‘Succession’ Season 2, Episode 9 Recap: Culture of Exploitation

While we are led to believe it is Grandpa Grumpy (Ewen) who is financing the whistle-blower, we shouldn’t forget that Nan Pierce did not go quietly into her knitting room (as if!) after she stormed out of the mogul gathering and fired Rhea. It could be Nan masterminding the whole thing, which would be a fitting payback for a misogynist like Logan, in which case he would indeed take the fall.

"(It’s not even absolutely certain that she was sleeping with Logan, even though every one of the Roy kids assumed she was.)" Logan's current wife Marcia also believes he's sleeping with Rhea--given her questions to Rhea about STDs. I think the blood sacrifice might be Shiv--Logan is underwhelmed by her massive coup, and therefore his assessment of her abilities; she also brought a bungling idiot into the Roy family; and, well, Logan's a mysogynist.

Dramatically, don't we have too much of a parallel with last season's finale if Kendall is the sacrifice? If Tom goes down, there would be a blood sacrifice of his marriage. We have been led to believe that Ewan is financing the take-down, but maybe it's not him???? This is my first time commenting, so a question on a previous episode-- didn't we hear Roman on the phone asking that his management training partner get fast-tracked for promotion?

Devastating episode. A couple of thoughts: Shiv’s persuasion of the witness not to testify to Congress channels the sequence in The Godfather when Frankie Pantangeli declines to tell all about the Corleone crime family. Kendall, always craving but never getting his father’s approval, seeks it again after doing well at the hearing. He doesn’t get it and my guess is he could very well be the “spilled blood” required to solidify the merger. Logan tells Rhea she is “fungible,” which underscores the icy center at the heart of this great series.

The trailer for next week seemed to have hinted that the board will demand that Logan be the sacrifice. There is no way he would offer himself up, but I am counting the minutes until I get to see how he maneuvers his way out of this. And fantasizing about seeing him in prison garb.

I´m betting the blood sacrifice will be Shiv. she is the only "expendable" to her dad, plus the only one seen "intimidating a witness" for him...

I love how Bill went from a patsy and the poor sap who showed up to “cheer on his team” at the congressional hearing, to what everyone (Roys & TV audience) should have expected of a former executive at Waystar - a snake in the grass playing the part of a kindhearted “aw shucks” grandpa, with nuclear collateral (“I should write my memoirs ... I have diaries”... wink, wink). Reaching the C-suite in corporate America generally requires some combination of savvy and sociopath; you don’t end up heading a major division of a conglomerate if you’re a sucker (the exception being Tom). Bill saw the writing on the wall, and showed up to Washington with his own thinly veiled agenda, and played his hand the first chance he had with Logan.

I concur with others here that the blood sacrifice may be Logan himself. The scandal predates Tom and Greg, although obviously their shenanigans are now public knowledge, and neither are really satisfying red meat for the kind of slaughter Logan knows is necessary. So now Logan is back to where we started who does he name to lead Waystar. And man, his kids sure did step up in this episode to do what was necessary to protect his hide, and their fortunes. He may be a tyrant of a dad but he sure does know his kids and their respective strengths and weaknesses, and in a sadistic way he gives them the confidence to hone up on their strengths. Boy I'm going to miss this show when the season ends!

When the whistle blower on TV briefly mentioned Kendall Roy in a positive light, saying that he had tried to clean things up in the company, did anyone notice the momentary sidelong glance Logan gave his son? Hard to figure out what that looked conveyed (Disdain? Bitterness? Irony?). Whatever it was, it certainly wasn't positive. That look alone makes me think Kendall will be the blood sacrifice. The directing for this show is incredibly well done.

Roman: "Protect the egg chamber."

Last night’s episode was like a mash up of the Veep Season 4 testimony episode and The Godfather 2 hearings, with Logan playing the I-know-nothing role of Frank Pentangeli. I’m not sure the blood letting will be a person or dirt and scandal unleashed on the Roy’s enemies. However, if it’s a person, my guess would be Tom since his testimony was awful, he ordered the destruction of evidence, and Greg has the proof. This could fire up Shiv, who would see it as an affront to her influence and lead her to go to war with The Family. I really liked “the tallest dwarf” and “the weakest strongman” lines and will use them in future. I cackled at Roman’s jealousy of the lawyer’s attraction to Geri. I hope kidnapped Roman will be okay.

