HBO Max’s original series Succession ,season four episode six entitled “Living+,” starts with Sarah Snook’s Shiv Roy and Alexander Skarsgard’s Lukas Matsson as they talk about her siblings. From what the viewer sees, Lukas seems to like Shiv due to how she appears to be as weirdly honest as he is. Which is why he tells her about how her siblings tried to ruin the deal they made with him behind her back. In her mind, she wants to believe that he is lying about her siblings out of love for them. Unfortunately, deep down she knows that they would do this as she has been shown that they do not want her to be involved in any decision making. This is demonstrated by how as a board meeting begins, Jeremy Strong’s Kendall Roy and Kieran Culkin’s Roman Roy both huddle together with the board members and leave Shiv out. In their minds, they know that they can’t lie to Shiv as she knows them like the back of her hand. As a result of this, they come clean and apologize for everything. By the look on their faces the viewr can tell that they are only sorry they were caught. The interesting part about this is how it really affects Shiv on an emotional level as the viewer can assume that she has been sidelined before. What makes this worse is the fact that it was probably her father that had done this type of thing before. Now she is reliving these moments with her siblings whom she thought she could trust.
Additionally, the viewer sees Roman as he fires Annabeth Gish’s Joy Palmer for not meeting his standards and questioning his ability to handle the situations that happen. In his mind, he believes that people still look at him as a failure and is just a weak imitation of his father. Deep down he knows that his action in firing Joy is him acting out to hide the fact that he is scared and does not know what to do. However, the viewer can argue that he is doing somewhat fine being a boss. This is demonstrated by how when his father was alive, he could not fire anyone out of feeling guilty. Now he can do it as he now knows firing is part of the job. Meanwhile, Shiv and Matthew Macfadyen’s Tom Wambsgans have a brief hook up that leads to a serious moment. Thanks to the brilliant acting by Sarah Snook and Matthew Macfadyen, the viewer feels as if they are fully captured by what Tom expresses to Shiv. As a result of this, the viewer can practically hear Shiv’s heart break apart at the truth he tells her.
At the end of the episode, Kendall is left all alone due to Roman having second thoughts about the presentation he and Kendall made. In his mind, he feels betrayed by Roman as they agreed that they were a team. Luckily, as a result of video editing, he manages to deliver a fantastic presentation for the product they are selling. What is interesting about this is how quickly Kendall managed to make a comeback while a negative comment about the product is made by Lukas. Ultimately, he succeeds, and his ego grows even more now that he feels as if he doesn’t need anyone.
Rating: 8.5/10