This episode of Succession dives into the belly of the beast, stepping into the world of rich conservatives and, specifically, the way the power they wield impacts their perspective on the rest of the world, as well as just the rest of the world in general.
Team Waystar flies out to Virginia to attend a political conference to meet the four candidates to become the Republican nominee in the upcoming Presidential election; at least, that’s what they’re meant to be doing.
Unfortunately, despite Shiv’s (Sarah Snook, Predestination) claims that it’s “really not how that works,” and Greg’s (Nicholas Braun, How to Be Single) demands to know if it’s constitutional, this conference it not just to meet the four candidates, but to pick which one will become the Republican nominee.
Or, if truly submitting to the depressing, yet realistic worldview of Succession: to pick which one will become the next President.
The best descriptions of the conference and the people in attendance are constantly given by Tom (Matthew Macfadyen, Pride & Prejudice), who early on soothes a bewildered Greg by saying that, “It’s a nice safe space where you don’t have to pretend to like Hamilton.”
While a hilarious line that could have only come from this show, it actually succinctly describes these people: they have enough money to attend the show, but it represents everything they despise, yet they have to pretend to like it because it’s highly acclaimed and Broadway was created to give the elite entertainment that would separate themselves from the common people.
This is a room of Mike Pence’s and the cameras are off; at least, the ones they can see.
This episode has been a long time coming for a multitude of reasons, but it’s specific importance lies to remind viewers that, while it’s understandable to become attached to and root for these characters, they are not good people, and they take full, active advantage of the fact that they run the country with the amount of money and power they have.
It’s a conservative smorgasbord where it seems the only person of color in sight is candidate Rick Salgado (Yul Vazquez, The Outsider) who is automatically perceived to be far more liberal for no reason other than his heritage and skin color; it’s difficult to see someone on your side when you’re actively trying to keep people who look like them out of the country.
The episode pulled inspiration from the most iconic of conservative rhetoric and debates, with the sleazy old man making Willa (Justine Lupe, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) uncomfortable asking if he’s going to be “canceled” for saying something insensitive—because being held accountable and a witch hunt are the same thing in the eyes of FOX News—and the pseudo-debate between Jeryd Mencken (Justin Kirk, Kidding) and everyone else, where the man channels his inner Ben Shapiro as he talks fast and tells Shiv to read Plato as if he’s incapable of having an intellectual conservation with her because she doesn’t have it memorized (even though he probably doesn’t either).
But the heart of the episode, not just with Team Waystar’s plot thread but Kendall’s (Jeremy Strong, The Trial of the Chicago 7) and Tom’s separate thread as well, is the idea of morals vs. success.
It’s been clear from the very beginning that Kendall’s attempts to take down his father come from a place of ambition and personal gain rather than a want for justice, and it’s evident in every scene he has in this episode.
During his interviews with the DOJ, he refuses to take the advice of his lawyer, Lisa Arthur (Sanaa Lathan, Hit & Run), because her tactics don’t align with how he wants to be perceived; he even throws a fit in the hallway full of righteous indignation and despair at the idea of justice never being served for the victims due to Waystar trying to bury the DOJ in paperwork to delay the proceedings, only to reveal that the entire performance was just an act to expedite their investigation into Waystar.
He knows all the words to say, and he may believe in them, but not as much as he believes in his agenda and his own personal success.
Lisa Arthur, on the other hand, seems to genuinely want to help Kendall and his cause, which is why it’s so painful to witness her quick realization that her client isn’t a man trying to do the right thing after years of complicity, but is actually using this opportunity for his own advantage.
This is also shown when he has his meeting with The Christmas Tree. It’s about as secret as the Secret Service that Tom is the company fall man in this entire investigation and has been preparing for time in prison; he even goes so far as to eat at diners—places that people eat—to get accustomed to “prison food.”
Kendall asks to meet Tom towards the end of the episode—after he fired Lisa for being “too toxic” when all she did was try and explain to him why he should take her advice rather than do his own thing during these meetings with the DOJ—and tries to convince Tom to come to his side in exchange for immunity. He preys on Tom’s love for Shiv, promising that she would see him as a man if he betrayed the rest of the family. He says that he likes Tom and acts as if he’s doing this out of care for him, and while he does probably care for Tom, his intentions are primarily selfish.
His words do get to Tom, not just about what he could gain from it but also about the people—fascists, as he calls them later, clearly more uncomfortable with the situation than before—back at the hotel and what they were doing. However, despite his feelings, he turns down Kendall because between the two, Logan (Brian Cox, Medici) has never lost. Considering the power Logan has, as well as how vicious he can be to people against him, it makes sense Tom would choose Logan’s side out of self-preservation; he may not agree with Logan’s side, but that’s not enough to get him to choose Kendall.
But the most clear evidence of this theme also happens to be the major conflict in this episode: Jeryd Mencken.
There’s no better way to describe the process of picking the next President than Logan’s own words: “I don’t care about resume or ideological purity as long as they get it and they pop.”
It doesn’t matter if the candidate openly speaks in favor of taking away fundamental human rights and argues that sex is owed to men regardless of consent, if he’s a winner and can be easily molded into a puppet for Logan’s use, then he’s the one they’re picking.
The entire argument in the suite was chilling. It was a surprise at first when Roman (Kieran Culkin, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) and other attendants at the conference made such a point to label Shiv as a liberal since she’s had a track record of foregoing morals or ethics for the sake of personal or familial gain; after all, it runs in the family.
So to see her desperate attempt to convince her father not to listen to Roman about Mencken was terrifying, because she truly had no chance because Roman’s argument, from a power perspective, was the strongest.
Roman himself made a comment that, under any other circumstance, would’ve been a valid criticism, as he called out white feminism, and specifically Shiv’s white feminism, on how many white feminists expect to be praised for doing something simple as supporting people of color, and are often only outspoken when it’s convenient.
However, because he’s speaking in favor of Mencken, as well as some of the rhetoric that other attendants at the conference had, it truly just emphasizes how calculated and aware some people with power are, and how they can twist these nuanced concepts around to get what they want, even if what they want is completely contradictory.
The end of the episode truly exemplified the sad reality the writers of Succession wanted to highlight.
The next morning, Logan insists that the family take a photo with Mencken, as they had chosen him to be the next President (which Logan will probably come to regret considering how uncontrollable Mencken seems to be). Shiv refuses and argues that they can take the photo without her, but Logan isn’t having any of it. Their interaction is reminiscent of a father and his elementary school daughter, trying to get her to play nice and not embarrass them in front of everyone else, minimizing her feelings and reason for her decision.
It’s when Logan asks Shiv if she’s part of the family, a clear threat behind his words, that she agrees to be in the photo, but she stands as far away from him and doesn’t smile. But even though she finally acquiesces and does what her father wants, in spite of her own morals and comfort, her short-lived rebellion was enough to earn Logan’s ire.
Despite her feelings, Shiv took the photo with Mencken, which will be taken as her endorsing him. No matter how begrudgingly she did it, she still accepted him, even if what she was truly doing was trying to stay on her father’s good side.
Like Tom, she knows it’s safer to stay on Logan’s side, even if everything she’s apart of makes her sick; Kendall had left, she could have as well. But it’s not that easy, and Succession acknowledges that difficulty without waving from its criticism.
Best: 10/10