Succession recap: Roy sharks circle as they spot a weakness in Matsson
Alexander Skarsgard and Sarah Snook in a scene from Succession.
With just three episodes to go, Succession is entering its end-game phase. But how will that game end? Little is given away in part seven, which is largely devoted to reminding us of the loathsome and dysfunctional nature of the Roy kids.
That said, the first chinks have appeared in the boy-genius image of GoJo’s Lukas Matsson, aka the man who would be the new Logan Roy, as it is revealed that his subscriber numbers may be vastly inflated.
There is also a sharp reversal in the Shiv and Tom rebound romance, as it is confirmed Shiv has not changed and is as selfish and manipulative as ever. This leads to a heartbreaking scene in which Tom tells her that she is unfit to be a mother (not realising she is pregnant with his child).
Shiv throws him a look that is all too vulnerable – and which is hard to square with the manipulative way in which she has encouraged the rumour that Tom is toast at ATN as soon as the GoJo takeover goes through.
We’re getting ahead of ourselves. Earlier in the instalment there is a foreshadowing of the later Shiv-Tom meltdown when Tom gives Shiv the gift of a scorpion encased in glass. She doesn’t get it - so Tom unpacks the metaphor. “I love you, but you kill me, and I kill you.” He is serious – and yet, little does he know just how much poison Shiv is about to put out there.
Meanwhile, the Kendall-Roman power duo are still wracking their brains about how to scupper the GoJo takeover and ensure they remain at the helm of Waystar. Their new gambit is to exploit their political ties to encourage the regulators to veto the deal. GoJo has an iffy record when it comes to user privacy and data mining. Might that be the rock upon which Matsson impales himself?
They also try to squeeze some leverage by having Connor drop out of the presidential race (his votes would go to Trump-like front-runner Jeryd Mencken). He is offered an ambassador’s gig somewhere remote and war-torn. But he listens to Willa and walks out, refusing to quit. Who’d have thought spoilt weirdo Connor would end up the closest in the Roy clan to an actual human being?
Shiv has a different angle. She is in cahoots with Matsson and when he gate-crashes the Roys election night party she is soon showing him the ropes when it comes to schmoozing the great and powerful.
It is at this party that she likewise pours petrol on the rumour that Tom is about to be canned from ATN. Not done with twisting the knife she has, as a bonus, invited loathsome liberal Nate, with whom she cheated on Tom.
Tom’s heartbreak has yet to heal and, while Shiv insists that Nate had to be there because of his political links, it’s hard not to see it as anything other than calculated provocation.
If the night is a disaster for Tom and Shiv, it has more mixed results for Kendall and Roman. They fail in their attempt to have Nate, who has connections with the Democratic candidate for President, bring the regulators around. But then they discover, via GoJo’s disaffected publicist, that Matsson has overstated subscriber numbers in India. This is information they can use.
Kendall approaches Frank, his father’s old lackey, with a pitch: a “reverse Viking” on GoJo. Instead of Matsson acquiring Waystar, what about Waystar devouring GoJo? Kendall naturally has a clear vision as to who should run that new enterprise. “One head, one crown,” he says, referring to himself.
That statement – more a threat, really – perhaps offers a hint about where Succession is going in its concluding three episodes. Forget about Logan v the Kids or Waystar v GoJo. Now, it’s Roy v Roy. Expect plenty of blood on the carpet by the time the tale is through.
