Succession – The Disruption

By: Kelly Kearney

After last week’s changing of the Waystar guard, everyone in the C-suite doubles down on their agendas for the fight ahead. Kendall’s impenetrable ego starts to crack when he goes too far with Shiv and her payback is hard to swallow. Things get worse when word rumbles through the office about Ken’s drop-in and now it’s DEFCON-KEN with everyone scrambling to neutralize the enemy from inside. Tensions are high. Not that the number one son cares as he’s too busy ordering his team around and flying high like some modern-day Icarus attempting to ignore the inevitable plummet back to earth. His desire to take down Logan is a multilayered stinging onion, and it has as much to do with Ken proving he can do it, as it does his need for Logan to pay. His unease is coupled with his trademark fast-paced mania and as he starts to unravel in “The Disruption” he’s standing on the precipice of his family’s oblivion and tempted to be the first to dive in. As Kendall’s resolve wavers, the FBI surrounds Waystar’s doors and now there’s no turning back, they are coming in!

Kendall’s Headspace Flies Closer to the Sun

When the episode begins Kendall (Jeremy Strong) is having lunch with a reporter, and the two are discussing his motivations behind this take down. It’s the usual, Dad is evil and I’m the savior, stuff he’s been spouting since episode one, but he also adds in a little dig at the current CEO, Gerri (J. Smith-Cameron). She’s in over her head and just “a time server” he says, not that she isn’t well liked. After that glass ceiling of a box that he tosses poor Gerri into, the new self-proclaimed feminist says his vision for an improved company means planting flags all over the world! So, misogyny and colonization? Daddy should be so proud. From the start of this lunch and throughout the entire hour, Ken straddles the line between his authentic-self and the woke hero he wants the world to think he is. Examples of this come through when he dupes Greg (Nicholas Braun) into accepting an expensive watch, only for the cousin to find himself stuck with a $40,000 bill he can’t pay. In another instance we find him turning to the paparazzi outside a journalism dinner yelling “f**k the patriarchy” as if he is completely tone deaf to the fact that he is the patriarchy. When he asks Greg, Naomi (Annabelle Dexter-Jones) and some friends to play the “good tweet-bad tweet” game, he languishes in his own newfound fame until one particularly negative tweet needles its way into his psyche. An offer of sympathy for the drug-addicted mentally ill rich boy quickly puts the breaks on Kendall’s victory lap. His brooding mood swings isolates him from the circus of his own making. Whenever Ken gets too full of himself, fate has an uncanny way of reminding him of how lonely he is, and no amount of cultural temperature taking or shocking press releases can change that. The public hates him. After all, that is his birthright. And while some in the Twitterverse are coming around, his father never will, and neither will the siblings whose financial securities he’s risking with this attempted coup. But even with victory so close to his grasp, Ken bets it all for a petty payback, hoping to draw a clear line between which Roys are the evil doers, and which are the saviors. Spoiler: he’s working overtime trying to paint himself as the latter while remaining clueless to the fact he’s using those same toxic tactics of his father’s. So, where’s the growth, Ken? Like any general waging a one-man war against an army, the cruelty begins to outweigh the heroics when he publicly shames Shiv’s (Sarah Snook) during a big moment for her and the company. It’s a bridge too far for Logan (Brian Cox), who already sent his enforcer Colin (Scott Nicholson) to vaguely remind his son of how much dirt he has on him. The idle threats do not phase him and now Logan needs some big guns take sonny-boy down and Shiv is happy to provide. In the end, Ken’s quest to teach his father a lesson while controlling every aspect of the battle becomes overwhelmed and bogged down with agendas, feud and revenge leaving him questioning whether or not ruining his father is worth destroying their family’s company and sending them all to jail. By the end of the episode Kendall doesn’t seem so sure.

