Succession's Latest Episode Is A Sequel To One Of Season 2's Most Skin-Crawling Hours
This article contains spoilers for "Succession" season 4.
This week's "Succession" follows what's left of the Roy family as they head to Norway, of all places. In order to make sure the deal with Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård) goes through, the Waystar Royco team have to spend the night with Matsson's people, and try their best to pretend as if they don't hate his guts. There's just one complication: Kendall doesn't actually want the deal to go through, and when Matsson tries to buy out ATN as well, Roman gets on board to tank it too.
"Kill List" is an episode filled to the brim with uncomfortable moments, but things end in a stable, promising place. Even though Roman and Kendall are disappointed that the deal still goes through, at least they haven't burned bridges with Shiv or anyone on the old guard. While the episode feels high-stakes, the final moments remind us that no matter what happens, these characters are still absurdly rich and powerful; if they want to ruin their lives, it's going to take a lot more incompetence and self-sabotage than this.
It all feels reminiscent of season 2's "Tern Haven," another episode where the Roys spend an extended period of time as guests of a family whose company they want to merge with. But a lot has changed since season 2, and "Kill List" puts all of that on display.
The new Roman
One of the most painful moments in "Tern Haven" comes when Roman tries to appear classier than he actually is, so he lies about reading a book called "Electric Circus." Some of the other Pierce family members start googling the book, which of course doesn't exist, and the floundering Roman has to figure out how to wriggle out of this obvious lie. The scene is only a minute long, but on first watch I had to pause it twice due to the sheer secondhand embarrassment of it all. Pretty much everyone in the room knows Roman probably hasn't read a book for fun in his life, but we're forced to watch as Roman keeps digging himself deeper.
In "Kill List," it's Greg and Tom who end up pulling a Roman. Matsson asks Tom what he thinks of France's situation, and Tom makes it clear he doesn't know anything about the topic. Then Greg stumbles his way into the conversation, attempting to casually name-drop the Economist as if this is the ultimate indicator of a worldly man. They're both trying to sound smarter than they actually are, and just like with Roman in season 2, nobody at the table is buying it for a second. It's almost a relief when Matsson starts openly insulting Greg; the outright disrespect is a lot easier to deal with than quiet, passive-aggressive judgment.
The situation is bad news for Greg and Tom, but good news for Roman, who seems to have matured past the need to pretend to be someone he's not. Roman makes big mistakes in this episode, but he's hardly the bumbling idiot he seemed to be the last time the Roy family needed a big merger to go through.
Kendall: still sober!
Kendall's most memorable moment in "Tern Haven" is the way he (literally) s**t the bed, an embarrassing side effect of his addiction issues that led to him being the recipient of a scathing glare from one of Pierce's maids. But what's often overlooked is his behavior throughout the rest of the episode: he successfully forms a bond with Naomi, who helps push Nan Pierce towards accepting the deal. He's also the only Roy sibling to not embarrass himself at the dinner table; Roman has his book fumble and Shiv prematurely announces her role as Logan's successor (more on that later), but Kendall serves as a good mediator. Whenever things threaten to get too tense, he usually steps in to bring the temperature back down.
It's a performance that reinforces one of the saddest truths on the show: Kendall is at his best when Logan's got him under his thumb. At that point, Kendall is a broken man who's accepted that he'll never be the Waystar CEO, and he's also as effective at his job as he'll ever be.
That's why the Kendall in "Kill List" is a total mess, even though he's sober and he no longer has his dad dictating his every action. Kendall seeing his name underlined last week awoke the impulsive, self-sabotaging beast within him — the one we saw right before he accidentally got that waiter killed, and right before he double-crossed his father in the season 2 finale. The closer each Roy sibling is to winning it all, the more incompetent they become, and Kendall in this episode is no exception. Not only is his plan to tank the deal terrible, but he and Roman can't even pull it off.
