Succession is the king of being able to subvert expectations so smoothly and quickly in the blink of an eye. In episode 7 the crown was leading in Kendall's favor after hearing about Gojo's misleading numbers. In episode 8, Roman took control and even though the episode was titled 'America Decides' it might as well have been Roman Decides as he took the drivers seat and Mencken became president. Meanwhile Ken was conflicted because of his family and the dynamic of Rome and Jaryd, and Shiv had just been exposed for her lies and gutted by Gregory who she chose not to give a deal to. That leading to Kendall giving the final push with Rome which lead to Mencken winning.
So you'd think that Roman would be the clear favorite judging the events of last episode, but with the flip of a switch everything changes. Roman never thought of the scenario of Jaryd flipping the script which is now biting him in the back. Not only did Roman take the lead of ATN pushing for Mencken, but he's now possibly being left high and dry as Mencken might possibly be in with Mattson. I loved his show of humility in this episode showing that his fathers death does really impact him more than he shows, but sadly this won't be a good look for him going forward. It was great to see Gerri not laughing at the video of him crying though considering they've not been on good terms.
As we saw at the end of the episode Ken went to confront Rome about everything and he's fully aware of the situation they're in, and Kendall having the crown to himself has been in effect in his mindset as Rome has seemed to have blown his chances. I think Kendall is the best fit to be the lead of Waystar, because he's starting to resemble Logan the most. He's slowly losing his family despite him saying he does everything for his family, similar to what Logan said. He's able to handle the heat in the kitchen as we've seen many times with him in the series. DC, standing up to Logan on multiple occasions, and in this episode where he thought of a speech on the spot with the lights shining on him and he was able to endure it. He's shown he can be a killer, willing to cut out his family for the sake of the company. He's used people like Hugo and Greg to his advantage, like Logan was able to utilize his own children on many occasions and most importantly Tom in the end.
Things like this show why Kendall can go so far. And from Roman and Frank's small interaction, maybe Frank is still a believer in Kendall, leading to a possibility of Karl backing up Ken as well potentially? It's sad to see him lose Jess but there were signs of this last episode once Mencken won and Greg informed her. I'm glad Jess took a stand because she deserves better after all Ken put her through, but even Kendall's dialogue resembles Logan as he's just constantly been a douchebag to people like Jess and his own wife. Asking Jess why she told him about her possible resigning even though he initiated it? Trying to file a court order for his family to not leave the city and is now trying to get custody of his kids? Sounds similar to someone in this show. Nonetheless Kendall has shown to be the most fitting to take the crown in my opinion, but the wall he has in front of him is going to be hard to climb.
As I mentioned, episode 7 was Ken's lead and episode 8 was Roman's. But this episode showed that Shiv might be in the drivers seat out of all the siblings. She tried to jump off of the ship with her brothers to a ship that we thought might've been sinking, but now with Mencken possibly siding with Mattson that ship could be sailing to the finish line as Shiv could be in the ultimate position to win against her brothers.
I'd like to lastly touch on the scene between Tom and Shiv, knowing the tension has been so high with them in the last two episodes it's great to seem them have somewhat of a comforting moment. In episode 7 when Tom was tired Shiv was telling him to stay up just 45 more minutes, but now she wants him to get his rest as Tom's clearly had a lot on his plate. Hopefully by the end of this series they'll have a good relationship and can raise their kid together happily.
Also while it was very vague I loved the scene with the siblings in the car driving to the funeral. Putting asides Roman's weird sexual jokes it was great seeing Shiv asking Ken if he was ok, Shiv revealing her pregnancy, Ken saying congrats on the kid etc. Hopefully when the smoke clears in the end the bridges won't be burnt between any of them and they can all have a happy relationship with one another.
But with one episode to go, we're reaching the summit as we will soon find out who takes the crown. What side will Mencken choose? What revelations could possibly come out as many punches will be pulled to make it to the top of the hill. It could go anyway with this show, but it'll come down to Kendall and Shiv in my eyes. Or maybe it'll all just go in flames considering the state this show is in right now. This show has subverted expectations this whole season, hell during this whole series. So it's safe to say that anything's going to be on the table in the finale.
So you'd think that Roman would be the clear favorite judging the events of last episode, but with the flip of a switch everything changes. Roman never thought of the scenario of Jaryd flipping the script which is now biting him in the back. Not only did Roman take the lead of ATN pushing for Mencken, but he's now possibly being left high and dry as Mencken might possibly be in with Mattson. I loved his show of humility in this episode showing that his fathers death does really impact him more than he shows, but sadly this won't be a good look for him going forward. It was great to see Gerri not laughing at the video of him crying though considering they've not been on good terms.
As we saw at the end of the episode Ken went to confront Rome about everything and he's fully aware of the situation they're in, and Kendall having the crown to himself has been in effect in his mindset as Rome has seemed to have blown his chances. I think Kendall is the best fit to be the lead of Waystar, because he's starting to resemble Logan the most. He's slowly losing his family despite him saying he does everything for his family, similar to what Logan said. He's able to handle the heat in the kitchen as we've seen many times with him in the series. DC, standing up to Logan on multiple occasions, and in this episode where he thought of a speech on the spot with the lights shining on him and he was able to endure it. He's shown he can be a killer, willing to cut out his family for the sake of the company. He's used people like Hugo and Greg to his advantage, like Logan was able to utilize his own children on many occasions and most importantly Tom in the end.
Things like this show why Kendall can go so far. And from Roman and Frank's small interaction, maybe Frank is still a believer in Kendall, leading to a possibility of Karl backing up Ken as well potentially? It's sad to see him lose Jess but there were signs of this last episode once Mencken won and Greg informed her. I'm glad Jess took a stand because she deserves better after all Ken put her through, but even Kendall's dialogue resembles Logan as he's just constantly been a douchebag to people like Jess and his own wife. Asking Jess why she told him about her possible resigning even though he initiated it? Trying to file a court order for his family to not leave the city and is now trying to get custody of his kids? Sounds similar to someone in this show. Nonetheless Kendall has shown to be the most fitting to take the crown in my opinion, but the wall he has in front of him is going to be hard to climb.
As I mentioned, episode 7 was Ken's lead and episode 8 was Roman's. But this episode showed that Shiv might be in the drivers seat out of all the siblings. She tried to jump off of the ship with her brothers to a ship that we thought might've been sinking, but now with Mencken possibly siding with Mattson that ship could be sailing to the finish line as Shiv could be in the ultimate position to win against her brothers.
I'd like to lastly touch on the scene between Tom and Shiv, knowing the tension has been so high with them in the last two episodes it's great to seem them have somewhat of a comforting moment. In episode 7 when Tom was tired Shiv was telling him to stay up just 45 more minutes, but now she wants him to get his rest as Tom's clearly had a lot on his plate. Hopefully by the end of this series they'll have a good relationship and can raise their kid together happily.
Also while it was very vague I loved the scene with the siblings in the car driving to the funeral. Putting asides Roman's weird sexual jokes it was great seeing Shiv asking Ken if he was ok, Shiv revealing her pregnancy, Ken saying congrats on the kid etc. Hopefully when the smoke clears in the end the bridges won't be burnt between any of them and they can all have a happy relationship with one another.
But with one episode to go, we're reaching the summit as we will soon find out who takes the crown. What side will Mencken choose? What revelations could possibly come out as many punches will be pulled to make it to the top of the hill. It could go anyway with this show, but it'll come down to Kendall and Shiv in my eyes. Or maybe it'll all just go in flames considering the state this show is in right now. This show has subverted expectations this whole season, hell during this whole series. So it's safe to say that anything's going to be on the table in the finale.