‘Succession’ recap: S3 E5 – “Retired Janitors of Idaho”

Succession every week is seemingly raising the bar each week on their competition for what a great show should be. Their writing is impeccable. The performances rarely fail to disappoint. This week they even managed to work in phrases like “piss mad King” into the show’s narrative. While it seems that this season has been building to the shareholder’s meeting, what’s crazy is that we have at least 4 more episodes left in Season 3. Where is this all headed? Will the investigation into Waystar lead to someone in handcuffs? We touch on all of this and more in our top 5 takeaways from tonight’s episode. 

5. Down to the wire

The negotiations between Waystar and Sandy/Stewy’s group are coming down to the wire. If this were between two other parties, a deal would have been reached long before the stockholder’s meeting, but Sandy’s feelings towards Logan have muddied up the waters. In the beginning, this was about acquiring the company; it has now become a quest to screw over Logan as much as possible. While there is some haggling over private jets, veto power over Logan picking his successor, and seats on Waystar’s board, the agreement appears hashed chiefly out. At this point, it’s all about ego. What stood out to me was how much pull  Sandy’s daughter Sandy (Hope Davis) had in the proceedings. It certainly seems that she will play a key role in how this season unfolds. 

4. Cut off

It appears that Greg (Nicholas Braun) has found a way to be cut out of his Grandpa’s (James Cromwell) will. Everyone has irritated him so much that he’s now transferring his fortune to charitable endeavors. I guess briefly joining Waystar’s joint defense agreement has some consequences. This revelation, of course, causes Greg to look into how he could lovingly sue his Grandpa. 

3. Playing both sides

Has anyone picked up on how much Greg is “playing” the corporate game this season? Remember, in season 1; he was very naive and almost oblivious to what was occurring. Now, it seems an attempt to gain favor with Logan and Kendall’s group. Kendall (Jeremy Strong) recognizes this and manages to tell him that there’s a good chance that Greg will be sold out to the authorities unless he leaves that agreement. Who would have imagined that he would be right in the middle of this storm of controversy?

2. These three

With the company’s future in doubt, these three indeed take unique approaches. Roman (Kiernan Culkin) desperately wants to be involved in solving this issue but is far from a self-starter. He only gets involved when left with no options. Roman does get some credit for taking the President’s call because his dad had gone insane due to an untreated UTI. Shiv (Sarah Snook) sees herself as the obvious choice to succeed her father as CEO but doesn’t seem to make any decisions without consulting dear old dad. With all of this occurring, Tom (Matthew Macfadyen) seems focused on starting a family before what he feels is his inevitable trip to prison. 

1. We have a deal

In the end, both sides realized that making a deal was in everyone’s best interest. However, it took Shiv breaking her dependence of relying on her father to finalize the deal. It was the first time we have seen her show some independence since season 1. However, once Logan regains his senses, he immediately is pessimistic about their settlement with Stewy/Sandy’s group and finds a way to embarrass her in front of the whole group. Could this impact Shiv more than we realize? 

Photos: Macall B. Polay/HBO