TOM WAMBSGANS: So this is just a little party prezzie.
-SHIV ROY: A scorpion? -Mmm.
Because... why?
♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
When Jesse told us about this episode,
he pitched it as, like, a
kind of piece.
In that, you know, marriage tensions at a party,
trying to keep up a good front,
trying to keep up a happy marriage face.
MATTHEW MACFADYEN:
to play these characters and see how they develop.
It's just another point in their relationship,
which is brilliant to chart.
Uh, so, we got a couple of extra names for the guest list.
-Right. -Matsson is, in fact,
-coming now. -Ooh!
Good. That's good for me, right?
-I mean, my chance to dance. -Yeah.
I can secure my spot.
He's-- He's got to make a good impression for Lukas Matsson.
He feels like he's got to do a good job
because he's-- you know, he's running the whole show.
JESSE ARMSTRONG:
implied that he was gonna be
a big figure through this season.
In the company, are you hands-on
or more of an overview guy?
Let me ask you this.
What would you value more highly?
Really?
Things are going wrong.
The stakes are very high
because of who's in the running to be president.
Mencken's team called, and they wanted to know
if you might be willing to... you know, drop out?
-Of the election? -Yes, of the election.
They think that you'd be a good fit
for an ambassadorial appointment.
Things got very real very quickly.
Connor created his own little world.
Anything to sort of get
some sort of positive reaction from Pop.
And now that he's gone,
it just seems like, well,
hang on, let's see where it goes.
How do you like Oman?
I have to check.
See what my wo-man thinks about O-man.
-(LAUGHS) -Nice.
Of all the-- the couple relationships in this show,
Willa and Connor are the most successful.
And with Shiv and Tom,
you think that maybe they had a chance.
And then pretty much from the beginning,
it was troubled.
Can we chat about stuff?
I have some thoughts and might need your advice.
No.
No?
They're such an odd couple.
There's been so much, like,
snotty little stuff from-- from Roman toward Gerri.
-Gerri? -What?
The firing you thing, that wasn't real.
-No? -No.
I feel that she's quite upset about--
that it didn't work out
as a business partnership with him.
And so, I think she's very--
just very, very disappointed.
She's done. She's shown up to let him know,
"I expect oodles of money,
and I want to control the narrative,
and I have a whole team, a PR team,
that's gonna make it sound like I want it to sound."
If I ever get a whiff of anything
undermining my narrative,
any time in the next five years...
-Mm-hmm. -...I will sue.
-And I will go public... -(SCOFFS)
-So stupid. -...with those many, many pictures of your genitalia
-that I have in my possession. -All right. Great. Mm-hmm.
-Have I made myself clear? -Yes, absolutely.
But the subtext is, "Fuck you."
You know? Like-- And just turn on her heels and leave.
-I'm gonna-- -SHIV: What?
Yeah, I'm done. I'm-- I'm gonna... bed.
I'm bushwacked. My eyes are sandpaper.
Stay for 45 minutes more.
I'm just a little tired, because all the fun gossip
that I've been hearing from everywhere,
at this party, in my house,
is that I'm gonna be shit-canned.
So, yeah, I think they're in a-- quite a curious place,
which is, they both know exactly what happened.
But while she won't talk about it,
she has this kind of leverage.
Sarah and I were talking, and we sort of worked out
that they hadn't ever really screamed and shouted
at each other in that way.
It's always been-- the lid has always gone
quite quickly in their arguments.
It's great to explore a different dynamic with--
with two characters.
Should we have a real conversation?
-With a scorpion? No. -WAMBSGANS: That was a friendly thing.
-(CHUCKLES) Oh, yeah, sure. -WAMBSGANS: That was a friendly thing.
You're real friendly. Ha, ha, ha.
I think you find it very hard to think about me.
-SHIV: What the fuck? -And I think
you shouldn't have even married me.
It's a brilliant scene, because they both feel
like they've been struggling with all kinds of things.
And he's really wounded again by her belittling him
in front of all these incredibly powerful people
at this pre-election party that they're hosting.
A lot of that is driven from-- from her discomfort
with where her relationship with Tom is.
At this party here, there are maybe 40
of the most important people in America.
And you have just walked all around, all evening,
telling them all that I'm gonna get fired.
No. It was implied, lightly.
He certainly gets explosive in this scene.
Like I remember...
(CHUCKLES) ...he yells at one point.
You were going to see me get sent to fucking prison!
And because we're on-- on, like, a balcony,
all the buildings around would echo with,
"Prison! Prison! Prison!"
You were only with me to get to power.
Well, you got it now, Tom. You've got it.
I'm with you because I love you!
Bullshit! You're fucking me for my DNA.
You were fucking me for a fucking ladder.
Like, it's really fun to just yell at somebody
and go at that pace with somebody that you trust.
And doing that with Matthew,
who's such a darling to, like, yell at.
And it sort of becomes farcical halfway through the episode.
I mean, it's just a wonderful episode.