Succession Season 3 Power Rankings: Who Is The Lion In The Meadow?

(The bid for power has intensified in season 3 of "Succession," meaning now more than ever, anyone can come out on top. As the war rages on, we'll be tracking the rise and descent of the Roy's, their allies and their neverending list of enemies.)

To some, Waystar Royco is a media conglomerate fending off a massive scandal. But for those on the inside, this has never been about the lives ruined due to shady cruise dealings. This is a family issue, through and through. Should you ever doubt that, just take note of all the nonexistent professionalism — every conversation involving the Roy family devolves into childish insults and cheap jabs before business can even be broached. "Lion in the Meadow" kicks into gear with a company conference call that sees Roman (Kieran Culkin) injecting his signature sarcasm whilst Shiv (Sarah Snook) and Kendall (Jeremy Strong) bicker like children. They're all the same immature kids they've been since childhood — but with a suit and tie replacing their jammies. More than a few staff members endure their childish squabbles, plagued by the knowledge that their jobs are on the line. But conference call arguments are the least of their worries.

At this point in the season, we're well past the point of Roy family drama being reserved for the Waystar office. Between Kendalls' grand betrayal, Shiv's "greeting card from hell," and everything else the media cycle can dredge up on the family, every stone they hurl is out on display. While that's sure to make for some Christmas awkwardness later down the line, first and foremost is the trouble it's causing the company. Investors like Adrien Brody's Josh Aaronson are wavering, wondering if they should throw their weight behind Stewy and Sandy instead. After all, Waystar Royco is a family business and the family is imploding in on itself. With foundations that shaky, why bother supporting the Roys at all?

To keep Josh and his 4% on their side of the battle lines, the Roys have to give the man his pound of flesh — and he wastes no time going for the jugular. Josh demands a chat with the men vying for power, Kendall and Logan (Brian Cox). In doing so, he grants us our first opportunity all season to see them share the screen. Up until now, their interactions have been public jabs and private phone conversations, often funneled through another person (ie. Jess). And try as he might, Kendall can't seem to bow out of this convo — it's much too important to ignore. So for the first time all season, Logan and Kendall are in the same place. And much to my surprise, pure vitriol takes a backseat to... sheer awkwardness. An odd hug and many drawn out silences later, father and son continue the struggle of fighting one another while trying to secure the same end goal. Ultimately, it becomes painfully obvious that they can't look after the company while fending off each other. Bad as that is for some, it's an undeniable blessing for others.

ATN anchor Mark Ravenhead (Zack Robidas) and his good friend, the President, are simply pawns in Roy's war for power. They're being shuffled around the board and pitted against each other as Logan attempts to make his "boyfriend" play ball and actually wield some power to protect him. So he sics news anchor and known Mein Kampf enthusiast Ravenhead on him with — but with some definitely-not-instructed editorial changes. It sucks to be bossed around by the Roys, but also, these two suck, so who cares? Save your sympathies for Tattoo Man, a once homeless man paid to get Kendall's initials tattooed on his forehead. He ends the episode a million dollars richer, but at the expense of his pride, having handed over pictures of the incident to Roman. Should the monstrous Roy ever spot an opportunity to explicit the story, this man will surely garner some undesired attention.

Connor has spent the past few episodes making one thing abundantly clear: he would like some damn pie. The forgotten fourth sibling doesn't share in everyone else's grand aspirations of running the company, because he'd much rather run the entire United States. In fact, his eyes are so set on the presidency that they've allowed him to glimpse some clarity and realize that he needs some real world job experience before chasing down voters. Of course, by real world experience, he means he'd like to be given an upper level executive position immediately, so he can hit one or three major achievements and then see his way out. Shiv resists the urge to laugh him out of the room and instead offers him a show on the company's food network, Gourmondo. And while the rest of us would definitely pay money to watch Alan Ruck do a bunch of wine spit takes, Connor isn't having it. So he makes two major counter moves.

First, he offers a sharp reminder that he is in fact a Roy, and can deliver on bitter cruelty whenever he feels like it. He brings up the memory of Shiv's pretend post office, reminding her that even now, she's nothing more than a glorified errand girl. Second, he threatens to whip out a megaphone to tell the world what a nasty, racist, neglectful individual his father is.

It's an interesting threat because Connor has spent the past few weeks refusing to turn against his father and brother, all for the sake of playing nice. But was that genuine concern for them or self preservation? "My signature is valuable real estate, and I'm not giving it away for free," he told Shiv, last week. Might he have signed for a good enough offer? Connor betraying his father is a lot less believable. Could he actually weaponize his publicity to put his father on blast? Probably not. But lucky for him, it's not a threat he has to make to Logan's face. He can say whatever he wants to Shiv because, like everyone else in the building, he doesn't really take her seriously.

