Succession – Connor’s Wedding

By starrymag | April 16, 2023

By: Kelly Kearney

 

 

This week’s episode took must-see television to new heights, sending fans into a dizzying state of shock and awe. What was supposed to be an episode focusing on Connor and Willa’s wedding quickly and without warning, turned into a deadly twist that flipped the show upside down and changed the landscape as we know it. The third episode of the final season was a balancing act from writer to actor that took water cooler TV to new heights. In fact, it pretty much took a sledgehammer to the cooler and now we’re all standing around it with empty cups asking each other, “WHAT DO WE DO NOW?” The land of billionaires and boardrooms will never be the same again, so let’s dive into this momentous hour that will be talked about and discussed in film classes for decades to come.

 

Wedding Day Blues

 

Logan (Brian Cox) plays the doting father when he calls Roman (Kieran Culkin) to tell him he’s skipping Connor’s (Alan Ruck) wedding, but he and Kerry (Zoe Winters) did send over some Napoleonic gifts to go with the oldest son’s penis tip collection. Logan is heading to Sweden to talk with Matsson (Alexander Skarsgard) about the sale and tempts Roman to skip his brother’s big day and come along. Matsson likes him and now Logan is playing up Roman’s need for Daddy’s attention, which seems to be the brass ring all the kids are gunning for more than succeeding him at the company. He knows Roman has two weaknesses and both have to do with that functioning heart of his. He craves his father’s approval which is why Logan uses that to kill the other thing that makes Roman’s heart beat like a “normo,” and her name is Gerri Kellman (J. Smith-Cameron). Roman’s feelings for Gerri are a weakness that threatens Logan’s position. It is why he tells Roman he is unhappy with Gerri’s work performance when dealing with the D.O.J. and the Gojo sale. None of that is probably true but it is a good excuse to oust his very competent stand-in CEO while breaking up her powerful union with his son. As soon as he makes it clear to Roman that this firing is a done deal, we instantly see his son’s demeanor change. This is a test to see if Logan’s youngest son can destroy the thing he loves to prove he is a killer worthy of his father’s throne, and the fact he can’t see he is being used makes the request even harder to watch.

On a Manhattan pier, the family gathers to board the yacht for Connor’s wedding. Elsewhere, Tom (Matthew Macfadyen) is with Logan on the tarmac heading to Sweden but he takes a moment to call Greg (Nicholas Braun) and fill him in on the day’s plans. Greg is still concerned his uncle is angry over defiling his birthday with that security cam sex tape, and now that Tom has hired a team of “little Gregs” to do his “Gregging” the cousin is starting to worry if he is on the outs for good. Tom loves to stir the pot and get Greg in a tizzy so he keeps “Sporus” thinking he is on thin ice with his uncle. Meanwhile, the soon-to-be ex-Mrs. Wamsgam shows up to the yacht in sunglasses and a hair scrunchie for her brother’s big day. Shiv’s (Sarah Snook) outfit screams, “I’d rather be doing anything but this today,” or as her brother so eloquently put it – they seem thrilled to be attending this “sham marriage.”

On the boat we check in with Willa (Justine Lupe) who tells her Mom today isn’t exactly how she pictured her dream wedding but she seems happy enough and the wine seems like a hit. Connor breaks all good luck etiquette and interrupts their family moment for a chat with his mother-in-law and the two seem to hit it off, and not just because of his overflowing bank account, which they joke about.

Back on the tarmac, Tom greets Logan with an update on Matsson. The Swede is willing to talk about the sale because he’s still interested, and there might even be some wiggle room on the price but he is still not happy ATN won’t be included in the package. Logan makes it clear his news baby is off the table, in fact, he has big plans for ATN and they start with pushing out Cyd (Jeannie Berlin). He also loops in Karolina (Dagmara Dominczyk) about Roman being tasked with firing Gerri and she starts to quietly panic but hides it well behind a few head nods and deep breaths. She knows Gerri has the receipts for every body Waystar buried in the last three decades, so as Logan rattles on about paying her off and also maybe hanging the congressional cruise debacle around her neck, the wheels turning in Karolina’s head are basically visible from space. That dickpic is like the anchor that sunk Gerri Kellman’s career and now the “boring old filing cabinet” is in Logan’s crosshairs. Karolina starts coming up with ideas for the press, as Logan, Kerry, Karl and Frank head off to save the deal and maybe squeeze some loose change out of Matsson’s pockets. “You push Cyd. Roman knives Gerri. All in a day’s work,” Tom says because Logan has no intention of bringing old baggage into this new and improved vibe at ATN.

