Slate Money: Succession, S2E6, “Yuppie RoboCop”

Summary

Slate Money: Succession – S2E6 "Yuppie RoboCop"

Slate Money Podcast | September 16, 2019
Host: Felix Salmon (Axios)
Guests/Panelists: Emily Peck (HuffPost), Taffy Brodesser-Akner (author & journalist)

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Episode Overview

In this Slate Money: Succession recap, Felix Salmon is joined by regular panelist Emily Peck and special guest Taffy Brodesser-Akner for an in-depth, hilarious, and insightful discussion of Season 2, Episode 6 of HBO's Succession, titled “Argestes.” The trio unpacks the episode’s central themes of power, family dysfunction, media intrigue, and shifting gender dynamics within the Roy family, as well as the business and social undercurrents surrounding the failed acquisition of the Pierce media empire.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Enduring Appeal of Gerri (00:50–03:15)

• Taffy is a self-professed “Jerry stan”:

  “I live or die by Jerry.” – Emily Peck [01:22]

• Gerri’s survival instincts and sideline authority shine in this episode.
• Admiration for her ability to be three steps ahead, especially managing the company’s MeToo crisis by pulling Shiv into the PR spotlight.

2. Family Dysfunction & Emotional Currency (03:34–08:32)

• Logan’s physical aggression towards Roman (knocking out his tooth) is dissected with both skepticism and dark humor.
• The notion that “capital” on the show isn’t just money, but who gets to speak their mind:

  “The real capital on this show is who is allowed to say what they think.” – Emily Peck [04:34]

• Logan's control versus Kendall's lack of authority is illustrated in the private jet scene.

  "Everything you do is fucking bullshit. And I’m very disappointed in you." – Logan, quoted by Felix [05:17]

• Marcia's rare assertion of power toward Shiv is contrasted with her usual inscrutability [06:45–07:13].

3. Wealth, Status & the Allure (07:27–08:32)

• Emily admits the trappings of Roy wealth are more aspirational than repulsive, even while acknowledging the family’s toxic dynamics.
• Taffy interrogates whether material comfort is worth the loss of authentic connection.
• Consensus: The Roys, though awful, display a warped intimacy and closeness.

4. The Argestes Conference & Corporate Scandal (09:03–15:18)

• The setting is a clear riff on real-life power summits like the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference and Aspen Ideas Festival.
• The fallout from the cruise line sexual misconduct scandal (uncle Mo, the cover-up, and the death at sea) forces the Roys into crisis management.
• Roman, Kendall, and Shiv’s responses to the scandal diverge sharply:
  • Kendall pushes for an apology, potentially projecting his own guilt from the manslaughter [17:09–17:34].
  • Shiv and Gerri favor stonewalling and minimization.
• The panel bemoans the inaccurate depiction of journalism fact-checking (especially vis-à-vis New York Magazine) [24:17–25:07].

5. Women, Power, and the "Female Option" (30:12–32:09)

• Shiv is thrust into the crisis because being a woman is now a “plus” for the company—an ironic reversal of Logan’s earlier claim that her gender was a minus:

  “It’s a plus that she’s a woman.” – Taffy [31:32]

• Her big moment on stage is a blend of attempted gravitas and crumbling confidence; her “dinosaur” comments are discussed as both a blunder and a subtle dig.

6. Rhea, Nan, and Corporate Maneuvering (11:43, 12:07, 13:28, 28:30)

• Rhea's outsider status in the Pierce family, ambition, and possible motivations for selling are dissected.
• Her awkward loyalty split between Logan and Nan culminates in her telling Nan to “calm down”—the podcast panel agrees this is a grave error:

  “Never tell anyone to ever calm down.” – Taffy [12:43]

• The hosts question whether Rhea is setting herself up as Waystar’s next CEO.

7. Comic Relief & Memorable Moments (14:48–16:13, 36:10–38:52)

• The Tom-Greg dynamic is celebrated as the true “viewer stand-in,” with their attempts to create a new ATN slogan (“We Here For You” / “We Hear For You”) providing comic gold:

  “It’s good because it’s not clear exactly what it means. So lots of wiggle room.” – Greg [15:18]

• Tom’s anxiety over being scapegoated in the press, juxtaposed with his need for attention:

  “Is it a piece about me? Is it about me? They asked for me.” – Tom [16:12]

• Emily laughs at Shiv dubbing Roman and Kendall the “cover stars of Toxic Male Monthly” [36:22].

8. Analyzing Visual & Behavioral Details (18:41–20:11)

• Roman’s childish, fidgety way of sitting is noted as physical evidence of arrested development.
• Gerri’s maternal yet strategic care for Roman is discussed.

9. Real-World Corporate Parallels (34:18–35:14, 37:08–37:59)

• The “300-year investing horizon” billionaire character is linked to SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son (spliced with references to MBS and Azerbaijani oil money).
• The culture of Sun Valley, Aspen, and their real-life equivalents is explored with Felix drawing on his media reporting background.

10. Favorite Lines & Quotes (35:20–39:18)

• The team shares favorite quips and moments:
  • “Horse potatoes!” – Nan [36:10]
  • “Two cover stars of Toxic Male Monthly” – Shiv [36:22]
  • “I’m such a big fan of your money.” – Greg [34:43]
  • “For the shit I’m pouring, pouring over you onto your minions, I’m very disappointed.” – Logan [05:12]
  • “It’s good because it’s not clear exactly what it means.” – Greg [39:18]

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Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• On Gerri’s brilliance:

  “She is three steps ahead of everything, especially in this episode.” – Taffy [02:30]

• On Logan’s authority:

  “But I feel like when Logan says something like that, he means it and people are scared. And when Kendall says something like that, everyone goes like, that's hilarious.” – Felix [06:08]

• On women’s status in crisis:

  “In this episode, it’s a plus. He’s turned on his heels because of all this MeToo shit and... the world is slipping away from him.” – Taffy [31:32]

• On Rhea’s shifting allegiance:

  “She tells her boss to calm down.” – Felix [12:43]

• On ATN’s new slogan brainstorm:

  “It’s good because it’s not clear exactly what it means. So lots of wiggle room.” – Greg [15:18]

• On media fact-checking accuracy:

  “For any Slate money listeners...this is not how investigative journalism works.” – Felix [24:45]

• On the Roys’ closeness:

