Succession – Honeymoon States

By: Kelly Kearney

It’s the day after Logan’s passing and all of his friends, family, and acquaintances show up at his house to offer the family their condolences; even Presidential hopeful Jaryed Mencken shows up, it’s a who’s who for the conservative King’s wake. While some of the mourners are picking Logan’s bones for any loose change, the kids and the Old Guard are pushed aside to plot and plan who will be shepherding Waystar through the Gojo deal., “it’s coronation demolition derby” day, Shiv says as the board prepares to meet for a vote and a vague pencil marking on a working will that none of the Roys or C-suite knew existed turns everyone’s plans upside down. So, let’s unpack the great debate: underlined or crossed out, in “Honeymoon States!”

No Time for Tears

We open on the Roy kids, each grieving for their father in their own way. Kendall (Jeremy Strong) is sitting in a pile of tears and regret as he looks out across Manhattan from the vantage point of his bedroom floor. Over in his brother’s apartment Roman (Kieran Culkin) seems to be handling Logan’s (Brian Cox) death well and it’s all thanks to–as he puts it, his pre-grieving. Roman has been preparing for this loss since their father landed in the hospital in season 1, but as he appears together on the outside, throughout the hour we see glimpses of the youngest-born male Roy starting to quietly come apart at the seams. The same can be said for Shiv (Sarah Snook), whose grief is multilayered now that she received some shocking news that makes her father’s departure seem all the more untimely. A phone call from her doctor interrupts her morning tears with good, but ill-timed news: Shiv is pregnant and all the early tests say the baby is healthy. She takes the news with a grimace because this is not the time for celebrations. She is devastated by her loss while simultaneously embroiled in a divorce from Tom – the man we assume is the father of this baby. Logan’s “Pinky” with her eye daggers stabbing Tom in the heart every time they land on him, isn’t ready to share the good news anytime soon.

Next up Kendall arrives at his father’s house where he is met by a strange phone call between Hugo (Fisher Stevens) and his daughter followed by an even stranger presence greeting him at the door. Marcia (Hiam Abbass) is back from her endless shopping trip in Milan and she is looking the part of a grieving widow. Everyone assumed she and Logan were on the outs since he moved Kerry (Zoe Winters) into their marital bed, but according to her, they spoke: “intimately on the phone every night.” Kendall barely has time to process this transparent attempt at ingratiating herself into Logan’s end-of-life bank account. She even cuts a deal with Connor (Alan Ruck) to sell him his father’s home for 63 million dollars. She might have some shade for Willa (Justine Lupe)– pointing out how she’s come a long way from the gutter to the palace, but from where everyone else is standing, Marcia is the one clawing her way back to the top, and the new Roy bride casually lets the widow know it. The woman’s grief is colored green regardless of her all-black mourning garb so it’s no surprise when Kendall finally meets up with Shiv and Roman he asks the sibs what’s up with Marcia, or as Shiv refers to her, “Death Becomes Her.” Kerry also seems to be missing from the goodbye festivities and when Kendall questions her absence, we learn Marcia banned her from the house and wake. Anyone who has been around for the last seven weeks knows this grieving widow act is a last-ditch effort to grab some gold coins off of her dead husband’s eyes and pushing out the latest girlfriend is a good start. Marcia is brutal and greed-driven and it is probably what Logan saw in her and what lured him into Kerry’s trap too; the old man certainly had a venomous type. Moving on from the fiasco that was their father’s love life, the sibs discuss how they are feeling and we learn that Roman is fine and doesn’t need Kendall’s professional grief counselor–no matter how many times his brother boasts about how good the guy is. A loss of this magnitude is tough but it’s even worse when you have to push it to the side just to figure out the business side of such a massive loss. The question of the day isn’t a casket or cremation, but who is stepping into Logan’s CEO shoes? The board meeting is in an hour and they need to flag a name up the voting members can agree on. One who can stabilize the stock price by getting this deal with Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård) done.

Fish-flavored Melancholy

In another room we find the Old Guard–plus Tom (Matthew Macfadyen), huddling and plotting their next move. The Disgusting Brothers feel a bit untethered now that the patriarch of the family is gone; both men are concerned about their futures. The two-act like parasitic fish that eat the scraps from a shark’s meal, as they bounce from person to person trying to make a play for some sort of financial security. They know guarantees with the company won’t probably extend to them, so Greg (Nicholas Braun) tries to buddy up with his cousins while Tom pumps Karl (David Rasche), Frank (Peter Friedman), and Gerri (J. Smith-Cameron) for clues about how this board meeting will shake out.

