History Recap / SuccessionS04E10

* EvilIsPetty: Regardless of what one thinks of Kendall, it seemed that Shiv's initial reason for voting against him was that she couldn't stand that it wasn't her, so she decided that no one should win.

* EvilIsPetty: Regardless of what one thinks of Kendall, it seemed that Shiv's initial reason for voting against him was that she couldn't stand that it wasn't her, so if she decided that no one should win.

* YouHaveOutlivesYourUsefulness: Tom states to Greg that Karl and Frank will be the first to get fired.

** "No Real Person Involved," arguably the show's darkest ArcWords [[note:a phrase used to dehumanize the migrants and sex workers that were murdered/raped on the cruises]] is invoked several times, this time pointing back at the Roys -- Kendall tries to deny the waiter's death, Shiv is reduced to just a vote, Tom and Matsson are empty suits, Greg is traded like a piece of furniture, and Roman admits that they're all bullshit and all they've worked for is completely meaningless.

* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: Greg and Tom, whose OddFriendship is one of the few repaired by the finale's ending.

* CallBack: When the family meets at the apartment to clear out Logan's possessions, Greg takes the bell he accidentally used to summon Logan's maid in the 2nd episode of Season 1.

** Shiv is clearly genuinely horrified and disgusted by Kendall's lie about killing the waiter.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: For given values of "evil" and "good", of course, given we're discussing the Roy family. But while Kendall is confused and outraged by Shiv considering voting against him to begin with, he appears genuinely bewildered when Shiv and Roman [[EveryoneHasStandards react with disgust]] and immediately drop any support for him when he claims that he was lying to them about having killed someone.

** Shiv turning on Kendall itself contains an ambiguous example. While her initial betrayal can be put down to her series-length case of ChronicBackstabbingDisorder if the viewer is so inclined, with no more motivation than spite over knowing full well she will never get the top job behind it, like Roman she is clearly genuinely horrified and disgusted by Kendall's lie about killing the waiter, thus introducing some ''genuine'' moral qualms about letting Kendall take over which may not have been there before.

* GracefulLoser: Played with; of the siblings, Roman is the one who eventually has the ability to KnowWhenToFoldEm, realising that neither he nor the others are cut out to run a huge corporate media conglomerate like Waystar-Royco and that they should just walk away from it. However, this doesn't mean that he's happy about the deal going through, and basically has to be prodded into being in the same meeting room as Matsson to sign the final paperwork and smiling through a brief photo op.

* HenpeckedHusband: Defied; after four seasons of being pushed around by Shiv, the balance of power ultimately shifts within their marriage once he nabs the top spot of CEO at Waystar-[=GoJo=]. His request for Shiv to go downstairs and wait in an SUV for him to leave signals the first notable change in her demeanor, as she ultimately complies with his request without question.

* ThrowTheDogABone: Alone of the Roy siblings, ignored and disrespected ButtMonkey Connor manages to come out of the series pretty well. He's set up in his father's fancy apartment (which he overpaid his widow for, but still) with his beautiful TrophyWife, sneakily arranges things so that he manages to get first pick of his father's belongings over the others, may be nominated as the US Ambassador to Slovenia (not exactly a plum diplomatic role, but hey, better than Somalia), and is set to get a pretty sweet amount of cash from the Waystar-Royco sale, which was pretty much the extent of his interest in the business to begin with. It's even hinted that he may actually have been Logan's favourite all along, to the extent that this was even possible (at least, on a personal level); the video he plays his siblings of Logan's dinner with his inner circle, much to the surprise of the others, shows that Connor was present, with Logan appearing to enjoy his son's company and Connor even getting away with some mild teasing of Logan. It's not all wine and roses -- Willa doesn't look overly thrilled at the prospect that Mencken might not become president after all, meaning that Connor will be spending ''all'' his time with her -- but compared to his siblings Connor has things pretty good.

* WimpFight: Just like Shiv and Roman's fight in Season 1, Greg and Tom end up duking it out despite not having zero fighting skills whatsoever.

* AuthorityInNameOnly: Tom sells himself as potential CEO to Matsson by promising following and asskissing. Matsson apparently agrees with this, and the show ends with Tom CEO of the merged Waystar-[=GoJo=] company, with Matsson heavily implied to be calling the shots from behind the scenes.

* ThrowTheDogABone: Alone of the Roy siblings, ignored and disrespected ButtMonkey Connor manages to come out of the series pretty well. He's set up in his father's fancy apartment (which he overpaid his widow for, but still) with his beautiful TrophyWife, sneakily arranges things so that he manages to get first pick of his father's belongings over the others, may be set up as the US Ambassador to Slovenia (not exactly a plum diplomatic role, but hey, better than Somalia), and is set to get a pretty sweet amount of cash from the Waystar-Royco sale, which was pretty much the extent of his interest in the business to begin with. It's even hinted that he may actually have been Logan's favourite all along, to the extent that this was even possible (at least, on a personal level); the video he plays his siblings of Logan's dinner with his inner circle, much to the surprise of the others, shows that Connor was present, with Logan appearing to enjoy his son's company and Connor even getting away with some mild teasing of Logan. It's not all wine and roses -- Willa doesn't look overly thrilled at the prospect that Mencken might not become president after all, meaning that Connor will be spending ''all'' his time with her -- but compared to his siblings Connor has things pretty good.