Succession: Episode 2 Review and Recap
Episode 2 of Season 4 of Succession was, as expected, a banger.
Connor Roy is getting married, but no one really gives a shit. His siblings make it quite obvious, actually, that they do not give a shit. They’ve got other things going on.
For example, Shiv is experiencing what it’s like (again) to be up against her father. Logan has even helped Tom get all the best divorce lawyers in NYC to freeze Shiv out. Shiv, like Kendall, is now 100% in the spite game. PGN was always a spite play, but manipulating the board takes things further.
While we’re on the topic: this episode had a lot of biz talk, maybe a bit more than usual, and some of it went over my head. Couldn’t tell you half of what Sandy and Stewy were offering. But that’s okay because it’s Succession and a good amount of that doesn’t matter in the long run.
So anyways, the siblings hit up a karaoke bar at Connor’s request, Logan surprises them there (with Kerry…) as they’re talking business, and sort-of-but-not-actually apologizes? He apologizes for taking their helicopter away at least. The kids keep asking him: what is he sorry for?
Then he blows up and tells them they’re “not serious people”, one of the most devastating insults of Succession history.
In a shock to no one: Roman has already crawled back to daddy by the end of the episode. Even though he took their helicopter away!
That’s because Roman — who in this episode, told his siblings “it’s okay, everyone hit me because I was fucking annoying” — is broken.
Like Connor, who also delivers a devastating: “The good thing about having a family that doesn’t love you is you learn to live without it.” The kids, as I mentioned last week, are still not okay and will never be okay.
Greg is always our perfect comic relief, doing an absolutely awful job of telling Kerry that she’s a shitty news anchor and they can’t put her in primetime. An act of diplomacy more important than Israel-Palestine, as Tom puts it. (This was also part of the most awkward moment of the episode, when Hugo has to open his laptop and expose that he was giggling at Kerry’s audition tape in front of Logan.) Greg also lands some great lines while calling Tom and watching Logan prowl the ATN floor in his suit and sunglasses, “like if Santa was a hitman.”
If you were wondering: it appears Willa is ready to marry Connor, despite expressing doubts at their rehearsal dinner, where the siblings found Willa sneaking out and Connor depressed at the beginning of the episode. In the final scenes, Willa is home and ready to be Connor’s little spoon once more.
Also, a fun read today if you’re interested: “Kendall Roy Fans Highlight The Allure Of The Pathetic Man” from Buzzfeed. Are you a “Kendoll”? Described as “often young women who admire the vulnerability and pathetic behavior of a 40-year-old business executive”, Kendolls walk among us. I might even be one of them. If you read this, be prepared for Kendall Roy to be compared to Taylor Swift, Princess Diana, Oedipus, and other semi-tragic figures.
Thanks for reading! Into more Succession talk and TV/movie/music/podcast reviews? Check out Content Consumed. I’ll let you know what everyone’s talking about — and what everyone should be talking about.
