Spoiler alert: this recap is for people watching Succession season two, which airs on HBO in the US and Sky Atlantic in the UK. Do not read on unless you have watched episode four
‘When I say something will happen – that thing will happen’
Despite his pills regimen, Logan seems to only grow stronger as he makes further headway in his predatory approach for PGN. This episode takes place against the growing, militant polarisation of the US, between the shouty far-right and an the increasingly organised anti-fascist movement, and alarm at an increasingly trigger-happy culture. The Disunited States indeed; but would bringing all the major news channels under the Waystar umbrella have a desirable, unifying effect?
Kendall spends a lot of this episode on the company roof terrace; surveying the Manhattan landscape like a future kingdom, or considering throwing himself off the ledge? Whichever, it’s here that he puts in the call to Rhea Jarrell (Holly Hunter) from PGN. She, Logan and Kendall will meet, discreetly.
Connor, meanwhile, has been packed off to a management training course like small boy to camp; to Brightstar Adventure Park, owned by Waystar, where he lurks incognito, forced to watch an introductory video featuring Kendall and himself, but with his spoken part has been cut out. Shiv has been invited by Roy to spend the day at the firm. Kendall regards her warily but she insists she is “just observing”. She in turn is put out at just how close Kendall seems to be to their dad, even administering his medicines.
‘I will not let go of what is mine!’
Meanwhile, at ATN, there’s a problem. One of their stars, Mark Ravenhead, is revealed to have had youthful Nazi associations, bringing the wrath of antifa on the channel. In a meeting to discuss the star and following a slit-throat signal from an observing Shiv, Tom recommends ditching him. Cyd and Logan disagree. When Tom meets Ravenhead, however, it emerges that he is an avid reader of Mein Kampf whose regret at the second world war is the millions of lives lost by Germans, Russians, Poles ... full stop.
The meeting is interrupted, however, by a gunshot, precipitating a security alert. Tom does not cover himself in glory with his woman-and-children-last flight to the panic room. Greg, meanwhile, panics that the room doesn’t seem exactly watertight.
It turns out, to Tom’s indignation, that there is more than one panic room. The secure one is occupied by Logan and Shiv – and eventually Rhea, who didn’t quite manage to leave the building before the shutdown. She had earlier conveyed from PGN a “typically balanced and nuanced ‘fuck off’” with regards to Logan’s takeover bid but the mogul sensed some wiggle room and so it proves. Kendall begins throwing figures at her in a one-sided bidding war, starting at $21bn. Shiv is surprised to be observing all this; we know she is against the takeover but no one else in the room, not even Rhea, seems to share that sentiment. Logan says the issue is one of trust. If PGN can trust him when he says he won’t interfere editorially, a deal may be on. Rhea suggests that a good “peace offering” would be to ditch the “Walmart Mussolini” Ravenhead.
The shutdown means that none of the family can enjoy Logan’s old associate Mo’s funeral. Connor, who regards the service as a campaign fundraising opportunity, however, is in attendance. Willa makes a gaffe when she refers to the deceased as Mo to his widow. That was his nickname; his real name was Lester. “Dad wouldn’t let us in the pool with him,” says Connor. At the funeral, he is confronted by Michelle, Logan’s biographer but gives nothing away, even paring down his eulogy to the barest of facts to stymie her.
As the “gunman” is revealed to be an ATN producer who killed himself at his desk, Greg suggests to Tom that he maybe leave his current job as underling? Seeing a fellow worker used as a human footstool did not help. Tom rains water bottles and the fury of a slaveowner on him; “I will not let go of what is mine!” Later, however, when Greg tries blackmail, mentioning certain documents he possesses, Tom strangely beams with pride at Greg, offering him a new title and big pay rise.
It has been a tough day for Roman, despite making a friend in trainee Brian, and he tries to relax with some phone sex with Tabitha. It doesn’t work out, however, and in frustration, he phones Gerri. Something has been stirring between them since last week and an initially heated conversation becomes arousing for Roman as he invites her to shower him with insults.
Back at the office, having circled each other all day, Shiv confronts Kendall on his closeness to their dad. Is he blackmailing him? How does he get away with the drugs, and a recurring kleptomania problem? A tearful Kendall assures her, re the succession, that “it’s not going to me.” Being useful to Dad is not a strategy but his reason for living. They hug; he returns to the rooftop.
The Heir Apparent
Hard to call. Shiv is marginalised by Logan in the PGN deal, in which Kendall plays a prominent role. But something is eating at Kendall; for all his executive success, he’s barely hanging on to life. If they are in competition, he seems to concede at the conclusion. Logan, meanwhile, clearly and consciously, is playing them off against each other.
Notes and observations
“I’m an enigma, you can’t pigeonhole me … intellectually promiscuous but culturally conservative.” Ah, Roman’s pal Brian. Glad he’s fast-tracking him. He would be an asset to the team and the show.
“I’m stripping back to basics – this is my White Album,” says Roman. Someone needs to give either Roman or the scriptwriters lessons in Beatles-ology. The White Album was hardly The Beatles Unplugged.
Ravenhead’s such a Nazi he even named his dog after Hitler’s. “Different spelling”? C’mon.
Tom’s attachment to Greg is psychologically telling; a kisser-upper, he is dependent on having someone to kick down. Blackadder would probably have been similarly enraged if Baldrick tried to leave him.
