Succession – Retired Janitors of Idaho

By: Kelly Kearney

What often feels like an undercurrent of inevitable darkness lurking in the shadows of every corner of “Succession,” Waystar’s gang of psychopathic wealth hoarders finally gets their long-awaited shareholder’s vote and with it came a tension so gripping it could made anyone an armchair corporate mogul. After Logan’s health scare last week the hands-on shadow leader of the infamous media conglomerate finds himself unable to lead and at the mercy of his army of underlings – who scurry to pick up the pieces before they’re voted out of the very company that bears his name. It’s an all-hands on deck hour as Gerri, Roman, Shiv, Tom and stand-in emcee for the event, Frank, takes us on a rollercoaster of bad deals and suspicious handshakes with Logan Roy’s nemesis Stewy and Sandi. In hopes of saving their positions in the company long enough to fight back Kendall and his FBI probe, the C-suite negotiates a deal that makes everyone happy except the ailing shadow-CEO. It’s a chaotic hour that will leave your heart pumping right up until the final moments.

Welcome, Shareholders!

We open on Colin (Scott Nicholson) fitting his boss with an ankle boot for the big shareholder’s vote. It’s veritable stadium event, and Logan (Brian Cox) must be nervous because the very first thing he does is lean into Kerry (Zoe Winters) and say he has to use the bathroom. Urination is the theme for this episode and every dribble out of Logan is drowning reminder of his mortality and how little those around him are prepared for his demise. His secret urinary tract infection tests the metal of these underlings; tasked with saving the company while their boss concentrates on playing multi-level chess while running to the bathroom. When Kerry reminds him to take his medication he pockets the bottle and waves her off letting us know he has no intentions if taking those pills and things could get dicey.

Kendall (Jeremy Strong), who is also so excited he might wet himself, is hopped up on energy for the day’s vote. As he heads to his war room called the “Shadow Chamber” he is briefly sidelined for an emergency call from his daughter, Sofie, about her tyrant of a nanny. Remember that gigantic floppy earned pet Ken gifted to the kids? Well, apparently it likes bagels, or so the Sofie says, and the nanny is concerned any nibble would be detrimental to the pet’s health. Knowing exactly nothing about rabbits and even less about fatherhood, Kendall tells the nanny to give in and let Sofie feed it some bagel, regardless of the internet warnings listing it as deadly. In his mind elite rabbits nibble in moderation; that warning is for the commoner’s pet! Besides, it’s not like the thing is ordering a full schmear and lox – it will be fine! Back to his manic panic thrill for the day’s fight and Ken is sizzling with energy and anticipation for how his father will handle the shareholder’s meeting. Will he take the company to a vote or will he make a deal with Stewy and Sandy (Larry Pine) and inadvertently leave a door open for is Judas of a son? Ken assumes Logan will make the deal because the vote is a risky one now that there is a civil war brewing and the FBI stormed their gates. Once Josh Aaronson (Adrien Brody) pulled his support after standing on the front lines of the father-son war losing the company is more of a possibility than ever. There is no way Logan would risk that. Surprise! Logan might risk it, at least according to Frank (Peter Friedman) who calls Ken with a plea to check in with his pal Stewy (Arian Moayed) and get a read on the Furness end of the negotiations – that up until now have fallen flat. Gerri (J. Smith-Cameron) and Karl (David Rasche) have been working around the clock to get Stewy and the Furness family to sign on the dotted line, but the biggest take away from the meetings was Sandy’s agreement to any deal would have to include an assurance that “Logan Roy, henceforth, sits a on a corkscrew and spins,” and that is not something Gerri is going to sign onto. It looks like a vote is eminent, which means the power is in the hands of the employees and shareholders or, as Roman (Kieran Culkin), calls them “retired janitors of Idaho.” Typically the “little people” always had Logan’s back, but the very foundations of Waystar shook when Ken rained an avalanche of accusations down his leadership and now they are not so sure. Even the newly appointed President, Shiv (Sarah Snook), is worried “we’re gonna lose the f**king company today.” She tells Tom (Matthew Macfadyen) and the proxy solicitor’s team they pay to weigh the averages agrees. This cannot go to a vote; a deal is the only way.