  “I think the Roys have incredible human connection, and they all work in symbiosis with each other. I think they're a very close family.” – Emily Peck [08:40]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Gerri’s Appeal: [01:22–03:15]
• Logan and Roman’s Confrontation: [03:34–05:59]
• Logan’s Authority vs. Kendall’s Impotence: [05:10–06:16]
• Women’s Power after the Scandal: [30:12–32:09]
• Rhea/Nan Power Play: [11:43–13:28]
• Comic Tom & Greg Slogan Brainstorm: [14:48–16:13]
• Visual Echoes & Family Dynamics: [18:41–20:11]
• Favorite Lines: [35:20–39:18]

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Notable and Memorable Moments

• Gerri’s maternal-leaning yet always-strategic bond with Roman: [02:38–03:15]
• Roman’s unique way of sitting reflects the family's arrested development: [18:41–20:11]
• Logan’s emotional vulnerability to Marcia and his manipulative use of Shiv as a shield post-scandal: [25:56–27:49]
• The hosts’ collective swoon over Jerry’s sartorial choices and Taffy’s behind-the-scenes trivia about ad-libbed lines: [21:14–23:19]
• The meta-debate about whether the show’s depiction of New York media fact-checking bears any resemblance to reality: [24:17–25:07]

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Conclusion & Predictions

• The hosts speculate about the future roles of Rhea and Shiv, and whether the Pierce deal will rise from the ashes.
• They highlight the show’s deftness at blending business, family psychodrama, and contemporary corporate crises.
• The episode closes as the hosts regret not seeing more from certain side characters (Lawrence, Nan) and agree the unpredictable, toxic energy of the Roy family remains the show’s true subject.

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Episode full of biting quotes, sharp analysis, and the irreverent wit that makes Slate Money a must-listen companion to Succession’s ruthless world.

Transcript

[Felix Salmon]

The following podcast contains explicit language. Hello, and welcome to the Ajestes edition of Slate Money Succession, Episode six, Everything Goes Sideways. We thought we had a deal. Maybe we didn't have a deal. I am Felix Salmon of Axios. I'm here with Emily Peck of HuffPo.

[Emily Peck]

Hello.

[Felix Salmon]

And guess what, people?

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Huffpost.

[Felix Salmon]

Oh, Huffpost. Sorry, I'm not allowed to call it the Huffington Post anymore. So now I'm calling it HuffPost, but apparently it's HuffPost.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Please go on.

[Felix Salmon]

Introduce our amazing guest, Taffy Brodessa Agne.

[Emily Peck]

Hello.

[Felix Salmon]

Needs literally no introduction because she's the most famous person in the world. She has a TV series. She has a bestselling novel. She has more, like, celebrity profiles under her belt than most of us have had hot dinners. She is an expert on all things wealth and society. I would say medium. So. And most importantly, for the purposes of our current conversation, she is a massive succession. Stan. Huge. Specifically a Jerry.

[Emily Peck]

Stan, please. Jerry. I live or die by Jerry.

[Felix Salmon]

So let's just start there, shall we? Like, what is it about Jerry that you love so much?

[Emily Peck]

I love that she is just trying to survive. I love that she. That, like, personal information only comes out from her when, as a character, personal information only comes out when it's necessary. Like when she's being blackmailed by Shiv at Shiv's wedding. And Shiv is like, you're my godmother. And we're like, yup. And she's like, you were married. Don't you have any advice? And she's like, well, my husband died. What? You know, and I love that. I love that, like, she has no expectation of being anything but a sideline character. And that is where she steals every scene. I just love her. And I also love her looks of incredulousness.

[Felix Salmon]

Oh, those are wonderful looks. Like her incredulousness when Roman calls her a mole woman. And she just looks at him.

[Emily Peck]

Right. And then later she's like, bye, Rockstar. Bye, mole woman.

[Felix Salmon]

That's the closest thing that succession comes to, like, a successful relationship.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Yeah. So I have so many questions. Well, first, I admire Jerry also, because she is three steps ahead of everything, especially in this episode.

[Emily Peck]

Yes.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

She knew to call Shiv as soon as, like, this MeToo on the cruise thing is going down. She's like, we need a lady to. It can't be me.

[Emily Peck]

No brainer.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Can't be the lawyer lady. It's gotta be Shiv. Call Shiv. She's three steps ahead, right? She asks Roman to go schmooze with the Saudi stand in guy. The rich guy with Azerbaijani. Yes. And she's like, you never know. You don't know what's gonna happen in the next few hours and how.

[Emily Peck]

Right. 36 hours. I don't know what the next 36 hours looks like. Oh, my God.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

How right she was. How right she was.

[Emily Peck]

She was.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Yet at the same time, I believe that she feels affection for Roman. Am I just deluded? Is she just playing the game really well? Does she feel the affection?

[Felix Salmon]

Is she the equivalent of, like, Jacob Rees Mogg's nanny, who.

[Emily Peck]

I mean, she. I feel like it might be the most interesting thing to happen to her. His weird masturbation crush obsession with her. And that she does have some affection for him because he's like, look what his father did to him this time.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Oh, my God, we should have seen that right away.

[Emily Peck]

He was like, bending his father and his father without even looking at him. Just a tooth. A tooth. Do you know how hard you have to be hit to jostle? Like a rich person's tooth?

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

I kind of didn't believe that part.

[Emily Peck]

But it was a. I admire your skepticism.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

I mean, I was shocked.

[Emily Peck]

I took their word for it.

[Felix Salmon]

You can whack someone hard in the mouth, they can lose a tooth.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

But, like, he's so. Logan is so ill throughout this episode. He's throwing up in the restaurant behind the menu into a cup. Yeah, he's not feeling well. The heat lamp is making him Schwitz a little like.

[Emily Peck]

Yeah.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

So, I mean, I was a little skeptical that he could knock his son's tooth out, but. Fine, Fine, fine, fine.

[Felix Salmon]

I think. I think you find reserves of strength.

[Emily Peck]

I think when you're very angry at your youngest child.

[Felix Salmon]

If you were gonna have, like, a weightlifting competition among all of the members of the Roy family, like, I would not be surprised to see Logan win that competition.

[Emily Peck]

But also what's interesting about it to me is that the anger came from Roman expressing the frustration that was his father's due to express. Like, that seems to me that the real capital on this show is who is allowed to say what they think. And you saw it in the first scene when he gives Kendall. He's like, go tell those lawyers. And he yells on the private plane. He goes in and he yells at the lawyers, and he just keeps going. And then it becomes like a dad speech. Like, I'm very disappointed in you.

[Felix Salmon]

Oh, my God, that line was amazing.

