Season 4, Episode 5: “The Kill List”
If you were to make a list of all the most frequently used terms and phrases in “succession,” the word “yes” would probably come first, followed by the least printed profanity. But just below the list is “I like you.”
People in the Lloyd’s orbit often say “I like you”. Kendall told Tom that last week when his brother-in-law was trying to make peace in Logan’s Awakening, Lucas Matson told Shiv this week. He’s said it to both Kendall and Roman before. It’s a way to tell
But what does that really mean? “Do you think I could do business with you?” or “Isn’t what I’m about to do to you personal?”
“Succession” returns to one of the most common storytelling pretenses this week, as the Roy family and their entourage gather in grand locations to celebrate and plan. This time, Matsson’s GoJo team heads to the scenic mountains of Norway, where he gathers for his annual retreat to celebrate the successful acquisition of Waystar. The guests are a bundle of nerves when they arrive, still reeling from Logan’s death and the hasty and haphazard burial of various hatchets that followed. By the time they get home? The world has changed.
The trip will be the first big test for Kendall and Roman. Kendall and Roman scrutinize emails in the first part of this episode, complaining about keeping numbers accurate in his five divisions on Waystar. Kendall says they are “in a deadly battle with the ogres.” (Siv, wide-eyed: “You’re reading the paperwork.”) Roman said of Wayster’s approach to the film business, “I say no a lot and I yell, obviously.” Explain and joke about playing the boss. But it’s clear he takes his new job seriously.
So maybe the Roy boys were a little upset when they heard that Matson had a list of Waystar personnel he needed to meet and included “greys” like Frank, Carl, and Jerry. Shiv jokes that maybe Matsson doesn’t want to deal only with the “B-roll Brothers,” but she’s also worried that important Waystar emails won’t be copied. increase.
All this toxic anxiety is carried through the air when the Waystar core arrives at GoJo’s lair and sorts into its own wooden cube cabin. The American side is afraid of looking like a clod (and they’re willing to help the cause if, during their first public interaction with GoJo, the food at Brunch his buffet piles too high on the plate). not). But Jerry is on the plane advising people not to worry too much about these smug Swedes.
“We were raised by wolves,” she says. “I was exposed to a pathogen named Logan Roy.”
For his part, Kendall seems to be focusing on lasers: Matsson has pledged to buy Waystar Royco (minus ATN) for $144 a share. The board would be thrilled if they could raise him by even a dollar.In a private meeting with Mattson, Kendall turned his cool eye on him and made slanderous comments about Waystar’s falling stock price. It doesn’t move at times. (“I’m trying to checkout during a sale and I feel like I’m being asked to pay more.”) Kendall doesn’t flinch when Matsson says he wants ATN back in the deal…now. $187 per share.
Round 1 of this negotiation ended with Matsson slightly ahead simply because he asked for something that Kendall and Roman weren’t ready to give.
Round 2 is more troublesome, thanks to Tom. Worried about his future and upset that the first GoJo person he met called him “Tom of Siobhan”, he decided that by using Greg as a “pawn sacrifice”, he would help Matson I made a plan to look cool in front of Sitting at Matson’s table, Tom signals to Greg to come and say something silly.
But Kendall is in the area. Whatever his (many) faults, Kendall doesn’t tend to sit on the sidelines while his family is being bullied. “It might be funnier with subtitles,” he grunts as he hears Matsson and his men mocking his Waystar nepotism in Swedish. Raise your spirits and negotiations will resume. Matsson calls ATN an expensive rage machine with a literally dying audience and says Waystar is a “bad brand”. Kendall counters, calling ATN “an incredibly lucrative and influential news operation.” Mattson chuckled and said, “I don’t care what you think. You’re a tribute band.”
Round 2 seems to have gone to Matsson. However, just before Kendall walks away, Matson states that he is “trying to make you rich,” and Kendall mutters, “I’m already rich.” Perhaps that leads to Kendall’s thoughts. They don’t have to do the Logan deal. Their old man wanted to “poison Brezhnev and hang Mandela,” as Shiv puts it, so it’s always best to navigate according to what Kendall calls “Dad’s Map.” Not always an idea. What if they just… screwed up the deal?
There, move on to Round 3, which takes place on one of the resort’s highest mountain ridges. There, Matson asks if Roy is “Scooby Dooing Me” by spreading a toxic rumor in the press about how Gojo hates Waystar’s property (“I’m in a theme park”). are said to be haunted”, etc.). When Kendall calmly talks about delaying the deal, an enraged Matson says Logan would be “embarrassed.”
That’s when Roman loses his cool and Kieran Culkin gives one of the series’ best performances. urinating), Roman joins in to kill shame, taking out his anger over the GoJo boss limping into the deal for six months and demanding action the next day. Logan’s death. “I hate you,” Roman said, with a satisfied smile, adding that this deal would never happen.
Is he real or, as Logan says, is this just a game? On the return flight, Waystar executives got a call from Matsson. He still wants everything, including ATN, but now it’s $192 a share. Everyone is ecstatic (except senior staff who find out they’re on GoJo’s “kill list”). Was this Kendall and Roman’s plan from the beginning? Was Matson so stubborn that he gave them more money to shut them up?
Or – and here’s the twist – was it Shiv’s? Shiv seems eager to abandon ATN after hearing that the network is working closely with a far-right presidential candidate. . He found her to be a good listener and shared a strange harrowing story about sending multiple packages of his blood to a female employee. But did they talk about anything else off-screen?After the new offer, Matsson called her Shiv and asked her to send a picture of the brother’s grumpy face.
I don’t know for sure, but maybe he beat them and had some suggestions from Shiv on how to stick needles. After all…he likes her.
due diligence
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My TiVo description for this episode: “Logan is cautious about the purpose of a team-building retreat for key people in the company.” .
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Greg tries the group name Quad Squad in an attempt to force his way into the Roy brothers’ inner circle.
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As Tom tries to befriend the GoJo crew, they ask for their opinion on France’s future, and instead of acting smart, they change tactics and play the role of cocky American news bosses who don’t care about Europe. (“We have our Paris, and if it burns, we will build another.”)
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Are Shiv and Tom an item again? They both seem excited about their brawl at the retreat. She responds by kicking her gravel because her shoes are “so white” and flicking one of her earlobes, calling it “thick and chewy like barnacle meat.” (Also, her one other indicator that Shiv and Matson are having a private deal is that Tom’s name isn’t on her list of kills.)
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Throughout the episode, Waystar officials mention the problems with big-budget movies about sleepy robots. Be careful not to think they’re speaking figuratively, and when you finally get to experience the snippet of the film, you’ll hear a metallic voice yelling, “You woke me up from hibernation!” increase.
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When did Kendall realize that Mattson was a “card trick” as he told Roman? Are you trying to counteract the story? (Matsson, when the Roy family doesn’t react immediately: “Apologies to Lucas?”)
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Kendall narrates using Logan’s nickname for Shiv when asking Roman if his sister should join the trading tanker scheme. “Can Pinky dance?” Kendall wonders. If the ending of this episode is any indication, she can boogie.