Enter Connor (Alan Ruck). like a shark circling chummed waters, who knows the distractions of the day could force Logan into granting any request. He has his eyes set on the Presidency, but he needs some business validation to be considered a serious candidate. Shiv already brushed off his attempts to join Waystar, but a father embroiled in an FBI inquiry who is also in the midst of a takeover would not like his son to “take a big black light to our semen- stained scrapbook” and add to the already insurmountable bad press. Logan is too busy and a bit delirious to give him an answer, but for Connor just hearing him out was answer enough but he assumes that silence means yes.

“Deal or No Deal”

As the hour ticks on, Logan becomes increasingly grey, slow on the uptake and noticeably struggling with his health. Everyone picks up on it but does their best to gage his status without letting on they’re worried. First order of business: full throttle on The Raisin. Logan requests ATN pushes a dementia rumor to lower the president’s polling numbers. In an election year that’s good incentive to make their DOJ inquiry go away.

Over at the Shadow Chamber, Ken follows through on Frank’s request and tries to convince Stewy to make a deal with his father. If Logan takes this thing to a vote, win, or lose, the KenStewy secret alliance will be over and neither of them will get their pieces of the Waystar pie. Without any guarantees Kendall activates Plan-B(urn) Greg (Nicholas Braun) if all else fails and maybe he will flip on Logan if prison is the alternative? He gives Greg a heads up and his cousin isn’t too happy with being hung out to dry. In fact, he takes his worries to his grandfather Ewan (James Cromwell), questioning if he didn’t make a mistake trying to play monkey in the middle between two sides if this corporate family war. Ewan, who went out of his way to help Greg, is disappointed in him siding with his treacherous brother and his brood. So, he tells Greg he is giving all of his money, the inheritance too, to Greenpeace. It’s time Greg stood up on his own two feet. Later we hear Greg telling Tom he has plans to sue his grandfather and Greenpeace, in the nicest way possible of course, because this is still Greg we’re talking about.

Back with Team Logan and Stewy calls a meeting with Gerri, but Logan questions the timing after failing to come to a deal before. Why are they so eager to make one now? The seasoned tycoon senses something is up so he sends Gerri, Roman, Shiv and Karl in while Frank gets the thankless job of playing CEO stand-in at the big event; or as Logan so eloquently puts it, “we nail you to the cross Frank, alright?” After a quick debate over Sandy’s ATN rumored syphilis and if a grotesquely sore riddled sight awaits them on the other side of the meeting room door, the four enter to find Sandi (Hope Davis) taking the lead for her vegetable of a Father. This Princess Furness is hungry and, while she spends most of the meeting pretending to heed her whispering father’s advice, Roman wonders aloud if this is all just a power grab for her. He recognizes a Shiv type when he sees one and she has Daddy’s favorite barracuda written all over her. When she adds a new clause to their deal: total veto power over any future Roys attempting to take over as CEO, it’s surprising to see Stewy agree considering his loyalty to Kendall, but the entire exchange does nothing but cements Roman’s concerns. It gets worse when Gerri is tempted to take the deal citing “good business sense” while also claiming the veto thing probably wouldn’t hold up. Just flirting with that idea launches her Rockstar protégé right out of their partnership and it stings Roman so hard he tells her to “get bent.” She doesn’t wind up taking the deal but the damage to Roman’s feelings is done. When she pulls him aside to explain he brushes her off with a reminder, “You chose you’re Prince. Don’t f**k it up now.” Gerri appears stunned by his insults, probably because this is a more confident Roman- one who can stare at her with those deeply longing heart-eyes and at the same time, sink his teeth into her when he gets hurt. She is stunned because the acting CEO is well versed in handling the Slime Puppy when he humps her leg, but less so when he gets into his angry feels. Later, when she is sent out on stage to speak to the shareholders, we hear her apology in the form of praise when she goes off script and calls Roman a “visionary” announcing his lead on the acquisitions team. His smile says it all.

