Episode 5 of Succession was massive, as it showed the tensions between the Roys and Matsson coming to a head with a conflict over the acquisition of the company. However, episode 6 does not deal with the immediate outcome of that conflict, instead opting for a more traditional outing of corporate bureaucracy for the Roys.
If it isn’t obvious, if you haven’t yet watched Episode 6 of Season 4 of Succession, “Living+,” you should stop reading now, as this discussion will include MASSIVE spoilers.
This episode follows the Waystar Royco team as they prepare for Investor Day, where they will be announcing a major new product that could completely change the fate of the company — for better or for worse. Since this is the first product launch since Logan’s death, everyone is trying to capture his signature style to the best of their ability.
The new product launch represents Kendall’s (Jeremy Strong) first major public action as co-CEO, and to everyone’s surprise — seemingly including his own — he doesn’t completely drop the ball. It’s clear that Kendall is still struggling with the pressure of living up to his father’s legacy. Although it seems at first as if he is not going to succeed at being the public face of the company, when a crisis arises, his response is absolutely impeccable, restoring everyone’s confidence in him… for now.
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Roman (Kieran Culkin), on the other hand, is having a completely different reaction to his newfound power. Whereas Kendall is struggling to exert his strength, Roman is arguably exerting it too much. After having not been taken seriously for so long, Roman desperately wants to be seen as someone to be taken seriously — yet every decision he makes is questioned. It seems that the two very different leadership styles of Kendall and Roman may become the source of the conflict for the remaining episodes.
Interestingly, the focus of Shiv’s (Sarah Snook) arc in this episode is less on her own efforts to reign supreme in Waystar Royco and more on her relationship with her husband, Tom (Matthew Macfadyen). Tom has aligned himself with Matsson, knowing that he has no chance winning the favor of the Roys… or so he thought. He and Shiv get together and have a heart-to-heart of sorts — at least as much of one as you can have given how emotionally distant both of them are.
Still, Shiv’s uneasy alliance with Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård) continues. Matsson continues his quest to make Kendall and Roman’s lives a living hell — in retaliation for them crossing him and attempting to call off the negotiations for Matsson’s acquisition of Waystar Royco. However, his strategies end up blowing up in his face, as his stark condemnation of the new Waystar Royco offering drawing more criticism to himself than the Roys.
And as has been the case for much of the season, Greg (Nicholas Braun) continues to scramble to find his relevance in the Roy empire after the passing of Logan. He continues to do favors and odd jobs for the Roys, giving him plenty of humorous antics. It’s clear that he has reverted to the butt of the joke — much as he was in earlier seasons of the show — but with all the rest of the actors being such powerhouses this season, it’s nice to see something as purely comedic as Braun’s turn.
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At the end of Investor Day, the new product is successfully launched and Matsson is humiliated into deleting his tweet. After the last episode, when Matsson embarrassed them by disregarding their wishes, it’s fun to see the tables turned back on the Swedish magnate. Although it’s unclear where the conflict will go from here, the Roys currently have the upper hand — and there’s only four more episodes for everything to settle out.
New episodes of Succession drop on HBO and HBO Max every Sunday at 9pm ET/PT.
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