‘Succession’ season 3, episode 6 recap: what it takes

Succession needed an episode like “What It Takes” for a long time. We know enough about Waystar and ATN and the Roy family to draw comparisons to Rupert Murdoch, his children and News Corp’s poisonous legacy, or maybe Donald Trump and his smooth-brained misfires. If a show like Succession refers to, say, the Trump family more directly, we might understand Don Jr. as a type of Roman Roy, a pitiful simp eager to please the distant and abusive father who will never love him. Such a show could only hint at the impact their family intrigue had on the real world, as it would instead be immersed in the little no doubt hilarious internal conflicts that engulf dad and the kids behind closed doors.

The title “What It Takes” refers to Richard Ben Cramer’s book on the 1988 presidential election, a classic of political non-fiction and perhaps the definitive book on how campaigns work. The ’88 election was a mad race to succeed Ronald Reagan after reaching his two-term limit, as Vice President George HW Bush and Bob Dole contested for the Republican nomination and Michael Dukakis, Gary Hart, Dick Gephardt, and a hopeless Joe Biden mixing him up on the Democratic side. There were a lot of wild twists and turns in the media, especially among Democrats, which led to a candidate, but it wasn’t as if the media itself had a thumb in the balance. As in any healthy democracy, this was decided by the people of New Hampshire.

The perverse twist of “What It Takes” is that the actual process of who becomes president – or who becomes the candidate on the right, anyway – is completely opaque, decided in lobbies and the aftermath of off-the-books events. rather than campaign stops and ballot boxes. Just as Logan Roy casually regarded Waystar’s interim CEO from the cabin of his pajamas, he could also play the kingmaker from the sofa in his hotel suite, despite being the man responsible for it. bullying the current president, “the grape”, off trying for a second term. He is looking for the next white man who appears to be the strongest contender and will agree to a hands-off approach to Waystar’s criminal misadventures in exchange for favorable coverage on ATN. These are things that are not supposed to happen – the GM is supposed to be independent of the influence of the executive, elections are supposed to be decided by the voters – but, from the point of view Succession, to do.

So who becomes president? We are offered four candidates: there is the current vice-president, Dave Boyer (Reed Birney), aka “Martin Van Boring”, babbles about being anti-Big Tech and has a crass habit of constantly getting wet. lips. (“It’s like a cartoon bear and there’s always a picnic basket nearby,” says Roman.) There’s Rick Salgado (Yul Vazquez), a RINO guy who seems to have an uncomfortable relationship with the rabid base of the party but which may have general public appeal. There’s Connor Roy, a fringe anti-tax asshole whose candidacy is such a joke that even his family can’t help but bitch. And then there’s Jerryd Mencken (Justin Kirk), a full-fledged white supremacist and fascist who also happens to be by far the most charismatic contender.

The main thing for Logan Roy – and the main thing, as we have learned in the real world, for Rupert Murdoch and Donald Trump – is not about ideology but about power. Candidates for president are evaluated based on their popularity with viewers and their potential benefit to ATN ratings and Waystar’s business interests, but it doesn’t really matter what they actually think. These adjustments can be made if they haven’t already been. A network on which Ravenhead is a popular prime-time demagogue can accommodate a guy like Mencken, and the rest of the programming will be compliant, even if the ads are attributed to an online pillow distributor. Logan needs a winner, especially now, when he is threatened by the DOJ and its shareholders.

The breakup within the Roy family over Mencken is absolutely frightening. Shiv has proven that she is nothing if not politically flexible – not so long ago she was playing a chief adviser position with a flamethrower a la Bernie Sanders, and now she is arguing for the option. the least appalling. We’re so used to seeing Roy’s business as a fun contact sport that Shiv’s real panic and revulsion at Mencken’s candidacy is a splash of cold water in his face. If there was any thought that a company like Waystar – or, you know, News Corp – would draw the line on fascist authoritarianism, “What It Takes” perishes. Mencken’s extremism could end up biting Waystar, possibly giving rise to the Succession equivalents of NewsMax and OANN, but Roman thinks it’s good for business and his dad agrees. They are probably right.

In the end, Shiv makes a comedic and flabby choice. She can’t refuse to be included in a photo with Mencken and continue to be “part of the family,” so she negotiates a pose that puts her as far away from him as possible. “You win, Pinkie,” her father said of that embarrassing and ignominious loss. She chose her father and he will continue to abuse her for it, just like he did after making a deal with his bitter opponents last week. She is not smiling in the photo. She’s not next to Mencken. But she needs to know that she is an accomplice, and we need to know, as viewers of this very entertaining show, that there are no corporate safeguards to prevent the worst people from taking over the country.

• Kendall’s long-standing refusal to listen to her lawyer – who annoyingly doesn’t tell her everything he wants to hear – seriously weakens her position in the cruise scandal. His smug responses in a prep session (“I approved of the illegal payments because I love sexual assault and I love to cover it up”) carry over into the actual questioning by DOJ officials. Meanwhile, Waystar buries the DOJ in paperwork, conducts a deceptively scrupulous internal investigation, and shuts down the work until the crisis is yesterday’s news.

• Roman gives the green light to a blockbuster film titled Dr Honk, about a man who can talk to cars, suggests Hollywood might be a good place for his talents.

• Even by Succession standards, Will Tracy’s script is saltier and more colorful than usual. Choice lines from the “ATN Primary”: “As a libtard, what do you like to do caving in the elephant’s asshole? “Hey Shiv, is it true that you are at the festival of hate, burning books and measuring skulls in Nuremberg, Virginia?” “I’m not saying it’s going to be the entire Third Reich, but I genuinely fear we could slip into some fucking Brazilian Russian bazaar in Berlusconi.”

• A wonderful episode for Tom, whose impending jail term has earned him the nickname “Christmas Tree” in the office because others, like Greg, can hang their “corporate mischief ball” on his branches . In the meantime, he’s too depressed to make love to Shiv, who is still on contraception (“It’s like throwing so much cake batter on a brick wall”), and chooses from overcooked omelets in a row. local restaurant to get a feel for what prison the food might be like.

• But maybe he doesn’t have to go to jail! Kendall sets up a clandestine meeting to persuade Tom to join his team and get an immunity deal for turning on Logan. The offer sounds good, if not for the fact that Tom would betray his wife and cast his lot with a guy who always loses. At this point, Tom is so resigned to his fate that he orders dinner like Bill Murray in groundhog day: “I’m going to take the special hero from the baking sheet with fully loaded double hash browns, a plain waffle and a large cup of room temperature water.”

• It didn’t seem possible for Willa to hate Connor more than after he suggested that she turn his play into an event so bad it’s good, but using his body to win the favor of the lustful donor (Stephen Root) responsible for the future Freedom Summit takes animosity to another level.

• Tom and Shiv’s vineyard produces a screw-down wine that seems as foul as their marriage. “It’s earthy, a little Germanic”, it seems in wine parlance for “It literally tastes like shit”.

• Greg’s line of the week: “I just feel, because of my physical length, that I could be the butt of all kinds of mishaps. “