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 7 “Return” (B+)

Even though I watched the last two episodes of season one, I hadn’t remembered that we had met Logan’s ex-wife and the mother of his three most frequently featured children, Caroline. I’ve seen a lot of Harriet Walter in a very different role this season on “Killing Eve,” and she also starred as another Caroline in “Belgravia.” Her relationship with her children is by no means warm, and leveraging a $150 million home to get Logan to allow her children to spend Christmas with her felt much more like the type of power play he would make than an actual investment in wanting to be with her family. Kendall confiding in her may have been a mistake, but he’s spiraling, and his newfound relationship with Naomi isn’t helping him in the way he needs. It was interesting to see him try to talk to his father about a potential affair with Rhea, though it’s clear now, mostly to Shiv who found herself screwed over by Rhea’s suggestion of a position with the Pierce family, that Rhea is positioning herself not to be Logan’s mistress but his successor. Gerri and Roman teaming up won’t end up getting far, especially considering his dismissal of the opposition research questions she asked him, and he doesn’t really stick through anything, including an opportunity to acknowledge that his father hit him. As if Greg’s aims weren’t clear enough, his use of a tape recorder and retention of a few of the files cement that he’s looking to bring Tom down, a move that won’t go over well with his family at all.