When you have as good a show as Succession, you often have people you constantly chat with about the show. Typically on Monday’s my friend and MCDI writer Katherine and I spend time picking apart the episode and it is always a blast. So, we got together and decided to share our thoughts on each episode of Succession moving forward.
‘That is an imaginary cat. Now could you please fuck off?’
Katherine
Judging by the energy, the title of this episode should’ve been ‘Fuck ‘Em (But Don’t).’
Things we learned about Kendall Roy this week: he doesn’t care about a rabbit’s appropriate dietary needs, he talks on the phone like he’s a five-year-old playing with a new set of walkie-talkies, and Kendall always walks into a room at the most inopportune times. As he proceeded to glide into the shareholder meeting, like he was entering an amusement park, I seriously whisper-yelled ‘no’ in disbelief many times as he kept moving. The thing about Kendall is that he consistently operates at full speed, barring all advice that doesn’t adhere his vision, until he breaks. It’s a painful cycle to witness. Kendall’s cracks have begun to spiderweb in the last couple of episodes and now Logan’s slight to him of setting up a fake meeting to see him clearly hit the nerve it was designed to set ablaze.
Tom has done many questionable things so far, but, when we find out that he’s been secretly tracking Shiv’s period, I needed to take a pause. Their relationship is openly complicated and fluctuating, but being horny for Shiv solely due to the probability of her becoming his human incubator, as Shiv coldly put it, is disturbing. It’s violating for Shiv and feels like a way to keep her around, while he’s potentially in prison, with a baby tying them together. It really says a lot about how shaky their marriage is, how insecure Tom is about it, and how it’s well known that Shiv will do whatever it takes to move herself forward no matter the cost to anyone else.
Logan’s rapid, downward spiral as the chaotic day moves forward appears to be clear to no one but the audience, initially. It’s surprising that Logan’s outward ambivalence and buddy bathroom breaks with Tom don’t cause more alarm sooner than they do. If Logan’s prior decision-making skills weren’t so seemingly erratic, then perhaps the people closest to him would’ve noticed sooner. Maybe there wouldn’t have been any imaginary cats if they had caught on.
One thing I’ve learned about myself this episode is that a shareholder meeting seems like absolute torture and I’d need more than Stewie’s dainty espresso cup to get through it.
Verdict: A-
If he can do people, he can do rabbits.
Ricky
Greg turned his back on Kendall and now Kendall is playing a trump card on him, which Greg didn’t see coming. The internal battles ensue as everyone is jocking for position to be one step ahead of each other.
The humor on this show has always been around, but I felt it has been stronger than ever this year. It isn’t your typical comedic humor. It falls in line with insults or quick-witted one-liners, but the lines are great, but the cast’s delivery this season has made it so good.
The episode was filled with a lot of Logan playing his cards in silence in a way we had never seen from him before. He basically sat back, looked at the cards, mucked them and let others play their hands. Of course, everyone freaks out over him playing so quietly, but he is willing to risk it all not to give anyone leverage.
We find out that he isn’t playing cards at all, the marbles have officially been lost and Logan is losing his mind. While Logan is down, Shiv and the team are trying to figure out if they need to make the deal without him and the consequences are scary, but they close a deal.
The aftermath of what happened will have consequences massively because we know Logan likes to have all the chips in his hand and right now, they gave a lot of them away. I am still unsure how I felt about this episode. While it was strong in some moments, in others, I wasn’t as sure about it. I think Logan losing his mind is a storyline that can help Kendall, but I am not sure I love how they have handled Kendall so far.
The Music City Drive-In 
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