Emmy Episodes: Succession

It’s always my policy to watch every Emmy-nominated episode each year, which leads me to sample a handful of shows that I don’t tune in to on a regular basis. For the fourth year in a row, I’m making a special effort to spotlight each of those installments to offer my perspective on shows that I don’t review each week.

Succession: Season 1, Episode 8 “Prague” (B-)

This was the fourth of six submitted episodes for Best Drama Series, and one that wasn’t quite as focused as the past two I screened. The Roy boys sure know how to throw a party, though this isn’t one I’d want to attend at all. Tom is clearly a pushover in many respects, and he doesn’t tend to fight back too much when he’s being mistreated, like, say, when his good friends are told that there’s not enough room for them at his bachelor party. Tom was obsessing way too much about his “quid pro quo” deal with a totally uninterested Shiv, and it all resulted in him having an unusual sexual experience that he was very free about admitting despite it being something he probably shouldn’t have mentioned so openly. Greg’s attempt to follow Logan’s instructions to keep Kendall alive failed miserably, namely because he was so obvious about his assignment and only got a repeated one-word request for Kendall for ketamine anytime he tried to offer him water or something light. Kendall was having a rough time after his sneaker-pitch partnership fell through due to his “Hitler, Inc.” last name, and it’s hard to get away from this family heritage. Connor demonstrated one of his questionable flirtation tactics, asking girls where they were on 9/11 to make sure that they were over 21. Gil got very rattled when he was asked about his wife’s suicide during his television interview, and weaponizing Shiv against her father shows how much he hates him. Logan evidently feels the same way, and this is clearly going to be an issue around her wedding.