Succession – Too Much Birthday

By: Kelly Kearney

It’s his party and he’ll cry into some existential crisis oblivion if he wants to. And, oh boy, Kendall is certainly gearing up for that on his big day. That’s right, its sonny boy’s 40^th birthday and he’s throwing himself a massive party in honor of, well, him. He’s planned for everything. It’s wall to wall celebrities walking through Caroline Collingwood’s maternal birth canal and, while that sounds like Roman’s dream, the vaginal welcome of Ken’s big shin dig is more like a tunnel of despair and not a coming out party. This is the story of a boy who’s run away from home only to find out home left him long ago. Isolated with only fake friends and a fake girlfriend by his side, Kendall is forced to face the consequences of the war he started with his father’s legacy on a night he’d rather celebrate his achievements. So, grab a drink, crank up the Wu-tang, and put your fighting hats on because this is a party, a reckoning, an awakening, and a rebirth. This is Le Kenfest!

May-December Romances and Billy Joel Ballads

Check one two. Is the Billy Joel track ready? Move over L to the OG, Kenny (Jeremy Strong) is back on stage with a new song and “Honesty, is such an easy word…” to sing, so the party attendees should love this performance. Even Naomi (Annabelle Dexter-Jones) is cheering, or maybe laughing. It’s hard to tell with that agent of chaos in skin tight pants, but she’s supportive – that’s obvious. It’s Kendall’s 40^th birthday extravaganza and he plans to do it up in style. It’s all Ken with a side of Ken, with a large Ken flavored cherry on top and tonight he’s feasting on his ego, forcing a fake smile through the pain knowing his family probably won’t join in the celebration. In fact, he doesn’t even want them there, or so he says. Instead, he’s filling the room with people he claims to love him, but even he knows deep down that couldn’t be further from the truth. Surrounded by “yes men” and still, somehow, Kendall is always alone.

Who is she and what are they doing? That seems to be the big question back at the Waystar offices about Kerry (Zoë Winters), Logan’s assistant. Somehow those brunette bangs went from a low-level pencil pusher to Logan’s (Brian Cox) billion-dollar advisor and she is stepping all over Roman (Kieran Culkin) and Shiv’s (Sarah Snook) toes. They snipe and gossip about Daddy’s little concubine, confused by the fact their father typically steers clear of the work-mistress vibe. At least according to his children, who are enamored with their father’s game at 80 years old. His stamina might be in question, but Roman reminds Shiv (because this is a thing kids totally do) about Logan’s love of oral sex. Just because Kerry is fifty years his junior doesn’t mean these two aren’t doing the dirty on company time. The thought grosses Shiv out because she is somewhat normal, but on brand Roman finds his father’s virility inspiring. And why wouldn’t he? He has his own May-December romance going on; or at least in his head he does. No word on if Gerri (J. Smith-Cameron) shares in her Slime Puppy’s desires, but from the sheer fact she answers his calls and soothes his ever-changing moods, Waystar’s CEO/General Counsel is definitely getting something out of it. Roman doesn’t see the difference between Kerry and his Nancy Pelosi dressed mentor (we see you costume department) – not that he lets Shiv in on his thinking. Roman is still trying to keep his crush on the DL, a term Gerri uses at the offices when she announces she has good news. The DOJ might be backing off! When she mentions her contact apprised her of the slowdown in the cruise case, Roman vomits out his Laurie jealousy in front of the entire C-suite and the only one who catches his fervor is Shiv. Something is up with those two and his sister can’t help but side eye them both as Gerri attempts to extinguish his building fire with an excuse about having many friends. The word on the street is no jail time and when Tom (Matthew Macfayden) hears that he struggles to keep his joy bottled up. Instead, he excuses himself, but not before Logan whispers he won’t forgot what he did. Meaning, the kindness he showed Logan during his UTI fiasco. If he is perennially disgusted with his offspring, maybe his daughter’s spouse can fill in the gaps? When Tom does get a moment to himself, he swoops into Greg’s (Nicholas Braun) office like a lioness hungry for a meal. He casually strolls up to his buddy’s desk and then with all his might flips it over, pounds his chest screaming and goes full rockstar trashing a hotel room wild. Greg cowers in the corner terrified of Tom’s meltdown until he hears those magic words: No jail! With the room in shambles, Tom stalks over to Greg and kisses him lovingly? Terrifyingly? Hard to say, right on the forehead. He leaves him to clean up the mess, but none of that matters because they aren’t going to jail and tonight it’s party time and Tom is getting wasted!

