Just when Logan’s inner circle thinks that it might finally be free of his mercurial nature, he springs one more annoying surprise.
‘Succession’ Season 4, Episode 4: ‘Honeymoon States’
How do you sum up a media giant and a political visionary like Logan Roy? The day after his death, the newspapers call him “a complicated man.” (Kendall’s translation: “Threw phones at staff.”) He was a “sharp reader of the national mood.” (Roman: “He’s a bit racist.”) He was “very much a man of his era.” (Kendall: “Again, racist. Also, relaxed about sexual assault.”) As Logan’s family, friends, employees and admirers gather at his home to mourn — and to plot — no one can seem to agree on who he really was. After reading yet another glowing tribute, Shiv jokes: “Dad sounds amazing. I’d like to have met Dad.”
Yet just when Logan’s inner circle thinks that it might finally be free of his mercurial approach to business and family matters, he springs one more annoying surprise from beyond the grave. In Logan’s safe, the estate’s executor, Frank, finds a piece of paper from four (or more) years ago, naming Kendall as Logan’s preferred successor.
But there are a handwritten notes and markings on the page — including a line partially under Kendall’s name and partially through it. Was Logan emphasizing that he wanted his son to take over? Or was he indicating that he definitely did not?
After last week’s emotionally wrenching episode, “Succession” comes back with one of the funniest of the series, filled with quotable lines and sick burns. Any feelings of sadness or sentimentality among the Roy children fades as soon as they realize Waystar’s top executives — Frank, Gerri, Karl and Tom — are disappearing behind closed doors to begin what Shiv calls a “a coronation demolition derby.” The ensuing bumps and scrapes are perversely entertaining.
On the old-timers’ side, everyone speaks with a brittle politeness masking deep hostility. Gerri puts herself forward as the logical choice to be chief executive, having already done it on an interim basis. When Karl balks, she delivers a wicked backhanded compliment, saying: “I think you’re a corporate legend. What you did in the ’90s, with cable? Huge.”
Tom, meanwhile, insists that all he wants to do is serve, adding: “If there’s a ring, my hat is in. Respectfully.” To that, Karl suggests that the board might have questions about Tom, and he frames those “as a friend,” saying, “You’re a clumsy interloper and no one trusts you.”
As for the Rebel Alliance — now possibly interested in rejoining the Empire, if the pay is competitive and management positions are available — they seem initially more united. They all jump on a call to one of Lukas Mattson’s lackeys, where Shiv waves away a question about which one of them is the leader, saying, “We’re a pretty fluid group.” But it is perhaps an ominous sign that she physically recoils after saying that. It is also not good that Mattson demands that one of the three fly out to GoJo’s strategy retreat within the next 24 hours. (Shiv: “You obviously know what happened here yesterday, right?” Lackey: “Oh sure, yeah, we really feel for you guys. Bad one.”)
This is when Frank comes across the “rather worrying piece of paper.” (It is so worrying that he wonders if maybe it could be flushed down a toilet. He and Karl then clarify that they are merely “speculating in a comic mode.”) Both the old and young factions gather in an upstairs room, where Roman diminishes the document’s meaning, saying to Kendall, “This thing is old, and you’ve tried to put him in jail, like, 12 times since then.”
One thing seems clear: Both the children and the Waystar executives want the GoJo sale to go through. After that, there will be no more Waystar to control and the siblings can proceed with their original plan to run Pierce Global Media together, perhaps now merged with ATN. Since the chief executive position would be temporary anyway, Kendall pounces, saying: “Anyone can do that. And since he said. …”
Something about Kendall’s eagerness does not sit right with Roman and Shiv, although they have trouble articulating why. Maybe it is the gleefully vicious tone he takes when he snaps that Logan’s document “doesn’t say Shiv.” Or maybe it is the way he keeps trying to corner both of them, warning that they should not give the company away to Gerri or anybody else “just because we didn’t talk.”
