Word: This text incorporates spoilers for a number of Succession episodes, notably season 4, episode 4, “Honeymoon States.”
In “Honeymoon States,” the fourth episode of Succession’s closing season, everybody’s weaponizing Logan’s reminiscence to swimsuit their very own ends.
Whereas he was alive, Logan maintained a tightly held picture of shrewdness and unassailable energy, however even he can’t management how he’ll be remembered. Early within the episode, the Roy youngsters rifle via their father’s many newspaper obituaries; “The opinions are in,” Roman quips. They’re filled with euphemisms that the youngsters have enjoyable translating. In response to one, Logan was a “sophisticated man,” which Kendall takes to imply “threw telephones at workers”; one other calls him a “enterprise genius,” which is clearly a beneficiant option to describe somebody who by no means paid taxes.
The core drama of this episode, nevertheless, revolves round one other piece of paper: a doc that Waystar vice chairman Frank Vernon (Peter Friedman) discovers in Logan’s non-public secure. It seems that at one level, Logan (Brian Cox) had named Kendall (Jeremy Robust) as his successor. Kendall is rocked by what appears to be like like tangible affirmation that Logan selected him, however can be suffering from the maddening ambiguity of the piece of paper. It’s riddled with pencil scribbles, together with a mark close to Kendall’s title. Was Logan underlining it or, as Shiv (Sarah Snook) pounces on as a chance, was he making an attempt to cross Ken’s title out? (“It positive as fucking shit doesn’t say ‘Shiv,’” Kendall bites again.)
Later, he asks Frank if it’s actual, hardly capable of consider his personal eyes. It seems like not solely proof of Logan’s esteem, however even no matter love and affection he had for his second son. It’s additionally merciless in quintessential Logan trend — an ambiguous little bit of rooster scratch from past the grave for Kendall to obsess over. “He made me hate him, after which he died,” Kendall says ruefully. Frank reassures him. “He was an previous bastard — and he liked you,” he says.
Kendall and his siblings most likely gained’t ever know for positive what their father actually thought or supposed, however that gained’t cease them from deciphering Logan’s cryptic final message via the lens of their wishes and insecurities. Being named Logan’s most well-liked successor is legally meaningless — the CEO is determined by a board vote, not by Logan’s will. The opposite Waystar execs, and Kendall’s siblings, are fast to level out that the doc is undated, and that nobody was knowledgeable of its existence. However for Kendall, it has all of the that means on the planet: He now has a story about what his formidable father wished, and he’s working with it.
Musical chairs of energy
The whole thing of “Honeymoon States” takes place in Logan’s house, the place a circus of political leaders and titans of business have gathered to mourn the not too long ago deceased household patriarch. Even Marcia (Hiam Abbass) has returned from her buying journey in Milan, staking her declare over her fortress (and in addition swiftly promoting it to Connor when he exhibits curiosity in it). The principle occasion, nevertheless, is a board assembly the place a brand new interim Waystar CEO can be appointed. The household eating desk is now occupied completely by Waystar fits, and as an alternative of Logan, chief monetary officer Karl Muller (David Rasche) is sitting on the head. Roman (Kieran Culkin), as he appears to be like on the tableau, remarks that Logan had been planning on firing half of them.
However Logan isn’t round anymore, and the Waystar execs whisper avariciously about which potential CEO to rally behind. The Roy youngsters, unsurprisingly, are nowhere on their record; Karl suggests telling the board that Logan’s spawn aren’t “constitutionally well-equipped at this level to tackle the position” — or, as Tom places it, they’re “screw-ups and dipshits.” The masks have come off. Everyone seems to be scrambling to throw their names into the hat, and so they shortly get snide with each other. Karl refers to Gerri Kellman’s (J. Smith-Cameron) temporary tenure as interim CEO as her “tilt on the windmill,” whereas Gerri implies that it’s gone time for Karl to retire.
It’s a reality of life that everybody orbiting Waystar and the Roy household tries to make use of their proximity to energy to their benefit, however this episode is a reminder that no matter energy they handle to seize, they ceaselessly stay standing on quicksand. We see each Tom (Matthew Macfadyen) and Greg (Nicholas Braun) making an attempt to get in anybody’s good graces, like a pair of barnacles in the hunt for a whale to connect themselves to. Kerry (Zoe Winters), Logan’s assistant-turned-lover, has additionally plummeted within the energy rankings. She makes an ill-advised look on the house, babbling nearly incoherently about going upstairs to gather her issues. However Marcia coldly tells her that her issues are already in a bag. Kerry blathers one thing about Logan making preparations to marry her, however it’s clear that’s about as helpful as fairy mud now. Kerry is taken out the again entrance; Roman protests that that is all somewhat harsh, however Marcia, in a brutally calm voice, tells him {that a} taxi will deposit Kerry on the subway station so she will be able to return to her “little house.”
Kendall is again on a damaging path
All through this season, Kendall has saved up an affectionate, collaborative relationship along with his youthful siblings. They’re nonetheless planning on shopping for and revamping Pierce World Media as quickly as Waystar is offered to streaming firm GoJo — which could not occur in spite of everything. (GoJo founder Lukas Matsson ((Alexander Skarsgård)) is being cagey, and now needs the Roy youngsters to go to him in Sweden.) Kendall even brags about how remedy has been serving to him along with his grief; regardless of Logan’s demise, he’s mentally most likely in the most effective place we’ve ever seen him.
