‘Succession’ Season 2 Episode 8 Recap: Bad Roy for Life

“He’s morally bankrupt. He’s a nothing-man, who may well be more personally responsible for the death of this planet than any other human being. In terms of the lives that will be lost for his whoring for the climate change deniers, there’s a very persuasive case to be made that he’s worse than Hitler.”—Ewan Roy on Logan Roy

“When I say ‘L,’ you say ‘O-G’!”—Kendall Roy on Logan Roy

As if a giant clamshell washed ashore and birthed it nude and radiant from my mind’s own womb, this week’s episode of Succession felt like it was crafted to illustrate my argument that the show’s blend comedy and drama is fundamentally unworkable by the gods themselves. It’s an hour-length demonstration of how going for the cheap and easy laugh can neuter sociopolitical critique and reduce deft character work to hamfisted about-faces a daytime soap would look down on.

I’ll say this for the series, though: It does not over-complicate its plot, and it’s better for resisting that temptation. The entire episode focuses on the Roy family’s return to Logan’s childhood home of Dundee, Scotland, where the local university is unveiling the new school and facility it’s built with Logan’s donated cash. While there, Logan’s kids collude to thwart Rhea Jarrell, their dad’s new mistress, in her attempt to succeed him as CEO, while his business inner circle works to suppress a whistleblower who’s ready to blow the lid off the cruise-line scandal. Rhea isolates and wins over Kendall and Roman by inflating their chances of succeeding her.

But as the only Roy involved in both the Rhea and cruise cabals, Shiv—Jarell’s most implacable enemy, thanks to the fast one Rhea pulled in spreading the word about her overtures to rival company Pierce last week—is in a unique position to destroy her rival. After learning that the whistleblower can’t be bought or threatened despite Waystar’s best efforts, she and the cruise-ship damage-control team realize that scandal is inevitable, and the next CEO after Logan will inevitably be destroyed by it. So Shiv reverses course and encourages her dad—who’s not abreast of the latest developments—to go ahead and announce Rhea as his successor, ensuring her undoing.

To compare Succession to a superior show about the schemes of the ultra-rich for a second, there’s something almost Billions-like in the satisfying, cathartic way the two storylines bob and weave until they both reach the same conclusion in Shiv’s successful judo maneuver against Rhea. I’m looking forward to seeing how it plays out, which is the first time in a long time I’ve looked forward to much of anything going on in this series. On a fundamental level, it’s tough not to enjoy watching people get their revenge on shows like these, and Shiv served Rhea a cold dish indeed.

But it’s also tough to overstate how badly the episode is damaged by Kendall Roy’s hip-hop tribute to his father.

Kendall’s defining characteristic is shame: shame about being an addict, shame about not living up to his father’s expectations, shame about committing fucking murder. This act of utter shamelessness—silliness, frivolity, stupidity, cringe, whatever you want to call it—is so out of character for him it should be played by Kieran Culkin instead.

It also doesn’t match up with the rest of Kendall’s material in the episode. After attending the preview for the play written by Connor Roy’s kept woman Willa, Ken becomes besotted with an actress from the show, whom he promptly sweeps away to Scotland for further debauchery. He winds up ghosting her after she proves to be inarticulate—silly, frivolous, stupid, cringey, whatever you want to call it—in conversation with his dad, whom she’s already told Ken he never stops talking about. But once Kendall has done his rap routine, in what world does his sudden coldness to his new girlfriend make any sense at all? Are we supposed to think he’s being a hypocrite in holding her to a higher standard than that to which he holds himself? The song comes from so far out in left field that it doesn’t read like something he’d ever do, so the hypocrite angle just doesn’t wash.

As a third point in the tonal triangle, you have the ferocious Ewan Roy, played once again by James Cromwell. Not for him, goofball comedy or interpersonal drama: He’s the voice of the filmmakers, talking about what Logan Roy really is. How to give his point of view equal playing time? Well, you don’t. You tie him up in a comedy storyline about whose side Cousin Greg will take in order to ensure the future feathering of his nest—”Uncle Fun or Grandpa Grumps,” as Logan puts it. In other words, you make it less impactful than Rappin’ Ken. The anti-Logan monologue he delivers becomes about watching Greg squirm.

Anyway, I’m sure Kendall’s stupid rap is the toast of Twitter, right up there with the joke about j-school grads writing clickbait (“Ten Reasons Why You’re Never Getting Paid”) and a brief mention of the Democratic Socialists of America. In terms of middling political shows, Succession is The West Wing for people who’ve tweeted about how much they dislike The West Wing, and it just aired its answer to “The Jackal.” Tweet away.

Sean T. Collins (@theseantcollins) writes about TV for Rolling Stone, Vulture, The New York Times, and anyplace that will have him, really. He and his family live on Long Island.

Stream Succession Season 2 Episode 8 ("Dundee") on HBO Go

Stream Succession Season 2 Episode 8 ("Dundee") on HBO Now