Succession: Hunting
August 25, 2019 11:30 PM - Season 2, Episode 3 - Subscribe

Logan informs his skeptical management team of his plan to make another attempt to acquire Pierce, a rival media company and one of the most respected names in news, and brings back Frank to work on the deal. Convinced the acquisition is a terrible idea, Shiv asks Tom to deliver the message to Logan at a corporate retreat in Hungary.
posted by JimBennett (14 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
the whole "boar on the floor" scene really reminded me of jesse armstrong's other show, peep show. of course there the horror of a game invented out of pure paranoia in order to humiliate others would be played for laughs, whereas here the same situation's comedic absurdity is used to show it's horror.
posted by JimBennett at 12:57 AM on August 26, 2019 [1 favorite]


Shiv sending Tom to talk to Logan about Pierce seems like an indication that the lure of the CEO job is already starting to mess with her critical faculties. She knows that Logan has no respect for Tom - a man he called "fathoms beneath" her - so it's hard to see how that would play out to her advantage.
posted by Ragged Richard at 7:51 AM on August 26, 2019


Also, I cannot wait to see Roman in management training.
posted by Ragged Richard at 7:52 AM on August 26, 2019 [2 favorites]


That boar on the floor scene was brilliant. The whole dinner party was brilliant. It was like watching a mad king.

I don't particularly care for Roman but when his father called him a moron and he tried to stand up for himself, he suddenly seemed more like a "real person" to me than he ever had before. The scene between him and Jeri was great, too, but those scenes are always great. I love J. Smith-Cameron, she's somehow even better here than she was on Rectify, and she was pretty awesome on Rectify.

I was honestly kind of surprised by Jeri's suggestion that Logan would take Roman more seriously if he went through the management training program. Logan is always wanting people to battle it out directly; a dedicated training program kind of seems too nurturing for his taste. But Roman should go through it regardless, to keep from making mistakes out of ignorance, like he did with Naomi Pierce.

For the first time, I kind of liked Tom. He didn't sell Greg out. He didn't sell himself out by being everybody's patsy with Logan, either. I don't think that Shiv thought that Logan would listen to Tom, she and Jeri had just decided that he'd take the bullet for everyone having doubts about Pierce. He was the designated cannon fodder. Also, Shiv might not be entirely on Tom's side. He's sort of her rival for the CEO spot. Not an especially threatening rival, but still a rival. She's going to put him in his place at the company via Logan. And she's going to put him in his place at home via hot one night stand guy. I think she was degrading him to emphasize/flex her power over him and I like that he didn't just take it. I also liked that he didn't turn around and do the same thing to Greg as was being done to him, like he usually does.

One moment that I found really spooky was when Logan was leaning on Kendell at the dinner table and having Kendell speak for him, like Kendell was literally his puppet. You could tell that Kendell was working for Logan when he was smoking out Roman earlier, because we have seen Logan use that tactic a ton of times whereas it's not Kendell's usual style, but when the "puppetry" got really visible onscreen, at that dinner table, with Logan's hand practically in Kendell's back moving his lips... *shudder.*

My feelings toward Frank also changed. I had liked him OK before, he's always been pretty affable and low-key even while getting insulted. But this episode it seemed like he was just a stuffed shirt, an empty shell. "To old friends." Bah. Just a computer simulation of a human, I guess.

I kind of wonder if one of the reasons that Logan would want him back is as a hostage to keep Kendell in line. Roman knows that Frank is basically just Logan's toady, but for Kendell, that seems to basically be his "work dad" in the way some people have a "work wife." Although it's weird because Kendell's actual dad is also his actual boss, but you know. Anyhow, I wonder if Logan is going to make Kendell do something horrible to Frank, if Kendell ever needs a reminder who's really in charge. Just seems like the kind of thing Logan would do.

Also, Roman's instincts seemed right -- what is Kendell's play in talking up Pierce? I mean, obviously he's going to be a "yes man," especially after Vaulter. But it seems like there's some kind of larger strategy behind it. Or maybe not, he did seem like a broken doll whenever Logan wasn't animating him.
posted by rue72 at 11:30 AM on August 26, 2019 [4 favorites]


I was already about 98% sure they wouldn't actually fly to Hungary when they mentioned the place, and was 1% more convinced when the license plates were fake and then googled and turns out it was shot on Long Island.

