The downfall of Waystar Royco is upon us.
This seemed inevitable from the very first episode of Succession, in which the now-deceased Logan Roy (Brian Cox) first faced his heart issues, and echoed throughout Kendall’s (Jeremy Strong) rebellion in Season 2 and the siblings’ revolution in the third chapter. But now more than ever, Waystar Royco seems completely and totally—excuse the profanity, but it’s what Logan Roy would want—fucked.
Tom (Matthew Macfadyen) hasn’t given up his aspirations to become the new Logan, which is made even weirder by the fact that he’s back together with Shiv (Sarah Snook), Logan’s daughter. Logan always held a party to celebrate the election a few nights before the big event. Tom takes it upon himself to keep the tradition rolling. He and Shiv host the event at their (shockingly modest) apartment in Manhattan, which is a solid excuse to get everyone in the cast in one space.
“Tailgate Party” isn’t a bottle episode, because a few scenes in the beginning of the episode take place outside of the party, but squishing all of these egomaniacs into a small soiree together does give the same effect of being trapped in one space for one hour. In shorter terms: It’s the perfect way to enable the most chaos possible in 60 minutes.
The first (and, shockingly, least bizarre) order of business is Connor’s (Alan Ruck) ridiculous bid for presidency. Roman (Kieran Culkin), who has developed a bond with somewhat-fascist Republican nominee Jeryd Mencken (Justin Kirk), needs to quash Connor’s aspirations to be sure Mencken still trusts ATN as his lead news source. While Connor only has a 1 percent reach in the entire country, his numbers in Alaska are gaining, which could help push the Democratic candidate, and Mencken’s chief opponent, into the lead. Roman can’t offer Connor much to convince step down—but Connor demands it all. Give him a title involved with the United Nations, or give him death! (Does Connor know how the UN works?)
Alan Ruck and Justine Lupe.
David M. Russell/HBO
Connor settles for Oman, where he’ll handle U.S. relations with the nation. Willa (Justine Lupe) isn’t pleased. She gave up her dreams of a small, quiet wedding for Connor’s spot on the ballot, and now he’s not even going to run? But, Connor argues, he still has no chance at winning. Oman is better than nothing. Though this isn’t totally settled by the end of the episode, Connor is ready to reject Roman’s offer. Hopefully, we get to see him vie for more power in the Oval Office. What would be the weirdest position he could secure for himself? Perhaps Press Secretary, where he’d have to argue with the folks from ATN.
Roman has more damage control to deal with at the party in the form of Gerri (J. Smith Cameron), who he fired last episode and is now attempting to un-fire. “The thing, the firing thing with you, that wasn’t real,” he insists. But this is Gerri’s last stand. She promises that she’ll leave, sue the company, and go public with all of the shots of Roman’s genitalia she has stashed on her phone. It’s wonderful to see Logan’s execs rebel against the new generation. We saw Karl (David Rasche) butt against Kendall in the last episode, and the liberation of Gerri has been gripping to watch.
Kieran Culkin and J. Smith-Cameron.
David M. Russell/HBO
The idiot son does one thing right, though, which is continuing to doubt Waystar investor Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård). Lukas has the best entrance of the season in this episode, blasting through Shiv’s front door during a moment of silence for Logan Roy. It’s something the old bastard would’ve loved. During a sensual cigarette session on Shiv’s roof, Lukas’ comms director Ebba (Eili Harboe)—who, let’s not forget, has been receiving vats of his blood from Lukas in his bizarre attempt at courting her—reveals that he’s got big problems in India. Kendall, Roman, and Shiv discover their investor has been lying about subscriber numbers to his platform in India—it’s as if there are actually “two Indias,” Lukas confesses to Shiv later on at the party.
Combine the Matsson of it all with Gerri’s plan to go public, the murmurs of Kendall and Roman covering up their father’s scandals with women, the fact that Kendall is still guilty of some degree of murder, and that the siblings still own Pierce—Waystar is about to go down harder than Fox News in these past few weeks. That’s saying something.
Sarah Snook and Alexander Skarsgård.
David M. Russell/HBO
What goes up must come down, so it’s also judgment day for Shiv and Tom, who may have bitten their last bite and smooched their last smooch. Their pivot from anger into love has been a whirlwind of emotions. Now, after only an episode and a half of flirting, the pair enter an all out brawl on their patio in the middle of the party. What Shiv and Tom say to each other is hardly a conversation—it’s a string of insults lined up with no connection to the last thing said, a destructive technique learned from none other than Logan himself. In another life, perhaps Shiv would have really liked just doing laundry and taxes with Tom. But Logan and Waystar have destroyed every ounce of love they once shared for one another.
If that’s the Shiv/Tom bomb, it feels like there’s more dynamite set to explode when it comes to Kendall, who has had an unusually quiet couple of episodes. That said, estranged wife Rava (Natalie Gold) makes an appearance to berate Kendall at the beginning of the episode—there have been some issues with their daughter, and he hasn’t even called. Kendall had that glorious dive into the ocean last week. But a hurricane is coming.
Matthew Macfadyen and Sarah Snook.
David M. Russell/HBO
Keeping Up With the Roys
Even though they may not be in the main plot, we still want to highlight the most blazing burns and spiciest moments of Succession. Here they are from this episode:
-Even folks who have been muted can roast Greg (Nicholas Braun). As Waystar undergoes the big buyout, Greg is selected to handle all the layoffs. He’s not exactly a natural at firing a bunch of people in one go. He starts reading out comments from the Zoom: “I’m seeing some confusion in the chat. I’ve been too wordy?” he says, scrolling through the chat. Greg, just fire them and move on.
-As Roman pleads with Gerri to talk to him, she literally won’t say anything other than “no” for the first half of their conversation. Inspirational. I would’ve liked to see a chat where Roman rattles on, begging for forgiveness, while all Gerri can say is, “No.” But Gerri’s bite back is equally satisfying.
-There are a number of painful digs in the big fight between Shiv and Tom, so I’ve selected one from each side. “You are incapable of love and you are maybe not a person who should have children,” Tom says to Shiv, who is a few weeks pregnant. (It seems he doesn’t know, but he also may not be the father.)
-Even worse is Shiv’s final say on the matter: “I don’t like you. I don’t even care about you.”
