Recap / Succession S04E04

"Honeymoon States"

"One of us, or one of the old guard?"

— Roman

The characters, including a pregnant Shiv, attend Logan's wake a few hours before the board meeting to decide the interim CEO. Logan's inner circle debates their respective merits as the siblings field a call from Matsson, who demands a meeting in 24 hours in Sweden.

Marcia offers to sell Connor the apartment for $63 million. Hugo privately informs Kendall that his daughter Juliet sold Waystar stock just before the news of Logan's death broke. Frank informs Karl and Gerri of a note found in Logan's belongings; they inform the siblings that Logan flip-flopped on Kendall succeeding him. Tom tries to comfort Shiv.

Marcia informs them that Mencken is on the way. Petkus gives a speech about Logan as Marcia snubs Kerry. Kendall asks Stewy for support before asking Roman and Shiv to back him before they move in as a team. Roman and Kendall promise to keep Shiv in the loop and successfully pitch themselves as co-CEOs. Karolina and Hugo discuss PR strategies with the brothers; in secret Kendall blackmails Hugo with his daughter's stock into pushing a more anti-Logan narrative.

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Tropes:

• Actually Pretty Funny: Stewy jokes that Kendall's dad must have died choking on how bad Kendall's plan for Pierce was. It actually makes Kendall laugh for the first time in the episode.
• Ambiguous Situation: In-Universe. Among Logan's private belongings is a document he typed out, which states (among other things) that he wanted Kendall to take over Waystar. But then there's a line under/over Kendall's name, and nobody's sure if it was underlined (meaning Logan privately reaffirmed it) or crossed out (meaning Logan changed his mind) — and since Logan's dead, they're never going to know what he thought in the end. Kendall spins it in his favor, though it nags at him. Quite what Logan intended for Greg (whose name was written on the paper afterwards with a question-mark next to it) is anyone's guess, although no-one other than Greg himself interprets this as Logan having wanted him in a senior position at Waystar.
• Beard of Sorrow: More like "Stubble of Sorrow", but the first shot of the episode shows the normally clean-faced Kendall with a face full of stubble, clearly having not bothered to shave since he heard the news.
• The Bus Came Back: Marcia returns from her "shopping spree in Milan" to come to Logan's apartment and pay her respects. While she's there, she sells Connor the house for $63 million.
• The Dog Bites Back: Greg, who was threatened with ruination by Kerry after he was the only person to tell her that her newsreader try-out was no good, is quick to join Marcia in mocking Kerry now that she does not have Logan to protect her.
• Dropped in the Toilet: Tom claims that Logan died from an embolism after trying to retrieve his phone from a clogged airplane toilet.
• Evil Is Petty:
  • Sandy Furness shows up to Logan's wake openly grinning. Sandi weakly tries to defend that, claiming that it's just how her father's face looks like now.
  • Marcia absolutely eviscerates Kerry, then orders to call a taxi to take the younger woman ... to a metro station, from which she can go back to her apartment. Her tiny apartment. And then she has Connor escort Kerry out through the back door.
  • Greg clearly remembers how the last time they spoke, Kerry threatened to "take him apart like a human string cheese" and scoffed that Marcia (whom Greg claimed to be his protector) is "shopping in Milan ... forever". He happily joins Marcia in tormenting the already kicked-down Kerry.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: Pausing on Logan's unofficial musings on what his inner circle should do in the event of his death reveals some details:
  • Logan wanted a Catholic funeral. He had provided a selection of hymns to be sung and a Bible verse for his gravestone.
  • He wanted to be buried with pictures of his third wife Marcia and his deceased sister Rose.
  • The "watch for Colin" is a rare Rolex Daytona Lapis, potentially worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions.
• The Friend Nobody Likes:
  • Karl directs an uncharacteristically discerning "The Reason You Suck" Speech at Tom, who no longer has Logan to protect him. True to this, Tom spends the entire episode trying to suck up to different parties, only to be rejected by all of them.
  • Greg isn't much better. He attempts to comfort everyone for their loss, but is just as conniving as Tom for a way to stay afloat with the Roy family. At one point, Frank outright laughs at him for suggesting that he could be Kendall's second-in-command because Logan had written his name with a question mark on the same piece of paper as the one on which he which may or may not have nominated Kendall as his successor.
• Helping Granny Cross the Street: Referenced when Roman claims that he's finished teaming up with the older Gerri — "done helping old ladies cross the street".
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: The Reveal that Logan might still have intended Kendall to inherit Waystar in spite (perhaps even because) of his rebellion thrusts him back into the ugly world of Waystar politicking. Lampshaded by Frank, who believes Kendall was doing better off out of it.