[Emily Peck]

For the shit I'm pouring, pouring over you onto your minions, I'm very disappointed.

[Felix Salmon]

He goes quote everything you do is fucking bullshit. And I'm very disappointed in you.

[Emily Peck]

What it's like. That's what it's like to be raised by Logan, Roy.

[Guest or Additional Participant]

You're fucking me here. I'm making good faith assessments to my father, and you're making me look like a hack, and I will not have it. Stop sucking each other off back here and get on it. You pour the shit I'm pouring on you on your minions, and you ride them. I don't care. 24 hours, rolling shifts, crack the whip. Everything you're doing is. And I'm very disappointed in you. I swear to God, I will fire you if you keep monkeying around. Cut that snacks away. I don't want to hear it.

[Felix Salmon]

We've been circling for a hour. Tell them we're running out of gas.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

And then he immediately goes back into the cabin. And then Logan starts yelling. Yeah, it was like the shit is just poison pouring down.

[Felix Salmon]

But I feel like when Logan says something like that, he means it and people are scared. And when Kendall says something like that, everyone goes like, that's hilarious.

[Emily Peck]

Right? He's imitating somebody with power, Daddy.

[Felix Salmon]

Exactly.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

But the lawyer that he's yelling at, the face on that lawyer is rage and anger. I felt it. I've looked like that, for sure.

[Emily Peck]

I feel like that inside. That's my inside face for sure.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

100%. Yes, they all hate him, obviously, but no one looks at Logan like that.

[Emily Peck]

Because Logan is just a. Like, Logan is the reason they're there. Kendall is just a condition of being there. Right?

[Felix Salmon]

But let's talk about Marcia, because you're talking about this whole. This whole question of who gets to say what they think. And it's Marcia who walks in, you know, with a look of fury on her face, right next to her husband, and looks straight at Shiva and goes, that was too much. And that was like, she clearly has power and, like, she's way scarier when she says that than Kendall ever is in a plane.

[Emily Peck]

Marcia seems to me to be all over the place. It's the only thing. It's the only thing I can think of critically of the show, which, as you know, the show is aspirational for me.

[Felix Salmon]

Do you aspire to being a member of the Roy family?

[Emily Peck]

I aspire to that kind of wealth. Like, all the things the show does to indicate that it's disgusting only makes me want it more. I'm like. Like, okay. I mean, yeah, it's a waste of food when they throw away the shrimp, but. Yeah. But no, when they throw away the. Everything in that.

[Felix Salmon]

In episode one.

[Emily Peck]

Yeah, but look at the house. And look how. Look how they have people to call to check out the chimneys. That's. That's a life I want. I want. I want a life where the plumber comes just because I called. I don't have that now.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

But you will soon with your new team.

[Felix Salmon]

I mean, now that you're home, what.

[Emily Peck]

You'Re really getting is you're getting my last. The last grandpa.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

But would you trade? I mean, these people, they have no love. They don't know how to love. They are the worst people in the world. Would you trade all that? Would you become the worst person in the world in order to be able to call the plumber?

[Emily Peck]

I would be a Pierce.

[Felix Salmon]

Fair.

[Emily Peck]

I would be more of a Pierce.

[Felix Salmon]

But the Pierces are not exactly good people.

[Emily Peck]

But neither am I. Neither are any of us. Who's a good person? Who's a good person?

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

I'm not saying good or bad person, but, like, just lack of joy and love and connection, human connection. The Roys don't have that. Except maybe Roman has the same.

[Emily Peck]

I think the Roys. No, I think the Roys have incredible human connection, and they all work in symbiosis with each other. I think they're a very close family. And you see it from the. Like, from. In the first season in the. Is it in the hospital where Shiv and Roman get into, like, a fist fight? That's like, I'm very close with my sisters, and that could happen.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

I did enjoy. So the animating. The thing that Roman gets hit over is because towards the end of the episode, when they're at our jesties, which I assume is like the Aspen Ideas.

[Felix Salmon]

Festival or something, It's Herb Allen's Sun Valley media conference.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Okay, great. So there's this whole debate who's gonna speak, because they've been totally scandalized and shamed because of this MeToo story on the cruise ship, which involves not only Uncle Mo.

[Felix Salmon]

Uncle Mo, Uncle Mo.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Uncle Mo requiring women to have sex with him to give them jobs, but also, like, the death of a woman off of the ship into water, which I have to believe is somehow connected. Like, they're doing something with the death in the water. Right. We had the manslaughter. Now we have the women falling off ships thing.

[Felix Salmon]

The Chappaquiddick just doesn't ever leave this show.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Leading up to this, there's a talk that Kendall and Roman were going to give about something that has no consequence. Some corporate speech talk. I don't remember what it was.

[Felix Salmon]

And then Shiv is continuity in the age of.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

And Shiv is asked, like, you please be the face of this scandal. Because no one ever says it explicitly, but obviously it's because she is a woman, a younger woman, and she's not tainted by all the patriarchy Bad.

[Felix Salmon]

And the person who asks her the most persuasively is, sometimes you have to.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Spend the capital, sometimes you keep the capital.

[Emily Peck]

Yeah. Sometimes you spend the time earning the capital.

[Felix Salmon]

But which, of course, is like, who sided.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Is Rhea on Rhea's side?

[Emily Peck]

Can we just. Well, that's what was going on with Rhea. Was it just about money?

[Felix Salmon]

Why was Rhea so. Like, from day one when this whole thing started, and Logan is like, I'll deal with Rhea. And then Shiv turns to Logan and says, wait, who does Rhea work for again? And to all the way through this episode where Logan is constantly all over Rhea saying, like, rhea, let's do this. You know what I need? You need to do this for me. Like, what leverage does Logan have over Raya? Why is Raya suddenly more keen to do this deal than he is?

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Doesn't she have multimillion dollar payout? If a deal goes through, maybe that's okay.

[Emily Peck]

So a caveat to my. My aspiration toward all this wealth is that I believe I would know when I had enough money. And I think. And I think that Raya probably is paid millions and millions of dollars. Right? That's.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

One assumes.

[Emily Peck]

One assumes that she's paid that much money. Maybe she has a chip on her shoulder from being the CEO of a family business and not being in the family. Like, you saw how angry she got that she wasn't on a family call. Like, she was hurt by it. Cause all this confirmation that she's really just not family. Because she sees the way. What's the Sherry Jones's name again?

[Felix Salmon]

Nan.

[Emily Peck]

Nan. She sees the way. Nan is always like. Treats everyone like family. But she wants to be familiar, right?

