Too Much Birthday

Roman, Shiv, and Connor arrive at Kendall's extravagant party, teeming with high-profile guests and featuring "immersive theater" exhibits such as a large-scale replica of his mother's birth canal.

Kendall encounters his ex-wife Rava at the party; tension develops when she tells him that Waystar has been sending men to harass her and the children, encouraged by Roman (but opposed by Shiv).

[7] Actor Jeremy Strong described the party as "solipsistic," drawing inspiration from his own past performance in a play about the life of architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

"[8] Noel Murray of The New York Times felt the birthday party evoked the downfall of real-life companies such as WeWork and LuLaRoe, whose corporate events he described as "preposterously lavish and borderline cultish shindig[s], celebrating a business culture about to collapse under its founding genius.

[8][11] Certain scenes, such as the dancefloor sequences and Kendall searching for his children's gift, were shot on location inside The Shed, while the various themed rooms at the party were built on a soundstage.

Both director Scafaria and actor Strong offered significant input into the design of the party, with the former citing both the Burning Man festival and Kanye West's 2016 tour for his album The Life of Pablo as inspirations.

[12] The compliment tunnel, meanwhile, was described by Carter as a "saccharine, floral, drug nightmare" whose design was inspired by a Brooklyn restaurant decorated with "a lot of fake wisteria."

"[17] Similarly, Noel Murray of The New York Times called the episode "a triumph of production design," particularly praising the replica of Kendall's childhood treehouse as a "conceptual masterstroke."

'"[9] Alan Sepinwall of Rolling Stone described the episode as "a spectacular, bonkers, deeply sad, unforgettable hour," praising the party sequence for "walking a tragicomic knife's edge".

However, Sepinwall did acknowledge criticisms that the series had become formulaic in its third season, writing, "on some level, it feels as if Succession itself is going in circles, revisiting the same players and conflicts again and again in tweaked configurations."

Nonetheless, he felt that the episode "so ably demonstrate[d]" that "formula is not a creative death sentence," stating that it excelled "as both a character study of Kendall and a satire of the family's wealth at its most profligate.

"[18] Other critics also described the episode as an improvement over the rest of season 3: Shirley Li of The Atlantic also reiterated concerns that "at times the series has felt like it's spinning its thematic wheels", while praising "Too Much Birthday" for "depict[ing] its characters' joylessness as a domino effect: One slight begets another, then another, until Kendall's party feels like an inescapable labyrinth of gloom.

Singh stated the episode "really was perfect" compared to those before, which she felt contained "too many scenes with the characters confined to Waystar Royco headquarters, talking about business deals.