Now that Kendall and Roman have been named co-CEOs of Waystar Royco, this episode of Succession features the duo — and everyone else in the company — attempting to clean up the pieces in the aftermath of the Roy patriarch’s death a couple episodes back. And the mess is a big one — starting with the company’s acquisition.
If you don’t already know, you should stop reading HERE if you haven’t yet watched Episode 5 of Season 4 of Succession, “Kill List,” because we’re about to talk about it with SPOILERS.
In this episode, the Roys take a trip to a retreat in Norway to negotiate with Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård) on the terms of the acquisition of the company. The result is some of the sharpest dialogue in the season yet, as we have the vicious negotiations between the different camps in the conflict.
After being a specter looming over the first four episodes of the season, we finally get to see the young tycoon Matsson in action, hoping to finish the acquisition he was working on with Logan before his death. As one would expect, tensions are higher than ever because Matsson insists on doing business even while the kids are still grieving.
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As usual, Kendall is one of the harder to read people in this situation. It’s clear that he’s still struggling a bit with the passing of his father, and now with the pressure of being co-CEO added to the equation, we’re starting to see a return to the impulsivity of his decisions from earlier seasons rather than the more measured and carefully-planned decision-making he’s had recently.
Interestingly, Roman really begins to show his strength in this episode as well, working alongside his brother to do what he thinks is best for his dad’s legacy — even if it’s not what’s best for the company. Eventually, after Matsson insists that the company’s news network is included in the deal, Roman makes the executive decision to tell Matsson to screw off (albeit in much unkinder words). It will be interesting to see how this affects Roman’s dynamic with Kendall as co-CEOs in the future.
Shiv (Sarah Snook), of course, is on the opposite side of the spectrum as her brothers. She has a completely different vision of what she thinks her father would have wanted — with the goal of having the deal go through at all costs. This also leads to her aligning herself more with Matsson, having a heart to heart with him and often working with him behind her brothers’ backs. Interestingly, the episode makes no mention of the pregnancy reveal from episode 4.
Meanwhile, Tom (Matthew Macfadyen) and Greg (Nicholas Braun) are still on damage control, hoping to maintain their relevance in the Waystar Royco empire in any way possible. On the trip to Norway, Tom tries to make friends with Matsson, hoping to not end up on the episode’s eponymous “kill list” of people whose positions will become redundant after the acquisition, while Greg tries to “prove” himself part of the family to the Roy siblings. Both end up with funny results.
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Similarly to Tom, many of the head honchos of Waystar Royco are also trying to keep their names off the kill list, resulting in some hilarious interactions — especially involving Hugo (Fisher Stevens). At the end of the episode, we get a glimpse at who will and won’t survive the cut, and it’s a hilarious development after so many of the past episodes have shown them trying to play god.
At the end of the episode, Matsson ends up making an offer to acquire the company that’s so good it can’t be refused — even after Kendall and Roman had told him the deal was off. This seems to be out of spite, and we get to see the brothers feeling emasculated, as we know they are feeling defeat. It will be exciting to see how this deal plays out and what impact it has on the Roy family.
New episodes of Succession drop on HBO and HBO Max every Sunday at 9pm ET/PT.
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