Family, friends, and business associates are still reeling from Logan Roy’s death on Succession Season 4 Episode 4, but it doesn’t take long for the claws to come out.
As everyone gathers at Logan’s (now Connor’s) apartment, the discovery of a piece of paper Logan drafted at an unknown time and amended who knows when guides the discussion.
Just like that, all of the progress made between Kendall, Shiv, and Roman is threatened.
Everyone had an opinion about Logan Roy, and “Honeymoon States” does an excellent job of showing how discomfort from Logan’s loss makes lips loose on the one hand and, on the other, makes defenders out of former critics.
When someone dies, everyone has something to say. When someone the magnitude of Logan Roy dies, it increases exponentially. There aren’t just loose lips sinking ships but enormous sums of money and critical power plays.
This was Succession back to form, where even a shocking death can’t stop tongues from wagging or demand people act with maturity.
Wisecracks were flowing and plentiful. Greg, inappropriate as ever, was doing his best to fit in with a family he’s never quite been a part of, with Tom right behind him. Tom offered insight into Logan’s death as a play-by-play during someone’s speech about the deceased.
Apparently, Logan died fishing his iPhone out of the toilet and hadn’t taken a decent sh!t in years, and he wasn’t wearing his compression socks so he’d look good for Kerry.
In his rush to validate his importance in life and with his father, Connor made the mistake of inquiring Marcia to get a heads up should she decide to sell the apartment. Within two seconds, she sold him the place for an appalling $63 million.
While there were outliers at the gathering, like Marcia acting as the reigning queen and normally transactional business acquaintances hoping to capitalize on Logan’s death, there were essentially two factions making waves: the old guard execs and the sibling trio of Kendall, Shiv, and Roman.
Karl: I mean, could it, might it just go away? I mean, it might get lost. I hope it doesn’t, but what if your hand goes a little wobbly, and a draft takes it away, and it gets flushed down a toilet by mistake? I’m kidding, of course.
Frank: Oh, sure. You’re speculating in a comic mode.
Karl: In a humorous vein. We’re not gonna let that little princess screw things up, right Frank? Gerri’s gonna block me. I want out. I want my fuckin’ package. I am halfway in on a Greek island with my brother-in-law.
Gerri: Say, what’s up boys?
As executor of Logan’s estate, it was Frank who found the dubious piece of paper that suggested Kendall was, at least at one time, Logan’s choice of successor. The document had handwritten addendums of various types, most significantly Ken’s name either underlined or struck out.
Kendall, who bore the brunt of his father’s emotions by working closest with him through the years, latched onto that piece of paper like a dog with a bone.
If you had been taking a shot every time he brought it up (or that Roman rolled his eyes at its mention), you would have felt pretty damn good by the end.
Succession is brilliant in the way it hides how people feel just as smartly as it lays their cards on the table. It works because humans are mysterious, and two seemingly diametrically opposed thoughts are often so interlaced that you can’t tell the difference.
Every character is written so that what they say can or cannot be what they mean, and what they mean may or may not mean what they say.
Undoubtedly, Kendall, Roman, and Shiv have enjoyed working together. They said it many times, and they mean it. They have never been especially close, so breaking down that barrier means something. It’s good to have someone in your corner.
That doesn’t mean that when Logan died, they didn’t each begin wondering what it meant for them in relation to Waystar. They can be and feel two disparate things equally.
It’s the worst for Kendall because of his incredibly strained relationship with his father. Even after his death, Ken is seeking his father’s approval and doing what he thinks his father would do with the hope Logan would be proud of him.
Kendall: Is it real, Frank?
Frank: I don’t know.
Kendall: My dad wanted me to take over.
Frank: Well, sometimes, you know that. He did. Sometimes.
Kendall: He made me hate him, and he died. I feel like he didn’t like me. I disappointed him.
