After last weeks sojourn to Logans hometown, its time for a two-season storyline to finally, officially, unravel. The prior episodes existential threat a whistleblower from the companys cruise division stepping forward is now on a 60 Minutes-style news show, alleging that Brightstar, the Roys cruise division, was a cesspool of mismanagement. Implicated on national television are Gerri, Kendall, and Tom, but that doesnt stop the Roys watching at home from jeering at the screen as if theyre watching a bad episode of Saturday Night Live until Logan decides he cant handle it, and they change the channel to baseball.
Shiv gets a tip: The cruise scandal will lead to a Congressional hearing investigating the matters. The prospect finally seems to get to Logan, who begins bellowing. I cant have this now! he shouts. Can we just say, Fuck em? Roman asks, while the group starts to brainstorm ways to get Logan out of testifying. Fuck Congress? Shiv asks, incredulously.
Brian Cox: The 'Succession' Star on the Art of Playing Bastards'Succession' Season Premiere Recap: A Better Plan35 Greatest Horror Soundtracks: Modern Masters, Gatekeepers ChooseMarty Stuart on Making Ken Burns' 'Country Music'
Everyone agrees: This is bad, though they cannot decide exactly how bad. While a cadre of PR professionals watch the broadcast in an adjacent room, Gerri makes a cruel suggestion: that they throw Bill, the executive who attempted to clean up the cruise division, albeit quietly, under the bus. Immediately, Logan perks up: The bloodthirsty option is always the right one for him, and no good deed at least in Succession goes unpunished. Bill later shows up to support the family at the hearing. Thats nice, Tom, Shiv, and Gerri all agree. Its not nice enough, though, for them to halt their plan to make sure the buck stops at Bill.
Outside of the decision center, Connor, Tom, and Greg are talking economics. Greg is attempting to celebrate potentially divesting himself from his grandfathers will at Logans behest These drinks for people, right? he asks, at the familys well-appointed bar and the two ineffectual millionaires are lecturing him about his decision to walk away from a quarter of a billion dollars to stick with Logan Uncle Fun Roy. You cant do anything with five [million], Greg, Connor tells the hapless Greg. Fives a nightmare: You cant retire. Not worth it to work. Poorest rich person in America, Tom agrees.
Meanwhile, Logan is putting together a last-minute contingency plan. Im on a knifes edge, Logan says to Roman. Ten bad minutes on camera in D.C that could be it. The end. He gives Roman a mission: Track down the sovereign money necessary to take the company private. Its an unexpected vote of confidence, though Roman certainly doesnt have that same confidence in himself. His first duty overseas as a newly minted member of the grown-ups table is to give a speech to the Scottish soccer team he just bought. He stammers through some uninspiring patter about how theyre a team, and that fact will magically keep them from defeat. His money play is more successful; the Saudi prince is interested, and wants Roman to pitch the Waystar Royco takeover at a meeting in Turkey the next day.
Initially, the presentation goes shockingly well. Roman seems to genuinely understand the business, and is selling it with a charming spin. All of a sudden, hes living up to Logans (and Gerris) bizarre belief in his capabilities. It falls apart, though, through no fault of his own: Armed men show up and escort out Romans security guard. The prince tells Roman that its time to go with these gentlemen now. This isnt business, is it? Roman realizes as hes whisked to a hotel lobby filled with assault rifle-toting men. Its the kind of party where you have to go, the prince explains.
Roman is a hostage now, playing Marry, Fuck, Kill, to pass the time, until hes approached again. The hostage situation is murkily explained as both an anticorruption matter, and as a power grab, but there is still interest in Romans deal. So, hes forced to make the pitch again, with more details, surrounded by gunmen. He performs admirably, but its unclear what will happen next.
Back in the States, Rhea, the new CEO, feels blindsided by the whistleblower accusations shes been set up, essentially, to take the helm of a company that may very well have too many bodies buried to continue operating. She expresses her concerns to Logan, but when she enters a room full of Waystar Royco operatives, she gives a glimpse at what a public-facing corporate officer is meant to do: lie, convincingly. Its a mountain out of a molehill, everyones saying it, she says. Hearings happen every day, and we have nothing to be guilty about.
The next day, Tom takes the stand first alongside Gerri, facing off against Shivs old employer, Senator Gil Eavis (who Shivs old lover is conspicuously advising). Very quickly, it becomes clear that whatever preparation Waystars formidably staffed PR team put Tom through was woefully inadequate. The plan to throw Bill under the bus is immediately put to bed, and instead, taking center stage is the familys use of the nickname Uncle Mo which, as it was explained earlier in the season, stands for molester. Tom tries to explain it away as a joke, but Eavis goes straight for the throat. Greg, who Tom sent to check out incriminatory documents to destroy, is named on the stand. But Tom, mind-blowingly, claims not to know who Greg is for a second. Next, Eavis brings up Toms penchant for using his employees as furniture; Tom claims its a management technique. He is screwed, and leaves the stand close to tears.
Kendall, sitting next to his father before the committee, fares much better under Eavis scrutiny. Hes not afraid to punch back, hard, accusing the senator of ideological bias and misunderstanding free speech, and throwing it in his face that he appears on the Roys TV channels, despite his grandstanding against them. Its a strong performance that plays directly to the ATN conservative base, but Logan later muses to Shiv that its not going to help him on the corporate battlefield, just on the political one.
Shiv attempts to backchannel with Eavis, and finds out that theres another person set to come forward. This time its a victim, who would fully sink the company if she testifies. Rhea is immediately recruited to try to make contact with the woman. Its a request she does not appreciate it pairs her up with Shiv, who engineered her entrance into the morass and, eventually, declines to go through with. It seems that even for the most talented operator in the mix, theres a moral limit to how far shell go. Shiv does not share her compunctions. Her attempt to convince the woman to not come forward is among the most difficult-to-watch scenes the show has deployed, as uncomfortable as the Roys dinner with the Pierces, as brutal as Logans game of boar on the floor. Shiv shakes off her humanity easily in an attempt to save her familys company.
Shivs play works, on two fronts. The victim agrees not to testify, and Rhea realizes that this is not a company she wants to work for. In a conversation with Logan about her supposed fungibility, she expresses her real concerns, and abdicates her new CEO position. I dont know if you care about anything, she says, and that scares me.
Fucking words, Logan replies.
Nursing his wounds over a drink later that night, he turns back to his first choice for his successor: Shiv. His words to her, though, are ominous. To get out of this mess, he muses, they need a blood sacrifice.
Previously: You Can Never Go Home Again