Succession – Secession

By: Kelly Kearney

After two long years in a pandemic holding pattern, Succession fans can finally stop holding their breath from that jaw-dropping season two cliffhanger. Go ahead, release that long sigh of relief, because the family of greedy psychopaths we all hate to love are back and they’re all scrambling in the vortex of chaos called Kendall. When rogue Roy took a torch to his father’s company it was nothing other than a shocking declaration of war and now everyone is in a panic trying to protect themselves, and Waystar, while Logan bats around ideas for a replacement and a good lawyer. The top contenders for CEO successor are Shiv, Gerri and Roman and all three have their work cut out for them if they want the big guy to crown them the new King or Queen. Meanwhile, Kendall attempts to shore up support from his siblings and the board, but outside of Greg, he’s faced with nothing but hang ups and voice mails. Nobody wants to take Icarus’ ride when the heat from his powerful father could melt their wings before his take-down even takes off. It’s a hectic start to what could be the best season of the series so far, so let’s dive right in to where we last left off.

Freedom is the Drug of the Day

Moments after Kendall (Jeremy Strong) threw his father directly in front of the Department of Justices’ bus, he, Greg (Nicholas Braun) and Jess (Juliana Canfield), take a moment to decompress in a nearby hotel room. Ken takes a few deep centering breaths while seeking refuge in an empty bathtub. He doesn’t have much time to process the Waystar Cruises missile he just dropped into his father’s lap because he knows Logan must be stewing in payback schemes for his son and repeat rival.

Sure enough, when we catch up with Logan (Brian Cox) and the Waystar family their helicopters converge on a plan to divide and hide. Gerri (J. Smith-Cameron), Frank (Peter Friedman) and Karl (David Rasche) ride with Logan and, so far, the man of the hour hasn’t said much. It’s mostly confusing rambles about his mother followed by a dizzying series of promotions and demotions for his three most trusted advisors. He climbs into a waiting van with Hugo (Fisher Stevens) and Roman (Kieran Culkin), who assumes his dad might need some support and asks him if he would like some company. Logan responds with, “You wanna suck my d*ck?” because that’s the proper response from a man facing federal charges for corporate sexual crime cover ups. His trial should be a blast…or at least a blast to the stock prices that could end up in the basement-bargain bin if he keeps talking like that. Logan will be lucky to make it out of this with his freedom; and Ken, who’s acting like the cat that ate the canary, knows it.

After a brief moment to compose himself, the number one son comes tearing out of the bathroom ready to tackle whatever awaits him. It’s a full court press to burn down the only thing Daddy ever loved and with all the energy of a 3AM coke rager, Kendall is practically buzzing with excitement over Logan’s corporate demise. The kid is ready to pay the price and starts rambling orders to Jess about talking with the DOJ, getting lawyers lined up, marketing pitches, and whatever else it takes to keep him riding this wave. He’s pumped, and considering the swarms of media hungrily shouting for comments as he, Greg, and Karolina (Dagmara Dominczyk) make their escape, it’s immediately clear Kendall’s presser is the hottest news in Manhattan and probably the world. Staying calm in the crossfire, Karolina relays her concerns over whether or not Kendall, who just canned himself from the company, is even allowed to ride in the company getaway car. The same goes for Greg who does a poor job of convincing her he knew nothing about this ordeal until Ken hit the stage. Greg seems to have easily adopted those familial lying and manipulation skills, but Karolina isn’t buying it. Kendall pushes the current drama aside for a moment to ask Logan’s Polish mouthpiece for her loyalty, but she’s hesitant to give it. Spies in the car is a no-go for Ken, so he pushes Karolina out the door leaving only Greg in his corner.

At Logan headquarters Shiv (Sarah Snook) and Roman are starting to wonder if they backed a losing horse. Gerri breaks up the sibling’s whispers with an announcement that Hugo ordered them all escape planes and it seems like Waystar’s General Counsel is taking the lead on this thing while her brooding boss sits gazing into his own oblivion. He interrupts to ask the kids if they knew their brother would stab him in the back and they all deny it, but Logan is suspicious and just nods his head with an “uh-huh.”