Meanwhile, tech tycoon and Gojo CEO Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård) stands Logan up and the old goat is insulted. Shiv and Roman attempt to rescue the streaming deal they’ve been working on and, sure, it was originally Ken’s idea to partner with the King of Tech because their streaming app needs all the help it can get but Gojo is their foot in the door of the tech world, and Shiv tells her father she thinks it will sail their Waystar ship into the future. Old school and addicted to the idea that media and publishing will come back faster than bellbottoms and platform shoes, Logan refuses to talk to Matsson’s COO because he doesn’t like the brush off. Instead, he announces the deal is off and mentions Frank (Peter Friedman) has been working on a backup plan to diversify their holdings. Pierce is back in the table and at that point you can visibly see Gerri want to strangle him. Instead choosing career suicide, she allows Shiv a chance at pulling him back from the Gojo hurt my feelings brink. Eventually, he gives both his children his blessings to go to Kenfest so they can hammer out a deal with Matsson, who is rumored to be attending. They aren’t going to wish their brother well. In fact, Logan hands Roman a little ticking time bomb and orders him to pass it along to Kendall, and you just know it isn’t a card wishing him well.

Le Kenfest

The stage is set, and the music is pumping when Roman, Tom, Shiv, Connor (Alan Ruck), Willa (Justine Lupe), and Greg arrive at Ken’s party. Immediately the snark overcomes them. Connor won’t remove his coat, per Ken’s party rules and Willa practically eviscerates his assistant, Comfry (Dasha Nekrasova) when she asks him to. When did she get teeth and become so protective of her man? Oh, that’s right, he is just about to reach one percent in the polls and FLOTUS has a nice ring to it. She’s all in!

Also sinking his pointy chompers into this night is Roman, who’s in rare form testing everyone’s boundaries with inappropriate jabs tossed at his sister and the birthday boy. If there is a line Roman crossed it long ago with his disgusting incest jokes about Shiv, that at least for her part, confuses and repulses her. It’s as if he feeds on people’s reactions until his humor morphs into some dark and uncomfortable void where his soul used to be. Tonight he’s running on Logan highs and hell-bent on rubbing it in Shiv and Kendall’s faces. They typically get the most kisses from Daddy but now it’s Romey time, and with his recent success bringing in Presidential nominee and flashy-fascist Jeryd Mencken (Justin Kirk), he would happily nuke his new-found glory for a chance to singe his sibling’s smiles. Kendall once said to earn Logan’s respect Roman had to cut out the weakest parts of himself. That weak part is loving his family-his father, his brothers, Shiv and even Gerri and they all do battle with his self-destructive nature. This time his actions could have consequences he can’t come back from. For the guy who couldn’t kill their father, destroy his brother, and step aside to let his crush have his CEO dream job, Roman cares, but you wouldn’t know it by the way he’s acting. He spends most of Kendall’s party insulting Shiv, and for her part, some of it is deserved. No matter how hard Roman works, no matter the brilliant ideas he comes up with, she will always see him as the screw up. Now that he’s caught their father’s attention and Kendall is out of the company, Roman is Shiv’s new competition and it brings a new dynamic to their sibling bond.

