‘Succession’ Season 2, Episode 8 ‘Dundee’ Review: Commemoration

Succession honors the patriarch responsible for Waystar-Royco’s place in the world. Once they secure hold of their investors, the Roy Clan attends a surprise celebration. When faced with matters of the past, people have different reactions. Also, the presence of an outsider rattles the Roy siblings. Eventually, the end of the celebration becomes the definitive point of Waystar-Royco’s fate.

On Sunday’s episode of  Succession, the Roy Clan travels to Logan Roy’s (Brian Cox) hometown of Dundee for a celebration of his fifty years in the business. Once there, Shiv Roy (Sarah Snook) gathers Connor Roy (Alan Ruck), Kendall Roy (Jeremy Strong), and Roman Roy (Kieran Culkin) to strategize a plan to oust Rhea Jarrell (Holly Hunter). On the sidelines, Greg Hirsch (Nicholas Braun) faces a tough decision as Ewan Roy (James Cromwell) threatens to disinherit him. Meanwhile, Marcia Roy (Hiam Abbas) takes note of Rhea’s presence in their lives.

Ultimatum

Graeme Hunter/HBO

Throughout the Scotland trip, Greg was nothing short of bothered. Something from the props at the play Willa (Justine Lupe) wrote triggered an allergic reaction on his skin. The guy awkwardly scratched himself as he haphazardly applied the cream on himself. As the day progressed, his problems ranged from mundane to consequential. His grandfather, Ewan, threatens to take his inheritance away unless he resigns from working at Waystar-Royco. Surprisingly, Logan left the decision for Greg to make on his own, going as far as telling him he likes him.

Initially, Greg came into work for Waystar-Royco at his mother’s urging. Now, he managed to climb his way to the ranks of the Empire, so when Ewan asks him to give that all up, he flinches. The threat of disinheritance is no joke, but at the same time, so is resigning from his spot. Considering how deep into the system Greg is, it seems unlikely for him to leave. Of course, his share of Ewan’s wealth is a considerable chunk of money, but so is his salary at Waystar. Besides, Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen) would not dare let Greg go.

To Logan

Graeme Hunter/HBO

Continuing her plan to get closer to Logan, Rhea took care of organizing Logan’s fifty years in the business industry. All of this includes the trip to Logan’s childhood home (which he declines to enter), the launching of a school for journalism under his name, and the gala night where everyone important in his life attended. At first, Rhea had a hard time getting Logan to feel comfortable with discussing his past. The mention of his dead sister and seeing old friends at the gala overwhelmed him. Eventually, however, the night sort of ends well. Rhea gets what she wants, and Logan seems to have a good time.

Rhea does not know what trouble she got herself into as she takes the spot of the next CEO. The problem with Waystar’s cruise department comes back to bite them on the day of Logan’s anniversary itself. With Rhea kept in the dark as much as Logan, she comes to the table unprepared. Logan at least has prior knowledge of the existence of the problem. This cruise controversy is probably the reason why Shiv let Rhea take the title for now. Rhea is going to need all the cards she can play if she wishes to come out of the controversy with her position intact.

Concede

Graeme Hunter/HBO

No one took the entire CEO ordeal as seriously as Shic did. We have Connor, who is busy with his presidential bid as well as supporting his girlfriend’s passion for theater. Also, Kendall is in no shape to lead Waystar-Royco, not anymore. He is more interested in being happy with his wealth and in seeking out other pleasures [e.g., Jennifer (Sydney Lemmon), the actress in Willa’s play). After Shiv’s surprise announcement at the Pierces, Roman became uninterested in the CEO spot either, opting to focus on other things he could do in Waystar. Logan offered the place to Shiv, and she intends to collect. It is a good thing that she did not push through with it for now, though.

Watching Logan announce someone else hurt for the Roy siblings for sure, but they did have mixed reactions. Kendall took the news grimly, quickly forgetting his sexual desire for Jennifer. Roman, on the other hand, already suffered premature humiliation when he buys a local sports team for Logan which he thought is Logan’s favorite team. Until the end, it was only Shiv who thought about the bid and calculated the best move to make. Who knows, Rhea might come under fire and quit the moment the cruise scandal rolls out.

Lady Savagery

Graeme Hunter/HBO

Even without Shiv’s hints, Marcia showing her fangs at Rhea happened either way. With her spending much time with Logan more than Marcia did, it does not take a fool to see where their relationship is going. For some reason, Marcia’s views on marriage are highly progressive. Her directness towards Rhea took Rhea out of her element, unable to regain composure. However, this short moment of victory quickly becomes irrelevant once Logan announces Rhea as the next CEO.

Marcia’s role in the show shifts from time to time, and at this point, one can say that she will be having a comparably active role in the next episodes. She and Logan have a deal known only to them, and Logan broke this deal off when he announced Rhea’s rise to being CEO after him. With that said, Rhea now has more people to watch out for given her new status she wishes to keep.

‘Succession’ Season 2, Episode 8 ‘Dundee’ Final Verdict

This episode of Succession is just as emotional as it is eventful. We finally have a successor to the Waystar-Royco empire. It may not be the person everyone expected, but there she is, usurping power the Roy siblings bit at each other for in an entire season. For the first time in the show, however, the siblings had a semblance of working together. With the cruise scandal creeping on them, the Roys may have to work together once more to keep this past controversy from tearing their company apart– before they could divide the spoils among themselves.

Succession continues Sunday, October 6th, with ‘DC’ at 9/8c on HBO.