Ultimately, Roman buys the idea that the board and the markets might see Kendall’s pitch for himself as “same-old but with a vibe-y new banner.” And the executives come around when they realize they can package Kendall as a co-leader with Roman, who still has an official title as Waystar’s chief operating officer. Shiv is cut out of this leadership group. Her brothers insist that she is still a part of an unofficial triumvirate, but while she has them make “a Dad promise, on yesterday” (referring to how they all bonded in their shock and grief), she is so upset by the mini-coup that she falls down a small set of stairs while fleeing the house.
There are other power-plays afoot this week. Logan’s estranged wife Marcia (Hiam Abbass) is no longer — as Kerry once said — “shopping in Milan, forever.” She conspicuously positions herself as a greeter at the wake, asserting that she still spoke to her husband every day. She also refuses Kerry entry to the upstairs and has her removed from the premises, right as Kerry is gathering her personal effects and nervously babbling to Roman about Logan’s big plans for her.
And then there is Tom, as always treading the line between “sweetly helpful” and “snaking around.” He tries to show Shiv some kindness, reminding her of when they first got together and how he flew to France to be with her. Shiv, as uncertain as the rest of us as to whether Tom is merely making a play, replies coolly, “That was a while back.”
It is Kendall, though, who ends the day in the lead. He and Roman entertain a pitch from Hugo and Karolina about strengthening their executive bona fides by getting it out into the press that Logan was a mentally unstable abuser who had not really been in charge of Waystar in years. Roman nixes this unequivocally. But Kendall — who knows that Hugo has some potential insider-trading trouble to bury — comes to him privately about the “Bad Dad” plan and says, “Action that, but soft … no prints.”
Before he meets with Hugo, Kendall is staring at a picture on his phone of Logan’s sloppy succession plan — and his own crossed-out or underlined name. The old man remained inscrutable to the end, for sure. But the sickening smile on Kendall’s face right before the credits roll raises questions, too. Is he smearing Logan because, as he claims, that is exactly the kind of nasty maneuver his father would pull? Or is Kendall still bent on revenge?
Either way, one thing is sure: Kendall is his father’s son.
Due Diligence
The title of this episode, “Honeymoon States,” refers to the itinerary Connor has set for his post-wedding travels with Willa: Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Pennsylvania … all swing states in his presidential campaign. Connor also moves without Willa’s permission to buy Logan’s home from Marcia for $63 million. When Willa reminds him of the old advice not to make big decisions while still in mourning, he counters with, “They also say it’s pretty smart not to pay Realtors’ fees.”
As the nation’s conservative thought leaders — who call Logan “L.R.” — raise a toast to “a man of humility, grace, dignity,” Tom can’t resist leaning over to Greg to whisper, “who died fishing his iPhone from a clogged toilet.” (Rumor has it Karl clogged it.)
Greg is briefly allowed into the meeting about Logan’s estate, where it is noted that Greg is “an addendum of miscellaneous matters, in pencil, with a question mark” on the controversial piece of paper. When he asks hopefully whether Logan meant for him to be Kendall’s second-in-command, the ensuing riotous laughter is probably about as joyous as anybody in that room feels all day.
We need to talk about Shiv’s big news, which she does not share with anyone in this episode. In the opening, she gets a phone call from a doctor about a test that shows “everything looks healthy,” and she hears that she will have to come back for “the 20-week scan.” It is strongly implied that Shiv is pregnant — which makes her tumble later in the episode more alarming.
Speculation corner! If Kendall keeps playing hardball, how long until his siblings make use of what he confessed to them last season about accidentally killing a cater waiter? (Also: Shiv is definitely going to fly off to see Mattson within the next 24 hours, right?)
This whole episode is about how nobody really knew Logan. (Was he a neocon? A paleo-libertarian? An anarcho-capitalist?) This point is driven home further when Waystar’s new co-chiefs, Kendall and Roman, step into Logan’s office at the end of the episode and are surprised to discover that their father liked to do Sudoku puzzles.
Source: Television - nytimes.com