Two rooms: one with the old and one with the new, both making moves to take over and each hoping to cut the other off in the final stretch of the race. Everyone seems lost without the guidance of their north star but they were trained well and by the best so the knives are out and everyone’s backs are up against the wall. Taking their discussion private behind the closed door of the kitchen, Frank, Gerri, Tom, and Karl have a bit of a verbal wrestling match over who they think the board will want to lead. Karl’s grubby fingers would like to grab his last chance but as Gerri so eloquently drags him, he is an excellent financial officer but his last big break was in the 90s on some cable deal. Unlike the CFO, she is current and already did the interim gig while ushering them through the cruise nightmare; she could get the job done, and Karolina (Dagmara Dominczyk)–who always has her work wife’s back, agrees. Gerri would make the board happy, but what about Logan firing her over those dick pics from Roman? Karl points out the boss man was “souring” on Gerri and the stone-cold killer lawyer points out that Logan is dead so that plan is moot. On to Tom, who keeps saying he wants to serve while reminding them all why Logan is the only one who ever liked him. Karl shoots him down by claiming, “the naysayers” on the board think Tom is an interloper who doesn’t even have the support of the dead CEO’s daughter, or really anyone else in this huddle. “Those darn naysayers,” Gerri says, and now that leaves Frank, the senior management and a name the board could get behind. He has also been Logan’s right-hand man for decades and that amount of trauma means he’s earned a shot. The group goes around and around until they finally circle back to Gerri, who tells Karl she would gladly “buckle him into his golden [retirement] parachute” before she pushes him out of the Waystar plane and onto that Greek island he’s hoping to buy. He has known her long enough not to trust any of her guarantees, so the question remains: who takes over? Whoever is chosen, they all agree it should not be the kids. With the time ticking away towards a final decision, The Old Guard is sharpening their backstabbers while Tom stuffs his face with fish taco melancholy. Meanwhile, the kids are in another room ignoring a call from Matsson while they get their response ready. Once everything is ironed out they return his call but Oskar (Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson), one of Matsson’s employees, is now playing go-between. He says Lukas is too busy to talk about the deal as he is getting ready for “the annual retreat” and it takes precedence over the current business deal on the line. Matsson is playing games and Shiv, with her middle finger silently extended towards the phone, knows it. Instead of agreeing to skip the retreat and come talk to the kids–who are in mourning, Oskar shrugs off Logan’s death and says they are free to come to Sweden instead. While the three Roy kids are trying to decide who they want to back for CEO and how they can save this GoJo deal, their older brother is in another room happy with the apartment deal he just made with Marcia. Apparently, his honeymoon is on hold for a state-to-state election rally which isn’t exactly his blushing bride’s dream. He is also chuckling about his wife’s mother, Sylvia (Cynthia Mace), and how enamored she is with the ostentatious digs he just bought from his step-monster. She fell into a pot of gold and he loves seeing her wide-eyed wondering about all of the Roy family’s glitz and glam.

Underlined or Crossed Out?

We find out that the Swede isn’t the only one playing games, Frank has a secret he ropes Karl and Gerri into and it could blow this entire CEO debate out of the water while simultaneously nuking the company out of existence. As one of the executors of Logan’s will, Frank uncovered a handwritten document shoved in between some older files that seems to be a last will and testament. The piece of paper never saw a lawyer and it’s filled with doodles and pencil scratches so it is doubtful it’s legal. The addendums consisted of many confusing clues but one, in particular, appears to be a line drawn through–or possibly underneath a name he chose as his successor. The name up for debate is Kendall Logan Roy. It’s unclear when that paper was written but Frank seems to think–based on its location, that it was probably drawn up during some late-night musings some 4 years ago. The doodles and addendums are more recent but nobody can determine whether Logan took a pencil and crossed off Kendall’s name or underlined it. Karl, jokingly or maybe not so,  is ready to have it accidentally fall into the toilet, and Gerri with a completely straight face also finds that idea humorous. As the three go back and forth over what to do with this controversial piece of paper, we also learn Greg’s name followed by a question mark is one of those doodles. Did Logan name Kendall his successor until he tried to put him in jail and then for some strange reason, wrote Greg’s name in as a possible plan B? The three decide they can’t accidentally lose this paper and agree to tell the kids what they found.

