{"id":231533,"date":"2021-11-21T22:01:40","date_gmt":"2021-11-21T22:01:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/25yearslatersite.com\/?p=231533"},"modified":"2026-08-14T03:26:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T03:26:16","slug":"succession-s3e6-the-dark-choices-made-behind-closed-doors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrevas.com\/?p=231533","title":{"rendered":"Succession S3E6: The Dark Choices Made Behind Closed Doors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This article contains major spoilers for Succession<\/strong> S3E6, \u201cWhat It Takes\u201d (written by Jesse Armstrong, Jamie Carragher & Will Tracy, and directed by Andrij Parekh)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I haven\u2019t been quite able to put my finger on why Succession<\/em> has felt different this season. I write on this show every week<\/a> and every week, I want to comment on how different things feel. Yet I just don\u2019t know how to describe it. I still really enjoy the show. The characters are still some of the best on television, the writing in a league of its own. And the humor\u2026they haven\u2019t lost any spin off their fastball there at all. Yet, despite no obvious reasons why, Succession<\/em> feels different this year. It took me until Succession<\/em> S3E6, entitled \u201cWhat It Takes,\u201d to finally figure out why. We\u2019re about to get into heavy spoiler territory here, so read on with caution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Behind Closed Doors<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The main plot of this week\u2019s episode was one that really caught me off guard, despite making some level of sense. Logan and members of his inner circle went to Virginia for a closed door, weekend long meeting with the upper brass of the Republican Party. The purpose of this meeting was to unofficially decide who the GOP\u2019s nominee would be for an election that\u2019s rapidly approaching, after the current President announced that he would not be running again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Succession<\/em> is inherently a political show. The Roy family runs a fictional version of Fox News. Logan has referenced the President and his lack of respect for that position dating all the way back to the first season. In the post Reagan era we live in where the gap between the rich and the poor has never been greater, it often seems from the outside looking in that the wealthiest of people view the President and other politicians as people who work for them. Succession<\/em> has come out and said that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, despite the show\u2019s political ties and even Connor\u2019s ongoing desire to be the President (one more reason why his father doesn\u2019t respect him) this season has taken it up a notch. We have seen Logan frustrated that the President didn\u2019t squash the DOJ\u2019s investigation against him and, he used his cable news network to push a once loyal President out of office. Now, we see that power Logan wields is even greater than previously thought to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think a lot of people wonder about what \u201cback room politics\u201d truly looks like. How much power do the richest of rich have? Are some things pre-decided or do voters actually have a say in things the way we\u2019re lead to believe we do? According to Succession<\/em> S3E6, the GOP (at least) decides who they want to win the primary and then makes sure that\u2019s the result we get. Then after the primary is decided, it\u2019s all out war to see who controls the White House. Is that realistic? Who knows honestly? Is it unsettling and does it speak to some fears that many people share? Absolutely. Even though it logically made sense that party leaders would gather with their closest allies (Logan) to figure out who they want to win, it didn\u2019t make it any easier to watch. It also makes Logan seem truly unstoppable. How can Kendall or anyone else take down someone this powerful?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Choices<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The actual decision making process cast a bright light on the ongoing battle between Shiv and Roman, Connor to a lesser extent—the children who decided to stay close to Daddy and try to win from the inside instead of joining their brother in raging war. Shiv, the former Democratic strategist, lobbied for a middle ground candidate who would play to the base but would ultimately play things down the middle. Connor lobbied for himself and even at one point seemed to be making some progress in his bid. Roman became smitten with a dark horse, played by Justin Kirk, who Shiv described as being an actual fascist. Logan stayed close to a party leader played by Stephen Root, who played an amazing creep mostly interested in trying to sleep with Connor\u2019s fianc\u00e9. Root\u2019s character was never described as having a particular job but he seemed to be the one ensuring that the right conversations were happening and giving insights into the candidates’ strengths and weaknesses. The consensus seemed to be that the current VP was the safe choice, despite a weird habit of licking his lips too much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was an interesting process to watch. Shiv, despite openly disagreeing with all matters related to platform and policy, was in her element with her political background. She was locked on her middle ground candidate and felt he could win. Roman, in another darker element of this particular episode, gravitated towards Jared Meinken (Kirk) despite the fact that Meinken in front of everyone denounced ATN News and said that Logan was declining in power, with Logan in earshot. Meinken rocked the boat, pushed a far right agenda and became the talk of the weekend by being the loudest and most controversial. Sound familiar?