On Succession, Season Three Episode Two, “Mass in Time of War”, the Roy siblings battle it out as they discuss if they’re actually going to work together.
This episode quickly becomes one of my favorites because of how together this episode is. When the episode ends, there's a moment where you must take a step back and think about what you've just seen, because it is absolutely fantastic TV.
Kendall calls his siblings, Roman, Connor, and Shiv, and tries to rally them into working together. It almost works. Almost.
It should’ve.
The problem, honestly and truly, lies with stupidity. The first one out is Connor, which is unfortunate seeing as Connor is probably the easiest to manipulate (sorry dude), and once he’s gone, Roman and Shiv fall like dominoes.
Roman backs out because he believes in Gerri, and because, honestly, his fear of Logan is too large for even Kendall to surpass.
Logan has shown, with Kendall, that he’s not afraid to toss his children to the wolves, and Roman won’t be next.
Shiv says no because she’s once again putting way too many eggs in Logan’s basket. She’s consistently convinced that once this thing ends, it’ll be different than last time. She’ll really get the company. She’s really the person Logan is doing all of this for.
Shiv has a huge blindspot when it comes to her father, and whether it comes from a general place of seeking approval, or believing she has to stick with her father in a man’s world, she’s wrong.
And she will fail.
“Mass in Time of War” reveals Kendall’s gameplan, and whether it’s sincerely because he believes in it, or because he thinks it’s great marketing, who cares?
His goal in admitting that he knew what Logan & Co were doing wrong is made to be beneficial for him, for Roman, and Shiv, and Connor. If they all admit they knew but didn’t know how to stop their own father, the father figures present in their lives since birth, then they become unlikely heroes.
In Kendall’s mind at least. And probably to a larger audience. He wants to “detoxify [the] brand” of the company so they can move forward onto bigger, better things. In 2021, that would absolutely work.
It should be noted that whether or not he’s doing it from his moral compass or because it would bring in money, this is the most level-headed I’ve ever heard Kendall sound. He’s so sure of himself because he knew he could’ve gotten his siblings if they weren’t so scared of Logan.
I’m not a businesswoman, and I’m definitely not someone who knows what’s going on 100% of the time on Succession, but I know that if Kendall, Roman, Connor, and Shiv had all come together and detoxified and pushed Logan out, they’d have a much better chance with the public than Logan or Kendall do with split groups.
The law is a different story. The FBI is quite literally threatening to be at both Kendall and Logan’s doors within hours, and neither of them has necessarily prepared enough for what that will entail.
The first two episodes, and possibly part of the third, are all based not 24 hours past Kendall’s initial press conference, yet they don’t feel crunched together or too busy. They’re flowing at a very steady pace, even with outside characters being added in in “Mass in Time of War”.
Marcia, as we’ve always said, is the real genius here. She wants more money and more protection for coming back to Logan, and while that’s of course not morally correct, she doesn’t care. Because duh.
She was never getting out of the scandal completely. Whether they’re separated or not, even whether they’re divorced or not, Marcia would’ve been brought into this trial one way or another. Logan just better be grateful he got to her first.
Greg is simply Greg. He goes to Ewan for advice, promptly questions that advice, and then enters an even more convoluted situation.
Poor guy just wanted a casual job, and now he’s mixed up in sexual assault allegations.
The dialogue on this show is actually god-tiered. Here are some of my favorite lines:
- Roman: “Oh, you mean us? This muti-f---ing-ethnic transgender alliance of 20-something dreamers we’ve got in here?”
- Kendall: “You aren’t Judas-ing, are you Greg?”
- Roman: “Don’t threaten me, Gerri, I don’t have time to jerk off.”
