'Succession' Season 3 Episode 2 Recap: Can The Roy Children Harpoon 'Moby Dick'?
Logan Roy (Brian Cox) is on the brink of ruin following son Kendall's power play at the end of Succession's second season, and it seems his children know it too.
After episode 1 ended with Shiv going dark and Roman passed over for the top spot in favour of Gerri Kellman (J. Smith-Cameron), it's no wonder the Roy siblings would consider betraying their father.
Episode 2, "Mass in the Time of War", is more introspective than the first and focuses primarily on Shiv (Sarah Snook), Roman (Kieran Culkin) and Connor (Alan Ruck) debating whether they should join forces with Kendall (Jeremy Strong).
It opens with Shiv ignoring her father's calls and heading out to see her brother after learning Gerri was named CEO, and Logan begins to grow concerned over her whereabouts.
He needs people on his side, he says, and he wants everyone to show they are supporting him publicly. Loyalty is everything, after all.
Manipulative as always, Logan asks Roman to "keep an eye" on Gerri and tells him she had to become CEO but only "for today", hinting that the job could go to Roman if only he plays his cards right.
Logan also tries to keep Connor on side by telling him he's his "number 1", and if Shiv had answered her phone then no doubt he would have done the same to her. That's the thing about Logan, he knows exactly what to say to get what he wants.
Despite this, Shiv, Roman and Connor all come to Kendall to hear out his proposition and the quartet consider the possibility of taking their dad out of the media empire completely.
Kendall wants to "detoxify" the brand and focus on having one news source that'll provide information to the world, saying the "white wales" are all being taken out and replaced with younger minds.
Shiv and Roman try to remain impartial, claiming they're only there on Logan's behalf, but later Shiv tells her younger brother that it's "a fact" that if they switched to Kendall's side they would take down their father.
Roman is not so sure, he claims Logan is like Moby Dick and says he'll "take us all down with his back full of harpoons."
Meanwhile, Kendall meets with Stewie (Arian Moayed) and Sandy (Larry Pine) to discuss their ongoing Proxy battle against Logan, and persuades them to back down if he forces his father out of the company.
Despite these reassurances, and suggestions that they split the company between them with him in charge, Kendall's siblings decide they'd rather side with Logan.
Kendall, being Kendall, takes their decision rather badly and throws insults at them as they walk out.
Roman and Shiv reunite with their father and the episode ends with Logan giving Shiv the role of President of Waystar Royco, saying she'll be his "eyes and ears" at Waystar and Gerri is simply a "suit", suggesting he could tap her to take over.
Succession Season 3 airs Sundays at 9pm ET on HBO and HBO Max.
