Succession: Lion in the Meadow
November 8, 2021 6:02 PM - Season 3, Episode 4 - Subscribe

Logan and Kendall have their first meeting together with Josh, a major investor worried about their family feud.
posted by guiseroom (31 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
We don’t get embarrassed.

The last two shots: 1) Kendall looking out the window and seeing Stewie meeting with Adrian Brody’s character, and 2) Closeup of Kendall realizing the extent of the situation and thinking of what he needs to do next to survive.

Tom punching down, as he does.

Shiv being undermined, again. I wonder if her pressuring Ravenwood will haunt her. Connor wanting more, and indicating that his candidacy isn’t dead. Gerri continuing to play consigliere to Roman. Roman not seeing that the tattoo man was bad optics for himself.

Can we talk about the actor who played the tattooed homeless man? Everything about him, from his initial body language with his backpack over his jacket, to the way he carefully brushed his hair over his forehead…it just oozed of a human trying their best to reclaim their dignity. I hope he takes the money and runs.

The (multiple) awkward silences when Logan and Kendall were left alone. Biding their time.

Rabbit cam.

Personally, I would not watch Connor hyper decant on network TV.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 6:24 PM on November 8, 2021 [10 favorites]


Also: Gourmando.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 6:30 PM on November 8, 2021 [6 favorites]


Pine Barrens. That’s what this episode reminded me of.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 7:19 PM on November 8, 2021 [6 favorites]


The rabbit cam was hilarious because Kendall was so clear that he was thus A Good Dad with straight out bribery and handing it over to his PA to actually do, a sharp insight into how low his parenting is and how much much further down Logan's is, given that Kendall feels he's doing better. I fear for the bunny's future.

Connor's dismissal of Shiv was casually cruel and accurate. She has definite experience and skills from a real career and yet she's treated worse than Roman who has only recently started getting seriously involved too. The misogyny runs so hard and deep, and it's great to see how Gerri has navigated it. Also seeing Roman's actual jealousy was a nice touch.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 7:21 PM on November 8, 2021 [7 favorites]


Also, I just noticed someone had sent Greg courtesy pastries and he said “I think I’m being courted.”
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 7:22 PM on November 8, 2021


MetaFilter: I’d castrate you and marry you in a heartbeat.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 7:24 PM on November 8, 2021 [5 favorites]


So Josh was 100% trying to kill Logan and mess with Kendall’s head, right? “Oh, I don’t know my way around, I’m just a hapless billionaire wearing 16 shirts”?? The tattoo man idea was stupid. Connor is a bozo but I kind of respect his “I need 3-4 achievements” because that’s not wrong. I’m not convinced that Greg switched teams. A rough episode for Shiv re: Logan.

I feel like Tom is the person to watch.
posted by kat518 at 8:52 PM on November 8, 2021 [8 favorites]


Also it was cute when Logan asked his assistant if she wanted to hear the president freak out. I don’t know that I’ve seen him be cute before.

Was the subtext of the Nero and Sporus story that Tom is going to kill Shiv?
posted by kat518 at 9:15 PM on November 8, 2021 [3 favorites]


That wasn’t my take, more that Shiv is going to be a casualty of the war.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 4:09 AM on November 9, 2021 [1 favorite]


I love the idea of Greg running the theme part where he previously vomited out the eye holes of a mascot because he was too high.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 7:23 AM on November 9, 2021 [6 favorites]


It's weird that Connor is utterly ridiculous but also a little more human than everyone else? Like I don't know the backstory behind Roman's all-purpose fly-fishing story, but we've seen that Connor fell in love (or as close as he can come to it) with the woman he hired to perform intimacy, that he's always trying to introduce sentimentality into situations where you might expect it (but the other Roys disdain it), that he quite sensibly took his riches to the countryside and decided to play at aristocracy instead of playing at business.

Even now he's only insisting on joining the "business" side of things because he wants to become a terrible politician and understands that that's the quickest way of appearing accomplished. We're always looking at the Roy kids on a spectrum (biggest fuckup to least likely to fuck up), which is perhaps why Shiv feels so confident. Connor is pointing out that they're all just the same thing (worthless leech children expecting sinecure), and he's right, but it's so funny to put Shiv into this particular confrontation when Shiv is currently struggling to get the respect of the merit hires. Not to praise the merit hires -- but at least they didn't get there because they're related to Logan Roy. I think Logan would be an abusive boss and father regardless, but I do think part of his disdain for his kids is that he understands that they're just inheritors of his work.