 

“…The Death of Romance”

 

Back at the wedding Roman keeps his eyes out for Gerri, who shows up dressed to kill with new arm candy to make him nuts. It’s not clear if Roman and Gerri have spoken since he was on his knees begging her to help him in Italy but the second their eyes lock, Gerri seems both flirtatious and brutally chilly towards him, which she knows is a combination he loves. She might not be over his genitalia landing in her inbox but if it is that “mess” she is trying to avoid she has a weird way of doing it. She asks him why he isn’t tossing out some of his crude little dick and vagina jokes or taunts about the guy she brought with her as if his crassness both annoys and humors her. The question makes him squirm and Gerri notices the man who usually ogles her now won’t even look her in the face. Something is off and she knows him well enough to read his tells that this must be bad news. His nervous behavior only freaks her out more when he makes a big display of staring at her, but it isn’t his normal horny and inappropriate looks. It’s a bit more psychotic than that. The two banter back and forth with Gerri on guard until the truth comes spilling out of Roman’s stuttering mouth. He had hoped to tell her after the wedding but with Tom breathing down his neck to get it done, the end of her 30-year career comes out in a mess of half speak and incomplete sentences. The words don’t make sense but Gerri can read Roman like a legal brief and asks him why now and if it’s the reason she isn’t on the plane to Sweden. He rambles off one lame excuse after another that he doesn’t even believe, but when he says Logan didn’t like how she handled the D.O.J. after she let that boring Laurie backchannel her during the congressional hearings she snaps. “I walked us truth a f**king thunderstorm without us getting wet!” and Roman knows it’s true. He tries appeasing her with a promise to stuff her mouth full of gold but her anger turns instantly cold at his inability to back her against his father. So much for loyalty to the Mole Woman, Rockstar! No amount of his groveling helps and she walks away saying she is fine and thanking him for the heads up. Roman knows she isn’t fine – nobody is – not her long-respected career and not Roman’s heart that literally looks like it’s in shambles while he watches as her wobbly chin hides the tears threatening to leak out from underneath her steely resolve. The image is enough for him to call his father and question if he made the right choice. Logan doesn’t answer so he winds up leaving him a message full of insults as he chokes back his confusing emotions. Is his father jerking him around?

“Looney cake” is the new hard butter rant and it is all Connor can talk about. Willa tells Roman and Kendall (Jeremy Strong) this looney cake is all her fiance can focus on and she has no idea what it’s about. The brothers explain that their dad shoveled cake into Connor when his mother was carted off to the mental ward, and now he has a complex over Victoria Sponge Cakes. The conversation with Willa is cut short when Shiv shows up with news of a little rumor about their Dad flying to Sweden. The old man is trying to shore up support now that the kids, with the help of Stewy and Sandi, spooked Matsson about the board vote and the final price tag. Logan called off the morning board meeting for the trip and that worries Kendall. The kids are trying to stay in the business loop while also offering their time and attention to Connor’s big day but juggling the two might be difficult in a yacht in the middle of the Hudson. Greg, on the other hand, is like one of those fish who feeds off of sharks – hungry now that Logan might be starving him out. It doesn’t help that he is also in the outhouse with Logan’s mistress, Kerry, for firing her from ATN before she even got the job. Like a puppy dog, he follows the Roy kids trying to keep his name in the game but all he gets for his trouble is Roman making fun of his journalist date and Shiv barking out “don’t touch me” when he brushes up against her. Greg is on his own.

On the upper deck the kids still go back and forth between milking Matsson for more money or concentrating on PGN. They’re juggling a lot of balls at the party, but seem convinced one or both will work out. Shiv ignores a call from Tom when she’s chosen to be the one to tell Connor their Dad isn’t coming to the wedding. The groom seems to be avoiding the obvious and is convinced the old man will be waiting to congratulate him when the boat docks. Shiv goes off to steal Connor’s hope as the “wedding grinch” while Roman answers a call from Tom that blows everything–the deals, the kids’ futures, even Connor’s media circus yacht wedding, right out of the water.

“He is Going to be Heavily F**king Delayed”

 

Through the static of a broken-up phone call Tom says Logan passed out in the plane’s bathroom and now they can’t find his pulse. The plane crew is doing chest compressions and it doesn’t look good. He is calling because he wants the kids to have a chance to say goodbye. Roman can’t believe it and spends the rest of the episode in complete denial. He makes an attempt at  stumbling through a pep talk hoping their father can hear him, but even alive he tuned the kids out so it is doubtful he is hanging on to life to listen to Roman tell him, “You did a good job.” Kendall doesn’t do much better with the verbal send-off but settles on, “I can’t forgive you, but it’s ok… I love you.” Tom breaks into the brother’s goodbyes to ask for Shiv and that’s when Kendall runs to go find her realizing she is still probably talking to Connor. His face says it all and Shiv assumes, somewhat hopefully, that whatever bad news he has must be about their mother, Caroline. She is breathless when she hears it’s their dad and goes from a strong and capable adult who can easily bury her emotions to turning into a distraught little girl when Roman hands her the phone and tells her it sounds like their father died. “No, I can’t have that,” she says followed by, “Daddy, don’t go.” Devastation flips to anger which flips back to pain as she takes a private moment to tell Logan she loves him. They all seem in various stages of denial as they each try throwing their weight around thinking they can save him, but as time passes we start to watch them go through the early stages of grief and acceptance.  Kendall takes to bargaining, as he jumps into the CEO role, lining up doctors and demanding to talk to the pilot. Shiv seems focused on how long it took the guys to tell her and Roman can’t seem to remember whether or not he told his dad he loved him.

