Logan's Pick For Waystar CEO In Succession Has Major Consequences
He finally made a choice and almost no one is happy.
The entire premise of Succession is the inheritance of power. The aging head of Waystar Royco, owner of a profitable media company in a landscape upended by the internet, had a stroke. His children — from eldest son Conner to youngest child Shiv — jockey for position to take control of the company. Presumed heir Kendall reached for the brass ring but fell as his father regained his health. Since then, audiences have waited for the next crisis to open the Chief Executive Officer position. But when Logan's pick for Waystar CEO in Succession finally came at the start of Season 3, the fallout was brutal.
Warning: Spoilers for Succession Season 3, Episode 1 follow. The ongoing game show of "Who Wants To Inherit The CEO Position?" has overshadowed a second ongoing plotline. When Shiv's now-husband, Tom, was given control of Waystar's Parks and Cruises, he discovered a massive ongoing harassment scandal. Some of the charges covered up include funneling women to wealthy corporate donors, resulting in sexual assault and probable murder.
The documents proving these cover-ups, and, more importantly, Logan's direct knowledge and involvement, have hung over the first two seasons and finally dropped with a massive thud at the end of Season 2. When asked to take the fall for the scandal, Kendall instead revealed his father knew everything.
Despite Kendall's continuing ability to be a walking, talking, shambolic disaster at all times, he is — for once — on the right side of history. And for all that Logan threatened this being war, and roaring about going full f*cking beast and grinding bones to make his bread and so forth, he knew his position was weak. It's why the list of places to escape to weren't New York or L.A. or London or Singapore, but Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, or Bosnia, with Sarajevo as the first stop — aka, places without extradition treaties to the U.S.
It's also why, for all Logans' bluster, he was willing to "step aside" from the CEO position "for the time being." And suddenly, after two seasons of every Roy child trying to land in the right spot to win this game of musical chairs stopped, the music ground to a halt.
Connor was never in contention, and Kendall's separation from the family left three options: third son Roman, youngest Shiv, or the one non-family member, Gerri, the Waystar general counsel. Gerri has plenty of inside tracks — she's Shiv's godmother, she's Roman's mentor — but choosing her would mean not choosing one of the Roy children.
Roman's direct plea to dad didn't inspire confidence in the old man, and Shiv's road test to bring him the best lawyer in town was a failure. Moreover, Logan planned to return to the position, so he wanted someone who was, in the end, expendable. It's referred to as "the glass cliff," and Gerri just found herself on it.
But the fallout may be worse than the solution. Shiv, for instance, did not see the game her father was playing and thus decided to see what things looked like from Kendall's side of the battlefield. (Spoiler alert: It's not pretty.) Plus, Roman has now not only been passed over but also best by the woman he's been having a psychosexual dance with for the last year.
Can Logan work his way out of this? Or will it all go over the edge before he can re-right the ship?
Succession Season 3 continues with new episodes every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and streaming on HBO Max directly following.