Jack and The Giant

Back to Ken’s race to find a place to brainstorm now that his pass at the Waystar offices was canceled and Jess is on lawyer duty. Ken asks her to put in a call to star defense attorney, Lisa Arthur (Sanaa Lathan). While Jess spins her magic to nail down a meeting, Ken is having his “cultural temperature” taken by Greg. Reading the public praise and discourse is a precaution in case things Logan turns the heat up in this battle between father and son. Logan won’t pull any punches in this fight and the fear of what skeleton he could drag out the closet has Kendall amped up by an adrenaline only fear and winning can produce. It’s at this moment his father perfectly times a kill to his son’s buzz with a phone call. He talks to Jess, who plays the go between, repeating Logan’s every word. Basically, he wants Ken to retract his statement by claiming he was mentally unwell and went off the rails. If he takes full blame then all is forgiven, but if he continues on with this attack Logan will “grind his f*cking bones to make my bread.” Ken recognizes this obvious reference to Jack’s Giant from the famous children’s tale, so he parries with, “I’m going to run up his beanstalk.” Logan’s response is to laugh and, as Jess points out, it is definitely at him.

At the airport with Logan he listens to everyone’s pitch for how to proceed. The stock is holding, as of now, and the investors who got skittish and bailed were replaced by others who think Sandy and Stewy are a sure bet. Gerri is her usual fountain of ideas but cooperating with the feds is Logan’s least favorite from her list of fixes. Roman agrees; this case falls apart the minute Kendall’s credibility is shot and there is ample evidence to pull from for that. If Kendall is a flake and their father hacks him into pieces in the press, this whole case might fold. If they can get the President on their side, even better. They can drag this out until it’s buried in a news cycle and dies a quiet death. It’s a risk and from the looks on Shiv and Gerri’s faces the women are the only ones in the room who know it. Logan is tempted to agree with Roman who seems to have matured ten-fold since the previous seasons. Maybe the threat of federal prison and partnering with a power-MILF can do that? While all of this is going on Ken tries reaching out to Frank, Gerri and Shiv. But, for now, they’re all team Logan and he’s running out of allies.

Speaking of Gerri, she gets the White House on the phone and while the President sympathizes he’s keeping his distance. He doesn’t want a Waystar phone number on the call logs just in case this goes up in federal flames. Instead of an ear with Oval, they get “the pantsuit barnacle” Michelle-Anne (Linda Emond). Logan won’t lower himself to second best, so Gerri is up to bat, but her barnacle contact is cagy about offering them support. She does drop a clue about a woman named “Marilyn” who she says is their biggest obstacle in the DOJ. Gerri’s answer to that is to fire her, which is a risk for a legal eagle like Kellman. She’s straddling that quid pro quo line and it could come back to bite her.

Juice is Loose Baby!

Back at team Kendall, he’s still working on gathering support and, so far, all he has is a mix-match of all the disgruntled ex-wives, family members, bankers and board members. It’s not a stable group to back up such a risk but he’s flying high and even Greg notices his cousin’s drama saying, “This is crazy! Like OJ, except if OJ didn’t kill anyone.” And Kendall, who really isn’t thinking clearly responds with, “Who said I never killed anyone? The Juice is loose, baby!”

While Ken’s singing his homicidal songs, Gerri and Logan put their heads together and come up with a list of “vacation spots” with no extradition treaties. Things are heating up and it looks like they’re Sarajevo bound. Gerri suggests Lisa Arthur’s legal advice and luckily, they have an in because she’s a friend of Shiv’s. Logan dangles the CEO spot like a carrot in his daughter’s face hoping she will bite and reel in a shark, having no idea Kendall already put that same call in and is meeting with the lawyer later that day. They all congregate on the tarmac ready to take off to different parts unknown when we get a brief update on Connor (Alan Ruck) and Willa (Justine Lupa). Logan orders his eldest and the failed playwright to stay in the Balkans and out of the way, which is fine since they have play critics to curse and ironical hate memes to make. We also drop in on the doomed newlyweds, Tom (Matthew Macfadyen) and Shiv, who choose to take separate planes in opposite directions which seems to be a metaphor for where their relationship stands right now.

