SUCCESSION: DC (TV)
Summary
One in this darkly comedic drama series about the extremely wealthy and dysfunctional Roy family and their global media empire, Waystar Royco. In this episode, everyone gathers to watch – and heckle – whistleblower James Weissel's televised interview about Waystar's many scandals and cover-ups, particularly on their cruise lines. Weissel describes their heartless "no real person involved" policy, and Gerri tries to do damage control by suggesting they blame everything on the late "Mo-"Lester McClintock and "give up" Bill Lockheart, the former head of parks and cruises. Connor and Tom question Greg's decision to turn down his grandfather's fortune and stick with Logan, and Logan is outraged when Shiv reveals that Senator Eavis intends to call formal hearings regarding Weissel's accusations. Hugo sows discord by suggesting they blame Tom and Gerri instead, and Logan, aware of the need for a backup plan, sends Roman, Karl and Jamie off to Turkey to enlist Eduard Asgarov's sovereign wealth. Rhea tries to downplay Weissel's bombshells, but she makes her distaste plain to Logan.
Asgarov seems to like Roman's plan and invites him to make a formal pitch, and back in D.C., everyone is uncomfortable when unwitting sacrificial lamb Bill arrives at the hearings to "support" is formal colleagues. Roman, Karl and Jamie are stunned when they are "invited" into a hostage situation in Turkey, and Eavis grills an extremely nervous Tom about Lester's well-known criminal proclivities and Greg's obvious destruction of many key documents. Tom, who briefly attempts to deny even knowing Greg, flies into a panic that he is the "patsy," prompting Shiv to attempt to bargain directly with Eavis – and Nate. She offers them dirt on Weissel, but Eavis reveals that he has something "really, really good" to use against Logan: an actual victim of Lester's named Kira. Gerri frets her testimony could cause the many non-disclosure agreements to "domino" and therefore destroy the company, and Logan dispatches Shiv and Rhea to talk to the woman in person. At the same time, Connor is delighted to receive political support from a few "Con-heads," and Karl struggles with a panic attack as Jamie and Roman try to make the best of their potentially deadly situation.
Eavis seems unconvinced by Logan's formal declaration of shock and regret over Weissel's accusations, but Kendall jumps in and firmly denies all wrongdoing, accusing the senator of a personal bias against his ideological rival. Rhea has a crisis of conscience and refuses to meet with Kira, but Shiv sits down with her alone and, agreeing that Logan is a "serial liar," warns her that Eavis will exploit her suffering and allow her to be harassed and humiliated over her public accusations, whereas she, Shiv, can "kill" the men involved through subtler means with Kira's help. Roman, Jamie and Karl are eventually released unharmed, though deeply shaken, and Logan, celebrating the "victory" with his associates, praises Shiv when he learns that Kira has chosen not to testify after all. Rhea, however, decides she can no longer tolerate Logan's amorality and, despite his warnings that she is "fungible," pulls out of the deal. Later, he muses to Shiv that silencing Kira and giving up Lester and Bill may not be enough – and a "blood sacrifice" may be needed to save the company.
Details
- NETWORK: HBO
- DATE: November 30, 1999 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:01:12
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 139064
- GENRE: Drama
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama; Families; Family-owned business enterprises; Sexual harassment
- SERIES RUN: HBO - TV series, 2018-
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Jane Tranter … Executive Producer
- Frank Rich … Executive Producer
- Will Ferrell … Executive Producer
- Adam McKay … Executive Producer
- Kevin Missick … Executive Producer
- Scott Ferguson … Executive Producer
- Tony Roche … Executive Producer
- Mark Mylod … Executive Producer, Director
- Jesse Armstrong … Executive Producer, Created by, Writer
- Georgia Pritchett … Co-Executive Producer
- Jon Brown … Co-Executive Producer
- Jonathan Glatzer … Supervising Producer
- Dara Schnapper … Producer
- Will Tracy … Producer
- Gabrielle Mahon … Producer
- Susan Soon He Stanton … Co-Producer
- Callie Hersheway … Associate Producer
- Valerie Landesberg … Associate Producer
- Maeve Cullinane … Associate Producer
- Lucy Prebble … Consulting Producer
- Mary Laws … Consulting Producer
- Vivian Connolly … Supervising Visual Effect Producer
- Jamie McIntyre … Visual Effect Producer
- Brynhildur Birgisdottir … Icelandic Line Producer
- Nicholas Britell … Music by
- Hiram Abbass … Cast, Marcia Roy
- Nicholas Braun … Cast, Greg Hirsch
- Brian Cox … Cast, Logan Roy
- Kieran Culkin … Cast, Roman Roy
- Dagmara Dominczyk … Cast, Karolina Novotney
- Peter Friedman … Cast, Frank Vernon
- Matthew Macfadyen … Cast, Tom Wambsgans
- Arian Moayed … Cast, Stewy Hosseini
- Alan Ruck … Cast, Connor Roy
- J. Smith-Cameron … Cast, Gerri Kellman
- Sarah Snook … Cast, Siobhan "Shiv" Roy
- Jeremy Strong … Cast, Kendall Roy
- Rob Yang … Cast, Lawrence Yee
- Holly Hunter … Cast, Rhea Jarrell
- Eric Bogosian … Cast, Senator Gil Eavis
- Danny Huston … Cast, Jamie Laird
- Fisher Stevens … Cast, Hugo Baker
- Annabelle Dexter-Jones … Cast, Naomi Pierce
- David Rasche … Cast, Karl
- Scott Nicholson … Cast, Colin
- Babak Tafti … Cast, Eduard Asgarov
- Ashley Zukerman … Cast, Nate Sofrelli
- Sally Murphy … Cast, Kira
- Mark Blum … Cast, Bill Lockheart
- Victor Slezak … Cast, Senator Roberts
- Debbye Turner Bell … Cast, Susan Vardy
- Juliana Canfield … Cast, Jess Jordan
- Zoe Winters … Cast, Kerry
- Ekin Koc … Cast, Kadir
- Selim Bayraktar … Cast, Zeynal
- Ian Creed … Cast, Coach
- Preston Fritz Smith … Cast, Lobbyist
- Zijad Gragic … Cast, Amin
- Robert Krog … Cast, Dave
- Linda Marie Larson … Cast, Senator Katherine Gilliard
- Sharla McBride … Cast, Delta Pike
- Kelly Nash … Cast, Cathleen Carmichael
- Alex Emanuel … Cast, ATN Newscaster
- Mark Thomas Epperson … Cast, ATN Newscaster
- Lia Lando … Cast, Pierce Newscaster
- Anthony Arkin … Cast
- Michael Nathanson … Cast