It was the most extraordinary hour of television I have ever seen. An absolutely remarkable achievement. I watched it yesterday morning and thought I knew from the trailer what to expect - Roman betrays Geri, the macabre spectacle of Connor and Willa's wedding, Shiv and Kendall finding out Roman was doing Logan's dirty work and the fracturing of the fragile alliance between them. The start of a showdown with Matsson.
I was utterly transfixed as the episode unfolded, and as soon as it finished, I watched it again. I watched it a third time last night. I can't think of anything I have watched three times in the same day, maybe an early episode of The West Wing?
I thought that Logan would be revived, that they'd get his heart going again, not least because it seemed so unlikely that you would let an actor of Brian Cox's stature go without a big scene for him, but that was why it worked - to show the brutality of death so well. I thought the siblings would have to face up to their feelings for their dad (and perhaps even he for them, although he's never denied loving them, just been an appalling monster).
Everything about the episode was perfection - Shiv telling Greg not to touch her and striding away from him, Geri's ice cold response to Roman when he clearly wanted a hug, Connor's weird obsession with the cake, Willa finding a way to be honest with Connor, Kerry's utter shock, the manoeuvring of the old guard to make sure their names were on the statement.
And of course The Moment - when the three siblings hugged each other after the press conference. Just breathtaking.
In terms of film-making, the Inside the Episode featurette is well worth watching
This is expanded on in the official podcast which also features a rather irascible interview with Brian Cox After shooting the boat scene in stages, they did indeed shoot it once all the way through, which was an immense technical challenge and must have really heightened the sense of panic for the actors.
In terms of what is to come, I think we can assume the mid-season trailer contains some misdirection although Carl's takedown of Tom is hilarious and we're hopefully going to see more of Geri. I desperately want the siblings not to end up at each other's throats again, even though this is by far the most likely outcome of Logan's actual failure - his failure to plan his succession properly. I hope that we will see the return of the impeccable Marcia at his funeral - didn't she negotiate an inheritance for her own son during her showdown with Logan last series? I wonder if Kerry will have inherited a large percentage of Logan's stock. Connor's mother has been mentioned in two episodes now - is she still alive??
An incredible, devastating achievement.