If Logan Roy could create a Franken-Child made up of the best parts of his otherwise damaged spawn (Shiv's mercenary attitude, Roman's ability to read people, Kendall's penchant for scheming), he might have himself a person worthy of filling his shoes. Instead, he has three wannabe piranhas nipping at each other in hopes of being the last fish in the tank. This is unfortunate because if the kids took a moment to appreciate each other instead of searching for a spot on each other's back to insert a knife, they would realize each complements the others' weaknesses. If Logan was not so busy setting them up to compete in a bizarro Lord of the Flies contest, he might be in better shape to save his company.
The second episode of Succession's second season nicely proved this point. Most of the episode focused on the fictional Buzzfeed cum Mic cum Grantland online media source Vaulter. Kendall bought it at a premium in the show’s first episode, believing in it a tech Valhalla to move Waystar Royco deep into the 21st century. But the old man was not as sanguine, and as the family tries to fight off a hostile takeover attempt, the site’s bloated budget looks ripe for a good downsizing.
When Logan deploys his two children to kick the tires on the operation, Roman susses out Vaulter's wonky financials and worse, <gasp> plans to unionize. Instead of being papered to death by Lawrence, Roman gets this key intel at the cost of a few overpriced IPAs. While Kendall burns the midnight oil (as it turns out “weed” and “food” are the sole profitable pieces of the whole enterprise) and can’t pitch his dad on the benefits Vaulter possesses, it is Kendall's gravitas that allows him to first hoodwink the staff into ditching their plan to unionize (and cough up new ideas he could use later) and then carry out a bloodless firing of the entire staff (quite a commentary that the only profitable parts of a 480-person website could be cherrypicked and run by a 5 person crew of interns). For this, Kendall gets a promotion into Logan’s CEO suite even as Logan is on the phone (right in front of him!) confirming with Shiv that she has bailed on Gil Eavis.
Shiv’s decision is a curious one. On the one hand, she is wise to her father's ways ("two contenders, one chair, that's his favorite," she observes to Tom after his promotion to co-run ATN with human stiletto Cyd Peach) but she dumps the one thing she had – leverage – when Logan forces the issue. You want this, he seems to say, here is what you need to do. When she wavers ever so slightly on his three-years-and-change plan, he moves on to the next issue. Her reluctance is understandable. Three years is a long time and a lot can happen along the way. Kendall, admittedly a soulless automaton now carrying out his father's orders not like some sort of pussy-chasing Tech Gatsby but more like a Corporate Bro Terminator, is already well ensconced, albeit with a dirty secret that could destroy him. Roman, feckless and work-averse as he is, cultivates Gerri, the company's Swiss Army knife of a general counsel, to make up for his lack of heft. Balking at the need for seasoning when she sees one unqualified brother and another who tried to swipe the whole thing (on her wedding day no less!) is understandable, but, as the kids used to say, don’t hate the player, hate the game.
One of the things I have come to love about Succession is its concentric circles of maneuvering. Shiv, Roman, and Kendall are all orbiting Logan’s office but The Vaulter exposed Tom’s utter, shameless, and overt ladder climbing too. The “plan,” we now know, he and Shiv concocted involved Tom becoming CEO at some point (dubious, considering his fecklessness) and props to the actor playing Tom, he gets kicked in the groin multiple times in this episode and his reactions to each are letter perfect, whether it’s bachelor party fling Tabitha telling him he might want to “swallow something” or Shiv downloading Logan’s offer to her with Tom having to feign support even as the blood is draining from his face and he sees his future as some sort of man servant (or cuckold?) is really outstanding.
All that is left for Tom is to kick someone beneath him and that is Cousin Greg, whose stardom (at least in my twitter feed) pleases me. He is written with such a wonderful combination of naivete and earnestness yet he is subtle enough to appreciate the value of accumulating favors (and secreting away compromising blackmail material if needed at a later date). While he may have to put up with some randos boning in his bed, that seems a small price to pay for living in a massive condo with 30-foot high ceilings and sending a few clerks to the unemployment line at ATN if it helps put a few pelts on Tom’s wall for Logan to admire.
Threaded throughout The Vaulter and the series generally are a legion of what are the rich person’s version of science-fiction red shirts. These are the servants, the chauffeurs, the door holders, the mass of millennials in the Vaulter fish bowl, and more, all of whom are disposable and interchangeable parts for obscenely wealthy people. Connor’s obsession with great battles and military leaders is telling – those historical events and figures similarly revolve around decisions made by the few affecting the many, yet the bubble of privilege that shields the Roys from ever experiencing consequences for their actions just emboldens them to keep doing bad things.
In this way, Kendall’s soul deadened affect stands out. While Connor rents living space and a faux girlfriend, Roman walks away unscathed when a rocket blows up on the launch pad, Shiv cheats right under her husband’s nose, her husband makes plans to fire 50 people, and Greg does as he is told, none of them appear to notice or care how their behavior affects others. Kendall clearly does (though those Vaulter employees might disagree), at least as it relates to his whole I-killed-a-guy-and-it-got-
Of the Roys, I find him the most interesting because he does appear to have some humanity when interacting with people outside his bubble. He isn’t reaching for the hand sanitizer when he comes into contact with the masses, he is polite to an amusement park worker when his daughter wants a ride to go faster, and even last season, when the anchor of one of ATN’s news shows is his date at a charity ball, he blanches when she tells him she basically felt forced (by her boss, who reported to him) to go, even though she had a boyfriend. If you put aside the drug addiction and the responsibility for another person’s death, you might even find Kendall’s subtle act of rebellion – pilfering a two-pack of batteries on his way out of the bodega – charming.
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