Succession Ramps Up the Drama for the Coming War in Season 4, Episode 2: Recap
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The post Succession Ramps Up the Drama for the Coming War in Season 4, Episode 2: Recap appeared first on Consequence.
[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Succession, Season 4 Episode 2, “Rehearsal.”]
“I want to know that we’re killing the opposition; slitting their throats,” Logan Roy (Brian Cox) yells from the bullpen of ATN, riling up his version of a crew (read: white people in businesswear). “You’re fucking pirates.”
This week’s episode of Succession picks up shortly after the tight, simmering introduction last week’s premiere brought us, upping the ante in a few ways. Even so, this season feels like it’s still on the on-ramp — we’re clearly gearing up for bigger events, and the restraint exhibited by Jesse Armstrong and company in “Rehearsal” is impressive. This isn’t to say that anything we’ve seen so far has been boring; how could it be, with the consistency of one-liners and head-spinning insults? But these first two entries into Season 4, Succession‘s last dance, have felt like groundwork being laid.
The title of the episode refers to the rehearsal dinner for the impending wedding between Connor (Alan Ruck) and Willa (Justine Lupe), the latter of whom is visibly panicking at the commitment she’s supposed to be making when morning comes. Meanwhile, Shiv (Sarah Snook), Kendall (Jeremy Strong), and Roman (Kieran Culkin) are too caught up in their own escapades and never-ending desire to win a round with their father to properly support Connor on Wedding Eve. Willa might be a runaway bride, and Connor just wants to sing karaoke, but the focus remains on Sandy, Stewie, comparables, and everyone’s next moves.
Yes, Episode 2 grants us an always-welcome appearance by Arian Moayed’s Stewie, whose energy with Kendall could be studied and unpacked in an essay all its own. Whenever the friendship/bromance/rivalry falters or cracks, we get a glimpse of the real feelings everyone in this universe works so hard to mask. The way Stewie pleads for Kendall to hear him out with an impassioned utterance of his name? Theatrics! Drama! Emotion!
Meanwhile, Tom and Greg are busy coping with Logan’s decision to spend more time at ATN going forward, along with the subplot of Logan’s assistant, Kerry (Zoe Winters), being given a shot at a hosting gig (to some quite disastrous results). These executives love to deflect and dodge, and ultimately, it somehow becomes Greg’s responsibility to let Kerry know that she won’t be moving forward in the role. While the focus group he fabricated in a panic might not be real, I’d personally love to see what notes on “arms being wrong for television” would look like.
Succession (HBO)
Primarily, in “Rehearsal,” we start to see the flimsy partnership between Kendall, Shiv, and Roman start to fray. Kendall ducks out to take a call with Alexander Skarsgård’s Lukas Matsson, but tells Shiv and Roman he was speaking with Stewie; he turns around and teams up with Shiv to scold Roman for communicating with their father on his birthday behind their backs moments later.
The bickering takes a brief backseat in a truly inspired sequence in which Connor’s American dream briefly comes true — the four siblings make their way to a karaoke bar, where Connor makes the choice of singing Leonard Cohen’s “Famous Blue Raincoat.” (Whichever writer selected this song specifically, please drop your address so that I can send you a thank-you gift basket.) Roman calls it “Guantanamo levels of torture”; I call it peak television.
Tragically, we don’t get to see which songs the rest of the siblings would have chosen, although it feels pretty obvious that Ken would have given his all to a rendition of Biggie Smalls’ “Big Poppa,” and the results would have been incredibly offensive. The party is crashed by Logan himself, where he offers the vaguest, flimsiest apology perhaps in human history to his children. Connor gives their father a bit of breathing room, but his three younger siblings are fresh out of forgiveness.
It’s in this sequence that we revisit some past traumas that have only been alluded to in previous seasons — physical abuse of Roman as a child, Logan locking up Connor’s mother, and, of course, the explosive betrayal that took place at the end of Season 3. Logan’s attempt to get everyone close to the same page before a board meeting fails, but when he exits with a huff, it seems like Kerry is just as hurt following Kendall’s congratulations on her first major betrayal from Logan.
Succession (HBO)
One of the most impressive things about the writing in this show about generally awful people is the way it manages to imbue sympathy and nuance into just about everyone onscreen. This applies to witnessing Kerry’s disappointment, and Shiv and Tom’s divorce conversation falls into the same bucket, but it’s Connor’s confession at the end of the episode that will break the viewer’s heart most this week. He’s disappointed by the fact that his family couldn’t put aside their squabbling even on the night before his wedding, but he’s just as resigned to this reality. “The good thing about having a family that doesn’t love you is you learn to live without it,” he says. “I’m a plant that grows on rocks and lives off insects that die inside me. If Willa doesn’t come back, it’s fine, because I don’t need love. It’s like a superpower.”
If that weren’t devastating enough (it is!), the episode ends with the biggest betrayal of all — Roman crawling back to Logan. We feel his doubt in every moment he’s in the room, and Kieran Culkin turns in as layered work as ever. He winces at every word out of Logan’s mouth like he’s being struck, despite the fact that his father is welcoming him back warmly. “I need you,” Logan says before the episode cuts to black, and it’s all the viewer needs to hear to know which way Roman’s alliances will turn.
It was inevitable that the Roy siblings’ shaky alliance would unravel — we just didn’t know it would be quite this soon.
Best One-Liner: “It’s like Jaws, if everyone in Jaws worked for Jaws.” — Greg “The Egg” Hirsch, one half of noted duo The Disgusting Brothers
New episodes of Succession Season 4 premiere Sundays on HBO and HBO Max.
Succession Ramps Up the Drama for the Coming War in Season 4, Episode 2: Recap
Mary Siroky
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