Dundee

"**Dundee**" is the eighth episode of the second season of *Succession* and eighteenth episode of the series overall. It premiered on September 29, 2019 on HBO. It was written by Mary Laws and directed by Kevin Bray.

## Premise

The entire Roy clan travels to Logan's hometown of Dundee, Scotland for a celebration of Logan's fifty years in the business. There, Logan reflects on his past and the company's future, while Shiv defiantly looks to her family for support in taking down Rhea. Ewan gives Greg an ultimatum about working at Waystar.

## Plot synopsis

Everyone is gathered in upper East New York to watch the opening night of Willa's half-baked play, where Kendall seduces the lead actress, Jennifer. The next day, the Roy siblings must record messages to celebrate their father's upcoming 50th anniversary celebration in Dundee, Roman being first. Kendall walks in, silently boasting about his one-night stand, before Connor goes into the recording booth to make a rather heartfelt message to his father.

   Later that day, the Roy family and staff are on a private plane to Dundee, Scotland. Caroline mentions a disgruntled employee from the cruises, who plans to "blow the whistle." Logan confirms to offer $5 million and is willing to go up to 10. Shiv brings up her father's and Rhea's possible affair with Marcia, hoping to create some conflict, but Marcia does not bite.

Logan is riding shotgun with Marcia and Connor as he passes through his old hometown. He seems visibly uncomfortable throughout the ride, implying that not all of his memories are pleasant ones. Once at the hotel, Shiv confronts Rhea about her move in attempt to take the company. While Roman and Gerri discuss their future work together, Roman subtly proposes marriage to her, though she is left uncertain of his question. Meanwhile, Kendall has Jennifer flown out to Dundee despite Connor's protests, as Willa needs her for her play.

Before making their way to another meeting, Colin interrupts Logan wishing to talk to him in private. Marcia takes this opportunity to corner Rhea and confront her about her affair with Logan. She denies it, yet Marcia persists and insists on knowing if she has any STDs, as she and Logan still sleep together. Upon Logan's return, Marcia makes her exit, leaving Rhea to speak with Logan.

The family is gathered for a small meeting over drinks when Shiv tries to convince Tom to go flirt with Rhea. In that moment she is speaking with Roman, claiming she always thought he was the most intelligent and shows a lot of potential, before Tom interrupts them with his awkward flirting. While everyone is gathered around drinking champagne, Shiv, intending to upset her father, motions for the waiter to pour up Rhea's drink. She then stops him by announcing that Rhea doesn't drink, accompanied by a remark that she is also a liberal. This, along with her speech that involved Logan's late mother and sister, which Kendall also advocated for her to do, further upset Logan.

Later, while everyone is standing outside of Logan's old home, Logan arrives and upon looking at his family, decides to leave. Everyone is rather underwhelmed with this and decides to leave as well. Gerri stops Shiv, wanting her opinion on the situation they discussed earlier on the plane. Not wanting to bother Logan, Shiv gives permission for them to go up to $20 million in attempt to stop the whistleblower.

While on a tour of Logan's print building, Kendall tells Rhea that he's just along for the ride rather than genuinely working against her. She tells him she believes when things are over, Logan will give Kendall the company. Outside, Logan is confronted by his older brother Ewan Roy. Their disdain for each other remains and the two insult each other, as well as bring up their childhood. Logan leaves with Colin, and Ewan tells Greg if he doesn't quit working at Waystar Royco he will be cut off from his inheritance and his $250 million will go to Greenpeace.

Shiv then brings up her distrust of Rhea to the rest of the Roy siblings, yet all her brothers dismiss her as being over-emotional and dramatic. Instead of considering Shiv's word, they admit that they quite like Rhea. Shiv argues with Tom about the subject as well. Logan is on his way to the gala alongside Marcia, informing her that he intends to leave early after the soup and salad. Inside the banquet hall, Ewan asks Greg if he has turned in his resignation yet, insisting that Logan's denial of climate change will result in more deaths than Hitler.

    Rhea gathers everyone to be quiet as Logan is arriving, they all shout surprise, and Logan immediately does a 180 and heads outside. He is surprised to find around 200 people when he was only expecting 20-30. Marcia calms him, and they are escorted back inside by Colin, where everyone shouts once again. Having gathered himself, Logan thanks everyone and begins shaking hands.

