Who Won the 'Succession' Game of Thrones This Week?
It’s inevitable, really, that any high-profile drama HBO puts its weight behind for the next decade will get the requisite Game of Thrones comparisons. When Succession premiered last summer, it lacked the kind of marketing blitz or media chatter that marked the latter seasons of Thrones. But a heady combination of Shakespearean drama, slap-you-in-the-face-smart dialogue, and a roster of thoroughly depraved antiheroes quietly positioned it as the next must-watch chronicle of power-playing intrigue. A darkly comic depiction of a corporate media behomoth, Waystar Royco, whose fate is pitching between its ailing chairman and his squabbling children, Succession introduced us to the Roy family and immediately drew comparisons to the Murdochs' News Corporation. And while lampooning the mucousy underbelly beneath the lifestyles of the rich and famous may not be as visceral as the fucks-and-guts fare of Thrones, the connections to real-world high drama cruelly elevates the stakes. Cersei Lannister wouldn't stand a chance against Shiv Fucking Roy.
In the new season, former heir apparent Kendall (Jeremy Strong) suffers the aftershocks of a Chappaquiddick-style car accident at his sister Shiv's (Sarah Snook) wedding, derailing his hostile takeover of the family empire after his father finds out and uses the ensuing cover-up to manipulate his son. In this new power vacuum, old and new contenders vie for the company crown with renewed energy—and the comparisons between the cutthroat musical chairs of Succession and Game of Thrones are more striking than ever. That's why every week, BAZAAR.com is watching the throne and naming the winners and losers in the battle for Waystar Royco. Here's the verdict for Succession's Season 2 premiere, "The Summer Palace."
The Loser: Kendall
It's no competition. Kendall is so pathetic, he even gets a pep talk and sympathy cheek-kiss from Lady MacRoy herself, the inscrutable Marcia (Hiam Abbass)—though it's unclear if her gesture is an act of pity, a mocking victory lap, or simply more screw-turning on behalf of her husband. After all, this episode is essentially 60 minutes of nonstop humiliation for Kendall at the hands of his father. It begins with Logan (Brian Cox) sending an emissary to abruptly pluck his prodigal son out of an Icelandic spa, where he's "detoxing" after the disaster at Shiv's wedding, to deliver him to an excruciating television appearance. There, Kendall obediently parrots Logan's PR spin about why he abandoned the hostile takeover. It's good optics for the company, though not necessarily Kendall; as Shiv's husband Tom (Matthew Macfadyen) puts it, "he looks waxy, like an unshaven candle."
The episode ends with Logan ditching Kendall right before a meeting with his former co-conspirators Sandy (Larry Pine) and Stewy (Arian Moayed), once again leaving the loser to deliver a message from his father: Logan "will go bankrupt or go to jail before he lets you beat him. He will kill you on the business, and if that doesn't work, he will send people around, he will send men to kill your pets and fuck your wives, and it will never be over." Kendall first recites his lines with all the emotion of a neutered hound dog—as Roman so aptly described him earlier in the episode—but by the end of his monologue, his dead eyes light up for the first time, rekindled by his father's rage. It's a chilling transformation, but one that only seems to signify just how much Logan has broken him.
Meanwhile, Kendall's siblings have no idea why he aborted his coup, let alone why he's so faithfully fallen in line as their father's lackey. Shiv, in particular, is still pissed her brother's about-face ruined her wedding, and when he offers her a weak apology, her response—"How dare you apologize to me," she spits—is the bitter topper to an episode filled with verbal abuse. Shiv and Roman (Keiran Culkin) are particularly relentless, and the volley of crassly poetic insults thrown at their brother in this episode alone include:
"A sweaty corpse"
"A fucking joke"
"A fucking prick"
"Elvis on the fucking toilet"
"Pure carcass"
"Dead man walking"
"A sex robot for dad to fuck"
"An old beaten dog"
"Both of those things, and also piece of shit"
"A pathetic little fucking narcissist who repeatedly puts his own self interest above everything else and then tries to justify it with half-assed appeals to the rigors of the fucking market"
"Fuckbag"
Even the rotting raccoon stuck inside the chimney of the Roy family summer home can't compete with the stench of disgrace stuck to Kendall. It's going to take a while to air out.
The Winner: Shiv
The smartest of Logan's four children spent most of Succession's first season rejecting the fetters of the Roy name to varying degrees of success. She managed to forge her own path in the political sphere, navigating the inner machinations of the Waystar Royco empire without getting caught up in them, and mostly avoided the manipulative traps Logan routinely set for his kids. Other than a few cursory pop-ins to the family penthouse and a passing interest in the health of their empire via her then-fiancé Tom (Matthew Macfadyen), who ran the company's cruise ship and theme park division, Shiv devoted most of her time to her own endeavors. And if that meant antagonizing her withholding father by consulting on the presidential campaign of one of his biggest political enemies, well, that's just a bonus for the Roys' most competent and overlooked scion.
This season, Shiv has taken herself off the bench, breezing into every frame with a newfound determination to get in the scrum. Her every move seems calculated to needle her way onto the Roy throne—or at least, cast the deciding ballot. For one thing, she's got a killer new haircut. ("I hate it," Roman tells her. "That's because it's stylish," she counters.) She cuts her honeymoon short to ensure she doesn't miss a moment of the negotiations, and she challenges her father openly when he calls the family to their Hamptons summer house to decide the future of their empire. Logan claims to want honest feedback in the face of the current acquisition bid: stay with the company, or sell it? Shiv is the first to call him out: "Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law." She challenges him in private too: Sell the damn thing. Less baggage and more money for her. Or stick with it. She doesn't care. She hasn't given the future of the company much thought, but, oh, off the top of her head, there are some "obvious moves" Logan could make...
The exchange that follows between Logan and Shiv is a masterclass in emotional sparring. She says she doesn't care about the company; he half-heartedly offers it to her. She rejects the offer; he says he'll give it to Kendall instead. She walks into his trap, threatening to destroy Kendall if he takes over. Logan offers the company to her again, earnestly this time, and threatens to tweet right now that he's selling unless she takes him up on the offer. She finally caves. "Remember this. This is it," Logan tells a tearful Shiv as she agrees to be CEO. There are conditions, of course. Logan promises to secretly fast-track her through the corporate ranks and, eventually, install her at the top. There will be considerable preparation and maneuvering, Roman and Kendall back in the saddle as co-COOs, Gerri falsely positioned as the next CEO to investors, and so on. For her part, Shiv has to figure out what to do with Tom, who's also gunning for the CEO job, but lands him a top job in the news division in the meantime.
In the excitement of finally being tapped as the next heir apparent, Shiv may not grasp the totality of all these conditions—or of how many loopholes, escape hatches, and opportunities for leverage they provide her father. Much has been written about the parallels between the Roys and the Murdochs, and between Waystar mouthpiece ATN and Fox News. Neither real-life entity is known for its feminist credentials. Is Logan Roy really going to announce a girl as the successor to his multi-billion-dollar conglomerate? Shiv, never particularly daddy’s little girl, has quickly become daddy's little successor—for this week, but for how long?
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