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a late night move, Logan called his inner circle first to his suite to make their cases, then called the candidates out of bed at a late hour to do their song and dance for him. A true power move on his part, they all groveled before him, except Meinken, who Roman pitched to his dad as being a box office draw. Meinken, in a shrewd play, walked a can of Coke into Logan\u2019s suite, opened it and said, \u201cHeard you wanted one of these,\u201d and walked away instead of auditioning like the other candidates, referencing Logan telling the Vice President to bring him a Coke earlier in the episode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The power dynamics were clear here. Roman wanted to latch himself onto a lightening rod of a candidate, who he felt would be good for business and would continue to put himself in better standing with Logan than his sister. Shiv spoke to her political sensibilities here instead of trying to please her father and it cost her. Logan was attracted to Meinken\u2019s brashness and killer instinct. That\u2019s the kind of person that Logan likes, even if it means having to go to battle with them later. Roman won this battle, despite Shiv\u2019s pleas that Meinken is actually dangerous and a fascist. She warned that he is a wild card and could literally do anything if he went into office. Sound familiar? Her claims fell on deaf ears though. Logan made his choice, thus making the GOP\u2019s choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ballad of Tom and Greg<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The ongoing narrative of both Tom and Greg fearing prison continued this week. Tom is now preparing himself for prison, researching foods that are comparable to prison food even. It sounds funny but there\u2019s a genuine sadness there. Tom is a true outsider, the one who came to the big city to chase a career and fell in love, marrying the daughter of one of the world\u2019s most powerful men. He wasn\u2019t born into this world, he stumbled into it. His hands aren\u2019t clean by any means but the realization has set in with Tom that he\u2019s on his own. It\u2019s assumed by all that the DOJ will take him as their \u201chigh ranking official\u201d to do time in all of this. For Tom, the coldness and lack of empathy he\u2019s getting from the family bothers him at his core.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a scene in Succession<\/em> S3E6 where Tom tries to make small talk with Shiv but she can\u2019t pull herself away from her work. He tries to confide in her but she cuts him off and asks him what he expects her to do about all of this. Shiv senses that he\u2019s hurting and she offers herself physically to her husband but he doesn\u2019t want that. He wants to know that his wife is going to be there waiting for him when he gets out of prison, hence him wanting a baby. He wants love and commitment, she wants power. The disconnect between the two of them was heartbreaking. It always is hard to watch but this week, particularly more so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then we have Greg. The series has always portrayed Greg as the innocent in this shark filled world, but this season has shown us what I believe Greg\u2019s true story to be. Greg is becoming more and more complicit, more part of this world and acting more like these people. He\u2019s the innocent who has been corrupted. He\u2019s the cautionary tale of Succession, <\/em>which despite its humor and charm, is a show about some of the ugliest parts of humanity. Greg is now suing GreenPeace because his grandfather is donating his inheritance to them. Let\u2019s let that sink in for a moment. And in this episode, Greg waited until Tom needed a friend and was at his most vulnerable to ask Tom to admit guilt over whatever crimes Greg is charged with, to go to prison for even longer to keep him out. Watching the two of them at a diner, Tom eating what a rich person would consider to be \u201cprison like food\u201d and Tom shaking his head yes, was a gut punch. It felt like Greg taking advantage of a man at his lowest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then There\u2019s Kendall<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Make no mistake about it, Kendall is cracking. As an audience, we want Kendall to succeed in life. We want him to live up to his potential, but there\u2019s a brokenness to him that seems to prevent him from living up to his potential. This season has shown us that he has his father\u2019s instincts but also reminded us that more than anything, he\u2019s still a damaged child who craves love and affection from his parents. This need for approval and love is his Achilles Heel. It makes him want revenge one