PREMISE
Ahead of Investor Day, Shiv weighs a proposal from Matsson, while Kendall and Roman each try to match Logan’s volatile leadership style.
EPISODE MVP
Kieran Culkin
When it comes to the major television acting awards one by this show, the tally is as follows: Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong, and Sarah Snook have Golden Globes. Jeremy Strong and Matthew McFadden have won Emmys. Outside of Alan Ruck who really hasn’t been prominently featured on the show at all in comparison to everybody I just mentioned, it is Kieran Culkin who has not won a single major acting award for this show. That is very likely to change later on this year when the Emmys actually get handed out.
Culkin has had a highlight reel of great moments in this season, and came to own this episode more than usual. Roman is so much more of a loose cannon than he was before, and the two really egregious firings that he does in this particular episode prove that. You can tell Roman is doing his best Logan Roy impression when it comes to dealing with his employees. But he kind of has to. He doesn’t know any other way to run a business.
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
KARL
Karl is so clutch. Normally between him Karolina, Frank, Hugo and Geri, they make up the peanut gallery responding to every potential disaster with throwing each other under the bus. It’s always a welcome comic relief. And Karl very much is still a comedically based character I believe. But he’s a lot more bold this season. He still kisses ass for sure, but he also has these truth bombs.
Whether it be destroying Tom immediately after Logan Roy’s death, or giving the suggestion that the note found in the previous episode could maybe flushed down a toilet. He’s been absolutely money this season. Him dressing down Ken just before the semi-disastrous presentation to the investors was very gratifying to see after all of the years of watching him get dressed down by Logan’s children.
SHIV & TOM
Anybody who’s talked to me about this show for anything less than 5 minutes will understand my hatred of Tom, and my hope that he loses big in some way at the end of this show. However, I will acknowledge that when it comes to Shiv, Tom is the perfect fit for her. This episode truly proves that they are perhaps more perfect for each other than any particular couple on television right now and for all the wrong reasons.
Tom is spineless, untalented, uncouth, and an undignified ass kisser who does not deserve happiness…and he deserves this marriage as it is right now.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“You don’t have to worry about your speech, you can just go on and mop up all of the blood.”
-GREG-
To Tom as he reacts to perhaps the most ludicrous part of Kendall’s Ludicrous presentation.
THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE
ALMOST everything involving Ken
I’m in the very short minority of people that didn’t like season 3 all that much. Why? Because they took the man who challenged Logan Roy, the true heir to the empire, the man who was by far the biggest threat to Logan Roy in the timeline of this show, and the man who helped save the family during the Congressional hearings… Into a man who is so unaware of his own destructive behaviors that he’s been operating as a shell of himself since the end of season 1.
We are now to believe that Kendall has these rampaging streaks of narcissism, and reckless business maneuvering that all but overtake his intelligence at their most manic point. His plan to tank the Gojo deal still doesn’t make a whole lot of sense outside of Kendall simply wanting more power.
As great as this show is, I always wonder if it would be that much better if Kendall Roy was that guy from season 1 instead of what he is now.
**************
It says a lot about this show that it’s still able to maintain this level of consistency after the death of Logan Roy. This could have easily dropped off of a cliff and the quality of things could have sharply declined after that, but that is not the case. I can only hope this show sticks the landing at the end of this season. I can’t say it’s a top 10 show of all time until that happens. But this season has been so good so far that it’s hard to imagine them not sticking the landing at all.
In the meantime, these episodes roll out week after week and continuously prove what Logan Roy said an episode 2… his children are intelligent, savvy, and power hungry, but they are flying by the seat of their pants. Their decisions as of right now make little sense both business-wise and in their personal lives. They are improvising as they go along. They are in fact, NOT SERIOUS PEOPLE.
SUCCESSION is streaming on HBO Max (or just MAX if youre reading this after May 23rd)
