Succession recap: Alliances made and broken as it all goes Game of Thrones
Sarah Snoop, Jeremy Strong and Kieran Culkin in Succession.
With the death of Logan Roy, Succession delivered one of modern TV’s biggest-ever bombshells. Now, comes the messy follow-up. In Logan’s Manhattan apartment, family and friends have come to grieve – and stake their claim for a piece of his media empire. Tears are shed and knives are drawn in an episode that epitomises Succession and the vicious amorality of its characters.
Shiv, Kendall and Roman are surprised to be welcomed by Logan’s widow Marcia. The last they heard she was estranged from their father and off to Milan “shopping forever”. But now she’s back as the grieving partner, claiming she and Logan spoke “intimately” on the phone every day. She may be upset but she is also determined to do well out of the death – and agrees in a heartbeat to sell the pad to Connor, Logan’s clueless eldest child.
The wake soon metastasises into a corporate Game of Thrones. In one corner are Kendall, Roman and Shiv, in the other “the Keystone f***s”, as Roman calls them: Gerri, Karl and Frank. And then there is GoJo and Matsson, who snubs the Roys after they fail to answer his call.
He’s off on a wellness retreat, says a flunky. If they want the Waystar Royco acquisition to go through they will have to visit Matsson in Sweden. They’re grieving but he’s hiking. And he holds all the cards. Come what may, a pilgrimage will be made.
There’s a lot of scurrying and squirming this week. Tom, so sober when delivering to Shiv and the siblings, the news of their father’s death, is back in toadying mode. He wants to put his hat “in the ring”. What ring does he mean? We don’t know – but if there is a chance to get ahead he’s up for it.
It falls to the old boardroom warhorse Karl to give Tom a frank assessment of where he stands in Waystar’s post-Logan paradigm. “You’re a clumsy interloper and no one trusts you. The only guy pulling for you is dead. And now you’re just married to the ex-boss’s daughter, and she doesn’t even like you. And you are fair and squarely f**ked.”
What Tom doesn’t know is that Shiv is pregnant. This is revealed at the beginning of the episode when a doctor calls to reveal all is well with her scan. She doesn’t look overjoyed: remember, it was Tom who wanted a family, not Shiv. But nor is she horrified. For now, it’s a secret she is keeping close to her chest.
A secret very much out in the world is that Logan wanted Kendall to take over as CEO. This is discovered by Frank on a page gathering dust in Logan’s safe. Is it authentic? Well, the handwriting is Logan’s. But did he underline Kendall’s name – or, as Shiv believes, draw a line toward it – thus nullifying the document?
With that interjection from their dearly departed dad, the triple alliance of Kendall, Shiv and Roman splinters. Kendall and Roman argue that they should be appointed as interim heads of Waystar – just until the deal with Matsson goes through, of course. Shiv is out in the cold. They assure her she will be a power player behind the scenes. However, the empty look in her eyes confirms that she knows the truth. Her father sidelined her in life and now, though he is gone, the same is happening again.
She is still processing this when there is time for one last drama. Kerry – Logan’s assistant and perhaps more – turns up in a state of shock. She is the only person in the building who seems even vaguely upset that he’s gone. Still, Marcia treats her horribly, forcing her to leave by the back entrance after having a flunky retrieve Kerry’s possessions.
The episode ends with Kendall and Logan entering the inner sanctum of their father’s private office. There are surprises: who knew he liked Sudoku? Above all, however, there is a crushing sense of manifest destiny coming at them at full speed. This is the job they wanted all their lives. Now, for the time being, at least, they’re in charge. So why, instead of exulting in the moment, do they look so frightened?