After a series attempts a deal for an extra board seat is presented and it seems promising except for one pesky clause – give up the private jets. The optics of elitist climate deniers flying around the planet is not something Sandy/Sandi want to be tied to. This is a deal breaker for Roman, who points out “first they came for the PJs and we said nothing” like a warning that there are no limits to what these tyrants will take.

While the merry-go-round of deal making continues, Logan and his hidden UTI makes constant treks to the bathroom and now he needs some assistance. Shiv delegates her husband for that job since Wambsgans has already been doing his best dutiful son-in-law act and now it seems Logan is open to it. Facing prison forced Tom to get his priorities straight and securing his post-lock up future with Logan on his side is at the top of that list. So is impregnating Shiv, which he explains to her when he attempts to “nail” his agenda and his wife up against a wall. A kid would keep her busy while he is away and give Tom something to look forward to for when he gets out. Shiv didn’t sign up for the breeding part of this hetero-marriage contract and so she practically laughs in his face when he brings it up. Besides, she is too busy saving her father’s company from a shareholders’ vote while he is occupied with imaginary dead cats.

CAT

Having skipped his medication and now spiking a fever, Logan is in rough shape and hallucinating. He starts rambling about his dead sister, Rose, and then calls for his ex-wife Caroline – a sure sign Shiv says that he is “piss mad.” But it’s the dead cat haunting him under his chair that has all his yes men searching to appease his urine infected delusions. To the point Colin extricates the imaginary cat from the room just as Kendall walks in to witness the cuckoo’s nest unfolding. He is livid after talking to Stewy about turning down the deal over a couple of “PJ’s” and a board seat. He screams at Gerri and the others, accusing them of risking the company and ruining all of his hard work. It’s always about Ken and Roman, who hasn’t forgiven his brother for trying to assassinate their father with the sun, orders him out along with the dead cat.

Once the ghostly meow-meow and Judas are gone, and Logan has emptied his bladder for the umpteenth time, Kerry shoves some pills down his gullet and the old man starts to improve. In the meantime, Shiv takes it upon herself to follow “puppet master” Kendall’s advice and go cut a deal with Sandi. The two women are more alike than they realize and Princess to Princess, Shiv might have an in. In the meantime, Gerri attempts to put out the DOJ’s fire by pushing Roman to take a call with the President when they hear a rumor about dropping out of the re-election race. Unfortunately, her partner’s charms fall on deaf ears because the bad dementia press Logan ordered was too harsh. Rather than put his family through the embarrassment, the Commander-in-Chief is bailing and taking with him any hopes they have of sinking their cruise investigation before it drowns them in prison sentences.

Down to the very last minute before the vote we see Shiv and Sandi manage to hammer out a deal that just so happens to open up a board seat for a Roy, namely Shiv. It wasn’t something she discussed with her father or Gerri, but when the negotiations began, she couldn’t help but give herself a little reward. Everyone walks away from the table losing a little and winning a lot, but most importantly, Shiv gets to brag she saved Waystar. She doesn’t hold any punches when she pushes Gerri out of the way to run her victory lap, but the one man she expects to revel in her glory isn’t impressed. Logan nitpicks the deal and finds fault in giving Sandy another board seat. Like a slap in her face, he screams for her to “stop buzzing in my f**king ear” while he leans into Gerri to discuss their next moves. Acquisitions are where his current focus lies, and perfect timing for Roman to show his father what he’s made of. The fact is no matter how good the deal was Shiv made, it wasn’t Logan’s deal, so it will never be good enough in his eyes. His failing health and his unwillingness to vanquish control even when faced with losing everything says the only way one of his children or employees will take that CEO position from him is by ripping it out of his cold dead hands. If it’s not his way, it’s wrong, and that leaves Shiv devastated and leaning into her husband for the first time since their fight on the beach. Waystar lives to fight another day but at what cost and left in whose hands? If Logan has his way, he will take Waystar with him to his grave.