'Succession' season 2 episode 6 sees Logan Roy make a mess of the PGM deal amid a sexual harassment scandal
Spoilers ahead for 'Succession' season 2 episode 6...
In the sixth episode of 'Succession' season 2, we saw Logan Roy (Brian Cox) finally go batsh** crazy after the deal that he has been working on falls through because of an unexpected controversy that comes to light. After getting Nan Pierce (Cherry Jones) from the Pierce family to come onboard the acquisition deal of PGM by Waystar Royco, the Roy family did not expect the plan to fall through on account of something that had taken place years ago on one of their cruise ships.
Shiv Roy (Sarah Snook) is yet again left behind when the others traveled to take part in a panel where Roman (Kieran Culkin), Kendall (Jeremy Strong) and Tom (Matthew Macfadyen) are expected to speak. Logan wants the acquisition deal signed and sealed while they are all at this panel, but Nan, the head of the Pierce family who own PGM is still not ready to sign over the media company without further discussion. She wants to take her time, while Logan wants everything is taken care of immediately and this is before he becomes aware of a possible news piece that could negatively affect Waystar's image. A popular news agency, interestingly, one of the publishing companies owned by Pierce is ready to break the news that an incident of sexual harassment occurred in one of Waystar's cruise ships.
When Logan becomes aware of this fact, he works a lot harder to convince Nan that this recent scandal involving Waystar will not be a problem for the acquisition. He tries to pass this off as just another controversy that Waystar can face without being affected much. He also asks Shiv for help, hoping to use the fact that she is an accomplished woman to further their agenda amid the scandal that is about to break. All of his plans, however, takes a turn for the worse when he realizes towards the end of the episode that Nan is not just hesitant about selling PGM to Waystar, but she is now totally against the acquisition. She has learned the truth of the role that Rhea Jarrell (Holly Hunter) has played in brokering the deal.
Nan has been trying to get Logan to announce that Shiv would be the heir of Waystar since the two families met. Logan had, of course, disagreed to make this announcement, but Shiv realized that there was someone in her corner who could help her take the throne after her father. She wants to play it by the ear and so after she arrives on location simply to control the damage. She is also not ready to tarnish her image over the latest scandal and initially says that she is not interested in taking part in the panel to answer questions about the latest allegations. After speaking to Rhea, who is brokering the acquisition deal between Nan and Logan, however, she also realizes that being a part of the panel might help her further in getting Nan's support.
During the panel, it is clear that Nan is impressed and equally amused by everything that Shiv says during the panel. She is also wary of the interference from Ken and Roman during this panel and it is this that has stopped Nan from signing the deal in the first place. While Nan may not agree with Shiv's politics an intentions, she finds that she can strike a balance with Shiv than with either Ken or Roman. This panel also shows Logan that if he were to support Shiv, she wouldn't work under him but will take things into her own hands, unlike Ken. So by doing the panel, Shiv may have just further alienated herself from her father.
The fascinating dynamics between not just the father-daughter, but also among the siblings themselves is the theme of HBO's 'Succession'. For instance, while Shiv may compete for the throne with her brother Ken and Roman, she also cares about them enough to when something is actually wrong. This was evident when she comforted Ken after a particularly stressful situation in one of the recent episodes. However, in episode 6, she goes all out to show not just her father, but everyone present that she is capable of leading a conglomerate as big as Waystar. Of course, if she were to help her father broker the deal that has failed, the situation might be advantageous for her, but after seeing Logan lose his mind over possibly failing to acquire PGM, Shiv is in some deep trouble. The only support that she had may just have disappeared into thin air.
Next episode of 'Succession' season 2 will air on Sunday at 9 pm ET on HBO.