Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for Season 4, Episode 4 of Succession.Successionhas had its fill of jaw-dropping moments in the past, but nothing prepared fans for the game-changing twist in the Season 4 episode “Connor’s Wedding.” Not only did the death of the show’s patriarch Logan Roy (Brian Cox) force his children Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Shiv (Sarah Snook), Roman (Kieran Culkin), and Connor (Alan Ruck) to start taking their relationships with each other seriously as they process their grief, but it returned the series to the question that had hooked viewers in since the pilot episode: who will take over Waystar in the aftermath of Logan’s departure?
Logan’s attempts to wrestle power away from his children and rivals, as well as his refusal to exit the CEO position, may have strayed viewers away from this central conceit, but Logan’s death makes it clear that a decision will have to be made. Judging by the chaos that takes place in “Honeymoon States,” it may be best for no one to step up to try and fill his shoes.
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Waystar Is in Crisis
Kendall had always assumed that he’d be named as his father’s successor, and getting snubbed for the role is what inspired him to launch his first attempt at taking over Waystar back in Season 1. While it now looks like Kendall, Shiv, and Roman have reached some sort of agreement, they still can’t decide on where their loyalties lie when the moment to make the decision comes. This is complicated by a note left by Logan,which names Kendall as his rightful replacement;it’s unclear if this was always his intention, or if a last-minute comment suggested he’d changed his mind in the wake of Kendall’s behavior recently. Considering the fact that Roman is still attempting to hide his grief and Shiv is now facing a pregnancy, the children are less of an advantage to lead than ever before.
This is also ignoring the fact that Waystar hasa number of highly important launchesin its future, and that it’s facing more blow back than any other period in its history. The company seems to always be in the news; whether it’s Kendall’s eccentric public behavior, the scathing leaked documents about the cruise experience, Greg’s (Nicholas Braun) embarrassing public appearance at the Washington hearings, the scathing reviews for Willa’s (Justine Lupe) play, Connor’s misguided Presidential campaign, or the power struggle that has dominated the last four seasons, Waystar attracts headlines that prove how incompetent the leadership committee is. Logan was the rock-solid dictator that kept the company together, and it’s now more clear than ever that no one will ever replace him.
Waystar Does More Harm Than Good
While theprospect of becoming CEOhas been tossed around since the pilot episode of the series, there’s been relatively unclear indications from any of the candidates who have proposed themselves as to what they will actually do once they attain the position. Logan was an immigrant who built his company from the ground up, and he curated a version of Waystar that was specifically built to satisfy his personal demands and wishes. Even though Waystar was his creation, he became unable to control it as his health declined, and the modern media cycle intensified the company’s hardlined conservatism.
The rising tension in Season 4 thus far has been the upcoming Presidential election, which will be just as consequential in theSuccessionuniverse as it is in reality.Despite Shiv’s tiesto the Democratic candidate Gil Eavis (Eric Bogosian), the company is dead set on supporting a neo-Conservative as the election looms closer and closer. Forcing a new CEO to step up to the plate in the aftermath of the results will force them to make a lot of decisions about what the company’s strategy will be moving on. Will it continue to support the legacy culture that Logan curated (and the misconduct that he ignored), or will it try to pave the way toward a more modern, inclusive future?
Waystar has also not fully recovered from the scandals that brought them to the capital in season 2. The issues within the parks and Tom’s (Matthew McFadyen) hidden documents are still a lingering threat and one that an inexperienced CEO would have a hard time sorting through. Waystar needs to decide how much of its past it is willing to wrestle with under the public spotlight. Considering thatKendall seemed to flirtwith the possibility of bringing up his father’s history of abuse after inheriting the leadership role, it’s not a question that they will be able to avoid for much longer.
The Candidates Are Flawed
The decision has seemingly been made that Kendall and Roman will step up and inherit their father’s throne, as was originally indicated back in the first season. While they have promised to keep Shiv in on all of their critical decisions, it’s clear that they’ve been ignoring her more often, particularly on the night of Connor’s bachelor party. While their father’s death brought them together in many surprising ways, it also highlighted their different reasons for wanting to replace him. Kendall feels like he’s worked his entire life to live up to his father, Shiv is desperate to prove herself as capable, and Roman just wants to please the man who he thought loved him. The thought of Greg taking on additional responsibilities is an amusing notion, but not one that would produce any positive results.
However, they each could easily be exploited for their faults; Kendall has a storied history with addiction and could face public charges if the story about the killed driver ever breaks out, Shiv would be in the middle of a pregnancy, andRoman’s checkered history with Gerri Kellman(J. Smith-Cameron) has the makings of a blackmail campaign.Successionis so engaging to viewers because it feels like a slice of reality; what’s playing out on HBO every Sunday night feels all too close to current headlines. Considering that we live in an era of acquisitions and corporate divisions, Waystar’s future could change radically at any moment; perhaps it’s best to not rush to the future quite yet.
New episodes ofSuccessionSeason 4 premiere every Sunday on HBO and HBO Max.