I think the board will demand that Logan step down.

I somehow missed the fact that Roman had traveled to Turkey - I must have been refilling my cup of tea at that point as I thought they were at a hotel in DC..... Did we get to see them actually traveling?

It’s hard to predict an outcome here, but I suspect the blood sacrifice will be Logan Roy himself. I’m reminded of the Fisher King of “The Golden Bough” vegetation myths –The king’s blood is sacrificed to fertilize the wasteland and heal the kingdom. The tribal king must die to save his people. Did I glimpse a copy of “The Golden Bough” last week? Oedipus Rex is a typical Fisher King character, via Freud. Note the most obvious: Logan tells Roman that he does not need a psychotherapist because “I don’t want to sleep with my mother,” even though Roman might. Someone commented that Ewan represents the Greek Chorus, I see him now more as a blindly bigoted Tiresias, predicting the future. In episode 9, Rhea might be seen as a principled Tiresias also, admittedly blind to who Logan really is. Marcia, on the other hand, claims to know who he is. The trick to soothing Logan (and King Lear) seems to be Knowing Who He Is. Siobhan plays that card superbly. There is a lot of mythic mix-and-match going on, with characters seen floating between motivation and strategy. The Greek stuff may be too pseudo- for some tastes, but current events with mythological archetypes are what “Succession” is serving up. And it’s delicious. I loved the simplicity of the way Siobhan took off her heels on the playground so as not to tower over the already trembling victim/witness. Her whole persuasion speech was masterful. As Roy praised Siobhan last week, “You get it.”

I'm wide open on who the blood sacrifice will be, but I'm wondering if Logan doesn't have fewer options on this than he believes. I think that Shiv would come to the rescue of either of her brothers; I know, that seems counter-intuitive, but given what we've seen of their terrible mother, I think the three younger Roy children would stick together when the chips are down, just as I think they wouldn't hesitate to throw Connor under the bus if it was necessary. Speaking of Connor, his mother has been referred to in passing as having mental problems, but that might just have been Roman being a jerk. I wonder who they could find to play her in Season 3? I think Elaine May would be fantastic - imagine the scenes she and Brian Cox could have! I'm not sure Cousin Greg fits the bill for sacrifice. He's family, true, but I'm not sure even Logan would attempt something that might bring his brother Ewan out swinging. Again this episode, standout performances from all the supporting cast, especially J. Cameron Smith as Gerri. I wouldn't push Gerri too far, either. This last episode should be interesting, fellow Successors.

As the recap and several comments discuss, the parallels between our current reality and the fiction of the show are compelling. While I fully realize that the episodes of this season were filmed some time ago, talk of whistle blowers, congressional hearings, etc., seemed almost too immediate not to have been written, filmed, edited and broadcast all yesterday. When I awoke this morning to the news of the Turkish invasion of the Kurdish areas of Syria, and then when I just heard a report MSNBC that some in the Trump administration are trying to make Rick Perry the fall guy for Trump's most recent criminality, the irony was compounded. I don't think Rhea is done for the show, nor do I think any of the potential candidates for sacrifice will be leaving the show even if they leave Waystar, barring death that is. Logan could allow himself to be the one if he realizes he has a very short time to live. Then again, since he dropped the final line with only Shiv present, I did wonder if he was preparing her either for Tom's demise or for her eventual rise if the sacrifice is Kendall or himself. Roman's "success" in Turkey is sure to turn into a serious problem for the family, but probably not until next season.

This is funny! Jesse Armstrong and his talented team of writers and showrunners must be intoxicated with joy and downright giddy with the airing of this episode following a week of turbulent non-fiction parallels. The 'Succession' whistleblower characterizing victims as "no real persons involved" is not only the height of sadness and injustice with the lowest return on redemption, but that the highest return on investment is lowering the standards of principles and integrity afforded to the 0.001%. I think Kendall is the "blood" or "skull."

I think the blood sacrifice will be Tom although I hate to see him go. It is somewhat odd that the brilliant Shiv decided on him to be wed to the family. She is guaranteed that he will be, shall we say, fungible, and he knows he has kind of been thrown under the bus when he finds out the details. The fact that he is stupid beyond belief makes it believable that he thinks he is destroying all the evidence. So not quite family blood but the sacrifice of Tom will hurt Shiv immensely .....

