HBO Max’s original series Succession ,season four episode five entitled “Kill List,” starts with Jeremy Strong’s Kendall Roy as he gets used to being the head of his father’s company. From the way he acts, the viewer can tell that he already is starting to act as if he is better than everybody around him. In his mind, he sees that he has the power to finally get back at those who looked down on him earlier on. Deep down he knows that he has no idea of what to feel when it comes to being the boss. This is due to no one expecting anything out of him much less looking to him for orders. Meanwhile, Kieran Culkin’s Roman Roy is left to handle all of Kendall’s ridiculous work. This is demonstrated by how he went through countless emails he sent to him for an upcoming deal. Unfortunately, it ended up not mattering as Kendall told him to get rid of all of them and use the one, he sent recently. From the look on Roman’s face the viewer can tell that Roman is getting tired of Kendall acting as if he is the only boss. This is due to him agreeing with Kendall that he and Sarah Snook’s Shiv Roy are equal partners.
Additionally, the viewer can see that there is a bit of tension between the Roy siblings as Kendall and Roman disregard Shiv. This is demonstrated by how they both make plans and exclude her from the decisions. The interesting thing about this is how they use Shiv’s issues with her husband to get her to back off. However, they make it seem like they want to do something nice for her by offering to fire him, knowing that she’ll leave them alone as she rather not talk about him. In her mind, she feels left out as she sees her brothers make plans without her. She knows that she can provide valuable ideas on how to run their father’s company. Unfortunately, she is pushed to the side and is only included when the plans are finalized. Deep down she knew all along that her brothers would never truly include her in the decisions. The only thing she can do is just watch as they mess everything up and enjoy every moment of their downfall.
Towards the end of the show, the Roy siblings try to make an important deal happen. The interesting part about this is how their business partner, Alexander Skarsgard’s Lukas Matsson wants the company. From the look on their faces the viewer can tell that everyone except Roamn wants to agree to the deal. In Roman’s mind, he sees that the deal would erase all the hard work their father did to get the company running. In a way it can be assumed that the company is Roman’s last connection to his father which is why he doesn’t want to sell out. However, his siblings don’t share the same sentiment as they are strictly business above all else. The viewer can assume that Shiv does not care as a result of her father not putting her in charge. While Kendall wants to sell as the deal is what his father would have wanted.
At the end of the episode, the viewer sees Kendall and Roy try to ruin the deal to keep the company. This is a result of them agreeing that the company is much more important than the deal. It can be guessed by the viewer that Kendall does not want to sell so he can keep feeling superior to everyone else. This leaves Roman being the only one with genuine interest in keeping the company. Ultimately, in the end Roman and Kendall fail to ruin the deal and the company is now going to be controlled by Lukas. As a result of this, Shiv smirks leaving the implication that she may have done something to keep the deal. Or it could simply be that she is enjoying her brother’s failure.
Rating 8.5/10