From the article: “We’re like, This feels like Hungary, why don’t we pitch that it’s in Hungary?”

It... really doesn't. But A for effort I guess. Also they did get some native speaker extras.

(Disclosure: I'm Hungarian.)

---

Oh yes, the episode. An acquaintance commented on the previous episode that "Shiv's gonna be so fucked" and I feel like this is further evidence that they are setting her up to a big fall by, say, the season finale. I absolutely love her and this pains me.
posted by KTamas at 6:13 AM on August 27, 2019 [3 favorites]


I wonder if the reason Kendell keeps talking up Pierce is because of how he thinks that'll affect the fight with Stewie and Sandy? Although I'm not sure how it would affect that fight.

But I say that because Logan made the point that if Waystar were able to take over this new network, they would become too big of a fish for Stewie and Sandy to even hope to reel in. So if Waystar fails in that takeover, does that mean that they'd be reduced to a size that Stewie and Sandy could handle? But how would that be helpful to Kendell at this point anyway?
posted by rue72 at 7:23 AM on August 27, 2019


An acquaintance commented on the previous episode that "Shiv's gonna be so fucked" and I feel like this is further evidence that they are setting her up to a big fall by, say, the season finale. I absolutely love her and this pains me.

It's worth mentioning that the opening titles have been slightly reworked for this season. Season 1's version most prominently featured a young Kendall, while the Season 2 version has more Shiv.
posted by Ragged Richard at 7:48 AM on August 27, 2019 [9 favorites]


Ha, that's a really good catch, Ragged Richard.
posted by KTamas at 8:58 AM on August 27, 2019


PSA: HBO is doing their Sunday lineup tonight (Friday, 8/30) because of the holiday weekend.
posted by Ragged Richard at 8:28 AM on August 30, 2019 [2 favorites]


The little flashes here and there that Kendall is still Kendall inside that husk.

Also the last scene, where his last ditch escape route is cut off.

Holy crap this show is incredible.
posted by biscotti at 5:42 AM on August 31, 2019


I loved Tom coming through for Greg. I double loved whatever is going on with Roman and Jeri!
posted by sallybrown at 5:47 PM on September 1, 2019


Ahhh damn, I finally have a glimmer of feeling for Tom. How dare they.

That dinner scene was something. Last season Logan was too frail to physically bully people, so it was all emotional abuse. This episode really gave a sense of how terrifying it would be to be raised by this guy. As much as I hate Roman, it does make me think about his first season childhood trauma of being locked in a cage like a dog. Logan is such a monster.

Starting to get a real Joss Sackler vibe from Willa.
posted by grandiloquiet at 8:10 PM on September 2, 2019 [2 favorites]


Last season Logan was too frail to physically bully people, so it was all emotional abuse. This episode really gave a sense of how terrifying it would be to be raised by this guy.

Yeah, it just felt so dangerous. Logan was out of control and nobody was big or strong or tough enough to stop him, no matter what he might do.

That's why I was so impressed when Roman said that he wasn't a moron. It was like watching a puffed up little cat hissing at a pit bull.

You can see how both Logan's sons ended up with control issues.

Credit to Logan for at least being gallant enough not to force a woman down there on the floor, though. Such a relief when he gave Geri a pass.
posted by rue72 at 2:19 PM on September 3, 2019 [1 favorite]


The dinner scene finally managed to capture an energy as horrible as the baseball scene in the first episode. Only in this case the people being bullied aren't strangers, minor workers. They're second string family and major workers.

This episode had me wondering more about the non-family that chooses to work with Logan. The four kids, we understand, they're trapped by a lifetime of craziness with their father. But why is Gerri in the sphere? She's a competent and driven lawyer, she could be general counsel anywhere. Or Karl, humiliated as one of the boars? He seems a little like a loser but the kind of white guy loser who fails up. We're starting to see some of Frank's motivations at least, he needs the money and literally doesn't know where else to go. But what kind of people does Logan attract to his sphere?

Cyd Peach is a breath of fresh air on the show in this way. She's a great character so far.
posted by Nelson at 10:26 AM on September 14, 2019 [2 favorites]


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