Kendall and Shiv both tried to embrace new roles this week succession — but neither venture really turned out how they thought it would go.
After Kendall mocks Waystar and new CEO Gerri at a reporter, Logan is furious: “That rat steps one foot into this building, I’ll punch him in the f–king nose.” Shiv suggests holding a town hall meeting to notify Waystar employees (and to christen her new role as president), but Logan responds with a jerk off motion. When the FBI tries to subpoena him, he tells them to be “fk off”, but Gerri warns him to really cooperate or things could get worse. However, he does not deviate. “Fk out” it is. Tom puts Greg in a crappy new office as punishment for siding with Ken, and Roman reluctantly agrees to an interview of his own in an attempt to soften Logan’s image. (This is the guy who says “Fk off” all the time, right?)
Kendall and Naomi dress up for a big event and he yells “Fk the patriarchy” (?) to the reporters gathered outside. Inside, he finds Shiv, and she warns him to cool off with the interviews, as the Roys still need to retain control of the company at the next shareholders’ meeting. She insists she’s advocating for change from within, but he doesn’t believe it: “I’m sorry for you, Siobhan.”
He goes home and throws a party with Greg, who thinks the $40,000 (!) watch (better your credit card limit, Greg.) Kendall also invites people to watch a very Ziwe-esque nighttime host named Sophie ( played by Ziwe!) who laughs at him in her monologue. Everyone cringes, but he loves it: “This is being in the conversation.” In fact, he wants to go to her show and take a few shots in person.
Shiv reports to Logan, who wants to know why Shiv won’t make a public statement supporting him. He blames the whole mess on “a few bad apples” and assures her, “You won’t find a piece of paper you’re ashamed of.” When she comes home, Tom is drunk and worried that he will have to go to jail. He has “a stupid idea”: go to Logan and “offer myself as the beating.” She tells him he can’t do that… but it sounds like she wants him to? The next day, Tom tells Logan, “I’ll get up and go down…I won’t squirm.” Logan thinks it won’t come to that, but he seems genuinely moved by the offer. Hmmm, maybe Tom’s best move is to be a corporate martyr after all.
Kendall has made a decision: he goes to the Waystar office. As Shiv and Roman prepare for the town hall meeting by examining employee questions, “Can we ask fewer questions?” Roman asks – Kendall tries to enter the building and is harassed by security. He finally takes the freight elevator up and has an awkward meeting with Tom, who tells him, “Another life is possible, brother.” At the town hall meeting, Shiv is introduced as the country’s new president, and she tells the employees they’re taking the allegations seriously — when she’s interrupted by Nirvana’s “Rape Me” playing loudly through a set of speakers. The crowd mumbles as security rushes to turn off the music, but it’s too late: Shiv’s big moment is ruined. She angrily retreats to her office and… spits in her day planner? Okay then.
She retaliates by drafting a letter of support for Logan that dismisses Kendall as a drug addict and absent father. (Roman calls it “a greeting card from hell.”) She sends it wide just as Kendall is getting ready to appear on Sophie’s late night show and is pestering the writers with jokes. At first he laughs off the letter, but then wants to ask the writers not to say anything about it, as it is private.
(But “it’s not private anymore,” as Jess points out.) Kendall tells a producer that he might have to bow out of the show even though it’s being taped in 15 minutes, and we follow him as he walks down the hall and smiles disappears in a frown. He hides in an empty equipment room and sits alone on the floor, curling up into a ball and listening as Sophie razes him to the ground for failing to show up and reads the letter aloud to her audience.
All is not lost, though: The FBI shows up in Waystar’s office with a search warrant, and as Gerri tells Logan, “these are the ones who don’t fk off.” The old man eventually gives in and agrees to cooperate, and Tom’s merry board meeting is interrupted by the news that federal agents are breaking into the building. (Ha!) Shiv watches the heist on the news and Kendall follows the chaos on his phone from the backstage at Sophie’s show. Just as it got dark, Team Kendall lands a much-needed victory.