Shiv’s Coming Out

While the media is swirling around Kendall’s big announcement, Shiv is tasked with trying to reel her brother back in to the family fold. At a dinner for journalists Kendall interrupts Shiv’s banter with ex-lover Nate (Ashley Zuckerman) to offer his sister an apology for his misogynistic teats meltdown at Rava’s (Natalie Gold) penthouse. She accepts, but he knows it’s with strings and Logan is probably pulling them like a grand master puppeteer he is. If Shiv can bring him home and end this attack, it must mean she’s vying for the number one daughter role – a job that was slowly killing Kendall. He feels sorry for her as she’s willingly trapped herself in their father’s web of lies. There are moments throughout the scene when Shiv and Kendall drop their agendas to speak from the heart. It’s in these instances where their truth finds its way out. When the topic lands on their dreams for Waystar, the two discover they share a similar ideas of a cultural reckoning with an ousting of the old guard. But the problem lies in who will lead this new and improved Waystar after Logan goes. This is non-negotiable for Kendall and Shiv, who have each tossed their hats into the CEO ring on many occasions. So, when Gerri plans a Waystar Town Hall for the employees to voice their concerns, Shiv sees it as the perfect opportunity to announce her new role as President of Domestic Operations and try to bring some of her female power to the optics. Everyone keeps their fingers crossed Kendall avoids the event, but he sends them all a message loud and clear that he’s with them in spirit. In a shocking move even for a Roy, he rigs the atrium with speakers and blasts Nirvana’s “Rape Me” while Shiv struggles to keep her composure on stage. It’s a planned targeted attack and it’s also a reminder of his father’s crimes and just how complicit his sister is in the cover-ups. Shiv runs to Kendall’s office and spits in his agenda book and it’s one of the few times we see her truly hurt. The Roy kids always seem to stand by each other. Sure, they do awful things, but when the chips are down they unite. Kendall’s cruelty lights a spark under Shiv, who acts like the ground fell out from under her. Now she’s questioning everything (Ken’s motives and her father’s role in the cover ups )and no amount of promises from Logan can convince her one way or the other. His  lack of assurances doesn’t mean she won’t sideline her ethics to join Logan for a shot at sticking it to Kendall. If she winds up in line for CEO, all the better. As much as this is a company war, it’s also a game for their father’s love, and that competition is ingrained in all the Roy DNA. So, like her nickname would suggest, Shiv uses her seething rage from that public Cobain attack as the catalyst to driving a stake through Kendall’s heart. His dirty laundry in one typed letter for all to see and it is cruel, just like Daddy ordered.

The Underdogs

Outside of her jockeying for Logan’s love by ripping her brother’s skeletons from their closet, Shiv tries to keep her husband Tom (Matthew Macfadyen) under control just as he’s noticeably keeping her at arm’s length. Husbands typically support their wives, but not when those wives toss them into the Congressional latrine like a shield to protect her father from the splash back. Ever since their island chat about how unhappy he is in their marriage the head of ATN has been playing both sides from the middle while secretly securing his own safety vest in the process. Shiv, the Alpha to her corn-fed Beta husband, advises Tom to take the fall for her father, having no clue he’s been stepping out to make alliances on both sides of this Waystar war. This, plus his partnership with Greg and his offer from Ken to join him makes Tom particularly dangerous to Shiv’s agenda.

After punishing his Chief of Staff and favorite playmate, Greg, with a downgraded office he tells his pal he’s publicly on Waystar’s side but his headspace is open to options. He has a planned secret meeting with an outside advisor just in case he winds up the company’s patsy. After trolling Greg with a cyanide pill courtesy of Logan quipping, “It’s a mint, you doofus,” he invites his long-legged pal over for a beer and a joint strategy session. They should keep their options open and, of course, make sure they get their stories straight. Greg is usually up for going down in Tom’s flames, but he has plans with Kendall who is giving him a “thank you watch” for what we can assume is for those cruise papers. Tom acts disgusted asking, “You sold your ass for a watch? I’ll buy you a f**king watch, d**k-wad.” Because if there is one thing that man hates more than Greg, it’s when Greg sidelines him to play with others. Whether or not these two can join forces and become a legitimate team in the likes of Roman and Gerri remains to be seen, but when it comes to underdogs who have all the evidence Tom and Greg are not to be ignored. They have a good chance at changing the course of this battle, if they could just stick to one side.