Logan isn't exactly the picture of health right now; he just passed out after a couple hours in the sun. But even in all his weakness, his strength perseveres. When we first met the man in season 1, we thought he might be on his deathbed. A couple episodes later, he managed moments so terrifying that it was easy to forget his lowest lows — like being unable to play childish memory games and getting confused at the sight of his own daughter. Minutes after heat exhaustion destroys his chances of winning over Josh, Logan is on the phone, listening to the President throw a fit. Now that's power.

The FBI are needling him and the President keeps trying to turn against him, but Logan still knows this game better than anyone. He may be old school, but it's effective more often than not. He understands how much to concede to Josh, in order to win his favor. You would think it a struggle for him to say kind words with Kendall two feet away but Logan understands the sway his little speech will have. In a moment this critical, that outweighs his pride.

Up until now, his raw power and gravitas have outweighed his worsening health, but that can't be the case forever. He collapses on the trek back to Josh's house, ultimately causing the loss of his crucial 4% — and after Logan did all the hard work of winning him over. Kendall is his most obvious problem, but not his most important. As he tells Shiv, "everything everywhere is always moving, forever." So he can keep fending off enemies and maybe even scare Kendall back into another corner, but there are no pauses, no breaks, and not enough time to catch his breath. Logan's racing against time and health now, perhaps the only battle he's destined to lose.

"What Greg wants, Greg must have," Logan tells everyone's favorite lanky cousin, demanding a coke to go with Greg's rum.

Greg Hirsh came into our lives already looking to leverage his miniscule status for some power, kicked out by his mother and sent to connect with his distant relatives after flunking out of the Waystar management training program. They spent a good chunk of time just making fun of the endlessly awkward man-child — calling him "Greg the Egg," and sending him to do their dirty work. In doing so, they mistook his tendency to fumble through life as a reason to dismiss him completely — but Greg is smarter than he looks. He understands the importance of shoving incriminating evidence into his pants!

Greg has continued playing it smart for the majority of the season — not signing himself away to either side. He balanced slipping info to Tom while remaining at Kendall's side. He rejected their offered lawyers in favor of his own. But why play the field when the perfect offer is officially on the table? Cousin Greg has officially signed away his life and hitched his wagon to Team Logan. For now, this is a big win for Greg, who understands the importance of experience economy and negotiated his way into an executive Parks position. At long last, he's far away from the scandalous cruises and the toxicity of ATN. Greg's gonna live in a magical castle!

Of course, all this counts on Logan and Waystar not completely sinking or, say, losing to Stewy and Sandy. I'm guessing those two won't want a random Roy cousin running parks, if just for the sake of spite. Speaking of spite, Kendall could easily wield the info he has on Greg, effectively throwing him under the bus in the midst of an investigation.

So okay, Greg's joy could very well be short lived, but either way, it's pretty incredible that he's risen so high in the tanks, awkwardly fumbling his way through betrayals and negotiations. He had to chug some rum to do it, but who among us hasn't?

Bonus points to Greg for basically every line that comes out of his mouth, but especially this one "I have this, like, stupid worry that I'm gonna go over, and there'll be, like, goons and stooges and roughjacks there to administer a beating."

Josh Aaronson is having the time of his life, isn't he? The man has his finger on the big red button and he's cooing over his power as Logan and Kendall are forced to watch. Under the thin ruse of his daughter being sick, he forces two of the world's richest men to come to his private island for a stroll by the water. Never mind that they're in the midst of a blood feud, because Josh holds a critical 4% stake in their company and even they can't hide how desperately they need his support. Just for kicks, he pokes fun at their family drama, picking their relationship apart under a microscope. He forces Logan to concede kind words, pushes Kendall into terrified paranoia and then makes them listen to his speech about how badly they need him. And in the end? He sends them on their way and gives his ol' pal Stewy a big hug.

The trojan horse ploy is working wonders for our boy, Stewy Hosseini (Arian Moayed). He need not be on screen to secure himself a win, because Logan and Kendall are digging their graves deeper and deeper by the minute. Based on his end of episode hug and the sneak peek at episode 5, Stewy is finally stepping up to shine on our screens. The shareholder meeting has arrived and Team Stewy and Sandy are in great standing. They're completely outside of the Roy family nonsense and if they feel the need to step back, they also have a backup plan with Kendall in the works. But why bother? If Josh Aaronson is anything to go by, they already have this one in the bag.

Bonus points to Josh: "It's the short way but sometimes it takes longer."