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Oh, maybe she also. She. What did she say her father used to do? Not a bricklayer, but she tells it's an asbestos plant. Yes. So it's all gravy for her. So maybe she has that. Like, she wants more money because we.

[Felix Salmon]

Have seen enough of the Pierce family to know that they're not great people. They're all kind of hideous in their own way. And she has, you know, as she said, like, you've got to know when to spend the capital. If she has made her fuck you money, this is her opportunity to say fuck you to the Pierces, which she actually does at the end of the show when Nan basically just looks Logan in the eye and says, no, this deal's off. It's not happening. Rhea, far from like being the supportive CEO, turns to Nan and says, oh, Nan, come on, calm down. She tells her boss to calm down.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Honestly say that. Never tell anyone to ever calm down.

[Emily Peck]

Should be.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

You should know that. You never tell anyone to calm down.

[Emily Peck]

There's no such thing as calm down.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Oh, it just. Nothing makes people calm down less than saying calm down to a person.

[Felix Salmon]

But that's. I mean, it almost reminded me of when Shiv, like, deliberately got fired by Gil, you know, that was Rhea just like deliberately just saying, okay, fire me.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Interesting. Yeah. I wondered if she had some kind of deal with Logan where she would come on board Waystar Royco after the. After this closed with Pierce or even.

[Emily Peck]

If it doesn't close, I think that she was trying to show Logan how much power she had and she misstepped. She thought Nan would be folksy with her and Nan was not folksy with her.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

I mean, it's another example of how someone like Nan or Logan, they have the power, everyone else's power adjacent. Like they might think they have some stuff and they can pour shit on the other guys, but at the end of the day, there's only the people who own the capital truly have the power.

[Emily Peck]

And now Sandy Furness is going to get the company, but he's syphilis.

[Felix Salmon]

The MySpace of STDs.

[Emily Peck]

The MySpace of STDs. I love Tom. Tom, I believe more, I think that people think that Greg represents us. I think Tom does. I think they both do.

[Felix Salmon]

Don't put that on me.

[Emily Peck]

I'm putting it on all of us. I mean, the us of the viewer, that's actually just me. That Greg is the one who is just kind of like a liberal leaning guy who can't say no, but can't stop saying yes and is now on coke. Whereas Tom is the guy who's like, here is how this corrupts a person who is lucky to be here, meaning not born into it. Like, here, human furniture. Like, this is what I'm supposed to want to do in an alternate universe. I would say that Greg didn't really exist. He was a figment of Tom's imagination. But there's already the Greg the Egg thing. I'm just saying it would have been a good idea.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

I mean, there's so many great Tom moments in this episode. Tom and I know Greg, we just. They're Tom And Greg together, we hear now.

[Guest or Additional Participant]

So maybe it's like, atn. We are here for you. And here spelled H E, A, R.

[Felix Salmon]

We're here for you.

[Emily Peck]

That's just gibberish.

[Guest or Additional Participant]

We here for you.

[Felix Salmon]

Okay. We here for you.

[Guest or Additional Participant]

So that might be like, we.

[Felix Salmon]

We.

[Guest or Additional Participant]

We hear for you, man.

[Felix Salmon]

Because you don't need to hear.

[Emily Peck]

We here.

[Guest or Additional Participant]

Yeah. We also. Also we hear for you.

[Felix Salmon]

Is that.

[Emily Peck]

Yeah, we're here.

[Felix Salmon]

Making sense.

[Guest or Additional Participant]

It's good because it's like, it's not clear exactly what the hell it means. So lots of wiggle room.

[Emily Peck]

Yes.

[Guest or Additional Participant]

We're here for you.

[Felix Salmon]

We're here for you.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

So it would be best to say we are listening, because we are, in fact, listening.

[Emily Peck]

Do you know what it reminds me? Do you know what it reminded me of? It reminded me of Verizon used to have a product called isis. Does anyone remember that?

[Felix Salmon]

I do not remember that.

[Emily Peck]

Verizon had, like. I think it was one of their jet packs. Like, try the Verizon isis. And I remember the tweet that was like, please, we are changing it. We are changing it right away.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

We here for you.

[Felix Salmon]

We hear for you. My favorite Tomline in the episode was when he. When Shiv tells him that, like, the scandal's going. Going down, he goes, are they escape goating me? Is it a piece about me? Is it about me? They asked for me.

[Emily Peck]

It's so funny.

[Felix Salmon]

But there's. He's.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

He.

[Felix Salmon]

My God, he is terrified that it's about him. But on the other hand, he wants it to be about him. He's like, please, someone care about me.

[Emily Peck]

Right?

[Felix Salmon]

And no one cares about him.

[Emily Peck]

My favorite is when they're all trying to read the New York Magazine story. And you know how, like, you find out that something's in a story and you try to read it and you can't really comprehend it and everyone there can't read it.

[Felix Salmon]

Right?

[Emily Peck]

Like, everyone's like, it doesn't appear to be. Well, are you like. Are you, like, are you remedial? She says, are you remedial?

[Felix Salmon]

Yeah. Shiv is the only person who's, like, read and digested it. Everyone. And Logan's like, why do they make the print so small?

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Yeah, that's how you know Shiv is the competent one, because she's the one who can read the article.

[Emily Peck]

I like Roman's like, no one sent me the link. Like, google it. What do I Google? Bright star. Rollercoaster rape. I'm always the person who's like, where's the link? And everyone's like, just Google it. We just described it to you.

[Felix Salmon]

Yeah.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

What about all their different reactions to the story? So, Kendall, which kind of, I guess surprised me, but then more I thought about it didn't. Was like, we need to apologize. We need to fix stuff. Do you think that was him sublimating his guilt for doing the manslaughter? Which I will never let go and neither will he. Like, he needs to say sorry for fucking something.

[Emily Peck]

Right.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

He wasn't able to make amends for that. So maybe he can make amends for this woman drowning as opposed to that dude drowning.

[Emily Peck]

That's a lot of depth. You're ascribing.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

I went really deep because I watched this episode twice. So I had a lot to think about.

[Emily Peck]

Yeah.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

And. But everyone else, like Shiv and Jerry, they're like, no, you just fuck off and move on. It was a long time ago. And then of course, Roman thinks, like, is this even a big deal? It was just interesting to see everyone's reactions.

[Emily Peck]

Yeah.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

And think about how companies more generally are. Are having to react to these kinds of things.

