Baby Succession is baaaaaaaaaack! Sorry, sorry, I know it's unfair to both shows to make this comparison, but it's still what it feels like to me. I, for one, am very happy to be back at Pierpoint with Harper, Rob, Yasmin, and Eric (and Eric's coffee, which should've been first billed here, let's be honest).
While I may be happy about being back at Pierpoint, our protagonists are definitely still in denial about actually liking their jobs. Which isn't surprising, considering how incredibly tense season 1 was, culminating in office-wide humiliation as they defended their spots and proved their worth at Pierpoint in the season 1 finale. But it's this combination of insane anxiety inducing situations and glitzy parties that makes the show unique, and so watchable. So bring it on!
The show has made the decision to include the pandemic, even though it seems in their (lucky) universe, it's more or less over (although the vaccines seem to be just starting their roll out, so who knows), and not everyone is delighted about going back to the office. Harper, namely, has been working remotely from a four star hotel. Between fuzzy bathrobes and midnight swims, it doesn't seem like a bad deal until you realize how lonely she's gotten, which Rob realizes when he chaperones her back to her room. Piles of abandoned pizza boxes and wine bottles are the only decorations her impersonal room bears. Her reluctance to reintegrate Pierpoint's offices also seems to border on something much deeper, and despite Eric's insistance that she visit Pierpoint's counseling floor, she ignores him. Eric and Harper's relationship is fascinating in that while he appears to consider her his very own protegee/prodigy, it's also quasi constantly conflictual. He doesn't hesitate to demote her from her usual desk, or have her intervene on a very awkward call, but she's still his go to for big meetings.
Eric, despite having being resinstated with no impact on his ego or managerial style, is feeling the pressure of the New York office, well... meddling in London's CPS department's affairs. All does not seem stable on that front, which is partly why he insisted on Harper coming back. Whether NY ends up "subsuming" London or not, all their jobs seem to be on the line again, and that new guy being dropped directly in their midst to seemingly evaluate them, doesn't bode well. Rob, in particular, is being roasted for not making any outgoing calls (why on earth did he choose this line of work...I hate making calls too, but you don't see me making it my career!) and finally makes the plunge with Nicole. It goes disastrously at first, but as he finally starts being honest, she responds more warmly and there may just be a proper chance there for Rob. He's not the only one trying to pivote from what he knew to what will help him survive though, because Yasmin has just lost her biggest client: Maxim. Yasmin is also no longer the most junior person in the foreign exchange department, but unfortunately she immediately makes Venetia suffer, perpetuating decades of abuse, to the point of getting called out by her other coworkers. Sidenote: does this department only hire girls with super long brown hair? Yasmin, generally, seems lost. Doing drugs, fighting with Harper, sleeping with Maxim, all seem like cries for help. Enter Celeste, whom Yasmin thought was an escort but turns out to work at Pierpoint too! (Who doesn't, it's safer to assume everyone they meet is either a coworker or a future client)
Case in point: Jesse Bloom (Jay Duplass), some sort of "Mr Covid" billionaire who made money during the pandemic, and who's just moved to London where his son is going to college. As luck would have it, shares both the same hotel as Harper, and her fondness for midnight swims when no one else is in the pool. Spurred on by the New York office's pressure, Harper quickly (and rightly, although they do seem to have a genuine rapport) sees this as an opportunity, and ditches the breakfast Eric had asked her to come to for Bloom's conference.
All in all, a good episode to get back into things, and I can't wait to see where this season goes! What did you guys think? What are you hoping for in season 2?