As the kids go from confusion to panic they realize nobody told Connor! With tears running down their faces, Shiv and Ken hold hands and walk through the smiling crowd of guests to find their older brother and break the news. “They think he’s dead,” they tell him and Connor’s immediate reaction is, “Well, is he?” The finality hits the eldest son hard as he laments over Logan never liking him but how he had hoped he could change that. All four siblings lock themselves in a room to talk about what’s next, but on the plane Karolina doesn’t wait for the kids or the coroner to issue a time of death. She is already planning the announcement with help of Karl (David Rasche), Tom and Frank (Peter Friedman). A bizarrely smiling Kerry asks if they want her input too and they all gently push “chuckles the clown” as Karl calls her to the side. Logan was the only thing keeping her in the loop and without him, his mistress has been outer looped. Eventually, the team on the plane stops doing CPR giving Tom a moment to breathe and update Greg. Greg barely has time to process the death of his uncle before Tom tells him to go to ATN’s offices and delete his emails and logistics file and then stick close to Cyd. It sounds like all of Logan’s final plans to push Cyd out and knife Gerri in the back won’t be happening now. He also tells Greg a bit too much for a guy on a date with a journalist and it feels purposeful like he wants the news of Logan’s death to leak and possibly take the company through a stock yo-yo-ing. Tom says it best “I lost my protector” and now that he’s on the outs with Shiv, he has nobody in his corner. That would make any man desperately dangerous.

Meanwhile, Karolina, Frank, and Karl send Hugo (Fisher Stevens) to act as the kid’s liaison since Logan died while they were all on the outs. The kids downplay the feud but it is obvious Karolina, who jumps to loop in Gerri, is making moves without them and it feels wrong. Even more wrong is her idea to be transparent with the board and Matsson. Everyone in the inner C-Suite circle debates about the right way to break the news with the first idea being to tell Matsson that Logan will be delayed. Karl jokes that he is “going to be heavily f**king delayed” to that meeting in Sweden and then he pours himself a drink in honor of their boss.

The Statement

 

While Logan’s inner circle starts to take the reins, the kids are decompressing by staying focused on their next step. They can only agree that the statement should come from them, not the company which feels like an overstep. Kendall points out that the news will affect the markets and it could cause the company’s stock to tank. It needs to be handled carefully but Roman disagrees. In fact, all this death talk is rude considering they don’t know all the details yet. Besides, he can’t help but wonder if this is all some test as if their father is going to pop out of his pretend grave with a “gotcha!” Shiv calls him delusional, but then she proposes an even more insane idea to keep the plane circling the airspace until their family can figure out the best response. Roman freaks out because he still thinks their father can be saved and needs a doctor as soon as possible. Kendall cuts in to remind them both, “What we do today will always be what we did in the day out father died.” Enter Gerri, who mulls over the idea of transparency in the face of such financially destabilizing news. Again, she cannot look at Roman when she offers the kids her condolences and keeps it up later when they are alone and Roman quietly admits he is sad. Without saying it, he is begging for her kindness or some sort of warm embrace, but all he gets is a noticeable pause and then a chilly exit with a prolonged view of her backside.

Gerri might not be ready (nor should she be) to forgive and forget the things Roman has done to her; they’re on the outs for now. One brother got his happy ending though and on what would presumably be one of the worst days of his life.  Connor, the kid Logan abandoned and the brother his siblings constantly forget about, married Willa in front of a sea of empty seats and the busy Manhattan skyline. The visual plays like a metaphor for Connor’s entire life; lavish but lonely. Willa is his chance at family – something it is obvious he never found with the Roys. Maybe the game was never about who could be the new Logan but who can be free of him and still be happy? If that’s the case, Connor is a winner.

Goodbye, and Thanks for The F**k Offs!

 

Once the response is drafted, the kids charter a helicopter to the airport to wait for their father’s plane to land. The press is swarming because apparently they got word about Logan’s death from an unnamed source and we can only assume it has something to do with Greg and that journalist he brought as his date. Shiv is chosen to take the lead and tearfully meets with the press but she is caught off guard when one of them asks if the Roy kids will take over the company. She rambles off a “we intend to be there,” just as Roman watches the stock prices bottom out on his phone. The episode ends with the deluded Roman finally facing the truth when he boards the plane to say his goodbyes in person. On the tarmac Kendall watches as the crew escorts Logan’s body off the plane with a stunned and almost directionless Roman staggering behind the gurney. Kendall swallows down his tears but on some level he must also feel relieved. Relieved that the race for their father’s approval is finally while maybe ignoring the fact a new fight for his company is probably already underway.