moment, love the next, and leaves him in a state of misery. In Succession<\/em> S3E6, Kendall doesn\u2019t follow his lawyer\u2019s advice in the deposition and fires her afterwards. He fired her because he feels she\u2019s not being aggressive enough. In this moment, he wants revenge. Yet the last two episodes, it\u2019s been attention and love that he\u2019s craved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We see Kendall trying to rally his inner circle and convince them that they can build off this firing of his lawyer, spin it into a positive. But he knows deep down that his father is winning this war. So he calls Tom and requests to meet him in that same diner we would see Tom and Greg at. Tom has to prepare for prison food after all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kendall knows that legally, his hands are just as dirty as his father\u2019s. He gave orders to have payoff checks signed. If he doesn\u2019t get immunity, he\u2019s in worse shape than perhaps anyone. Kendall pitched Tom a scenario where Tom joins him and testifies that Logan gave the orders to Kendall, to have the checks signed, which is true. That Tom would get immunity and that he wouldn\u2019t have to fall in the sword for people who won\u2019t appreciate him for it. He asks Tom some stinging questions, including if he thinks Shiv will really wait for him. He touches on Tom\u2019s fears but Tom responds by saying what we all know to be true. He tells Kendall, \u201cthey always f*ck you. I\u2019ve been around long enough to know that you\u2019re the one who always gets f*cked. Logan has never once been f*cked. It\u2019s always you\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Final Thoughts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Despite Tom\u2019s rebuffing of Kendall\u2019s offer, I can\u2019t help but wonder if Tom and Shiv will reconsider this after the selection of Meinken and Roman\u2019s rise to the top of Logan\u2019s list of favorites. Shiv knows she\u2019s out. She knows she\u2019s lost the war to Roman at this point, unless the campaign goes belly up. She\u2019s also on a deeply personal level opposed to what they\u2019re doing. Will this decision and a chance to keep Tom out of prison force them to consider joining Kendall?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, if Meinken is the nominee and next President, what does that mean for the investigation? Will he have the DOJ take Logan out so Roman can take power? There\u2019s a connection between the two of them and he feels no loyalty at all to Logan. This selection could be a bad move for Logan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To get back to how I started, this season does feel different. As I hope I\u2019ve demonstrated in this article, that\u2019s because the show has stripped away a lot of its charm to display what Succession<\/em> is really all about: power and the broken people who fight for it. Yes, we\u2019ve always known this but Succession<\/em> has always gift wrapped this tough subject matter with a humor and charm that made it easier to swallow. There\u2019s less of that now and more of a focus on the ugly inside. It\u2019s hard to see Greg get corrupted, to see Tom realize the state of his life, to see Roman get in bed with someone who appears to be a fascist as part of a power grab. It\u2019s hard to realize that Kendall is fundamentally broken and that Shiv, despite probably being a good person somewhere deep within, is so damaged by her parents and the fights she has to fight as a woman in a world dominated by men that she\u2019s lost sight of some of that. This is an ugly world and yes, it\u2019s still funny, but Succession<\/em> isn\u2019t a show designed to go on forever and the further we get into this story, the more ugly realizations we\u2019re going to be faced with. Until next week my friends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article contains major spoilers for Succession S3E6, \u201cWhat It Takes\u201d (written by Jesse Armstrong, Jamie Carragher & Will Tracy, and directed by Andrij Parekh) I haven\u2019t been quite able to put my finger on why Succession has felt different this season. I write on this show every week and every week, I want to comment […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":231557,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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-231533","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\/231533","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=231533"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrevas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231533\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":298946,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrevas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231533\/revisions\/298946"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrevas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/231557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrevas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=231533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrevas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=231533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrevas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=231533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}