Elsewhere, Tom’s playmate Greg isn’t fairing much better. He ends up at Rava’s (Natalie Gold) with Kendall for a meeting with the marketing guru Berry Schnieder (Jihae). The mood is awkward, which is usually where Cousin Greg thrives. But after a terrible decision by Ken to invite Naomi (Annabelle Dexter-Jones) to Rava’s, everyone is a jumble of nerves and Greg is his usual clumsy mess. It’s “31 flavors of f*cking,” as Karl so eloquently put it earlier and even Rava can see disasters written all over her twitchy ex’s face.

 A Queen Is Crowned the Successor

At Logan’s camp he sets the pace for his trusted Old Guard with an announcement “It’s war, f*ck off,” followed by a gesture of good faith. He offers to step back from Waystar, with an unofficial advisory role, of course. But he needs a clean CEO the board will back or it’s death by proxy war on top of this thing with Kendall and the DOJ. When he starts polling everyone’s CEO choices, unsurprisingly, Karl chooses Karl, Frank chooses Frank, Shiv, Gerri or Roman and Tom, who skips past Shiv, says he is also team Gerri/Roman. Logan barely has a moment to contemplate his son-in-law tossing his wife under the bus before Tom takes off to the bathroom to call Shiv and spill the beans. She orders her husband to push her name for the job, but in the background we see Gerri huddling with Roman over her phone. Shiv isn’t the only game in town. Roman sees his sister’s happy mood and calls his father to suggest Gerri be his CEO mentor until he is ready. Romulus will go down fighting for his Mommy-girlfriend like the loyal Slime Puppy he is, but Shiv has one last shot to win if she can bring Lisa Arthur to her father’s defense table. Logan’s choice is made easy when Shiv arrives at Lisa’s firm asking for a consiglieri in this fight between her brother and father, but she declines and it hits Shiv hard, especially when she figures out Ken already hired her! The combination of Shiv’s failure to secure his top legal pick and his son bowing out to let their trusted General Counsel through, Logan has no other choice but to make the call. Interrupting a hotel strategizing session with Gerri and Roman…Well, she’s strategizing and he’s trying to get her into her pants, which is kind of the same thing with these two. The phone rings and Gerri plays it cool. She hangs up and says, “It’s me” and Roman can hardly contain himself. Now Gerri is his boss and not just the kind in his porno dreams, but the next CEO with the whole private army in New Zealand power that goes with it! Their plan worked and now the two need to be careful because besides securing their futures at Waystar, millions of Gerri/Roman fans are counting on them to keep on winning!

Back to Rava’s and Greg gets sidelined by Ken’s new social media marketing team. His cousin has bad timing because Gregory just opened up a credit card for his mom and she’s a big spender, but let’s be real here. If he can’t tell the difference between the Pope’s official twitter and a Papal stan, he wasn’t cut out for the gig anyway. There is no shame in Greg the Egg’s hustle game, but things get weird when he opens a bottle of Rava’s late relative’s wine without asking and blames it on Naomi, who Ken invited over! Ken was obviously not thinking because he is too busy eating up his own buzz like some kind of pop-culture Bezos with a rocket full of ideas and no climate change to kill the mood. He thinks all the ladies love him and he can’t lose, which is typically what winds up happening when any ego is untethered and ballooning beyond the stratosphere. If he’s not careful, he might find his bubble popped by the pointy end of his father’s rage now that he knows Ken stole the best lawyer in town. As the credits fade to black we see Logan seething from the news, announcing to the city of Sarajevo below, he’ll find his own shark of a lawyer and go “full- f*cking beast!” May the best Roy win!