"Succession" Recap: A Closer Look at 'Disruption'

Kendall is painting a particularly grim picture of Waystar for the journalist he's dining with at the beginning of the episode. When she asks him a seemingly easy question: "In terms of your family business, one question that people do have is about your siblings. So, where are they in this? Have you managed to stay close to them?", it stumps Kendall, who at first answers by just saying, "You know, sure. Absolutely." Clearly affected by the question, he goes back and forth from eating to saying nothing of any real substance about his siblings, eventually addressing it ominously.

"I'm just really happy in my headspace. And I hope they're happy in theirs."

Back at the Waystar office, people aren't taking the new President, Gerri, very seriously when it comes to her commands, meaning that at least some people are aware of the real chain of command (Shiv being in charge).

At the strategy meeting, it's brought to Logan's attention that Kendall might be stopping by the office at some point; he makes it clear that his son is not welcome in the building. Also on the meeting's itinerary is an upcoming public town hall to counter Kendall's negative words about the company.

Cutting the meeting short, a colleague walks in to tell the upper management that they've received a document subpoena from FBI agents. There's a disconnect between Logan and Gerri of how to respond: Gerri wants to accept while Logan wants to disregard it. Ultimately, the team sides with Logan, regardless of Gerri's status as head of the company.

Down the hall, Tom shows Greg his new office, one that's cluttered with old furniture and garbage cans—basically a medium-sized Hoarders-esque storage room. Greg quickly realizes that this is a punishment for not accepting the company's lawyers.

Tom suggests that they have a joint meeting with a new lawyer about the cruises situation to "make sure we remember it exactly the same way." Greg doesn't fully agree to the meeting, instead, he mentions that Kendall is giving him a watch that night to express his thanks.

On the limo ride to the Committee for the Protection and Welfare of Journalists (CPWJ), they play a few rounds of "Good Tweet, Bad Tweet," where everyone in the limo switches off from reading good and bad tweets about Kendall. It doesn't even seem like a fun game, but between this and Greg's introduction to his new watch, the limo ride is loud, packed, and constantly erupting in laughter.

At the CPWJ, the vibe is much different than that of the limo just before. Kendall and Shiv spot each other and eventually meet up to talk, with Kendall interrupting a rough conversation between her and Nate.

It's actually a fairly nice conversation at first, with Kendall asking about Logan's state and apologizing to Shiv for the way that he acted as Rava's. Shiv notes that they're both pushing for change in the company and that she's hoping to rebuild together with him instead of fighting.

After the hopeful mini-speech that Shiv gave, all Kendall has to say is, "They made you get all dressed up for this?"

Back at the Roy house, Logan brings up Kendall, asking if he'll be showing up at the office and wanting Shiv to tell the truth about him in a public way. Logan then asks her if she trusts him (Logan). She says yes but then wants him to specify. "On all this hullabaloo," he says. She still says she trusts him, but when they start talking about the cruises situation, she pushes on him to tell her what he actually knew, to which he says "nothing."

After the CPWJ, Kendall and his crew from the limo are at an after-party to celebrate...what, exactly? Immersed in the party, it seems like Greg is starting to care less and less about his legal standing in all of this, especially with the allure of the gifted watch that Kendall is dangling in front of his face. But oh, wait—the watch actually isn't a gift, it's just a $40,000 watch. That Greg will have to pay for. With his own money.

"I just said I'd hook you up, dude," Kendall says from across the room.

Greg then goes back and forth with the watch dealer, deciding whether or not $40k is too much for a watch, and whether or not his patina has transferred to the watch already. Despite both of these elements, he buys it.

After hearing that Sophie Iwobi, host of the show, "The Disruption," went after him on her TV show, Kendall broadcasts it at the party for everyone to see. He acts like he's enjoying the negative things she's saying about him, but it seems like a pretty forced reaction. Seeing this gives Kendall the idea to go on her show, even though his assistant is advising against it.

Back at Tom and Shiv's place, Tom tells her that there could be a chance he goes to jail if he's implicated in the investigation into Waystar's cruises issue. Feeling that it could help his case if he offers himself up to Logan as the "beating post," he actually goes through with the plan the next time he's with Logan. Although he's very appreciative of Tom's gesture, Logan tells him that it probably won't be necessary.

Kendall decides to make a surprise visit to the Waystar office in an ugly navy baseball cap, where he has to be let up by Hugo and Karolina, who reluctantly both agree after Kendall refuses to meet in the other building. Upstairs, Kendall's office is practically useless to him as he's locked out of his computer and is literally being frozen out of his office by a blasting air conditioner.

At the Waystar town hall, Shiv heads on stage to address the audience, first discussing the allegations that have been made by Kendall. As she's talking about the importance of corporate responsibility and accountability, "Rape Me" by Nirvana starts blasting over the speakers. She initially tries to talk over the music, but when it gets to be too much and too loud, she stomps off the stage to save face.

Afterward, Shiv heads up to Kendall's office and finds opened boxes for the speakers scattered all over, making it clear who sabotaged her speech. She then spits in his journal and walks away.

Having just been embarrassed on stage by Kendall, Shiv wants her, Connor, and Roman to band together and sign a public document that outlines condemns Kendall and outlines his personal faults and mental status. Claiming that it would be a great way for them to stand as one, it's obvious that the reason behind this decision is not to bring unity: it's simply an act of revenge on her brother. Roman and Connor refuse to sign the document, but Shiv goes ahead with publishing it, anyway.

Tom is hosting a nice, formal dinner for advertisers at the office, but things quickly go awry when Logan and the upper management are alerted that the FBI has a search warrant for the building. Although he didn't want to comply before, Logan finally gives in and allows the FBI to begin their search.

Having booked a time slot at Sophia Iwobi's show, Kendall is feeling good going into his appearance. However, 15 minutes before going on, he's shown Shiv's public document by one of his assistants. At first, playing it cool and acting like it's not a huge deal, reality settles in on Kendall and his fight-or-flight response kicks in.

He approaches one of the producers and asks for them not to address the document on the show, but they feel strongly about the importance of addressing it. When Kendall then floats the idea of not appearing as a guest, the producer tries to calm him down by saying that it's all in good fun, and Kendall doesn't really know what to do.

Instead of going on the show, he walks down the hall to a dark tech room and sits down alone. As he contemplates the document, the show airs without him, lambasting him for bailing at the last minute.

Kendall and Shiv's relationship is one that was always a tug-of-war, with each sibling pushing back on the other, though never in a way that took things too far. When you push all of the business conflicts aside, they're still just siblings who love each other, right?

This time, Kendall took things too far. He embarrassed her publicly, so Shiv is pushing back and will now publicly embarrass him. Except this time, Shiv's not just pushing him back. She's pushing him off the cliff.

Still sitting alone, Kendall sees that Waystar is being raided by the FBI on his phone, taking a bit of the sting out of Shiv's document and burying her stab at him.