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
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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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