[Felix Salmon]

And it was interesting to see, like, the three of them on stage all, like, contradicting each other.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

That's what I'm performing for. That, like, fighting before they went on stage and, like, just, like, totally.

[Emily Peck]

Your period just came out.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

I can see her nipples.

[Felix Salmon]

Your dick's hanging out.

[Emily Peck]

Yeah.

[Felix Salmon]

So they all. They all fight and then they go on stage and they try and put on, like, a semblance of agreeing with each other. But it, like, Nan's in the audience. Logan's looking at Nan. Nan's looking at them bickering on stage like 7 year olds. And she's like, oh, my God, what the hell is this? Even Is this family? And I need to mention this because I just discovered I can't remember who had that article about why can't Roman ever sit properly?

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Oh, I didn't read that.

[Felix Salmon]

No. What? But, like, there's this wonderful article on the Internet somewhere about, like, how Roman is completely incapable of just sitting normally in the chair, which is totally true. There's a whole bunch of places in succession where, like, there will be a chair and he'll just sit down on the floor in front of the chair.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

And that kind of thing.

[Emily Peck]

That's so interesting.

[Felix Salmon]

And this was the prime example where he's, like, up on stage in a very important, like, this massive scandal has just hit his company. And he does a classic Roman, like, curl up, slouchy, Jacob Rees Mogg type thing in the chair and what occurred to me as I used to have a boss who was very short, like 5 foot 2. And what she said to me is that when kids fidget a lot, it's not because kids are naturally fidgety, which all of us think, but it's because their feet don't touch the ground. And if your feet don't touch the ground, it's just really uncomfortable to sit in the chair. And so what you wind up doing is tucking your legs under you, doing weird, like, slouchy things, putting your legs above. And so the way that Roman sits is the way that like a five year old sits.

[Emily Peck]

Okay, counterpoint. I passed Kieran and Culkin. Can't say it. In SoHo a week ago. And he's my height and I can reach the floor.

[Felix Salmon]

Well, no, no, I'm not saying. But that's what I'm saying is that he is now, like, physically big enough for his feet to touch.

[Emily Peck]

It's a habit.

[Felix Salmon]

He sits as though he isn't. He sits in a very childish way. A literally childish way. Babyish.

[Emily Peck]

He's like, stunted. They're all just stunted.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

He is the baby. And Jerry feels maternal towards him. And we saw Kendall being sort of like when Logan slapped him, Roman in the face. It was Kendall got his backup for him and was very protective.

[Emily Peck]

I think Kendall do that. And screamed at him.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

There was another moment between Kendall and Roman in this episode where I was like, oh, they like each other. When he was like, what are you gonna wear tomorrow? And Kendall's, I'm not gonna tell you. And I was like, yeah, what is this? And they all wear the same stuff anyway.

[Emily Peck]

Get you scanning for influence, like a yuppie Robocop. So what are you rocking for the panel jacket or no jacket?

[Felix Salmon]

Right?

[Guest or Additional Participant]

Like I'm gonna fucking tell you. Dude, fuck off.

[Felix Salmon]

Okay.

[Guest or Additional Participant]

Strategic advantage.

[Emily Peck]

Fine. But fair warning, I'm taking a no sock in it. Rocking some horny ankle cleavage.

[Felix Salmon]

Ooh, scary.

[Guest or Additional Participant]

I'm scared.

[Emily Peck]

You should be. Or am I just saying that to psych you out?

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Everyone should read that piece in the New Yorker from Rachel Syme.

[Emily Peck]

Rachel Syme. That was a great piece.

[Felix Salmon]

Okay, so can I please ask Taffy?

[Emily Peck]

Yes.

[Felix Salmon]

This is the single biggest question. And why I needed to have Taffy on for this episode.

[Emily Peck]

Thank you.

[Felix Salmon]

Can you please tell us about Jerry's blouse when she's in her room?

[Emily Peck]

I mean, why is she so dressed?

[Felix Salmon]

What even is that?

[Emily Peck]

Like, why is she wearing equestrian? Equestrian wear. That's what it felt like to me. Some people have a Pajama routine. Do you know what I mean? Some people need to wear certain kinds of pajamas, but I don't know the answer to that. But I can ask her because we're now DM friends.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Wait, are you talking about her pajamas in the last episode when she comes to the door and they have the handjob behind the bathroom? Or the.

[Felix Salmon]

Yeah, no, no, no.

[Emily Peck]

I'm talking about in the most. The one we watch in this one.

[Felix Salmon]

When he comes to the door where.

[Emily Peck]

The tension is like, is he gonna jerk off somewhere ginormous.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

She was holding, I think, a martini. I think I saw olives.

[Felix Salmon]

Yeah, she was drinking. She had a martini.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Olives and their martini. They're alone in their hotel room. That kind of.

[Felix Salmon]

I totally was. But also, she had a big. The. There was a huge minibar situation with effing vodka. Because. Of course. Yeah.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Explain what that means.

[Felix Salmon]

It just means that, like, you can make yourself a martini very easily in that room.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

And they'll have a Fully stocked.

[Felix Salmon]

Fully stocked. Everything.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Lemon. Whatever you need.

[Felix Salmon]

Remember when Tom was like, do I get the champagne or do I just get the cashews?

[Emily Peck]

I know.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Don't worry. They're the size of boomerang.

[Emily Peck]

They're the size of boomerang. So. Because I had a Twitter incident yesterday, that was Jerry J. Smith, Cameron Dming me, as we all know, as we all saw, I learned of a line that was cut from the episode. And so I bring. I bring news. I bring news. She ad libbed something when Roman came. Let me just find it here. It's amazing. It's reporting.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

This is reporting new information.

[Emily Peck]

Here is what she says. I had an improv they didn't use. When Roman knocked on my door in one take, I said, oh, look, it's the electric douchebag. They didn't use it.

[Felix Salmon]

They didn't use it.

[Emily Peck]

We'll never know why. I know. We'll never know why.

[Felix Salmon]

I want to know now. I want to know how much of it is improvised. I always assumed it was all superscripted.

[Emily Peck]

I know, but I guess maybe they're just. They're different takes.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

I read that the scene. Not from this week, from last week, the bathroom handjob scene. They recorded it. They shot it.

[Emily Peck]

Not a bathroom handjob, whatever.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

You know, masturbation. Sorry. Yeah, he gave him the podcast, but they recorded. They shot it 40 times or something. 30 times in all different kinds of ways before landing on the version we saw.

[Felix Salmon]

Really?

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Yes. So take away from that what you will.

[Felix Salmon]

Interesting.