However Kendall is ceaselessly an addict, most of all an addict to the thought of being a person his father can be happy with. He can’t cease obsessing over the concept that Logan had written down which of his offspring was most worthy of taking over his mantle. That is one thing tangible. It has much more weight than no matter momentary little bit of flattery Logan threw at his children when it was advantageous to take action.
Kendall thinks he ought to be interim CEO, and confides in Frank — who, regardless of plotting to wrest energy from the youngsters moments in the past, is often Kendall’s confidant in his most weak moments. “You really need again in?” Frank asks, figuring out that making an attempt to be Logan 2.0 has despatched Ken to the brink of demise earlier than. Possibly Frank’s simply angling to take away a number of the competitors, however you additionally sense that he actually does fear about Kendall getting again into the ring simply when he appeared to be doing higher.
Shiv is pregnant and alone
Kendall will get to work on rallying troops behind him: He will get Waystar board members Sandi Furness and Stewy Hosseini on his aspect, after which nervously approaches his siblings. Roman’s and Shiv’s hackles are up as quickly as Kendall tries to rationalize why he ought to be CEO. To calm them down, he assures them he’ll simply be the figurehead for what’s actually a three-way reign. Shiv and Roman don’t like that their egalitarian partnership is being dissolved, and so Kendall magnanimously agrees to share the highest position with Roman.
Shiv bristles at this exclusion. If each of them are going to be CEO, why not simply make it three? Kendall tells her she has no expertise, and Roman backs him up. “Three is a bit wonky,” Roman says. Her brothers make murmurs about Shiv nonetheless being on the within of all the pieces, that they might solely be CEO till the GoJo deal goes via. We’ve heard this one earlier than; the previous three seasons have proven how the Roy siblings thrive on making an attempt to bury one another. What’s extra, if the GoJo sale falls via — which appears eminently potential — the interim CEO would truly turn out to be a everlasting CEO.
We discover out early on this episode that Shiv is pregnant, and that aggravates the frustration and powerlessness she feels. She hates that her brothers are leaving her out once more, but when she falls out with them, she would have nobody left on her aspect. All through “Honeymoon States,” Shiv is more and more angered and flustered by how lonely she feels. In some methods, she was unquestionably Logan’s favourite. They used to have weekly one-on-one dinners; he known as her Pinky. She blames herself and her brothers for his or her father’s demise — they pressured Logan into getting on a aircraft to Sweden. Tom, who doesn’t appear to know that she’s pregnant, does sense how unloved and damage she feels. He tries to remind her of what might be if she simply opened herself as much as being cared for, citing a candy previous reminiscence of their early courtship. “That was some time in the past, wasn’t it?” Shiv says dully. He pushes again. “Not that lengthy.”
Like father like son
On this episode, we see how, within the blink of a watch, Kendall can slip between the model of himself that simply needs a wholesome relationship along with his family members and the model of himself that may kill if needed.
The final time Logan and his youngsters spoke, Shiv accused her father of pondering he may make one thing true simply by claiming it was true. However Kendall understands the facility of a story too. Simply days in the past, he would have instructed anybody who requested that his dad was an terrible tyrant whose opinion wasn’t price grime. Now, instantly, it issues that the following Waystar CEO ought to have the late founder’s blessing. The board appears to agree, even when the Waystar executives look nervous; they vote him and Roman via as co-CEOs. The simmering conflict between the previous guard and the Roy siblings is surprisingly averted, at the very least for now.
When influential Republican megadonor Ron Petkus (Stephen Root) takes a second to eulogize Logan, Connor complains that his description of Logan as a neo-conservative is inaccurate: He was clearly a “paleo-libertarian.” “They’re making an attempt to body-snatch him,” he says.
However nobody is body-snatching Logan the best way Kendall is. When Shiv and Roman hold joking round with out seeming to grasp the urgency of getting a plan earlier than the board vote, Kendall loses his mood in a really Logan-esque means. You may virtually see him pondering that they aren’t critical individuals.
After the vote is completed, Karolina and Hugo corral the brand new CEOs to debate a method for promoting their new roles to the general public. There are two potential tacks, they clarify, one in every of which might painting them as intently following in Logan’s footsteps. The opposite would rewrite who Logan was within the public eye, portray him as a nasty father who was shedding his contact by the tip, which might make Kendall and Roman appear to be much-needed contemporary blood. Roman nixes the latter concept, clearly discovering it vile.
However Kendall, after mulling it over — and searching on the doc once more — privately tells Hugo to start the posthumous Logan smear marketing campaign, with out revealing to anybody that he ordered it. “It’s what he would do,” Kendall tells Hugo. “He’d need this for the agency.” Which is perhaps true — Logan did far worse issues in his life — however it’s unclear that he would have wished to sacrifice his fame. Kendall coolly threatens Hugo into following orders in a means Logan would undoubtedly admire. The Roy household is mourning the demise of their patriarch, and instantly Logan’s inheritor appears decided to maintain his legacy alive.
