Good example. If you didn’t know much about USA healthcare it might feel like a strange premise on which to base a show.
His main goal wasn’t to pay for his healthcare, it was to provide for his family after his imminent death.
But if I remember correctly he didn’t have enough money to pay for the treatment he needed either without risking saddling his family with the debt should he die.
In reality I doubt the single call of an obviously partisan network would have that much influence. At best it would been a minor symbolic victory for that candidate. Collectively the calls of the three broadcast networks would matter much more and even that would not be final. Based on 2000 what would really matter would be the partisan composition of the Supreme Court. I wonder if that will come up in the last two episodes.
While I have enjoyed the season I think there should have been more time given to the two candidates in the earlier episodes. Jimenez in particular has just popped up out of nowhere and we haven’t seen much of Mencken either; he could potentially have been a really interesting character in this season. The election has been treated as the B plot to Mattson’s takeover; IMO it should be the reverse.
I hadn’t realized this was going to be the last season. I suppose it makes sense in a way. Logan Roy is the heart of the show and they can’t really have a full season after he is gone.
Tonight’s episode is entitled Church and State. So, the funeral and election? The penultimate episode of a series is usually the blockbuster. Maybe even a longer run time.
And the finale is definitely going to be longer. It’s already been announced its feature-film length.
Looking at my cable box guide, tonight’s episode is 76 minutes while the next one is 92 minutes.
OK, some open plot threads:
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Obviously we’ll find out which Roy, if any, succeeds Logan in the end, and we’ll find out what happens to the deals with Matsson and Pierce.
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Will Gerri go public with Roman’s pics?
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Any chance that the documents Greg kept could still resurface?
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Will some surprise inheritance issue come up? (What’s Marcia got up her sleeve? Is her son going to figure in the outcome?)
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What things did Greg drink that aren’t normally drinks? [Wait, scratch that one, I’d rather not know]
Not quite the blockbuster full of shocking surprises that I expected but a great episode. Loved Ewan’s eulogy and Roman’s gross humor before the breakdown.
I am pretty sure that Mattson was bullshitting Shiv and even if not, she is going to get jettisoned. He can’t trust her and he doesn’t need her.
Remember how at the end of The Mary Tyler Moore Show were everyone gets fired besides Ted? I think that everyone will get fired except for Greg and he will be the one who tells them.
Yeah, with all this talk about an American CEO, no one who will make any decisions on this matter has explicitly said Shiv’s in the running. She (and us viewers I think) are being led to believe Mattson’s considering her, but he isn’t. I think Mattson choosing Kendall as his American CEO at this point is more likely. Ken’s eulogy may have moved Mattson onto Team K a bit. But I also suspect as they’re all going all-in with Mencken, Jimenez could end up winning and the deal just goes through with Mattson taking the Waystar throne outright, then firing the lot of them.
Roman’s meltdown at the church was painful to watch. Out of everyone in this family of broken people, that dude is the brokenest. I thought he was gonna commit suicide by protestor at the end.
Ewan’s eulogy was perfect. Nailed the emotions of a man mourning the loss of a beloved brother who was also an absolute monster on a micro and macro scale. Finally we got the story on their sister: Polio, and Logan blamed himself.
Agreed this episode sets up the finale nicely; now let’s see if they can nail the landing. The three-act sequence of Ewan’s eulogy, Roman’s breakdown and Kendall’s counter-eulogy was both unexpected and gripping, and a great summation of Logan’s impact on the world and his family.
Also agree that regardless of who becomes CEO, it will be clear that only another ruthless self-made man like Mattson can be the true new Logan Roy. After having spent four seasons dissecting the kids’ flaws it would be a bit lame if the show ends with one of them winning everything.
I’ve always been of the opinion that Mattson is a ruthless, ethics-free and sociopathic person who understands each Roy sibling’s personal weakness and is happy to exploit them to the max to get what he wants. I’ll be amazed if he isn’t the big winner at the end of it all.
Mattson insults and then flatters each Roy sib in their quests for Dad’s approval – and it always works. He’s playing rope-a-dope while the Roy sibs are turning on each other in their efforts to please the new Daddy Mattson.
I have a harder time reading what will happen to Tom and Greg. Or Connor, for that matter. They’re probably all collateral damage. Much as I’ve enjoyed their toxic interactions, it would serve them all right.
Agree that Ewan’s eulogy was a high point of this episode.
Great episode, great acting. Roman had his speech down so cold he was able to add in commentary to it that morning. It would have played well to that crowd, and then he just fell apart. He can’t seem to do things without the backing of someone more competent/powerful.
No real insights on how this might play out. At the point they are choosing to end it - who takes over the company, I doubt any type of real closure is possible (I’m not seeing them do a flash forward into the future type of gimmick). Basically who will succeed Logan Roy will probably be answered, and that’s really what this show was about.
Hate to see it end, but it seems like a good time to do it.
This is so true. If he could have kept Gerri’s backing, with her right there in the church, he would have done fine.
Speaking of Gerri, I hope she gets a least one more great scene. I think if anyone “deserves” Waystar Royco or Star Go, or whatever , it’s her.
Granted that he’s a minor character, but I think führer-elect Jeryd Mencken is miscast. The actor (Justin Kirk) should be projecting some combination of charisma and authority and menace. For me, at least, it’s not coming through. (Maybe it’s more conspicuous because the main actors are knocking it out of the park with their performances.)
Can we assume Con’s mom is dead? She wasn’t at his wedding, and she wasn’t among the line-up of wives and mistresses at the funeral. I was hoping to finally see her, but alas, getting a glimpse of the infamous “Sally Anne” will have to suffice.
Can someone tell me who the “big man” is, the one with whom Kendall spoke at the gathering after the interment? I couldn’t place his character at all.
She was committed to a psychiatric facility decades ago and is presumably dead.
Might that be Colin? Logan’s previous driver/security/fixer?
I believe you’ve nailed it. Thank you!