Succession review, Episode 302, “Mass in Time of War”

Whenever you get all four Roy siblings in a (child’s) room to hash out their differences, you know it’s going to be an entertaining episode of Succession.

The Roy children gather for a gab session In “Mass in Time of War,” a rock-solid episode of Succession that succeeds simply by letting its characters talk.

Of course Shiv, Logan and Connor (who?) would go to Kendall to suss out whether it was worth joining his team, however much they protest that they’re only there on their father’s behalf. Their back and forth was full of great bon mots, from Shiv’s withering putdown of Roman to Kendall theorizing that he loved it to pretty much anything Roman said, like when he calls Kendall’s press conference swerve “a spontaneous, heartfelt outpouring of thoroughly lawyered emotion.” It’s a pleasure to watch a show where the characters not only have interesting things to say, but interesting ways to say it.

Kendall tries to convince his siblings to join his maneuver, but his pitch is so much hot air. He makes moralistic noises about Waystar being responsible for diluting democracy, spreadhing misinformation and allowing a culture of abuse to fester, but his solution has little to do fixing any of those issues; it’s to take over and make Waystar bigger than it already is, bigger than Amazon even, a one-stop shop for news around the world. (“Information is going to be more precious than water in the next 100,” he says.) On Succession, as in the real world, the people with the most power don’t care about what they’re doing, only that they get to continue being in charge.

“Do you think human beings matter?” Kendall asks his siblings, as if he’s any more empathetic than any of them, as if he really wants to upend the system his father built rather than just take it over, as if he isn’t willing to lie to get ahead, like when he tells his siblings he’s going to hug his kids when he’s really going to drum up support among the shareholders. Not for a second do I think Kendall really intends to “de-toxify” the Waystar brand, or at least, not if it means losing power. As he tells his siblings, all the scandals are just “side shit.” Being in control is what matters, that and “splitting the spoils.”

Perhaps that’s why none of his siblings opt to join him; Kendall’s not so different from Logan, and Logan has the institutional power.

Or maybe they were all reminded how afraid they were of Logan when he sent them a batch of “very relevant donuts” they’re all pretty sure aren’t poisoned; who can tell with this bunch? That’s Succession’s other secret weapon; it’s a dead-on depiction of super-rich self-absorption, but also a family drama full of wounded people trapped in unhealthy patterns. Add in the great dialogue and splendid performances and you have a TV cocktail that goes down very smooth. The only thing about the show I kind of wish they would lose is the handheld shaky cam stuff; I don’t think it fits the style of the series, but it’s a small complaint.

Shiv, Logan and Connor do consider abandoning their dad, however briefly. Shiv calls Tom for advice, giving them another opportunity to hash out what may or may not be feelings for each other. And Roman, hilariously, calls Gerri, who as the CEO of Waystar is bound to give tremendously biased advice. He acknowledges this, but he’s in such a delightfully weird codependent relationship with this woman that there was nowhere else for him to turn.

I loved when Gerri warned Roman what happened if he acted against her. (“Don’t threaten me, Gerri, I don’t have time to jerk off.”) I think I ship these two? Is that weird? It’s probably weird.

So in the end, Kendall is left where he started. He curses out all his siblings as they leave, which makes him look like the unstable basket case he’s been painted as. If I had to guess, I don’t think he’ll survive this. It’s hard to know if any of them will.

Roy family bullet points:

• Another subplot in this episode involved Logan’s wife Marcia coming back into the fold, after a very generous improvement to her “financial position.” At this level of wealth, all the relationships come down to money.
• Greg gets a hilarious subplot where he tries to decide whose lawyer he should take advice from: Logan’s or Kendall’s; he turns to his first-year law student friend for advice, a very Greg move. In the end he decides to become a puppet for his great-uncle, who really does want to blow the lid off Waystar.
• “He remembered his daughter’s name. Sophie. Sophie’s room.”
• “I found his performance histrionic and meretricious.” “Well, tell me about it.”
• Connor sure was dragged a lot this episode. “Thought I heard a clown car pulling up,” Roman says when he turns up at Kendall’s gathering.
• Connor whining on the phone to whoever maintains his fine wine collection. Oh my god, why aren’t we taxing these people out of existence?
• “I dunno what I think about dad. I love him, I hate him, I’m gonna outsource it to my therapist.”
• “It’s true, I just spoke to the market, that’s exactly what the market thinks.”
• It’s kind of hard to believe that Shiv will be satisfied with being Logan’s “eyes and ears” rather than having the top job and title, but that’s what the ending implies. Until next time.

Episode Grade: A-

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