenty of things to enjoy here, but it never feels like we're watching particularly meaningful television. The Unknown: How will Kendall's alliance with Sandy go? Will they be able to bring down Logan together? Will Kendall be able to commit? Will Sandy stick to the alliance or betray Kendall? Why did Logan tell Greg to take care of Kendall? What was the motivation behind that? Why Greg? Why is Logan looking out for Kendall now? Why is Greg looking for a lateral shift? Is he really so perturbed by Tom, or is there more to this? What does Logan know about Shiv? Does he know about her affair? Is he planning on revealing her affair at her wedding? Why isn't he going to the wedding now? What's his plan? Will Roman realize that Sandy is not actually interested in their dealings? Or is he not going to pick up on it? Best Moment: Tom telling the story about how he swallowed his own load really made me laugh. This was the most hilariously fitting way that Tom's misadventures could have ended. What a goofball. Character of the Episode: Tom. Conclusion: This was a unique and funny episode. While there isn't much outright special about it, I had fun watching this. Score: 64 Summary: Public image on Logan is bad so he decides to do a family therapy session at Connor's ranch and invites everyone. Shiv, and Roman arrive but Kendall ignores the email. Kendall is currently suing the company. After rumours of him returning to drugs leak online, Kendall decides to go but gets sidetracked in a bar and ends up doing drugs. The family therapy doesn't go well as Logan is unwilling to properly dig into things. The therapist ends up losing teeth in a pool accident and leaves prematurely. Shiv takes the opportunity to take Nate's opportunity and meet with Gil Beavis, becoming his strategist. Upon returning, Logan is unimpressed and fights with her. Roman goes to pick up Kendall and brings him back. Kendall gets involved as well and Shiv leaves crying after Tom is insulted. The family leave the ranch.
The Good: The premise of this episode is terrific and addresses one of my biggest problems with this show so far: the lack of clear character dynamics. With a family gathering and forced therapy session, this is a perfect opportunity for us to get a good feel of the relationships between all of the characters, especially involving Logan who I feel we hadn't gotten a good chance to understand up until now. The family therapy scene is great and highlights perfectly how monstrous Logan is, and how his children feel about that. The tension in that room is palpable, and the discussions are indicative of the family's troubles. Shiv, Roman, and Connor are all feeling defensive and almost scared in their discussion, with each character's actions informing us about how they feel about their father. Shiv is tired and frustrated by Logan, clearly after many arguments with him in the past. Connor has distanced himself in an effort to stay happy, with his solution to family trouble being avoidance. And Roman is weak and timid like he was in the last episode, terrified to even speak up. All three of them are scared of their father, and the therapy session makes it clear why that is. Logan is not even willing to accept any wrongdoing of any kind, and doesn't care at all about the mental health of his kids. It's all about how he does things, and we're quickly shown why his children are so jaded and afraid when we see how quickly Logan's temper flares up over the tiniest of problems, and how narrow-minded he is. He doesn't even attempt to work with the therapist, and when a hilarious accident happens and the therapist loses his teeth, Logan dismisses him entirely, calling him an idiot, and once again convinces himself that everyone in the world is an idiot except for him. I say once again because this episode makes it clear that Logan's behaviour is a repeated pattern, and I'm sure that this narcissistic, stubborn dismissal of others has been something that Logan's children have had to put up with for their entire lives. So many interactions fleshed out the main characters for us. Shiv had the stand-out episode here as we finally get insight into her frustrations with her father, and we get to see every other aspect of the character brought to light. Shiv's frustration with her father is palpable in every scene, and it's likely what led to her ignoring the family business to get into politics. We also get more depth on her relationship with Tom through Logan's scathing appraisal that she's only with him because he'll never betray her, and through Shiv's desire for romantic affection with Nate (who remains a fun-to-watch scumbag). Further, a car ride early in the episode continues a pattern between Shiv and Tom where one asks the other for their input, only for quick affirmation and redirection of the conversation to something else. They're both too absorbed with their own problems to acknowledge the other's problems, and I bet that this will cause friction between them. I quite enjoyed seeing more of Shiv and Roman's relationship, which seems to be the most fun within the family. Despite tensions between them, they get back to ribbing each other quickly. Their dynamic is fun and it's clear that they have a deep bond. Roman had a surprisingly tender episode as we get to see more of what's in his heart. He's happy to have received some work from his father, who appears to maybe have something of a soft spot for him, but he is somebody who puts family first. After betraying Kendall last episode due to his own cowardice, it's sweet to see Roman dropping everything to help get Kendall away from the drugs in an attempt to genuinely help his brother through a dark time. This is heavy stuff, and it effectively reveals more about these characters. Lastly, there's Connor who remains fairly fun. He has some curious dynamics with Willa (see: The Unknown), but outside of that he mostly serves as comic relief. A lot of what Connor says is funny and misses the point, so I enjoy watching him. Poor Kendall is really suffering in this episode. Having lost his job and his family after Rava and his kids believe rumours of his abuse, Kendall literally had nothing to lose. It's no wonder that he went back to drugs; everyone else believes it so he might as well get the enjoyment out of it. The methheads are fun characters, and it's sad to see Kendall find such serenity after going back to a habit he worked so hard to kick. Kendall no longer cares about anything, and I'm curious to see where he will go now that he feels so adrift. The Bad: This show doesn't do a great job of establishing situations and providing us with the necessary information to follow along. This has been a problem all season long, and I'll highlight one specific example from this episode. I spent too much of the early parts of this episode confused as to where Kendall was, what he's been doing, and what his apparent lawsuit was about. It wasn't until halfway through the episode that I actually found out that there was a lawsuit for breach of contract when I really should have learned this information much earlier. If the premise of the episode is that the family is broken, we should understand what is driving the family apart from the beginning, and this lawsuit is a significant part of what is driving them apart, so it's criminal not to tell us more information about it. Not knowing about the lawsuit has a ripple effect into other storylines too. For example, I never suspected that Logan would have planted a story about Kendall's drug use because I could not have known how it would benefit Logan until I learned about Kendall's lawsuit. This made it confusing to me why Shiv and Roman would think that Logan planted those stories because I did not know what they knew. The most interesting drama about this story is the question of if Logan planted these stories or not, and I was never even asking the question until it was too late, stripping away much of what makes this story interesting. This is just one example of how the show does not establish its storylines effectively, and there have been several cases of this throughout this first season. The stories are very good and well written, I just hope that they get translated to us better. I miss Greg. The Unknown: Why did Kendall decide to do drugs again? What pushed him over the edge? Did it have something to do with the story about Connor? What repercussions will he face for his return to drug use? Is Shiv actually betraying her family by working for Gil Eavis? Why did she decide to do this? Is it just for Nate? Did she have sex with him? Will she cheat on Tom? Connor reacted weirdly to Karolina, do they have some sort of history together? Is Willa going to use Connor for her own goals? I can't imagine this relationship lasting much longer. Who was Logan's uncle? Was he also abusive? The end of the episode revealed some scars on Logan's back, were these done by his uncle? What was Logan's upbringing like? Best Moment: The absolute mess of an argument that happened at the episode's climax was great. Shiv's disbelief at Logan, Logan's fury and hateful words, and Kendall's ambivalent comments combined to perfectly show us how dysfunctional this family really is. Character of the Episode: Shiv. Conclusion: This was a very good episode that finally pulled back the curtain on the Roy family and allowed me to connect with these characters much more than what I had been allowed in the first six episodes. I get the sense that we may have turned a corner with what this episode accomplished, and I hope that there is some good stuff in store for the rest of the season. Score: 68 |
Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
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