Prison Camps for Grannies: Breaking Down
Episode 6 of ‘Succession’

Breaking Down
Episode 6 of ‘Succession’

Each week, we break down the biggest developments, track who's leading the literal line of succession, and catalog each episode's worst burns, the best Cousin Greg-isms, and more.

Follow-up line, week 6

With every episode, the Roy siblings' potential acquisition of Pierce Global Media, which is contingent on the sale of Waystar Royco, looks like it's going to die on the vine. While GoJo founder Lukas Matsson made Waystar an offer Kendall and Roman couldn't refuse, that doesn't mean the interim co-CEOs will sit idly by and lose their father's company. Time isn't on Kendall and Roman's side, so much of Sunday's episode of "Living+" shows the siblings trying to undermine GoJo's deal during an investor pitch day at Waystar Studios in Los Angeles. Roman meets with the head of Waystar Studios, Joy Palmer, with the intention of pouring more money into his theatrical and streaming projects.

Ringtone Streaming Guide

While Roman fires people with abandon like he's hosting The Apprentice, Kendall looks at Living+, Waystar's new initiative that will be unveiled at Investor Day. The service is essentially branded communities for retirees with promotional links to other parts of the Waystar IP. Meanwhile, Shiv acts as a sleeper agent for Matsson and subtly sows some discord between her brothers. Roman follows Shiva's advice, which in all fairness seems like a prudent self-preservation instinct.

Between Matsson's problematic tweet and Kendall's surprisingly well-received presentation, the momentum is shifting in favor of no. Kendall is hailed as a genius by Waystar superiors, while Roman seethes that his brother is getting all the glory for himself. Whether the successful launch of Living+ will be enough to stop GoJo from acquiring Waystar remains to be seen, but full credit goes to Kendall for pulling victory from the clutches of defeat. Maybe Logan was really trying to underline his name as Waystar's successor after all.

Takeaway of the Week: LOL Capitalism

Make no mistake, even if Kendall is the big winner of this week's episode, it could come at a significant cost. "Can we really do this?" Kendall says during the presentation. If Kendall throwing out unrealistic numbers to boost Waystar stock wasn't unethical enough, he also put Greg in charge of overseeing some extremely misleading editing of Logan talking about Living+ in some old promotional footage. Greg had the editor change Logan's words to say that the real estate brand would "double the earnings" of the parks division.

If there's a real parallel to what Kendall is doing with Living+, look no further than the infamous rise and fall of Theranos, the Silicon Valley startup founded by Elizabeth Holmes that duped investors into believing the company could develop a needle-free blood test. One of the driving forces behind the succession is the belief that a system where vast wealth is amassed by a small fraction of people should be dismantled. In a similar vein, it's extremely rare for the 1 percent to face real consequences for their actions, whether they're burning a Pulitzer Prize-winning digital media brand to the ground or overseeing a company with a culture of racism.

The most heartless display of wealth

In his erratic attempt to turn Living+ into a valuable asset to the company, Kendall wants to add some spice to the presentation. Kendall orders the set designer to build him a replica of the Living+ house with clouds hovering over it. When the set designer tells Kendall he wants the impossible, our guy won't take no for an answer. Even Bobby from Queer Eye couldn't build a damn replica house in 24 hours.

The sequence again shows how the wealthy elite make unrealistic demands and expect subordinates to follow their orders without questioning their authority. In the end, Kendall scraps the replica home from the presentation, but that doesn't mean she's out of bad ideas. To quote the grumpy legend himself, Kendall's product launch was about as choreographed as a dog prancing around on roller skates.

Cousin Greg Corner

Either way, this sequence gives viewers a rare look at Greg, who has the most power in the room. "Do it, okay?" Greg tells the editor, who has some understandable concerns about the request. It's hard to take Greg seriously when he's barking orders, and the unnamed editor barely changes his expression during the exchange, underscoring just how unintimidating Greg is as an authority figure.