Summary: Logan Roy is the CEO is Waystar RoyCo, a significant media conglomerate, but his health is failing. His son Kendall tries to acquire Vaulter, but the deal doesn't go as planned. Logan celebrates his 80th birthday with his family. Kendall makes time to arrive, and the rest of the family including Shiv and Roman are also there. Greg is a nephew who just got fired from a smaller job and he comes to the party to ask a favour from Logan. Logan gets his children together since he wants to give his current wife Marcia two spots on the board to choose his successor. Kendall has already been fooled into signing it. Logan also announces that he will stay on as CEO for 5 years, upsetting Kendall who thought he would be named CEO. Kendall and Logan argue. The family goes for a traditional softball game. Logan reassigns his friend Frank to a different position to accommodate Roman and offers a better position to Shiv to secure their approval. Kendall goes back to the office and secures a deal with Lawrence, the CEO of Vaulter. Roman and Shiv decline Logan's trust for Marcia. Logan is upset by this and has a brain hemorrhage. He is taken to a hospital.
The Good: This is a fun concept to watch unfold. This episode is built around introducing us to the Roy family, and meeting all of these new characters and learning more about them is the fun of the episode. I enjoyed learning about these people, and some of the conflicts that developed at the episode's end did interest me. Kendall is the character we spend the most time with, and I think he's the character we understand best after this first episode. Kendall has big shoes to step into as the heir to his father's company, and it looks like he does not have what it takes. It's entertaining to see Kendall make poor decision after poor decision, culminating in a great scene between him and Logan where he has missed out on his chance of being named the successor and Logan has to explain to him exactly why that is. Add on some interesting background of substance abuse, an estranged marriage, and temper issues, and Kendall is set up to be an intriguing loose cannon. His handling of the deal with Lawrence is highly amusing. Kendall tries to be confident and control the room, but fails miserably. He was born into power and is severely lacking in experience. As a result, Lawrence, a seasoned businessman, toys with him and totally annihilates him by the episode's end. The other characters don't get as much time, but they are interesting enough. Logan is a ton of fun. He seems delirious and confused for much of the first half of the episode, but that scene with Kendall nicely shows us why this guy is so important, and what it is that he brings to the table. Logan has a fierceness and understanding of what needs to be done that everyone else is missing, and it's fascinating to see these traits in a character who is approaching his death. The others in the family are fun enough. Roman is immediately captivating as an eccentric. His dialogue is fun to listen to, but he's been unsuccessful, and the episode takes the time to show us that he doesn't have the necessary empathy to thrive as a leader. We see him constantly laughing at the suffering of others, and there's a great moment where he emotionally tortures a kid by ripping up a $1 million cheque in front of him, gloating with faux praise the entire time. Logan's assured compliments to the kid shows us exactly what Roman is missing, and Logan giving the child an expensive watch speaks volumes of his understanding of his position compared to others. Roman shows no such wisdom. Shiv and Tom are also interesting, though we don't see much from them. Shiv seems to be the most intelligent of the bunch, but she has no interest in the business, while Tom has an interest in rising up, but is a prick. His mean-spirited bullying of Greg is hilarious because we get to see how sensitive and petty this man really is. No wonder Logan disses his gift so much, because he knows that Tom is being false with him. Then there's Greg, a total nobody with nothing to his name at all who is also caught up in this mess as a beggar, after his own bad decisions got him fired from his simple labour job at a theme park. It should be fun to see what Greg tries to do with what little he has going for him, and seeing him attempt to suck up to Logan who clearly does not care is amusing. The Bad: This episode is missing a hook to grab our attention and secure our investment. This episode just throws characters at us for the whole hour, and doesn't do anything exciting or interesting to confirm our emotional investment. Considering that this is a pilot episode that is tasked with making us want to watch more, not having a hook is a significant failure of the episode. We are presented characters and a premise in an uncreative way, resulting in an episode that forces us to take a leap of faith and latch on to the story without an actual reason to do so. Is this story well-written? So far, sure. But competent storytelling isn't enough to make me itch to watch more of the show. Because of the missing hook, it's difficult to say that this pilot did its job. The Unknown: Is Kendall going to sabotage Logan and the rest of the family to get his way? Will it work? Will he be a better successor? Is Logan going to be okay? The brain hemorrhage is quite serious. Is he going to die sooner than everyone expects? How will Lawrence capitalize on Logan's hospitalization? I imagine that he will be a significant challenge for Kendall to overcome. Will Kendall need help from his siblings to deal with him? Who is Logan's brother? Why are they estranged? Will Logan end up helping Greg? Is Marcia genuine, or is she in this family for power? Is Logan being manipulated by her, or is she genuinely a good person? How will Frank respond to his demotion? Will he make a power play for himself? Best Moment: Logan and Kendall's spat. So much of the history of these characters was revealed in this great scene, and we can see why Logan, despite his old age, is clearly the most competent of his family. We see the edge and necessary ruthlessness within Logan, and we can see clear as day how Kendall fails in every regard to embody this toughness. Character of the Episode: Kendall. Conclusion: While this episode struggled to hook me, it laid out the premise of the show and its main characters in an effective way, and I'm intrigued enough to tune in for more. Score: 63
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
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