[Emily Peck]

What was the line? Do you Need a. Do you need a hand job and an Advil? Does anyone remember that line?

[Felix Salmon]

Yes, I remember that. That was Logan. Right?

[Emily Peck]

That was Logan saying.

[Felix Salmon]

Logan has some.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Logan was saying that to the bad PR guy.

[Emily Peck]

Who. Would you like a handjob and an Advil? I have it here.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Can we talk about just. We're journalists here, actually.

[Felix Salmon]

I don't think he's a bad PR guy. I think he's actually a perfectly competent PR guy.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

My question is he's terrified. The portrayal of New York magazine's fact checking where no one knows what's in the story that would never.

[Emily Peck]

That they run it in a couple of minutes because they're angry. Like, give us just a teaspoon of credit.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Teaspoon of credit that we're gonna finish checking.

[Felix Salmon]

Yeah.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

You tell them exactly what's in the story. How everyone is saying we don't know what's in the.

[Emily Peck]

Right. Right.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

No, that. That's not a thing.

[Felix Salmon]

That is not that. That is true for any Slate money listeners who thinks there's any verisimilitude here between. Between, like, how investigative journalism actually happens and what. How it works on the show. This is not how investigative journalism works. It always works on this, like, no surprises basis where you go up to everyone and you're like, can we. We're going to go through the whole story very carefully and ask you for comment and blah, blah, blah.

[Emily Peck]

But can I just say, I think it was a Pressler story. I think that was a Pressler story. I think it gets optioned immediately.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Oh, my God. A girl dying on a boat.

[Emily Peck]

I mean, that's what I'm saying.

[Felix Salmon]

We'll have to get.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

No, because she writes great stories and, well, they were biased, but they made it sound like there wasn't much to the story.

[Emily Peck]

Right. You're right. But maybe not.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Which leads me to one question and a half. So Logan, at some point in the episode, tells Marcia a bad story is coming, and he hopes that she'll see her. You know, she'll see him in a good light still. And, yeah, she reassures him the story really didn't involve him. Is there more to come about Logan? Does he. Is he like a. Like a Roger Ailes? Like, is there more going on there? Was he afraid more would come out about him? Did he push the woman off the boat?

[Emily Peck]

Is he on cruise? You think Logan's on one of his cruises? I don't know.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Is he pushing women into the water?

[Emily Peck]

I like where you're going. I think you're gonna be disappointed.

[Felix Salmon]

I look at. This is the episode where we see, I think, possibly for the first time, Logan requiring emotional support from the women in his life that he goes up to Marsh. He's like, actually, I need you right now. You're gonna be there for me. And she says, yes, I'm gonna be there for you. And then immediately after she says that, she, you know, comes in on his arm and lashes out at Shiv on his behalf, and she is there for him. And then what's super interesting is even after Shiv has done her, you know, disastrous ad lib about dinosaurs, when they all go out into the, you know, into the lion's den of all of these people who wish them nothing but ill, he says, siobhan, you're with me. And he puts Siobhan on his arm and he holds onto her for support.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Right.

[Emily Peck]

Like, in a feeble way.

[Felix Salmon]

And. And that was super interesting, but also that was a direct quote, visual quote from where you had the opposite dynamic when Rupert Murdoch, in the middle of the Hatgate trial in the uk, very visibly walked out with Rebecca Brooks on his arm saying, like, this is my adopted daughter. Basically, I completely support her, and we are a team. And he comes out and gives her the fullest measure of visible support. It was. And visibly, because Rebecca Brooks, of course, was also this redhead who looks very much like Siobhan season one. So, like, that visual echo was like, oh, I see what you're doing there.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Oh, I thought it was just him getting cover again from a woman to be like, women don't hate me. Even though I have this terrible story in New York magazine. Women are still.

[Felix Salmon]

Oh, you thought it was tactical. Yeah, I thought it was actually a genuine emotional.

[Emily Peck]

I don't know, I felt like the whole place was like. It was just like a social anxiety pit, like, watching Kendall scan like a yuppie Robocop. But he was, like, looking at all of the people that he has had disasters with. I mostly don't go to parties because I'm afraid of, like, seeing somebody that I may have accidentally, like, unfollowed and refollowed on Twitter. Like, I would not be able to last at this place.

[Felix Salmon]

And this is also one of the reasons why it's such a huge tactical error for Ray to invite Nan to our jesties. I know Nan clearly is uncomfortable in that kind of situation. Nan is comfortable when she's at Turnhaven, in charge of everything and in control of everything. You bring Nan into our justice. She's like the ninth most important person there, and she has no control of everything, and she does not like being in that situation. And someone gives her a name tag and she's like, there's no fucking way I'm wearing this fucking name tag. And while people like Kendall and even Logan know how to navigate that kind of situation where you're surrounded by a lot of people who are more powerful to stuff and you don't have control, someone like Nan has never needed to, and she feels very uncomfortable in that environment. And it's one of the reasons why a lot of, like, inherited wealth chiefs don't go to Davos is because it's exactly the same situation. They're not in control.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Wow, that's really interesting. Also, she is one of those cheap rich people. When she sees how much the food costs. 75 cob the $75 Cobb salad. Yeah, I'll just have tap water.

[Emily Peck]

But I think she does that to show that she. She is still like, a person who knows the price of a gallon of milk. Right?

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Perhaps.

[Emily Peck]

Yeah.

[Felix Salmon]

Oh, but can we talk about the other great line between Kendall and Stewie? When Stewie talks about the $75 Cobb salad, and Kendall's like, we're gonna buy something so expensive that you'll never be able to afford us. And Stewie goes, dude, is it.

[Emily Peck]

Can we talk about the name of this place?

[Felix Salmon]

Oh, yeah. What does argestes mean?

[Emily Peck]

I'm glad you asked. It is the wind that blew the Argonaut ship, and it is a cleansing wind. It is a wind of starting over. And I feel like right before you had Turnhaven, like, it's showing you its arc.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Well, what's starting over? Culling of the dinosaurs, I guess.

[Emily Peck]

Like the. I mean, him chasing a car, like the last frame of that. Him, like, banging on a car and screaming.

[Felix Salmon]

That's where he's lost all self control.

[Emily Peck]

Right. That's like, this deal is over. Right?

[Felix Salmon]

Right.

[Emily Peck]

This deal is just over. And that means that he is vulnerable to take over. Right, Right. And so, like, the cleansing, it was a cleansing of this deal, of the notion that he could win. I don't know. I feel like it all hangs in the balance.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Can I talk about the women thing for a second?