"Better times, not for all," Greg rambles, chugging down a whiskey-and-coke before negotiating to be....uh 2IC in a mid-Atlantic regional amusement park? I know they're not doing COVID on the show, but it would be pretty funny if COVID hit right after this. It was funny contrasting his impatient, paternal charm in this scene with his frigid scenes with Kendall. Brian Cox is an excellent actor, and I think Logan is generally shown as a good liar, but that "He's a good kid. I love him" speech did not convince lmao. (And the performative hug Kendall gave Logan when they met at the investor's house was incredible -- like hugging a rabid dog!!)
posted by grandiloquiet at 7:45 AM on November 9, 2021 [2 favorites]


I think the scenes with Logan and Kendall were incredibly well-done. The dance of Kendall trying to parse Logan's praise and simultaneously not believing him, wanting to believe him, trying to remain immune to Logan and failing. The awkwardness of being an adult child of a parent and wanting their praise and acceptance while distrusting the parent (for good reason) and being angry at the parent and worried at the same time. There was a lot of conflicting emotion in those scenes and they did a great job.
posted by jzb at 9:21 AM on November 9, 2021 [11 favorites]


I wasn’t sure why Connor and his presidential ambitions wouldn’t shy away from being associated with a company that’s just been raided by the FBI.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 11:34 AM on November 9, 2021


No one will ever convince me otherwise that Succession isn't pure satire.

"Nero and Sporus? I'm not familiar with that I.P." ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
posted by stowaway at 12:04 PM on November 9, 2021 [10 favorites]


Yeah Greg’s “IP” line got a laugh out of me too.
posted by good in a vacuum at 12:11 PM on November 9, 2021


Agree that the scenes with Logan and Kendall were very well done. The profile shots of Logan against the beachy backdrop was very picturesque while Kendall glowered under his baseball cap. The “it will be okay” speech felt poignant - I wanted to ask, and I’m sure Kendall wanted to ask, “do you mean it?!” Also why is Logan so awkward with Josh? Does he not know how to people? I get it. I, too, do not know how to people.
posted by kat518 at 3:32 PM on November 9, 2021 [1 favorite]


I wonder how much the power inversion threw Logan. I think (?) someone in this episode described Josh as someone who wanted be liked, and fair enough, but the guy we saw in this episode was not someone who wanted the Roys' favor. He made them fly out to see him, took them on a death march to a lunch where no one ate, then described the situation as "King Kong coming out to dance for me." Kendall invited him to his birthday and Josh didn't even give a polite no! I don't know Josh was fully ready to ditch the Roys, but it feels like he was 80% of the way there. I'm not sure Logan remembered how to do business from a position of relative weakness, and he really hated the reminder.
posted by grandiloquiet at 4:01 PM on November 9, 2021 [1 favorite]


I could be totally wrong but I thought that Logan was talking to Shiv about Karl and said that Karl wants to be liked, which could be a problem during negotiations with Sandy and Stewy.

I have a hard time believing that Josh didn’t know his way around the island (I thought it was his island?) which makes me think he was testing Logan’s health. I feel like a dynamic I didn’t appreciate initially is Josh feeling like he’s being disrespected and Logan not being able to win him over. If he can’t buy people off, Logan doesn’t know how to relate, and he can’t buy Josh.

Moreover, Logan doesn’t seem to have a plan beyond maintain control and keep making money. Kendall’s “plan” is a vague buzzword salad but it seems like Logan’s got nothing.
posted by kat518 at 4:31 PM on November 9, 2021 [2 favorites]


Josh was interesting I guess, but I feel like this episode threw cold water all over the plot after the tension of last week's ending in the FBI raid. Just how long are we going to build up to this board meeting?

I am here for the real estate porn though. I wouldn't mind it if every episode I got a good look at another ridiculous billionaire palace for sale.
posted by j.r at 7:07 PM on November 9, 2021 [2 favorites]


This is the short way but sometimes it takes longer.
posted by yonega at 8:53 PM on November 9, 2021 [23 favorites]


The hike back reminded me of Kazuo Ishiguro's The Unconsoled.

took them on a death march to a lunch where no one ate
Leaving all that beautiful seafood untouched stressed me the fuck out. I'll eat it!

