I think the tension you are articulating comes out of the fact this show superficially looks like a corporate thriller which might actually have some sort of happy ending, but it is actually a family tragedy which is likely to end poorly for the main characters.

Yeah, I think the near-drowning truly marks Kendall hitting bottom, and that leads to him confessing his role in the death of the waiter to Shiv and Roman.

Yeah, my guess is Connor is going to be mad they f’ed it up, and that may push him to asserting himself as “eldest son” in more concrete ways.

But Logan selling the company is going to give Kendall what he claims to want, a buyout.

Absolutely. Shiv believes she is entitled to lead, but she does not understand how to get people to actually follow her. And her relationship with Tom really reinforced that, because he affirmed that unearned sense of herself . . . until now.

I actually went back and rewatched the sequence from the phone conversation with Shiv through Tom’s conversation with Greg just to be sure it was all set up properly. And yes, that was because I also had some lingering doubt about whether Tom really had the capability to betray Shiv and then come into the room with an…

The look on Gerri’s face after she watched Roman finally stand up to Logan was just amazing (and a great quick cut). Even better on a rewatch, in fact, because now we know that she knew what Logan had done. She so much wanted Roman to side with Logan, but nope. They then cut quickly back to her again when Logan is…

We don’t for sure, but in the car ride there is a scene were Roman is talking on the phone to Connor and “layering him in,” but not really explaining anything much, because Roman says it is complicated, he doesn’t have time, and Connor is “a little bit slow.” Meanwhile, though, Shiv is on the phone with Tom and giving…

It sounds to me like there was a divorce agreement with a change of control provision for the family company requiring a supramajority. I suspect it didn’t specifically mention the kids, and in the context of a divorce would instead have been understood as protecting Caroline’s interests, as she is also a large…

That may well have been part of Tom’s motivation. I do think his move is explainable by his view that Logan always wins, so of course he sided with Logan when Shiv decided to openly rebel against Logan. But I also suspect he still craves her love, and is hoping that by making himself into a more powerful figure (the…

Yeah, it seemed clear to me it was Shiv taking the lead on organizing a joint rebellion, and she had to first rope in Kendall, and then finally Roman. Indeed, I think she was telling Roman in the car she expected to be CEO.

I loved Caroline on the phone trying to articulate just that. She says in explaining why she thinks her actions were for the best, “I’m not sure it’s been good for you, all the, you know.”

I agree Greg is in some sense the least sympathetic character because he seemingly has the least reason to be so awful. It is easy to see him as just a shallow person enjoying clawing his way up in status (from the endless middle towards the bottom of the top! with 20 of his own Gregs! and arguably King of France?).

I love how Shiv recently made it explicitly clear to Tom that their relationship was always fundamentally transactional, to the point she called Tom unfair for trying to make it into something different. She had a point, and yet she failed to understand that Tom truly accepting that view meant he would start thinking…

I also felt someone genuine anger/grief/disappointment in Logan about his children’s inability to trust him. Of course in his warped worldview, that means accepting Daddy will always win and therefore the only thing that matters is to keep Daddy happy. But still, it seems like in his warped way, his children losing…

I’m hoping that is the seed of something that continues to grow next season, with Connor basically abandoning his attempts to live a life apart and joining fully into the family rat race.

Did you watch the after show commentary on this episode?

This season:

I was encouraged by the last episode of WOT. I found it very enjoyable, and I think it established a template for a successful version of the series.

I know, right?