Succession – Mass in Time of War

By: Kelly Kearney

After stealing his father’s prospective lawyer, Lisa Arthur (Sanaa Lathan), Kendall fails to shore up support with his siblings in his fight to take down Logan. Everyone has their own loyalties; some conflicting and some solid and unwavering, but Ken is riding his own ego-wave and cannot see the pitfalls he’s facing from beyond his inflated head. While Kendall tries to manipulate Shiv, Connor, and Roman to his side, Greg, who is already working with Ken, starts to realize he might be facing his own battle that could require some legal representation. Enter Grandpa Ewan and his own agenda driven support in the form of free counsel. Poor Greg, too fragile for prison and too smart to end up in Congress. Things are heating up in this Waystar Civil War, and now that Gerri is sitting in the CEO seat (with Roman on her lap) and Sandy and Stewy are sniffing around the board, every relationship in this family is about to be tested.

“I Need to Know Where Everyone is!”

When we last saw Shiv (Sarah Snook) she was in her “Daddy doesn’t love me best” feels and on her way to Kendall’s (Jeremy Strong) house to take a peek behind enemy lines. She ignores Logan’s call, which gives us look into what Pinky really thinks of Logan (Brian Cox) when we see Sadaam Hussein’s photo flash on her cell phone with his number. He might be her father, but he is absolutely the family tyrant and she is not dealing with him after he pushed her aside and handed the interim CEO job to Gerri (J. Smith-Cameron). Always the more calculating of the Roy siblings, it is hard to tell of Shiv is tempted to stick it to Logan over his failed promises or if she is infiltrating the enemy camp to flush out those damaging papers and report back to her father. If Shiv is good anything, it’s straddling the line between family treason and family crowned successor and this is why Ken sees her as the key to winning his war. She is always on the peripherals weighing whatever options put her in the winning seat. Ken, who is running on full octane ego, thinks he cannot lose with his sister by his side.

While Kendall has Jess (Juliana Canfield) putting in calls to all of his siblings, he checks in with a nervous Cousin Greg (Nicholas Braun) who’s struggling with where he fits into this whole mess. It’s his evidence that prompted this civil war and now he’s wondering if it might be time to get a lawyer. “I’m too young to go back to Congress,” he says and as he exits Kendall’s building to go meet with his grandfather Ewan (James Cromwell), Tom (Matthew Macfadyen), in all of his creepy-flirty glory, calls right as Greg passes Shiv on his way out the door. Mr. Normcore and his wife, Ms. Fire-crotch, are still on the outs. So. Greg plays his cards and tells Tom where his Shiv is, hoping the news shuts down his frenemy’s threats about the cruise papers and Logan’s murderous rage.

When Shiv does arrive at her brother’s apartment she is met by a life size Trojan horse courtesy of Stewy (Arian Moayed) and his dark sense of humor. Ken is obviously the horse in this walled in Kingdom known as Waystar and with the help of his bestie he could successfully sack it and crown himself King. The Roy kids put their pleasantries and Greek horse jokes aside to get down to business: join Ken’s divide and conquer game and when they kill their father they can share in the spoils. All Kendall really wants is his sister and, whether it’s about the optics or he respects her abilities, a united front will be unbeatable in the eyes of the board. As for the rest of the siblings, Ken doesn’t care much where they fall but without all of their support this missile, he’s aimed at their father might wind up a dud.

“We Run it to F**k…”

Speaking of Ken’s two other brothers, Connor (Alan Ruck) is on his way to Kendall’s without Logan’s permission and Roman (Kieran Culkin) is back at the office spying on Gerri while she snaps photos of a newsbreak announcing her new position. It’s for her daughters and Roman prods her on details of the two girls, but Gerri knows her Slime Puppy well enough to smack him on the nose with a down boy and steer the conversation away from her family. Once he gets all of his flirtations out of his system, Roman sits down for an actual discussion over the day-to-day workings of Waystar and how their XXX conference calls might be worrying the new CEO. Is the power imbalance of their sexless sexy times worrisome? Not for Gerri. She’s a smart and calculating woman who knows what she’s doing and, to be frank, it is adorable Roman thinks she doesn’t. What she needs now is family support if there is any hope of turning this temporary fill-in into a full-time appointment. For as brilliant a lawyer as she is, Gerri has left herself vulnerable when it comes to the youngest Roy-boy and now she’s trying to convince herself nothing happened between the two. While I am not sure how H.R. works at Waystar, I am pretty sure phone sex and work-time masturbation doesn’t count as “nothing” in the employee handbook. Now that she’s in Logan and Kendall’s crosshairs, Gerri needs to be able to count on Roman as someone who is not only worthy of her affections but also a worthy enough to stand by her side. So, she compliments him on his good instincts, but he isn’t ready for the top job and Roman knows it. One day, and with some mentoring from a very invested woman, (who may or may not be enjoying all the drooling attention he gives her) Gerri could put Roman on the path to CEO. It is a job no other Roy thought he was capable of achieving. With that, she promises to include him in her decisions concerning Waystar which could mean dipping a board of executives hands in blood but making it clear, the CEO and COO “run it to f**k.” Gerri is open to his ideas and agrees put them up for consideration. “Your apprenticeship begins,” she tells him, making the Rockstar and the Molewoman an unstoppable team if their loyalties don’t waiver. Of course, in this world the only true loyalties are the ones the Roys have for themselves, so it is not shocking when Roman and Connor both, show up at Rava’s interested in Ken’s pitch.