This season is pretty rough to watch. All the kids are so tragically incompetent in their own ways. I don't know what it's like to be a potential heir to billions of dollars, I guess, but I don't understand why none of them peaced out of there to live in quiet anonymity many years ago. Connor is the closest but he's doing everything he can do dive back in at what is obviously a terrible time to be connected with the company and the family. WHY? Go live in the mountains and grow your own food.
posted by something something at 6:07 AM on November 10, 2021 [2 favorites]


Ah, to be so rich you can stand to leave a lobster untouched...

This season has honed in on the problem of being raised by a very successful parent whose whole style is to deny the effort it took to get to that success (and takes to stay there). We admittedly don't get a ton of Logan's backstory, but it's certainly implied that whatever advantages he may of had to give him a leg up, he's also a workaholic. As much as one can, he's earned his "oh fuck off" bluster. Not that it really works for him - we see again and again that it's actually his weakness - it's off putting to people, he overplays his hand...but he's powerful enough that he can get away with it (so far).

But his kids? They all, to varying degrees, have mostly absorbed Logan's bluster rather than his drive. Shiv is perhaps most painful to watch because she does, on some level, get that she needs to work hard if she's going to successfully take over, but whenever she feels vulnerable she's quick to dip into her father's mannerisms creating some truly cringe moments.
posted by coffeecat at 8:43 AM on November 10, 2021 [3 favorites]


> I am here for the real estate porn though. I wouldn't mind it if every episode I got a good look at another ridiculous billionaire palace for sale.

My first reaction to seeing Logan and Kendall being driven down the narrow isthmus between the private landing strip and Josh's glass palace was "Yeah, that's going to be entirely washed away with the next Hurricane Sandy... and if not that, permanently underwater in a decade due to global warming."
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul at 6:31 PM on November 10, 2021 [2 favorites]


My first reaction to seeing Logan and Kendall being driven down the narrow isthmus between the private landing strip and Josh's glass palace was "Yeah, that's going to be entirely washed away with the next Hurricane Sandy... and if not that, permanently underwater in a decade due to global warming."

Oh, absolutely. It's sheer hubris. We see it in our real-life billionaires too: keep extracting profit and consuming to excess, and somehow they'll be insulated from all the havoc that's coming. And that entire Instagram I linked (plus this show) has an audience, so we must enjoy looking at it, whether we feel disgust or envy or some mixture of both.

I read somewhere that the show isn't planning to show Covid as a presence either because that set just doesn't deal with it the same way the rest of us have to, or at least won't face the same consequences of ignoring it. It's delusion but in a way they're not wrong--for now money solves all of those problems. We're watching them deal with the one they can't solve: the gaping emotional void that lives inside.
posted by j.r at 11:17 AM on November 11, 2021


Kendall had a chance to be a killer. Kendall, even now, is not a killer.
posted by whuppy at 7:10 PM on November 11, 2021 [3 favorites]


if not that, permanently underwater in a decade due to global warming

Josh will sell it at a huge loss and cash in on an equally large tax break. Still a pretty location for now. Smart short-term investment for a short-term investor.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 3:18 AM on November 15, 2021


Josh was wearing so many layers that my roommate and I paused the show and counted them. Certainly he can afford a properly warm jacket?
posted by radioamy at 8:31 PM on November 22, 2021




No one's going to mention Tom spinning out over properly burping toilet wine?
posted by Pronoiac at 8:56 PM on December 4, 2021 [3 favorites]


Has Kendall ever in this entire show been right when he confidently stated that someone was on his side? After that disastrous meeting he says "Josh is a lock" and I actually laughed. How many times has he done this?
posted by Mavri at 5:22 PM on December 19, 2021 [3 favorites]


Personally, I would not watch Connor hyper decant on network TV.
Oh, I don't know! Would certainly watch Tom's guest appearance to talk toilet wine and its proper burping.

Agree that the scenes with Logan and Kendall were very well done.
With some silences between the two which were long enough to compete with the most taciturn Scandi-noir drama.

I have been thinking about Logan's nickname for Shiv: Pinkie. Its an interesting name for several reasons: pinkie - the little finger - is, like Logan, of Scottish origin and imported to American use (it is not used in England much). If you are Logan and you have 4 kids - and the youngest, the little one, is a girl - then of course she is "pinkie". Whether pinkie is #4 of #5 depends on whether you count the thumb - and there is a potential hint of another lost sibling, I guess. But it is also the name for those naked baby mice that you can buy to feed to reptiles. It is interesting how Logan has terms of endearment for each of his kids - which are both heartfelt sounding and rather creepy.
posted by rongorongo at 5:15 AM on January 11, 2022 [2 favorites]


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