[Emily Peck]

Yes.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

So in the second episod, there's this thing between Shiv and Logan where she's really impatient to come in and be the next CEO, and he tells her she has to do, like, years of training. And he's. Shiv says something like, is this because I'm a woman? Like, I'm a minus. And he's like, yeah, you're a minus. I don't make the world. And it turns out it's flipped because in this episode, it's a plus.

[Emily Peck]

It's a plus that she's a woman.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

He's turned on his heels because of all this MeToo shit and all this New York Magazine story and this other woman pushing him away and he's driving away from him, literally. And it. And it turns out, yeah, he does not make the world. The world is slipping away from him.

[Emily Peck]

And also, you're only upset when people call you a dinosaur. If you are a dinosaur. Yes. Like, if you called me a dinosaur, I'd be like, that's so silly. I would not.

[Felix Salmon]

Like, this was Shiv's opportunity to come in and show how competent and valuable she was. And she walks out on stage and she just. Was it up.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Does she?

[Emily Peck]

No, she won that. You know, it's about being completely unimpeachable. And sometimes companies develop bad habits and you need fresh eyes, clean hands, and new ideas to address those.

[Guest or Additional Participant]

Yeah, I mean, that's the great thing about a company that's structured like ours. We can do that while retaining core values, you know, manage change.

[Emily Peck]

He's good, right? He's great. I think I'm a little more aggressive sometimes. I think you just need a good old fashioned dinosaur call.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

And who's the big T Rex in your sights?

[Emily Peck]

Oh, no. I mean, dinosaur attitudes, dinosaur values. No, I would never go after my dad. That's a sport others enjoy.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

I feel like I'd write that up if I was a journalist and someone slipped me the news and leaked it to me, which I assume will happen. I would write it up as like, new face of Waystar.

[Emily Peck]

Royko.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Is Shiv gonna be the next CEO? Is Logan's out? Blah, blah, blah.

[Felix Salmon]

I feel her ability to rattle off talking points was maybe even worse than Kendall's, to be honest. Obviously, Roman was the one.

[Emily Peck]

I think she said the right things, but I think she is starting to fray. Like, if you look at her from last year to now, she is starting to fray. And this is how I. Like, I sensed it the last few episodes. And if you ever, ever, ever needed confirmation, it is how you feel when you have to take a call in a bathroom and you keep. And I've done this. I've taken very important calls in bathrooms where you keep walking by the hand dryer or the flush sensor, and so whoever you're on the phone with just keeps hearing flushing and you don't know if you should explain it. Or not. But that is like a desperate. Like, why is she in a Starbucks bathroom?

[Felix Salmon]

Right, Right.

[Emily Peck]

Yeah.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Well, she had to. She ditched the. What was she ditching the board meeting to go over something boring?

[Felix Salmon]

Oh, my God. That wonderful thing with her and Frank at the beginning. I like to recite Proof Rock internally while we check. We're getting compliant.

[Emily Peck]

I love that.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Numbs the pain.

[Emily Peck]

I love that.

[Felix Salmon]

Numbs the pain. One thing I do need to quickly jump in and mentioned because the one. So we need to kind of pretend that this is Slate money. And there's a little real world echo here, which I just wanted to sort of pick up on, which was when Jerry is talking to Roman about Edward the billionaire who big fan of his money. Oh, my God. That great line from Greg, I'm such a big fan of your money.

[Emily Peck]

I know.

[Felix Salmon]

Oh, my God, Greg. But she. She turns to Roman and says, he's apparently conceptualizing a 300 year investing horizon. And Emily, you know who that is, right?

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

It's supposed to be MBS, right?

[Felix Salmon]

Well, no, it's. It's a little bit MBS, but he's, you know, Azerbaijani. But the 300 year investing horizon, that's Mahsa Son.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Oh, Softbank.

[Felix Salmon]

Yeah.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

I thought he was Saudi money, but.

[Felix Salmon]

He talks about things going on in Baku, so it has to be Azerbaijan.

[Emily Peck]

Right. Can we go back to good lines from the show?

[Felix Salmon]

Okay. Favorite line. Taffy, what's your favorite line?

[Emily Peck]

Wait, wait. Also from that scene, I really love, like, real. I love him 100% independence. But from our point of view, I.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Just love that that was an echo of the magazine that the National Enquirer Media Company did for Saudi Arabia. They created magazines, but also it's Russia.

[Emily Peck]

Yes.

[Felix Salmon]

You know, he wants his version of rt, basically.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Yeah. Or that Saudi Arabia magazine.

[Felix Salmon]

He wants to turn ATN into rt.

[Emily Peck]

My favorite lines were innocuous, but I think when Tom is talking about We're Listening, and he goes, it tested great. And Roy goes, it tested fine. I just love that. And I also loved. I love. Who shouted horse potatoes?

[Felix Salmon]

Was that Nan?

[Emily Peck]

Yeah, that was Nan. Horse potatoes. Potatoes. Yeah. And when Shiv called Kendall and Roman, the two cover stars of Toxic Male Monthly, accurate.

[Felix Salmon]

That's good. I like that.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

I like the chemistry between Stewie and Kendall. Cause they're broken up now and they're mad at each other, but they still have the glint in their eyes. Everyone, when they're kibbitzing on the show, they just are really into each other. So Stu says to him, I hear your staff are all killing themselves now. And then Kendall's like, yeah, the thought you could be their boss. And it was like, boom, boom, boom, boom. I enjoyed that.

[Emily Peck]

Yeah.

[Felix Salmon]

Yeah. And like, the. They're all so much better than the, like, comedian's lines.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Oh, right. We didn't even talk about the comedian.

[Emily Peck]

The comedian is so weird. The comedian is, like, just there to be, like, this soft, awful, like. Like, it's, like, supposed to be a roast.

[Felix Salmon]

Yeah. It's like permission to never fucking board.

[Emily Peck]

Yeah.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Does that have a real life corollary, Felix?

[Felix Salmon]

So Sun Valley, they do bring in, like, comedians and Charlie Rose to, like, you know, be the entertainment.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

It's funny because it's true.

[Emily Peck]

Felix is fully briefed.

[Felix Salmon]

I think my favorite line, respectfully, I have never been to Sun Valley. I will never go to Sun Valley. The one thing that you learn about Sun Valley when you're a media reporter or in the circles of media reporters is that, like, either you're Charlie Rose and you actually get invited there as a participant, which is, like, one or two people, or they just place you in a pen, basically, and it's just the most miserable. All you can do is take photographs from miles away and, like, not even be allowed to shout questions at people. And it's just miserable.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

They wouldn't let you on the Airbus culture hike, Felix.

