30 Rock: 2.13 ‘Succession’ Recap
Original Air Date: April 24, 2008
It’s a great time to be JACK when his boss DON GEISS informs him that although Jack’s main competitor to succeed Geiss, DEVIN BANKS, is about to marry into Geiss’ family, the older man still intends to present Jack to the board as his choice to take over his position as chairman of GE. Now Jack has to pick someone he trusts to take over his own position when he’s officially promoted.
The obvious choice quickly becomes LIZ when she stages a fake make-out session with Devin in front of the elevator security camera. Devlin tricks her into confessing that she was the one who sold GE to the Germans when Jack left her in charge while he was off with his girlfriend C.C. To prevent Devin from telling, Liz plants her tongue right in his face, to his great dismay since it’s clear he still likes men, no matter how much he tries to pretend he’s “cured.”
This act convinces Jack that Liz should be his trusted successor, but she balks at first. She thinks she’s a creative person and not exactly executive material … until Jack reveals her potential salary. That’s enough to inspire Liz to tell her writing staff to suck it. She even performs very well during a drunken executive dinner, spearheading the Button Classic Campaign when she suggests GE stop researching alternatives for a new microwave button.
Things rapidly go downhill during Devin’s bachelor party on the set of TGS, however. Jack expresses sympathy when he notices Devin looking despondent and learns Geiss has already told Devin he has chosen Jack as the next GE chairman.
Yet, Geiss goes into a diabetic coma that even DR. SPACEMAN can’t cure, and Devin calls an emergency meeting without Jack’s knowledge and convinces the members to install his homely fiancée KATHY as Geiss’ replacement for the sake of continuity. Of course, that means Devin will be influencing Kathy’s every move because she does everything he says.
Meanwhile, heartbroken that his son was too embarrassed about his comedy career to take him to Bring Your Dad to School Day, TRACY sets out to create something that will make his children proud of him. He settles on a porn video game when he can’t decide if he wants to watch porn or play a video game, and he remains intent to see the creation through, although FRANK warns him it’s impossible.
The reason is the Uncanny Valley, a point at which animated creatures get too life-like and scare the bejesus out of consumers. It’s the difference between R2-D2 and Tom Hanks in the movie Polar Express, for instance. Tracy refuses to buckle, however, and he creates the hybrid game in one day of continuous work, something that Frank has never managed, despite devoting his entire life to porn.
2 opinions for 30 Rock: 2.13 ‘Succession’ Recap
Cherie
Apr 29, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Another great episode, even though they really messed up the whole “diabetic” thing. They got it all wrong! But it was still funny - the writer’s have come back in full force.
Chandra
Apr 30, 2008 at 12:55 pm
“…the writer’s have come back in full force.”
I agree. It’s a shame more people don’t watch. Critics like to say the humor is too smart for some, but I disagree. If you watch regularly and get familiar with the characters, just knowing them is enough to make most of the stuff funnier.
Have an opinion? Leave a comment: