‘Succession’ Stars on Logan’s Frailties & ‘Screwball Comedy’ of Episode 5

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Succession, Season 3, Episode 5, “Retired Janitors of Idaho.”]

Succession brought the funny with its latest episode “Retired Janitors of Idaho,” as the Roy family faced the Waystar Royco shareholders.

As negotiations over keeping shareholders from putting control of the company to a vote take place behind the scenes with Sandi (Hope Davis) and Stewy (Arian Moayed), the team is also forced to contend with Kendall’s (Jeremy Strong) antics and an incapacitated Logan (Brian Cox) who suffers from extreme UTI (urinary tract infection) side effects.

What ensues is a jumble of confusion over the next steps as Frank (Peter Friedman), Gerri (J. Smith-Cameron), and Karl (David Rasche) rotate on the event stage to keep their audience busy as they seek answers from an answerless leader. “It’s a bit like a screwball comedy in a way,” Smith-Cameron tells TV Insider. “So she’s terrified, but she’s always kind of a nervous wreck,” she says of her character, Waystar’s interim CEO, Gerri.

(Credit: HBO)

“She’s kind of in her element for better or for worse,” notes the actress who adds, “As an actor, you just read [a script like this] and it’s a gift. I was biting the inside of my mouth to keep from laughing during those takes.”

The comedy certainly comes at the expense of Logan’s health, something that Cox isn’t unfamiliar with when it comes to his role. As viewers will recall, in the prior episode which saw Logan and Kendall reunite to try and win over their big contributor Josh Aaronson (Adrien Brody), the Waystar head honcho has trouble keeping pace with his younger counterparts.

This time around, a UTI brings on delusions and erratic behavior within Logan. “The writers always do that,” Cox jokes, acknowledging Logan’s dicey health status over the past few seasons. “He’s frail, and I mean, I’m fine if I’ve got to experience a UTI [onscreen, but] I didn’t know what a UTI was.”

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“I knew it was a urinary infection,” the actor says, “but I didn’t know that it affected you [that seriously], and apparently it does, considerably.” It’s moments like this when Logan proves he’s essential to keeping the Waystar Royco machine running. “In a way, he shows his worth because he’s got to get well in order for everything to function,” Cox says. “So it’s quite a good thing in the end.”

Tune in next week to see if Logan is able to regain the control he lost in this latest episode.

Succession, Season 3, Sundays, 9/8c, HBO