Before they enter the Old Guard’s chambers AKA Logan’s library, Kendall gets some clarity on that contentious phone call of Hugo’s he overheard in the opener. It seems Logan’s Comms-guy leaked the man’s death to his estranged daughter and she turned around and dumped some stock before the news went public. Now Hugo is worried he might go down for insider trading and all Kendall can do is smile. Their chat is interrupted by Tom telling him Frank wants to speak to the sibs, but he also uses the opportunity to make a play for his job security in case of an incoming Kendall regime. The interloper is trying to find his niche but it’s not working. Ken tells him he always liked him and wishes him good luck as he walks into the library where the Old Guard is holding the piece of paper that could rattle the newly formed union between him and his siblings. Since the start of season 4, it’s been Roman, Shiv, and Kendall, against their father, and this underlined or possibly crossed-out name is the first crack we’ve seen in that united front. Kendall immediately thinks he is the obvious successor, after all, the paper doesn’t say Shiv it says KENDALL. It also doesn’t say Roman, who had gotten closer to his father in the last few years and unbeknownst to his siblings, was having secret meetings with him up until the day before he died. Roman does not think his father’s last wishes were to hand the company over to the boy who kept trying to destroy him, so he is not ready to sign off on his older brother taking the reins when he knows deep down that’s a crossed-out line. Ken was not his father’s last wish. it’s not that he’s saying he is Logan’s pick he just knows at the end of his life, Kendall and their dad were not in a good place. Shiv repeats Gerri’s main talking point, that the paper is meaningless anyway since it’s up to the board to decide on the predecessor and not some doodles from their dead father. None of them can agree on what this all means, so Shiv and Roman leave the room to discuss what they want to do while Kendall hangs back to ask Frank if he thinks the paper is real. Did his father really want him to take over? He is having trouble believing it since he never thought Logan liked him. Frank does the kind thing and tells his Godson there were times Logan wanted him to take over and times he didn’t but no matter what, he still loved Kendall. If Ken can get the sibs behind him, he asks if Frank would back him at the vote. Frank is shocked the kid wants back in, especially now that he seems to be getting his life together and has big things cooking with the sibs and PGN. Kendall doesn’t just want back in, he sees it as his legacy, but so does Roman, who was being groomed to take over a the end, and so does Shiv, the girl who was always pushed to the side and had to fight harder than any of them to be taken seriously. Shiv also seems to be the most affected by their father’s death and we see that when she has a chat with Tom about him picking the wrong dead horse in the battle for job security. Her barb’s sting and Tom asks her to accept his kindness because he really is trying hard to offer her a shoulder to lean on. She sort of takes him up on it and they have a sweet moment which leads her to admit she fears they killed Logan by meddling in the Gojo deal. If they had just left it alone, he wouldn’t have been on that plane. She is filled with regret and only lets her guard down for a moment to show it to a surprisingly sweet Tom.

A New King [Kings] is Crowned

Sweetness is not something Marcia offers Kerry when she shows up at the mansion in tears and begs to go upstairs to gather her things. Marcia orders the hysterical woman out of the wake but when the mistress tries sidestepping the widow to head up the staircase anyway, Kerry winds up getting manhandled by one of the guards and she drops her bag full of trinkets. The entire scene is gut-wrenching and uncomfortable to watch. The only Roy with a functioning heart- Roman, can’t take it and he steps in to offer the woman a hand while questioning his stepmother’s cruelty. The tensions do not stop there; when Kerry rattles off some tearful news about Logan planning their wedding and putting her in his will, Marcia responds with money for a cab to the subway where Chuckles “the Very Unhappy” Clown can take the train to her apartment and far away from the wealth she has grown accustomed to. Not even a cab to her apartment but one to the L which stands for: the next stop to Loserville. Marcia is not to be messed with.

After that tragic sight, Roman gets approached by Tom who is lubing up his brother-in-law with that same “I want to serve” schtick he gave Kendall but Roman calls him out on it and sends Tom packing. Elsewhere, Kendall hugs it out with Stewy (Arian Moayed)–who arrives with Sandi (Hope Davis) and an annoyingly happy Sandy (Larry Pine) to pay their respects as well as get their vote in for the board meeting. The two besties talk about the name on the paper and Kendall asks Stewy, as a board member, if he will back him as CEO. With the nod from Stewy, Ken meets with Roman and Shiv to try and get them on board too. Right away Shiv feels pushed out when both brothers agree they should run the company since It’s only fitting for the COOs to step up, but where does that leave her and more importantly, the New Gen Roys? They say three CEOs look “wonky” but she wants guarantees that once the GoJo deal goes through the sibs will rope her back in. They all agree that in 6 months, once the deal is done and they fold in PGN, and push ATN to the forefront of fake news, they will divide the power equally among all three. It’s a tentative handshake agreement and it leads them all back into the negotiating room with The Old Guard who slightly pushes back on their idea but eventually agrees to back the Roy boys. So does the board, who takes a vote, and then the announcement is made: The Roy Boys are driving this company to new heights, which is risky when you consider Kendall’s history with vehicular homicide. Karolina and Hugo jump on drafting a statement, but first, they call the brothers into their father’s office where they discuss how they are going to sell this takeover to the public. They always sanitized Logan’s public image, but maybe now they should tarnish it to make his kids look more competent than they probably are. Karolina wonders if they should start the rumor that Logan was mentally declining since the stroke and the kids were running things behind the scenes. Roman hates that idea and tells them to never disparage their father’s legacy and then leaves Kendall with Hugo, which is his first mistake as co-CEO. Kendall can’t help but be driven by making a dead man proud of him. He is determined to prove that name was never crossed-out. Knowing Hugo is vulnerable now that he could be facing prison excites the inherited Logan in Kendall Logan Roy because he can use that to his advantage. He winds up ordering the man to ignore his brother’s wishes and quietly leak the “Logan was incompetent” story to give this temporary fill-in CEO a full-time feel. The episode ends with Kendall smiling psychotically, Roman completely in the dark, and a pregnant Shiv taking a small tumble down the stairs and still refusing to fill her husband in on her condition. The Coronation might be in the bag along with the body of Logan Roy but the demolition derby for the dead man’s final kiss has just begun! Let backstabbing games begin!