Roman Struggles to Find a Happy Memory from his Childhood

Speaking of underdogs, out of all the Roy children Roman (Kieran Culkin) might be the only who truly understands the word family. For a guy who spent most of his life on the receiving end of Logan’s abuse, the line between fear of the man and fear of losing him, remains blurred. One thing is clear though, the new COO’s headspace is good – or so he keeps saying whenever he checks in with anyone he sees at the office and that’s partly thanks to the respect he’s gaining from his CEO crush, Gerri. He’s thriving under her tutelage and maturing by the day, not that his father notices as he’s too busy calling him gay slurs. He’s awful, distant and unable to give his children a single happy memory in their lives and Roman has tried. He digs deep into the files of his past when Shiv shoves him into the role of PR spinner. His task: The picture-perfect family for a talk show. And, much to Roman’s gagging dismay, it’s up to him to deliver – even if he has to make something up. So, he does and goes on TV offering up some ancient happy memory of a fly-fishing trip he took with Connor (Alan Ruck). The eldest Roy son must’ve acted as their surrogate father along with Kendall who did everything from potty-training to protecting the siblings from each other. He agreed to do it simply because he can’t hang his father out to dry any more than he can do it to his rat of a brother. And it’s why when Shiv comes to him quaking with contempt over Kendall’s stunt and asking him to sign a letter she wrote listing all of Kendall’s struggles and transgressions. However, i’s too much for Roman this time. Regardless of the fact Logan supposedly said he wanted all his kids to sign on, Kendall does reckless things. That’s who he is and he might not come back from this tell-all expose. Besides, he doesn’t trust that this isn’t just Shiv flexing her muscle. He’s learning to spot everyone’s agendas from the front row seats now and he understands how they operate. He immediately noticed when his father’s mood changed towards Gerri when he batted down her advice about cooperating with the FBI and he caught Shiv’s own planting flags agenda early on. So, this letter is just the final act in a long performance of agendas and when it comes to Roman, personal attacks is where he checks out. In between his F-bombs and wildly inappropriate come-ons, Roman is a man exhibiting signs of a working heart: unheard of in this family, but true.

The Chain of Command

Finally, we get to Gerri and Logan, two seasoned veterans playing CEO musical chairs before the FBI can yank it out from under them. Gerri tries cementing her place in the chain of command while Logan goes out of his way to undermine her every chance he gets. “Quit hovering,” he barks at the pinstriped power suit in pearls, making sure Karl (David Rasche), Frank (Peter Friedman) and the others know he’s the one still calling the shots. Any woman who has worked her way up the corporate ladder only to have to wipe the mouths of every mediocre man she passes on the way up understands Gerri’s seething restraint in these scenes. The other executives are the children of this work-spouse power struggle, so when Gerri orders Karl to stay on the Israeli deal it’s not shocking he runs to Logan who tells him to can it. When she gets stern and pulls rank expecting everyone, Logan included, to cooperate with the DOJ he laughs her off by saying, “Maybe I don’t do that dance.” Her frustration is subdued but she knows his ego could torpedo this company faster than she can get Roman off with an insult laden conference call. After ordering the DOJ to “F**k-off” with their serving requests, the FBI proves Gerri right and comes knocking on Waystar’s doors just as the press gathers outside for the show. She’s literally been CEO for less than a day and Gerri is already dodging Logan Roy bullets like the bulletproof vest he’d hope she would be. She does her best not to unhinge jaw and swallow Logan whole when he fights her on letting the feds inside the doors, but luckily she’s the Roy-Whisperer and gets through to him. Even if he sees her as a threat to his power, it doesn’t change the fact he knows she’s the only one who can guide them out of this disaster unscathed. The boys in blue are coming in and no door or locked file cabinet will keep them out. Now, it’s all about optics. And with a possible board vote in their future and the government breathing down their necks, it’s time to play nice before Logan lands in front of a  grand jury and Waystar winds up under outside control. Kendall, who sits in the company’s server room, silently screams into his bipolar abyss. He has thrown this family into the biting teeth of the law, and not even Logan’s ties to the White House can stop what’s coming.