• How the Mighty Have Fallen: Kerry used to have Logan's ear and it seems he was making plans to marry her, but since nothing was set in motion legally, his actual wife, Marcia, takes back control and humiliates her by having her thrown out.
• Humiliation Conga: Shiv is already furious and upset that Roman and Kendall were chosen to take over as interim CEOs and that she's been excluded again, then on her way to the living room she trips and falls in front of everyone.
• Hysterical Woman:
  • Alluded to when Shiv protests the notion that she wouldn't make as a good of an interim CEO as her brothers in the eyes of the board.
    Shiv: Too teary-eyed? Mascara-streaked?
  • A straight example occurs with Kerry, who completely breaks down in hysterical tears when trying to collect her things from Logan's residence. Both Marcia and Greg are completely unsympathetic; the former because she was in a romantic relationship with Logan, and the latter because she had previously threatened to tear him apart before Logan's death shook things up. Roman, of all people, is the only one who is nice to her.
• Hypocritical Humor: Tom engages in some witty Deadpan Snarker banter about the man giving a speech about Logan, clearly unamused with his attempts to make the man seem larger-than-life. When Greg tries to join in, Tom immediately admonishes him.
• It's All My Fault: Shiv admits to Tom that she blames her and her siblings for Logan's death — had they not forced the renegotiation, Logan wouldn't have gotten on the plane. Her pregnancy compounds this guilt, as now her child will not get to meet their grandfather.
• Inadequate Inheritor: Potentially revealed in-universe. Logan's paper had Kendall written in as the successor, and then either underlined or crossed out at some undetermined date. The "old guard" seize on this as proof that Kendall had become, in Logan's eyes, "damaged goods".
• Law of Inverse Fertility: Shiv, who most definitely doesn't want to have a child at this point, is revealed to be expecting.
• The Missus and the Ex: Marcia may have been estranged from her husband Logan, but she is quick to humiliate his current mistress Kerry at Logan's funeral.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Marcia backhandedly compliments her stepson's new Gold Digger wife Willa with "Look how far you've come." Willa turns it around on her by subtly pointing out that both of them only got where they were because of marrying into the Roys:
  Willa: Well, look at us both, right?
• Pet the Dog:
  • Roman is a selfish prick with no love for Kerry, but when she's crying and Marcia and Greg mock her, he helps her and calls them out on it.
  • As mentioned above under Freeze-Frame Bonus, the watch that the irascible Logan left for Colin is a very expensive one.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech : When Tom not so subtlly asks the old guard if he should be considered for CEO, Karl tells him what the board (and most likely themselves) think:
  Karl: 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.
  Tom: ...Jesus, Karl.
• Riddle for the Ages: Several concerning Logan, not least of all the true dates and intentions of the codicils to his will.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Karl makes very clear that if the kids are going to inherit the company, he would like to activate his parachute before what he sees as the inevitable crash.
• Shout-Out: Colin's full name is Colin Stiles, an apparent reference to Whose Line Is It Anyway? stars Colin Mochrie and Ryan Stiles.
• Siblings Share the Throne: Brothers Kendall and Roman are named co-CEOs on an interim basis by the Board. They assure Shiv that she shares "the throne" with them in all but name, but she is not convinced.
• Speak Ill of the Dead: The PR/communications heads, Karolina and Hugo, offer the Roy boys two ways to spin Logan's death: the kinder one is to portray it as Roman and Kendall naturally taking over the reins from their beloved father; the harsher one is to portray Logan as infirm and incompetent towards the end of his life and say the children had unofficially taken over at the time of his death. Roman is reluctant to go with the latter, but Kendall goes behind his back and tells Hugo to trash Logan in the press.
• Spit Shake: Connor and Marcia seal the sale of Logan's apartment by spitting in their palms for a handshake.
• Title Drop: Connor and Willa's honeymoon will be traveling to a few states in Middle America for Connor's campaign which Willa wryly refers to as "the honeymoon states".
• Undignified Death: The full details of Logan's death are revealed (by Tom, to Greg) to be even more humiliating than what was initially said: he suffered a pulmonary embolism while trying to pick up his cellphone after accidentally dropping it in the airplane toilet - a toilet which Karl previously clogged.
• Where There's a Will, There's a Sticky Note: There's a private, undated note in Logan's safe that may or may not say Logan wished for Kendall to succeed him. It also leaves a watch for Colin and, as jokingly noted, "Greg?" in pencil. Though everyone is aware that it's not legally binding, a lot of drama is mined from it since the characters try to take it as evidence of what Logan would have wanted.

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