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
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
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