Things are already starting to shake up.
We're only two episodes into the fourth season of
Succession, but the tension is already building perfectly as the countdown is on until the series finale.
This week's episode, titled Rehearsal, is set on the eve of Connor Roy's lavish wedding with Willa and the siblings get together for a spot of dive-bar drinking and karaoke, only to get rudely interrupted by their father, Logan, for a heart-to-heart.
Kendall, Roman and Shiv, who were banded together last week, are starting to show signs of breaking apart as the idea to push Lukas Matsson's bid a bit further and get the squeeze on him is conflicting all of them.
There's a lot going on, indeed. But, before we dive in, let's give a moment's reflection to poor Gerri, who is getting the cold shoulder so much this season, she hasn't even made it into the rankings yet. Now, let's get going.
9. Kerry
Jumping into the rankings this week is Logan's assistant and probable girlfriend. Wanting to pivot to a career in anchoring for ATN, Kerry releases an audition tape which swiftly gets bandied around various boardrooms, only to be laughed at by pretty much everyone. She smiles at weird times, trips over her words and is simply not very good. Even worse, she has to get told by Greg of all people about her weird arm movements.
8. Connor
"I don’t need love. It’s like a superpower." Potentially one of the saddest lines uttered in four seasons of Succession. Hanging on by his fingertips to his 1% presidential approval rating and now hopelessly following his wife-to-be on a phone tracker after she ran out of their rehearsal dinner, it's fair to say Connor's having a bad one.
"At least he got to sing karaoke," I hear you say. Yeah, but he chose a Leonard Cohen song, the guy is clearly not in a good place. Oh, and did we mention his dad is thinking of skipping his wedding for a business meeting? Yikes.
7. Shiv
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Photo: David M. Russell/HBO[/caption]
Shiv was flying rather high last week off the back of her role in beating her dad to the PGN deal. But as we mentioned before, she's never far away from falling down a few rungs. This episode, she's been power-played by Tom, who has tied up all the best divorce lawyers in New York to get one over on her. Her position of the GoJo deal also seems a bit off, we're worried for anyone wanting to push Matsson.
6. Greg
Greg has had an interesting week indeed. He may have gotten told to "f*ck off" by Logan (which can be seen as a badge of honour, at this point), but he importantly stuck up for the sog factor of reheating pizzas in the microwave, which is a very valid point.
Greg also got a little taste of power himself, when he was given the task of telling Kerry to withdraw her ATN anchor application. He does a very bad job, but he got the job done - according to himself, anyway.
5. Kendall
We really don't know what to think about Kendall at this point of the season. He gets limited screen time and is acting very odd, talking about Buddhism a lot. His private call to Matsson makes one think that ulterior motives are at hand here. Where will he go with this? Nobody knows, but it probably won't turn out well for him.
4. Tom
The
sad Tom of last week is no more and he's beating Shiv to the punch on their divorce, cutting out her legal options. Logan also asks him to let Kerry down easy, a task he quickly palms off to Greg. No work and all the credit? Tom's doing alright at the moment.
3. Roman
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Photo: Macall B. Polay/HBO[/caption]
Once the line "I need you" was uttered by Logan to his son, we knew it was over. Roman has always been a weak link on the sibling break-off team and Logan's affection was always going to be the catalyst to get him on his side. It's pure manipulation and, on some level, Roman probably knows it. But can he resist? We think not. Can he use it to his advantage? Absolutely.
2. Logan
A man on the offensive. Logan starts off the episode scaring staff on the ATN floor and calling them pirates in weird speeches. Is he being threatening or just shouting? Who knows, but everyone cheers just in case.
The karaoke room scene involving Logan's "apology" to his children will go down as one of the best of the season. Here, he is in pure manipulation mode, trying to win over any weak links (Oh, Roman..) to break up a majority of voters on the GoJo deal. Telling them they are "not serious people" was also pure television. Logan remains high in the rankings, he's not going down easy.
1. Lukas Matsson
A new entry to this week's power rankings and he's gone straight to the top. Lukas didn't feature last week but his presence loomed large. This week, he gave Kendall a buzz with a not-aggressive-in-the-slightest request not to push him when it comes to the GoJo deal. His brief appearance shows us he's clearly got all the power right now, and can pull out of a deal at any sign of resistance, which would plunge the Roy family into the depths.
Succession Season 4 Episode 3 - Connor's Wedding - will be available to watch on Sky Atlantic or with a NOW Entertainment Membership from 2am on Monday, 10 April.
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