Succession Season 3 Episode 7 was a very funny episode, and Kendal performed for the second
time, at least, in rehearsals. Kendal wasn’t great, but he wasn’t bad. He was pretty
good. And that was funny. But this episode was also one of the most intense and darkest
episodes yet. There were a lot of winners and losers. Conner, for instance, is polling
close to 1%. That’s a win, sort of. But let’s get serious and start by looking at
the big winner of the episode: Greg. The DOJ’s case against Waystar is not strong.
Logan’s team got word that no one would be going to jail, including the Waystar Two:
Greg and Tom. Tom celebrated by destroying Greg’s office. So Tom downgraded Greg’s
office in episode 3, and Tom destroyed Greg’s office in episode 7. Not cool. But Greg is
forgiving, so Greg forgave him. At the party, Tom told Greg that Comfry was
out of his league. And Kendal said the same thing. But Comfry was frustrated with some
of the tasks that Kendal had assigned to her, so even though Kendal had told Greg that Comfry
was off limits, Comfry told Greg that she would go out with him. Only time will tell
if Comfry is going out on a date with Greg for the right or wrong reasons, but for now,
Greg considers himself a winner. He’s not going to jail, and he’s got a date with
a fair maiden. Roman also had a big episode.
Logan sent Shiv and Roman to Kendal’s party so as to speak to Lukas Matsson about GoJo
Go. Kendal thinks of GoJo as his own idea. So once he realized that Shiv and Roman had
only come to his birthday party to make a deal behind his back, he banned them from
entering the VIP section. A VIP section which was aptly nicknamed “the treehouse.” And
only cool kids were allowed in the tree house. Roman eventually forced his way into the treehouse,
and Roman connected with Matsson. Roman did not get the deal done, but Roman did get Matsson
to agree to join the conversation with Logan. So it was a step in the right direction towards
getting the deal done. On top of that, Logan made Kendal an offer
to buy out his shares of the company, and Kendal’s shares would be transferred over
to Roman. Not Connor, Shiv, and Roman. Just Roman. In other words, Logan has chosen his
favorite child, at least, for the time being. That had an impact on Shiv.
After all, in episode 5, Shiv may have saved the company by getting a deal done with Sandy’s
daughter Sandi. But instead of thanking her, Logan snapped at her. Then, she learned that
Roman was getting Kendal’s shares. A figurative slap in her face. That is partially why Shiv
went to town on the dance floor to let out some of her demons.
Later, Shiv found out that Roman had connected with Matsson, and Roman would not loop Shiv
into the equation without first speaking to Logan, so the divide between Shiv and Roman
has widened. Shiv then learned that Logan and Roman had
been sending out spies, people who were harassing Kendal’s children. And for her, that crossed
the line of what is unacceptable. Shiv stuck up for Kendal. Nevertheless, he pushed her
away, just as he does to everyone. But before we get to Kendal, let’s take
a look at Tom’s breakdown. Tom was told that he would not be going to
jail, but instead of celebrating, he began to burn bridges. First, he destroyed Greg’s
office. Keep in mind, Greg used to have a better office. But Tom downgraded Greg earlier
this season since Greg was not working with the Waystar laywers. So Tom downgraded Greg
to an office with no windows, and now he has destroyed it.
At Kendal’s birthday party, Tom told Shiv that he was mad that other people there were
not happy. But then, Tom was mad that Greg was happy. And Tom was mad at the happy staffers
in the Compliment Tunnel. So basically, nothing was going to make Tom happy because his relationship
with Shiv is on the brink. It’s pretty clear that Shiv no longer loves
Tom. In fact, Roman thinks that Shiv may have actually been excited that Tom was going to
go prison, and Roman may be right. Tom resorted to drugs in this episode. He
was looking to escape from reality. Unfortunately, artificial highs do not last. And Tom is about
to crash. The silver lining is that early in the episode, Logan told Tom that he will
remember that Tom was willing to sacrifice himself. So there’s that.
And of course, Tom wasn’t the only character to have a breakdown this episode. Kendal crashed
hard. In episode 4, Kendal had said that he was
throwing a nervous breakdown of a party for his fortieth. And that’s what happened.
First, Logan gave Kendal a vicious birthday quote unquote “present.” He crossed off
the Happy Birthday, and told Kendal to cash out his shares in the company for 2 billion
dollars. The offer lasts for seven days. In other words, Logan’s birthday gift to his
son was a goodbye. Kendal thinks of GoJo Go as his own idea.
So he was unable to be happy for his brother’s success despite the fact that a deal with
GoJo Go would raise his own net worth by hundreds of millions of dollars.
Connor tried to stick up for Kendal, and what did Kendal do, he flipped out at Connor for
not taking off his jacket. That was pretty ironic considering the fact that Kendal spent
the entire party in a jacket. So basically, Kendal has pushed away his lawyer,
Greg, Comfry, Shiv, and Conner. Kendal really only has one lifeline left: Naomi. But he
is doing his best to push her away as well. First he snapped at Naomi for telling him
that his kid’s gift would show up. Then he mocked the present that she gave him. Naomi
stayed by his side and comforted him after he freaked out amongst the boxes for a second
time. And that was when Kendal said something very important quote: “I wish I was…"
then he paused to cry, and he finished the sentence by saying “I wish I was home.”
But is that what Kendal was originally going to say? Or was Kendal eluding to something
much darker? The final scene of Kendal looking out over
the ledge may have been a callback to Seaason 2 Episode 4 – an episode in which Kendal
looked out over a ledge 3 times. Kendal told Shiv that the only thing that kept him going
was that he was looking after his father’s medication. And the third time he went out
onto the ledge, there was Plexiglass there, which always made me wonder if Logan had put
that up to prevent Kendal from jumping. But I drift. The point is, Shiv made a joke
about Kendal getting well soon. Roman referred to the treehouse as Kendal’s mental disorder.
Kendal named his own party after Biggie’s debut album – Read to Die. And Kendal said
quote: “I wish I was …” dot dot dot. So I worry for Kendal.
He once again found himself high up, while in a very dark place. And now, Naomi is his
only lifeline. She was by his side when Roman mocked him and pushed him over, and she was
by his side as the episode rolled to credits. But as you can see by her facial expression,
it’s taking a toll on her. That leads us into the final section. What’s
to come... Kendal began the season in a bathtub. After
he bailed on the television interview, he huddled up into the fetal position. And in
this episode, there were a lot of allusions to Kendal being a child. He had originally
planned on handing out lunchboxes to his guests. The same lunchboxes that he had used as a
kid. The treehouse was designed after his childhood treehouse. The entry way’s visuals
were of sperm. One of the party rooms was a hybrid NICU and nursery. And when guests
entered the party rooms, they figuratively passed thru his mother’s womb.
So here’s where it gets interesting. In the prior episode, Kendal’s mother invited
Logan to her wedding. So Kendal’s mother has a role to play. And if there was one person
who could help Kendal out right now, it would be his mother. But don’t forget what she
did to him in the past. Ever since the kid died in the car crash, Kendal has been broken.
He has needed someone to talk to and he tried to talk to his mother. She told him to wait
until the morning. But the next morning came, and Kendal’s mother was gone. “It can
happen.” “Yeah, it can. Right.”