What I’m Watching: Succession

Succession: Season 3, Episode 6 “What It Takes” (B+)

In the middle of everything that’s going on, this episode felt like a fever dream, one that literally found the Roy family gathering together to discuss and pick the next president of the United States. To think that this is how it happens in real life is pretty frightening, and that’s part of the idea here, best expressed through Shiv’s inability to have her important perspective taken seriously. Alleging that her opinion should count twice as much as Roman’s wasn’t her best argument even if it’s probably true, and the ability of everyone else to simply ignore her very valid concerns about the fascist tendencies of their ultimate choice was extremely disturbing. Being forced to stand in a photograph expressing support for him was the last straw, but, like so many in real life, she wasn’t able to make any other choice in that moment. There was a solid cast of contenders playing the possible candidates, including Reed Birney, who I just interviewed recently, as another hapless vice-president, Stephen Root as Ron Petkus, and Yul Vasquez as Rick Salgado. I’m intrigued by the casting of Justin Kirk, a typically comic figure from “Weeds” who has made mildly dramatic efforts recently in “APB” and “Perry Mason,” as Jeryd Mencken, the candidate who refers to Hitler by his initial and thinks that it’s sometimes okay to invoke him as a role model. The notion that Tom’s obsession with going to jail is properly founded is unsettling, though his research continues to be light-hearted and absurd, and I have a feeling that he’s ultimately going to switch sides and take Kendall up on his offer for a way out of this.