Kind of a weak episode this week imo but the show must go on. Fitting after I missed the live airing on Sunday to watch the Bruins be shitty that I can’t even escape with an enthralling story.

Whatever, life is meaningless, let’s break it down.

“Give me the double click on longevity”

10 seconds in and Logan is back from the dead! Kind of, not really.

We do get a surprising Logan appearance via a pre-taped promo for Waystar’s new product, Living+, which as far as I can tell is just an over-50 community. And with the Swede strongly opposed it seems like it’s probably going to go the way of CNN+ and Quibi.

(As a general rule for the many CEOs and VCs who read this blog, adding a ‘plus’ at the end of a product name virtually ensures it’s going to be terrible. AppleTV+ is essentially the only exception to the rule and that’s just because you lucked out with Ted Lasso).

This episode focuses largely on Kendall and Roman trying to “put their dad goggles on” and emulate their father’s decisive, and at times, ruthless business practices. Case in point: Kendall is literally watching tape on his dad as if he's a 6’2” dual-threat QB he has to defend on Sunday.

Only in this case, Kendall is essentially a scout team QB with some running ability trying to emulate Lamar Jackson.

In true Kendall fashion, he fires off like 45 lines of jargon in rapid succession (*rimshot) in an effort to sound competent and in charge. While he failed at that goal, he did successfully give me PTSD to my time at a startup. Had me reflexively checking slack to see how many people pinged me to circle back on a bulletin item we previously put a pin in.

“You’re scheduling your grief?”

Before we get to Roman’s misplaced emotional firings, we check in on Shiv, who is scheduling conference rooms to weep out her combined dead dad/pregnancy/weird Swede acquisition stress. Oddly enough, this was also a plot point on Ted Lasso this season. Employers should probably offer better mental health support.

It’s in one of these conference rooms that we confirm what has been patently obvious for the last several episodes: Tom and Shiv still have it bad for one another.

A little makeout sesh followed shortly after by Tom putting the cock in cocktail reception shows that, dysfunctional as it is, this relationship still has legs.

Now is this a white picket fence, Norman Rockwell happily ever after marriage? No. They were playing bitey for Christ’s sake. But in a very weird way, it works. This kind of mean play flirting appeals to Shiv, and though she loves having control over Tom, I think she secretly enjoys that her once subservient husband is now literally biting back a bit. It was also pointed out to me today that ‘bitey’ is symbolic of their relationship. Literally just trying to inflict pain on each other until someone yields.

God, the symbolism is heavy in this ep.

Regardless, this is my feelings on this union at the moment:

“Ken and Rome, unplugged”

So Roman is not doing well mentally.

He said as much last week, but Roman just clearly isn’t all there emotionally and would rather crawl into a hole in the earth than have to be dealing with the product launch for a land cruise.

As a result, he makes some very reactionary firings of LA lady and, more notably, Gerri, after both of them challenged his authority and compared him unfavorably to his father.

Other co-CEO Kendall is on the opposite end of the spectrum, operating on one of his manic highs that is almost always followed by a DEEP low.

He’s wearing a flight jacket for the product “launch” in usual cringey Kendall style. He’s promising implausibly high numbers and, even more implausibly, literal immortality.

To be clear: Kendall is the most “on coke” anyone has ever been in the history of coke, requesting an entire scale model home be built on a stage inside of a day.

It’s typical cocky Kendall, going for style and grandiosity over substance. He literally has his heads in the clouds, as he demands fabricated clouds over his fabricated home.

The CE-bros are falling apart at the seams and it’s all building towards an inevitable Kendall mental breakdown on the biggest stage.

“It’s very un-dad”

The presentation is upon us and Ken has his confidence shaken just before taking the stage. Roman passively tries to temper his ambitious presentation, while Karl gives him a much needed reality check about the financials that he’s promising. This all seems to only add to the inevitability of Kendall crumpling into a ball of anxiety and “umms.”

However, Karl’s reality check actually seems to have gotten through to Kendall. Despite trending on some tenuous ground emotionally when his father appears on screen, he manages to deliver the presentation with the authenticity, excitement, and cringyness of any reputable CEO.

“He’s about to base jump into a buzzsaw”

The only potential hiccup of the launch comes when weird Swede tweets a Nazi joke about Living+. Kendall, on stage and unaware of the tweet, is caught off-guard when confronted with it in real-time. However, the typically stammering son actually manages to handle it fairly well. He denounces the tweet, while appearing unfazed and composed, and transitioning the focus back to the product.

Of course no moment of competence can go un-cringed with Kendall, so he has to make a bunch of space/NASA puns when he returns to the green room following his triumph. Hugo for his part manages to make the most inappropriate joke of all time when he says, “Heil Kendall.”

The episode ends with Tom giving a speech that was essentially just the Pointer Brothers, while Kendall writes the number ‘1’ in the sand and goes for a solo swim.

Analysis

This episode has actually grown on me a bit since I started writing this. It was very internally-focused, not so much interested in driving the plot forward, but rather showing where the Roy kids are at in their grieving process.

Shiv is depressed but trying to maintain a facade of composure, hence why she is literally scheduling grief amidst all of the shit she has going on.

Kendall defaults to his cocky, know—it-all persona which he typically resorts to in situations where he’s feeling either inferior or emotionally overwhelmed. The presentation was sort of his way of making some peace with his father. He briefly alludes to his desire to say what was left unsaid with Logan during his presentation. Ultimately, I think succeeding in the presentation was him proving to his father that he’s not a fuck-up and can handle the reins. He definitely is a fuck up still, but good for Kendall to at least find closure in his own mind. The closing scene in particular was very telling:

Roman is outwardly angry and disinterested, lashing out at anyone he perceives to have slighted him. He’s making chaotic, grief-driven business moves that will almost certainly have repercussions, and he misses his father so much that he’s looping an (edited) video of Logan saying he has a micro-dick just to hear his voice. He’s not doing well. Very reminiscent of Jessie’s grief over Jane in Breaking Bad:

Winner of the week: Kendall

Every dog has his day. I was happy for Kendall to get a win of some sort and not completely choke in the biggest moment. His dad definitely would not have been proud of him, but I don’t think he’d be overly disappointed either.

Loser of the week: The Swede

The guy is smart, but he makes a stupid fucking move in this episode. The Nazi joke was too far and made him look like an unstable leader next to the surprisingly competent Kendall. Also Tom is pos getting back with Shiv so he’s losing that battle too.

Top 7 Quotes of the Week

7. “It’s an incredibly evolved, ruthlessly segregated city you built on this geological fault here.” - Roman

6. “If I cringe any harder I might become a fossil” - Roman

5. “This is kind of good for you cause your presentation…not great, so now no one will be watching” - Greg

4. “Oh what? You don’t want to make prison camps for grannies?” - Shiv

3. “That’s a Holocaust joke … from our acquirer, so we might need to strategize” - Shiv/Karolina

2. “How am I supposed to follow this? He’s just promised them eternal life” - Tom

1. vvvvvv

Going forward

This felt like a setup episode more than anything else, so I’m excited for this Sunday’s installment. We’ve got a few major twists and turns left to unfold before all is said and done. As a friend pointed out, Kendall had yet another prominent scene in a body of water in this epi. Got to think there’s a loop that needs to be closed there. Was this Kendall’s swan song before some aquatic danger is to befall him? Who knows, but I don’t imagine him suddenly finding his voice and running a profitable Waystar into the future. We’re kind of in limbo with both the plot and the characters right now. I think we take a big leap forward on Sunday.