[Felix Salmon]

Right, the culture hike, by the way. That is Aspen ideas.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Oh, see, I know.

[Emily Peck]

Okay, thank you.

[Felix Salmon]

Although there's that great line from Rhea to Logan where she's like, it's a culture hike. Although I don't think you have any interest in either of those two things.

[Emily Peck]

Oh, that's very funny.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

But Wambskins, he loved the culture hike.

[Emily Peck]

It's great.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Great job getting me on this.

[Felix Salmon]

Was he saying something about veal tits?

[Emily Peck]

No, I know what he said. It was something about tits, but I don't think veal was the word. Maybe. What do I know? Tom. Hey. Hey, buddy. Hey.

[Guest or Additional Participant]

Problem? You're not picking up, dude, this is a great group.

[Emily Peck]

You did good.

[Guest or Additional Participant]

It's like I've fallen into a barrel of deal tips.

[Emily Peck]

Yeah. He's, like, so enthusiastic and so, like, happy to be there.

[Felix Salmon]

That's. I get to hang out with rich and important people and they get to pretend that I'm important.

[Emily Peck]

Yeah. You know what? I loved the other line I loved from Logan? When they're. When they're reading the magazine story and they're talking about all the people who are trying to, you know, get in the way, he goes, they don't give a flying fuck for These poor bitches. Yes.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Shiv just looks like.

[Emily Peck]

What did he just say?

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

It's all about me.

[Emily Peck]

I love it.

[Felix Salmon]

My favorite line. I think the first ever time that my favorite line comes from Greg when he's desperately trying to brainstorm a new slogan with Tom. And he goes. It's good because it's not clear exactly what it means.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Which is what you imagine gets said all the time in corporate America, given the slogans that are coming out.

[Emily Peck]

Exactly like, hey, you can't really corner us on this one because it doesn't mean anything. So.

[Felix Salmon]

Okay, my question is, what happens now? And specifically, does Rhea join Waystar Royko as the heir apparent to Logan?

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

No.

[Emily Peck]

Now that you say it, maybe yes. What? What? Oh. Cause think about it. Just think about it.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Does the deal still happen? Does Shiv still.

[Felix Salmon]

No, no. The deal is no.

[Emily Peck]

She is now the heir. She's just. He brings in someone outside the family. Nah. Because he hates his family.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

I think the deal still happens. Somehow. I think Shiv becomes. Gets pushed into power or is named the successor as like a consolation prize. And Nan Pierce comes back to the table because it's so much money. No one else is gonna pay that much money for a media company in 2019.

[Felix Salmon]

But as she said, my family will be fine. Like, they don't actually need $25 billion.

[Emily Peck]

Or does Nan couple up with Sandy for ness.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Syphilis. It can just be cured, right?

[Felix Salmon]

Penicillin, Right? Yeah.

[Emily Peck]

Do you think he got it at that party?

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Yes.

[Emily Peck]

I like a long game story that stretches over seasons.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

I forgot about the party. Of course he got it at the party.

[Emily Peck]

Of course he got it at the party.

[Felix Salmon]

Wait, which party?

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Remember, like it was supposed to be.

[Emily Peck]

Tom's bachelor party where he meets with Sandy there. Yeah, they were in like a back secret meeting.

[Felix Salmon]

Oh, that's right. Yeah, There you go.

[Emily Peck]

I love that guy. He used to be on One Life to Live. And when I was at my first job at Soap Opera Weekly, I want Scott to ask him a few questions. Roundup questions, you know, like, what's your cure for a broken heart? Stuff like that. He's nice.

[Felix Salmon]

So can you ask Geri what her cure is for a broken heart?

[Emily Peck]

I can say that she is like her. She can just like eat up the room when she's in there, like just blinking. Imagine being able to have that kind of power as like a person.

[Felix Salmon]

Although, like the power of.

[Emily Peck]

It's also crazy that the in house counsel is a woman there. Like, that's crazy to me.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Is it?

[Emily Peck]

Where are the Other women.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Syd Peach, baby.

[Emily Peck]

Yeah, but that's news.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Yeah.

[Emily Peck]

I don't know what that means. Come on. It's news.

[Felix Salmon]

There was this great. I mean, talking about powerful women. There's the amazing moment when they're at the breakfast table and Nan's clearly has no interest or desire or inclination to sign anything. And Rhea.

[Emily Peck]

Oh, my God.

[Felix Salmon]

Turns. She goes, nan, is there not a way we could sign the loi at least? And Nan just kind of looks at her and narrows her eyes and she's like, okay, you are not on my team anymore.

[Emily Peck]

And that's when she starts looking into her and finding out that they had private meetings. But did we know about that meeting on the 13th?

[Felix Salmon]

Was that when she went to One Chase Plaza?

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

I don't know the secret. When. The day.

[Felix Salmon]

You know, when she drives in into the underground thing and it's the suicide.

[Emily Peck]

Right?

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Maybe.

[Felix Salmon]

Maybe.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Cause that seems super secret. Cause of how she was.

[Emily Peck]

But Nan would have known. Cause she has to come back and say, guess what? There's an offer on the table.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

So that's the big question, I guess. I don't think that's the big question. What happens to Rhea? I don't think that matters. All that matters.

[Emily Peck]

I don't know.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Slogan, Roy. And who will be successor?

[Felix Salmon]

Do you really think that this is the last we've seen of Holly Hunter? I feel like you hire Holly Hunter just to hang out.

[Emily Peck]

She's not in your four episode arc. Oh, my God. No, she. This is what I think happens. I think that he brings her on. Everyone is so alienated from it, but it ends up he screws her the hardest.

[Felix Salmon]

Just like Lawrence, who was also there at Argentes.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

He's the vaulter.

[Emily Peck]

Oh, Lawrence. I wish we had seen one interaction.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Because, like one little bar.

[Felix Salmon]

The season one arc of Lawrence was super interesting. And then season two, he kind of came and went super quickly and he.

[Emily Peck]

Just see why Lawrence is still invited there.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

Yeah, seriously, he's over.

[Emily Peck]

He is over.

[Taffy Brodessa Agne]

And so is this podcast.

[Felix Salmon]

We will be back next week, I promise, with even more amazing special guests. Episode seven. Stay tuned. Thanks for listening to Sleep Money Succession.