"Rehearsal"
Shiv is having difficulty finding a divorce lawyer as the top ones have sided with Tom, who in turn has to wrangle Logan on a surprise visit to ATN. Logan pitches Kerry as an anchor and correctly anticipates trouble from the board about the sale — Sandi and Stewy, thinking they can get more money out of Matsson and encouraged by Shiv, approach the siblings and ask them to vote no on the deal.
Kendall, Roman and Shiv arrive at Connor's wedding rehearsal dinner, where Willa has gone AWOL. In a bid to cheer Connor up, the siblings all head to a bar. Kendall fields a call from Matsson telling him that if the board says no, Matsson will walk. Kendall returns and sides with Shiv, to Roman's dismay.
Greg is tasked with telling Kerry that she is not yet fit to be an anchor. Connor leads Logan to the karaoke bar the siblings have ended up at, and Logan asks them to support the deal. He is rejected, but Roman later visits Logan, who once again offers one of his kids a high leadership position.
Connor returns to his hotel, where Willa is sleeping, and wordlessly lies next to her.
Tropes:
- Bad "Bad Acting": Kerry's audition tape is terrible.
- Brief Accent Imitation: Stewy puts on an ethnic taxi cab driver accent when accosting the younger Roys.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Logan giving a speech to ATN while standing on top of a bunch of boxes of printer paper is a clear allusion to Rupert Murdoch having done the same
in 2007 after his acquisition of Dow Jones. - Hypocrite: Kendall tells his siblings that they should all be transparent with each other about their negotiations, despite hiding a business phone call he'd had with Matsson the minute prior.
- It's subtle but Connor chewing out his siblings for being desperate for Logan's love and attention while claiming not to need love of any kind himself rings a tad hollow when one recalls that he has spent the entire night keeping track of Willa's whereabouts, was the one who alerted Logan to their whereabouts at the karaoke bar, has made it clear that he really wants Logan to attend his wedding, and (along with Roman, who at this point is the most overt about desiring Logan's affection) attempts to downplay Logan's treatment of him when Kendall brings it up during the family argument. Though this could also be read as something of an epiphany for Connor, or at least the start of one, as he's also beginning to realise just how much of his life he's wasting seeking the affection of people who will never return it.
- Immediate Self-Contradiction: Tom claims Cyd has left the office early, only for her to interrupt his conversation with Logan.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Connor takes the siblings to a dive bar and then a karaoke place, justifying his choices by saying they're what normal people do for fun.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Logan's "you are not serious people" speech to the siblings is harsh and cruel, but subsequent events in the series will go on to demonstrate, if it is not already clear for the viewer, that it is nevertheless a devastatingly accurate summing up of his children.
- Karaoke Box: Conner convinces the siblings to go to one, and it later becomes the site for a tense conversation with Logan. Nobody but Con appreciates the choice of location.
- Meaningful Echo: Logan's comments about how he wants to make ATN "faster, leaner, wilder" echo similar plans pitched by Roman on multiple occasions.
- New Era Speech: Logan gives a good one to ATN's staff.
- Pet the Dog: Willa is having an obvious panic attack, and while they've made fun of her before, the trio ask if she's okay.
- Runaway Fiancé: Willa ducks out from her rehearsal dinner, clearly reconsidering her marriage, and can't be reached for the rest of the night.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: After the siblings, particularly Kendall and Shiv, lean on Logan to try and renegotiate a higher selling price for the Go-Jo buy-out in a transparent attempt to sabotage it out of spite, Logan delivers a mic-drop which demolishes them in three sentences, and is probably the most brutally honest thing he has ever said to them by this point.Logan: Jesus. You're all such fucking dopes. You are not serious figures. I love you, but you are not serious people.