Kendall is showing off some artwork to Jennifer, who confronts him that he talks about his father a lot. Ken laughs it off and decides to introduce her to his father. Logan smiles at them throughout the introduction, before he makes his exit. He finds Siobhan and they both agree to call a truce for the night. She presents him with his gift, a scrapbook of all the places they have lived, but are interrupted by Gerri.

In the bathroom, Logan is cornered by Greg. Greg tells Logan that while he has absolutely loved working alongside him and hopes he has impressed him, he unfortunately must resign. He then admits his grandfather will cut him off if he does not, to which Logan promises that Ewan has always been a coward but he must do what he feels is right.

Gerri finds Shiv and brings her into a miniature company meeting, consisting of themselves, Hugo, Cyd, Frank, and Karolina. They discuss the whistleblower from earlier, who refuses $20 million as well and he has every intention of going public with his information. Shiv decides to keep her father out of the loop, letting him enjoy tonight before they inform him tomorrow.

Kendall then takes stage for his speech, yet surprises everyone with a rap, revealing a jersey underneath his dress jacket, arousing enthusiasm from the crowd. During all his children's video speeches, Logan is interrupted multiple times, by both Connor and then Shiv. Siobhan gives her father the go-ahead to not be so sentimental and name someone else as his successor. Logan makes his way to the stage and announces Rhea as his new successor, much to the shock and surprise of everyone.

Kendall then meets with Jennifer outside of the party, and sends her away for using the word 'awesome' too much while speaking to his father. Marcia is upset with Logan and leaves, only for his brother Ewan to take his place. He once again confronts his brother, accusing him of being a horrible human being and saying he can't wait for his empire to crumble. Logan makes his way to center stage, where he unveils his plaque for being a businessman for the last 50 years.

### Notes

1. ↑ Logan and Ewan left home in Scotland at 4 and 5.

## Cast

* Hiam Abbass as Marcia Roy
* Nicholas Braun as Greg Hirsch
* Kieran Culkin as Roman Roy
* Dagmara Dominczyk as Karolina Novotney
* Peter Friedman as Frank Vernon
* Matthew Macfadyen as Tom Wambsgans
* Arian Moayed as Stewy Hosseini (credit only)
* Alan Ruck as Connor Roy
* J. Smith-Cameron as Gerri Kellman
* Sarah Snook as Shiv Roy
* Jeremy Strong as Kendall Roy
* Rob Yang as Lawrence Yee (credit only)
* Jeannie Berlin as Cyd Peach
* Danny Huston as Jamie Laird
* Justine Lupe as Willa Ferreyra
* Caitlin FitzGerald as Tabitha
* James Cromwell as Ewan Roy
* Fisher Stevens as Hugo Baker
* David Rasche as Karl
* Scott Nicholson as Colin
* Babak Tafti as Eduard Asgarov
* Sydney Lemmon as Jennifer
* Scott Nicholson as Colin

## Quotes

* **Shiv Roy:** Don't like the past too much, huh?
 **Logan Roy:** I do. I do. it's, uh... It's just that there's so much of it. The future is real, but... the past, well it's... all made up.

## Trivia

* The episode (and season 2 soundtrack) includes Kendall's song "L to the OG", performed by Jeremy Strong himself. For the song, composer Nicholas Britell used a beat that he made as an aspiring musician in college, as he believed it reflected what college-aged Kendall's tastes may have been. Britell praised Strong for his performance of the song.
* James Cromwell submitted the episode to support his nomination at the Primetime Emmy Awards.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Succession Ep 8: Dundee | Official Website for the HBO Series | HBO.com
2. ↑ Shows A-Z - succession on hbo | TheFutonCritic.com
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 *Succession*: Season 2, Episode 8: "**Dundee**"
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Succession | Official Website for the HBO Series | HBO.com
5. ↑ Shows A-Z - succession on hbo | TheFutonCritic.com
6. ↑ Succession theme: how Nicholas Britell wrote the show's iconic music (nme.com)
7. ↑ James Cromwell - Emmy Awards, Nominations and Wins | Television Academy (emmys.com)