Emmy Catch-Up: Succession

Every year, I watch the six submitted episodes of every series I don’t regularly watch that’s up for one of the Emmy series prizes. This year, I’m getting a jump start to check out the entire season of some of most high-profile shows I didn’t watch when they originally aired.

Succession: Season 2, Episode 5 “Tern Haven” (B+)

It’s incredible to see the lengths Logan will go to so that he can prevent anyone else from winning. There were so many awkward moments when these two families came together, and plenty of opportunities for the Roys not to make things worse that they didn’t take. Shiv making fun of Mark’s degrees was relatively tame, and Logan wasn’t kind when he made specific requests about what he needed from each of them, like Roman laughing at a normal volume so that he didn’t sound like a hyena. I had heard a lot about Cherry Jones as a top Emmy contender, and I’m glad to see that she’s playing a powerful woman lacking the same self-righteousness that her characters in “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “Transparent” possessed. She’s honest and knows what she wants, and she wasn’t trying to strong-arm Logan into announcing Shiv but rather finding a way to ensure that he couldn’t go back on his promises that he could be trusted since he surely would have. Shiv did make a major play, however thoughtlessly, by announcing her candidacy at the table, and Logan is so furious that he’s probably not going to make it happen now. Given that Naomi was the one who convinced Nan to go ahead, Kendall actually deserves most of the credit. I’m not sure why Annabelle Dexter-Jones, who plays Naomi, isn’t on HBO’s list of Emmy submissions, but she really impressed in this hour. After trying to get Tabitha to pretend she was dead didn’t go over too well, Roman’s nighttime trip to Gerri’s bathroom was possibly ill-advised, especially because he gleefully told everyone about it because he knew no one would believe him. It’s sad to see Tom, who seems nicer now that he’s not throwing water bottles at the newly-serious Gregory, so easily sacrificed by Logan, a pawn he’s happy to move around as he needs to serve him.