{"id":229,"date":"2019-09-24T02:55:33","date_gmt":"2019-09-24T02:55:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrevas.com\/?p=229"},"modified":"2026-08-14T03:28:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T03:28:20","slug":"succession-s2e7-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrevas.com\/?p=229","title":{"rendered":"Succession S2E7: Return"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What makes Succession<\/em> such a standout show is its ability to do a lot of things well. Series creator Jesse Armstrong has given himself enough flexibility to have episodes that favor over-the-top comedy, extravagant hijinks, self-reflection, or\u2014as in this week\u2019s episode\u2014extreme emotional wounds taking center stage, and the show still feels like itself. In Succession<\/em> S2E7, we got to take a long hard look at what makes many of our characters act the way they do. It was a brilliant, difficult hour of television that added another layer of depth to most of the cast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Sandy and Stewy ramping up the pressure, Logan, Rhea, Kendall, and Roman took off to London to meet with shareholders in an attempt to ensure their loyalty. This was the first instance of the episode title coming into play (the last time the cast was there was Shiv\u2019s wedding last season). Returning to London meant the Roy children returning to their mother\u2019s home and, for Kendall, returning to the place where he was involved in a car wreck that cost a young man his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t think the title \u201cReturn\u201d was just reserved for just the obvious meanings, though. In Succession<\/em> S2E7, we got to see the three younger Roy children return to their greatest source of pain: their parents. While Logan\u2019s issues are obvious, we really only scratched the surface of the kids\u2019 relationship with their mother at the end of Succession<\/em>\u2018s last season. All year long, we\u2019ve been watching Kendall, Shiv, and Roman each melt down to some degree. Their quest for their father\u2019s affection and power has left them all emotionally crippled messes. This week, by adding their mother to the dynamic, that emotional pain became even more magnified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What happens when a child has parents who are more obsessed with money and power than being good parents? Do the kids self-medicate so they can function in a world they aren\u2019t completely prepared for? Do they not know what a relationship truly looks like and abuse those that love them most because that\u2019s what they think love looks like? Do they spend their whole adult lives looking for a mother figure, with those desires to be nurtured coming out in a sexual form? Of course they do. While Succession<\/em> has never asked us to empathize with any of the show\u2019s characters, it does give us very painful reminders as to why the younger generation of Roys act the way they do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Succession<\/em> S2E7 will be remembered for Jeremy Strong\u2019s powerful performance as Kendall and Logan\u2019s unmistakable cruelty towards his children. Starting with Logan, it seems pretty apparent that Rhea is quickly passing the kids up as the front runner to be Logan\u2019s heir apparent. Logan, feeling pressured by his daughter to give her what he promised her, used Rhea as means to take Shiv out of the running. The kicker? Logan spouting off about family and the value of it all while knowing that he helped lay the trap to get his daughter out of contention for the role as successor\u2014a role that he offered her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Kendall
Screenshot \/ HBO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A scene that will forever haunt me was Roman awkwardly riding with his father on the way to board the plane. Logan, knowing full well that he had struck<\/a> his son, wanted Roman to not only absolve him but tell him it didn\u2019t happen\u2014to confirm this narrative where Logan would never do a thing like that. Roman was visibly uncomfortable and wanted nothing to do with the conversation. He wanted to be anywhere else, to be talking about anything else. In this moment, Roman was almost childlike, afraid and alone. This is who Roman is on the inside: the child that wasn\u2019t ever nurtured, never as good as his older siblings, and always fighting to be noticed and feel loved. The man he is today is a direct result of his parents\u2019 (lack of) impact on him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then there\u2019s Kendall. We saw this week that he\u2019s still seeing Naomi, which (despite the drug use) may actually be the healthiest thing he could be doing for himself. She understands him in a way that nobody else can. Logan learning of this is likely why he chose to punish his son in one of the greatest acts of cruelty we\u2019ve seen thus far on Succession. <\/em>He forced Kendall to go with him to the home of the parents of the waiter who died in the wreck with Kendall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeremy Strong\u2019s performance all season long has been nothing short of amazing. His physicality in this episode\u2014his shrunken shoulders, the timid body language\u2014told the story of what Kendall was feeling more than any dialogue ever could have. As Logan went to speak to the parents, Kendall sat in the kitchen and forced himself to feel everything. He forced himself to look at photos of the dead man. He\u2019s spent all year long trying to numb himself but not here. This was another sign of hope for Kendall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later in Succession<\/em> S2E7, Kendall went to his mother\u2019s house hoping to speak with her. It quickly became clear that she had no interest in the conversation, nor did she have any interest in her children. She, much like Logan, was playing a game and their children were merely pawns in that game. Kendall, Shiv, and Roman have always been on their own, guided by learned behavior from their parents, with their desires for parental guidance and affection never fulfilled. Succession<\/em> has never asked us to defend the show\u2019s characters but episodes like \u201cReturn\u201d make us better understand why they behave the way they do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week\u2019s Succession<\/em> ended with Rhea and Logan\u2019s alliance becoming more clear. She\u2019s making a run for the throne and the kids now see it. Shiv calling Kendall and letting him know about her situation makes me wonder if they\u2019ll work together more to try and edge Rhea out. Having the kids return to the source of their pain, both mom and dad, could be a turning point of sorts for them. This could be when they choose to end their respective downward spirals. Or, the opposite could be true and one of them could self-destruct even further, but I don\u2019t see that happening. The Roy kids have been through a lot and they\u2019ve taken on a lot of behavior from their parents, including ruthlessness. Rhea and their dad attempting to take what they view as rightfully theirs means the gloves are coming off and things are picking up. I\u2019m more than ready to see what happens next. Until next time\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What makes Succession such a standout show is its ability to do a lot of things well. Series creator Jesse Armstrong has given himself enough flexibility to have episodes that favor over-the-top comedy, extravagant hijinks, self-reflection, or\u2014as in this week\u2019s episode\u2014extreme emotional wounds taking center stage, and the show still feels like itself. In Succession S2E7, we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":233,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"saved_in_kubio":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[283],"tags":[27,17,25,26,294],"class_list":["post-229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tv-recaps","tag-brian-cox","tag-hbo","tag-jeremy-strong","tag-kieran-culkin","tag-succession"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrevas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrevas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrevas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrevas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrevas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=229"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrevas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":234,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrevas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229\/revisions\/234"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrevas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrevas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrevas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrevas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}