Neither party seems certain of how such a close vote will break, but each has invested about $50 million in the fight and they don’t want to come away with nothing.

“Retired Janitors of Idaho” is about the annual shareholders meeting that will decide whether the Roys will survive Sandy and Stewy’s attempted takeover of Waystar, and the last thing that either side wants to do is hand their fate over to the titular retired janitors of Idaho. Meanwhile, Gerri is more Roman’s handler than mentor, and Kendall is out there making moves in the ether, playing the role of hip CEO-to-be by saying “hashtag resistance” out loud. Shiv has a nominal position that she tries to make real while her dad is incapacitated, but she mostly pretends to be important, like being the first to tell him, ahead of Gerri, that a deal has been negotiated with Sandy and Stewy. To keep him from taking “a big black light to our semen-stained family scrapbook,” Logan nods at the proposal to put Connor in charge of European cable, because it doesn’t seem like a place where his decisions can torpedo Waystar. That’s why, in tonight’s nerve-jangling episode, he seems amenable to Connor’s offer to join the company. One of the mysteries of Succession is understanding what, exactly, Logan wants for his children’s futures, but at present, he wants them in positions where they cannot damage the company. Even a turncoat like Frank is determined too valuable to lose, so long as any future betrayals are suppressed by a watchful eye and plenty of ritual humiliation. They also know every suction cup on this multitentacled organism and have figured out how to work with Logan - or at least how to survive working with Logan. Executives like Gerri, Karl, and Frank have put in 30 years at Waystar and presumably banked some fancy degrees and business experience before that.

All four of the Roy siblings have no idea what they’re doing, and the learning curve to get to a place of real knowledge and corporate temperament is too steep for them to ever climb. People who do not know what they’re doing have to pretend until they do.

The office season 3 episode 5