Shiv, the most improved player
If you're a big Shiv fan, the first half of season 2 must've been rough for you. Things briefly looked good in the premiere when Logan promised he'd name her as his successor, but it quickly became clear he had no intention of actually doing so. It didn't help that Shiv didn't have a lot of experience, and her liberal politics (and her beliefs about what the company should do long-term) constantly ruffled Logan's feathers. She hit her low point in "Tern Haven," an episode where she repeatedly says the wrong thing to pretty much everyone at every turn.
People point to her moment at the dinner table where she says, "for f***'s sake dad, just tell them it's gonna be me," as one of Shiv's biggest blunders. But as painful as it is, it at least lays the cards out on the table: she finally knows for certain that Logan has no plans to name her as heir, even if it would help him close a deal he's been chasing for decades.
This is why the second half of season 2 is filled with Shiv wins, to the point where Shiv is clearly back as Logan's favorite by the time the finale ends. Shiv is always at her best right after she hits a low point, and last week's "Honeymoon Stakes" was as clear a low point as Shiv's ever had. Not only is she pregnant while in an estranged marriage, and not only is her dad dead, but she's just been pressured into letting Roman and Kendall take control of the company while she gets sidelined. Shiv's position has never been as precarious as it is now, so it's no surprise she brought her A-game.
Win after win for Shiv
By the end of this latest episode, Shiv has wooed Matsson, successfully getting him to not just go through with the deal, but also adjust the kill list to her liking. She saves Tom's job and positions him to take over Sid's position at ATN, and asks him to dinner in a way that implies she's interested in reconciling with him. I've long maintained that Shiv and Tom's marriage is not as loveless as it might appear, and the events of this episode seem to further reinforce this.
Maybe the most impressive maneuver is the way she hides her pregnancy, which is just a few weeks away from being impossible to keep covered. She takes tiny sips of her drink (not necessarily confirmed to be liquor), and when Matsson offers her hard drugs she casually says yes, as if there's no reason in the world for why she might say no. She doesn't end up doing the drugs as far as we can see, thanks to Matsson's conveniently-timed confession that he's been repeatedly sending liters of his own blood to his female head of comms. What would've happened if Matsson hadn't given Shiv a good excuse to naturally put the down the pipe without drawing suspicion? We don't know; we're just happy the gambit paid off.
The result is that Shiv's the only clear-cut winner of the episode. She gets the deal pushed through despite her siblings' wishes and successfully cozies up to the new guy in charge — all without anyone else finding out about the extent of her influence. This win streak likely won't last, but "Kill List" still shows that Shiv's come a long way since season 2.
Why it's so important
The performance of all three Roy siblings is noteworthy because this is the first proper episode where we get to see them work without their father in charge. "Tern Haven" took place at the height of Logan's influence; not only did he have Kendall back under his control, but he'd successfully roped the once-independent Shiv into the company, putting her in a position where nearly everything in her life rested on her father's decisions.
As a whole, the three siblings handled themselves much better in this week's sequel episode, serving as a subtle condemnation of Logan's whole leadership style. It vindicates Shiv in particular, implying that her meltdown in "Tern Haven" was more a reflection of her father's emotional manipulations, not one of her own incompetence.
The most worrying sign in this episode is not the handling of the merger, however, but the continued fracturing of the sibling alliance. As the season premiere showed, Kendall, Roman and Shiv are at their most powerful when they're working together, but this episode features Kendall badmouthing Logan in the press without his siblings' consent, Roman letting ATN hold an open line to a fascist presidential candidate's editorial input, and Shiv making power plays behind her brothers' backs. At this rate, it's hard to imagine the "Three F**kateers" (as Roman put it this week) sticking together long term.
But although the trio will always be a bunch of out-of-touch nepo babies, they've definitely matured at least a little bit over the course of the show. Logan's always seemed to believe the whole company would fall apart without him in charge, but so far the Roy kids have proven him wrong. Regardless of what happens next, that alone is a worthy win.
New episodes of "Succession" air Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO and HBO Max.