After Kendall greets them, seemingly happy they stopped by, things take a turn for the unhappy, when he starts to realize they aren’t there for him but to do some business deal. Hurt, he orders his guards to keep them out of the VIP treehouse (yes, he rebuilt his childhood hang out) and this drives Shiv and Roman crazy. Kendall uses the block to try to get to Lukas before they sniff him out, assuming the guy actually likes him. Too bad Matsson was just there for the three P’s, “p**sy, pasta, and privacy.” So, that’s two reminders of how little Kendall matters, and on the night of his big party too! It gets worse when Rava (Natalie Gold) shows up and the two gripe at each other about her new boyfriend. She tries to extricate herself from Ken’s mood by distracting him with a present from the kids, and from here on out he’s determined to find that gift. He needs reminding that someone is actually thinking of him and his needs. The gift is more than a bauble wrapped up in rabbit themed paper, it’s proof that someone on this god forsaken planet actually cares. It’s especially needed when he opens the card Roman gave him and reads “cash out and f**k off” accompanied by a 2 billion dollar offer to leave Waystar and the family forever. He is crushed but maybe it isn’t such a bad thing? Naomi thinks it’s an offer he should take; finally freeing himself from the chains of the Roy name. He considers it but now he really needs to find Iverson and Sofie’s gift. When he can’t locate it buried underneath the mountain of presents from his guests, he goes into a panic. Naomi tries to calm him by handing him the watch she bought and it’s a nice gesture, but also a painful reminder of how nobody, not even his girlfriend, knows who he is or what’s important to him. He wants a gift with meaning, thoughtfulness, and the hope that someone would make an effort for him. He is 40 years old and not a single person knows the real him, except maybe his bestie Stewy, who didn’t even bother to show up. He crumples to the ground in tears whispering “I wish… I wish I was… I wish I was home.” Now, whether or not he censored his words knowing Naomi was a suicide survivor is unclear, but his despair didn’t sound like home. And what home is he even talking about anyway? Ken never had an actual home to go back to. Not in the traditional sense of the word. One with a loving family rooting for each other rather than trying to tear each other down. No, Kendall can’t go home because the idea of it only exists in his head, like some emotional support blanket covering up his truth. His party quickly devolves into a nightmare when he runs into Roman arguing with Shiv about the deal he managed to hammer out with Lukas in the, you guessed it, bathroom. A handshake combined with a urine-soaked phone means once again, Roman is going to get Logan’s praise, and Shiv can’t dance off her rage fast enough.

While the siblings are at each other’s throats, Tom spends most of the night trying to convince Greg not to ask Comfry out. Luckily, Greg ignores him and Kendall, who also forbade the hook up while also calling him a leech, and lands a date with his cousin’s assistant. It takes a few awkward tries, but after Comfry finds out her boss tried to meddle in her personal life she is all in on the lengthy man with the heart eyes.

And, finally, back to the disaster we call Romulus Roy. He is truly at his worse when his mentor cuts him lose. His vile slut-shaming of his dancing sister, while also making despicable accusations about her and Logan go way too far, but he can’t stop himself. He runs his mouth of filth and fire right up until he turns his ire onto Kendall, who is just trying to leave his party before the breakdown kicks in. The two brothers trade barbs, and it escalates with the both of them trying to get the other to throw a punch until Roman takes a cheap shot and knocks Ken onto the floor from behind. Everyone laughs and Roman is heard saying none of this real, and for the first time in the night he is right. This family abuses and attacks each other for sport, but after they lick their wounds, they’re back in the game and ready to play for Logan’s affections again. Nothing is real in their billionaire lives. Not the fake friends Kendall bought, not the fake marriage Shiv is keeping on life support, and certainly not the apathy Roman displays towards his visibly crushed brother. “It’s all a game of musical chairs” he told Shiv, and today he is Logan’s favorite, but tomorrow he could get that kiss off letter too. Their father stirs the pot, and they all go for the swirly ride, but like always, everything will be fine, but will it really?

When last see Ken, he’s standing on the edge of his balcony high above the city scape wrapped in a blanket with Naomi by his side. He has always had a fascination with the fall, and each season we see this Icarus looking down at death like it’s a challenge. He comes back from the edge and places his head in Naomi’s lap as she strokes his hair with a look on her face that can only be described as sympathy mixed with a confusion for how she got roped into his mess. Kendall is teetering on a very dangerous cliff here, they all are, and what’s fascinating about this episode is the emotional dynamics each character displays. Men, who are stereotypically seen in this fast-paced world of commerce and greed as less emotional, are all tied up in their feels, while the woman, Shiv, Willa, Kerry, and Gerri, are on their own glass cliff. Like a razor’s edge, sharp and teethy, they’re practically gobbling up their male counterparts overinflated egos and trying to survive the patriarchal thumb that keeps on crushing them. For Ken and his siblings, authenticity is the impossible holy grail, but they keep searching for it because the alternative is to embrace their birthright; one that’s been weaved into the fabric of an unescapable truth. They are all alone and they might hate their father for that, but he is the only one who keeps pushing them forward, and away from their swan dives of doom and gloom, and deep down, the birthday boy knows it.