I feel that the blood sacrifice is going to be Kendall. Right after Logan says there has to be one, Kendall's name is mentioned, and who better for a major sacrifice than the #1 son? Greg and Tom are not candidates IMO, not nearly significant enough (especially Greg, as hearing evidenced, public doesn't even know who he is). Interesting that all the children have major successes when called upon by Logan in a crisis (even Con-head Connor who is visible showing support at hearing and apparently gaining traction politically). My second choice for a sacrifice - Logan himself, which seemed to be suggested in coming attractions.

I'm wondering what documents Greg managed to pull out of the fire. Will there be "the smoking gun?" Yeah, I know there's a pun there...

Logan will sacrifice himself to save the company and install one of the kids as CEO (Roman?) and continue to run the company (along w Gerri) behind the curtain.

Excellent recap. What I found particularly impressive in this riveting episode is that three of the four Roy children rose to the occasion in a manner that was entirety in keeping with each character. More impressive is how Logan, when faced with an existential threat to his empire, expertly used Roman, Kendall and Shiv to his own ends. In this, I disagree with the recap - I think Logan deliberately appeared foggy before throwing the hot potato to Kendall, precisely because he expected his perceived vulnerability would trigger a ferocious response from Kendall. (Is it just me, or was Kendall's turning the tables on Gil reminiscent of the scene in "The Aviator" when Howard Hughes exposes Senator Brewster's cynical conflict-of-interest?) On the other hand, I agree with the recap that Rhea appears something of a puzzle - not quite a deus ex machina character device, but her belated squeamishness appeared forced . . . though I loved her "so funge me" line! I can hardly wait for the season finale which, irony of irony given the cruise line debacle, appears to be set on a yacht.

Regarding the very funny “Con-heads” bit - I’m sure the recapper is too young to know, but “The Cone-heads” is an old SNL skit from the 70s. The joke was probably lost on anyone under 50!

Spoiler alert: I’m an unabashed Shiv supporter — the Roy-boys sniggering at her memo was nauseating, Roman’s put-downs (“Your period’s starting”; “Your bra’s showing”; “Your nips must be hard”) are rank junior high misogyny. However, I wish Shiv’s “turn” of the potential witness had actually landed for me. As stated in the recap, she empties out an entire toolbox of postures, even (gasp!) truth-telling. Absent a coherent argument, it’s as if the writers left what ultimately swayed the witness to conjecture, robbing Shiv of a chance to appear “as smart as she thinks she is.” Nice touch, though, that his only daughter receives a mere pat on the head from Logan for pulling the biggest rabbit out of the smallest hat.

Now that hat we know Bill has kept diaries if his time working on the Cruise line, he has some leverage. Don’t think the “blood sacrifice” will be him.

I thought that Greg would have used the documents somehow but it seems inconsequential unless he can produce them as proof of having tried to do the right thing. It would be cool to see this story line develop in season 3.

Thanks for the excellent and speedy recap for us early-rising fans. As for Rhea's motivations not being clear, I'd suggest that she is not a Pierce, just -as- so- to Tom is not a Roy. If the definition of "fungible" is inter-changeable, aren't they more easily replaced than a real Roy or a real Pierce? But Logan did say a "blood" sacrifice, didn't he? And only goods are supposed to be fungible, not persons, says Webster. Stay tuned - who could not!

The blood sacrifice has to be Greg. 1) First, that sets up the tragedy: -He's blood, that Tom is not. -He was talked out of his inheritance by Uncle Logan. -He gave up $250 million. -Everyone likes Greg. It'll feel like the slaughter of a lamb, as blood sacrifices should be. 2) Second, that sets up the true dynastic conflict in season 3. - Grandpa Ewan will come to the rescue of his beloved grandson. - The Ewan branch will tear down the Logan branch of the House of Roy (even sounds like Dallas, Ewan, Ewing) Thus far, the family conflict has been intra-mural, sibling against sibling, but it's just kids' play. No one actually wants to burn down the house. But Ewan does. There is no true family conflict until one branch plots to rip the roots off another branch.