Frank: Oh. No. Come on. We think these grand horror things at times like these. These ice shelves are going to come at us in the night and take our heads off. It’s not true. He was an old bastard, and he loved you. He loved you.
Kendall: Ya think?
Frank: I think so.
Kendall: If I get them in behind me, will you follow?
Frank: Ken, you’ve got stuff cookin’. You seem so well. Do you really want back in?
What Kendall missed in the waning hours of his father’s life was that Logan almost pitied his kids for their detachment and what he’d done to them by giving them much too much of everything.
If Kendall heard when his father said they were not serious people in Succession Season 4 Episode 2, he didn’t understand or take it to heart.
Once he saw his name on that piece of paper, all rational thought abandoned him.
Shiv awoke to the news that she’s pregnant. Her father is dead, and she’s on the brink of divorce, but she’s got the miracle of life growing inside her. She has no time to process the news and probably wouldn’t know what to make of it on such a dark day anyway.
That could be why she didn’t put up much of a fight when Roman and Kendall worked the situation of who would lead Waystar in the interim months before the sale to their advantage.
Sure, she was upset and felt left out, but she’s got more on her plate than grieving and fighting for the top job at Waystar.
It’s also why she probably allowed herself a little time with Tom and seemed open to what he had to say. They already seemed a bit regretful of how far their marriage had disintegrated. With Logan’s death and her pregnancy, it’s no surprise she might be mulling it over even more.
Shiv: I’m angry. My dad died, and my mom is a fucking disaster, and my husband is a… And Kerry and Marcia, and it feels like I’m the only one who lost someone who they actually fuckin’ wanted here, and he’s not coming back, so, yeah.
Tom: Siobhan, do you remember when we first knew one another. The first time in France when I flew to you, and it was a very difficult time for you, and I sent you all those handwritten notes, and then the first time, you were wearing a very fine silk shirt, and I put my arm around you, and I kept asking, do you like this? Do you like this? You said, eventually, I like it all.
Shiv: Uh huh. That was a while ago, wasn’t it?
Tom: Not that long.
Before Logan’s illness in Succession Season 1, Shiv had a thriving political career and very little, if any, interest in the family business.
She got caught up in the fight for the top spot without necessarily having the heart for it. Going into business with her brothers offered something new they could create together and didn’t come with all of the baggage heaped at them by their father.
But it would have still made their dad proud of them, and as adversaries in the news business, they would have still been going toe-to-toe with Logan but on their terms.
Roman was most in on the idea of them working together, but he’s got just as much right to run Waystar as anyone else, especially after events shortly before Logan’s death.
He knew Gerri was on her way out, and he was on his way in if he wanted it. Ironically, Roman doesn’t want it, and he’s held fast to the notion that he’s not interested in being a part of anything when it comes to Waystar.
Joining forces with Kendall for the top spot through the merger takes Kendall down a notch, and he needs the weight adjustment. Looking at the letter had him throwing his five-minute-long partnership under the bus to act as he thought Logan would act — by painting Logan as incompetent.
The midseason trailer for Succession Season 4 finds the siblings making the rounds and visiting Matsson about the deal, so whatever damage Kendall did to things by asking Hugo to act on the down low to tarnish Logan might not have a lasting effect.
Still, it’s disappointing that the son who had been put upon so long by his father is in a rush to act like him.
Whether the kids or the Waystar execs, they’ve always been under Logan’s shadow.
Can they work independently from his strong presence? We’re about to find out because as overbearing as he seemed in his family and business, once you’re underground, your influence wanes, especially if the legacy you left behind was painful to those closest to you.
What is a good ending for Succession?
The best ending would be for everyone to rise above what they despised about Logan rather than leaning into it, but that goes against the absolute power corrupts absolutely narrative.
Will the sale go through? Will the siblings forge ahead with their partnership? Take a look at the trailer, and share your thought below.
Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She’s a member of the Critic’s Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on Twitter and email her here at TV Fanatic.
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