Four Agendas and One Child’s Bedroom

In what might be the most authentic sibling scene to date, Kendall leads his brothers and sister upstairs to his daughter’s room and away from any listening ears. His pitch for their “declining empire within a declining empire” will take the company out of the stale news cycle and cruises and into the world-wide market of information sharing. Move over Meta-Zuckerberg, Kendall wants to go global and turn this sinking ship around and into big tech waters. Whether or not they are fully invested in Ken’s ideas or they’re just spies gathering their own information to earn Daddy’s love, at least they’re all open to the discussing who would captain this high-tech ship if it sailed and, of course, nobody likes it when Kendall says he will be at the steering wheel. He is already shoulder deep up his own egotistical backside, and in the past, his good ideas came with awful follow through, so Shiv won’t back him unless she is in charge. Roman rolls his eyes at that because she’s never even worked for Waystar? Shouldn’t that job go to him; the COO? When the topic falls on Gerri and whether or not she belongs in the driver’s seat, Roman jumps to the Molewoman’s defense which piques Shiv’s intertest. All the Roys know about Roman’s Oedipus kinks and she accuses him of using his Mommy fetish to get closer to Gerri’s power. Sooner or later he is going to have to stand on his own two feet without Mommy holding his hand. Of course, she zeroes in in his vulnerabilities. Their father taught them well and, as Roman storms out of the room, Connor hurries close behind to mend what Shiv broke.

Elsewhere, Greg meets with his Ewan and convinces him he needs legal counsel. His Grandfather agrees once he realizes his grandson could be the key to destroying Logan, something he seems to think will save the world. He sets him up with a local socialist lawyer looking to take on capitalism and use Gregory to do it.

Speaking of Logan, he knows his family is a bunch of greedy little backstabbers and is panicking over the lack of support. He decides to call in the big guns and asks Hugo (Fisher Stevens) to contact Marcia (Hiam Abbass) for a united family front. After publicly embarrassing her by flaunting his affair with Rhea (Holly Hunter) and allowing her into the fight for his seat, Marcia has been hiding out in France. Any return to her husband’s side will cost him greatly. A deal is made putting her back in play for the ultimate Waystar inheritance because, if there is one thing you can say about Marcia, she is as money hungry as she is lethal.

Spooky Donuts and the Plastic Jesus

Back to Rava’s and Ken takes a break to go “hug my kids,” which is code word for meeting Stewy and Sandi Furness (Hope Davis) outside for a pitch. Sandi is her ailing father’s proxy vote and they promise to back Ken if he truly has the receipts to take down his father. All Logan’s kids want is for someone to believe in them. Roman has Gerri, Shiv usually has Logan and Ken has Stewy and now Sandi, but is that enough for him to replace his father? Gerri doesn’t think so and she tells Roman that when he secretly calls her from Kendall’s house asking for her advice. Surprisingly, she is honest with him about their chances if all four Roy kids unite against their father. The board would probably back them, but then what? “Snake linguini,” she says because chances are none of them will be chosen for the top job. Their names will be toxic and the board will go with a safe bet like Stewy or Sandi. Gerri drops her voice into a tender tone reminding him of their partnership and just how powerful the General Counsel is by saying, “Stick with me, Roman. We have something going, and I am an incredibly dangerous enemy to whom you just imparted prejudicial information.” Threats always make Roman hot and bothered, so they disconnect and he goes inside to accuse his sister of making “f**ky eyes” at him, like he knows she is up to something. He is on the money there because Shiv did attempt to steal the cruise evidence, but Kendall was prepared for her and filled the mysterious envelope with a friendly, F.U.

When they are all back from their phone calls Ken and Connor interrupt Roman’s grossly incestuous Shiv-shade to call a vote: are they Team Kendall or Team Dad? Since Shiv spent her one phone call spilling the Ken beans to Tom, and definitely has her eyes set on tossing Gerri out of her father’s chair, the vote could go either way. That is, until the donuts arrive. The mood goes from “are we doing this?” to “sh*t-show at the f**k factory” as Kendall accuses them of getting spooked by donuts; but hello! those donuts are spooky, because they’re TREASON DONUTS and Daddy, the Big Brother of this scenario, is always watching. With that, Connor votes no on joining Kendall, claiming he cannot send their Dad to jail in an election year. Kendall turns that disappointment on to Shiv, who after witnessing her brother lose control of this pitch and disagreeing on who will lead this new and improved Waystar, she votes Team Logan, and Kendall loses it. He starts screaming insults about her lack of intelligence, but Shiv gives as good as she gets calling this whole thing a “peacock f**k-show.” As she storms out, she makes sure Roman hears her out for saying she was the only one he wanted in the first place. Kendall doubles down on his misogyny, claiming her only worth is in her teats, because in his twisted head, feminism is just some shallow PR sell. It’s the last straw for Shiv, but also for Roman who flips Kendall off knowing his brother’s plans don’t include him. He leaves their brother screaming into an empty room as he hops into a waiting car with Shiv. He calls his father and covers for his sister claiming Shiv was always on Logan’s side and was hunting for those cruise papers to take Ken down.

The following day Logan and Marcia leave Sarajevo for a New York photo op on the tarmac with his kids and the new CEO. Logan puts on his doting father act and pals around with Roman, but dismisses Gerri’s handshake and goes straight to Shiv’s car. After questioning why she skipped the family photo op, he gets to the real reason why he’s back. The woman in the center of all his fears, the person whose handed him a shovel for everybody he’s buried and has somehow managed to insulate herself from their crimes, is a threat to not only Logan’s power but also his freedom. Her name is Gerri Kellman and he needs Shiv to be his eyes and ears at Waystar if they have any hope of keeping the company in their family’s control. There is a new player in the game now, one who is often overlooked but could be the one who sends Logan and the rest of the Roy clan, up the DOJ’s river! Let the corporate murder games begun!