R to the I-P L to the O-G, yes, but I for one was thrilled to see that Logan (Brian Cox)’s death had ushered in the long-awaited return of Corporate Gangsta Kendall (Jeremy Strong), who is first seen in this episode listening to Jay-Z in his town-car with dark shades on, looking like a kid who’s studiously avoiding making eye contact with another, harder kid by sitting very quietly on the bus to school. “Takeover,” Jay-Z spits in the background, “the break’s over.” For a second, I judged the musical supervisors onSuccession for selecting a track that was so unavoidably on the nose for this week’s episode, in which Waystar Royco’s major staff all fly to Norway for a corporate retreat with GoJo, but I soon realised my error – of course Kendall would choose something thunderously obvious to listen to as pump-up music for the trip, just as it’s inevitable that when Hugo (Fisher Stevens) leads him into Waystar Royco for the big day, nobody remembers to applaud his entrance until Hugo coughs.
All three of the primary Roy siblings – with apologies to Connor (Alan Ruck), who this week is busy trying to ensure that Marcia (Hiam Abbass) does not bury Logan in a kilt – are set in their respective ways, and just as this was reflected in the varying depictions of their grief, here it shows in their divergent takes on how to handle business. Kendall believes himself to be a powerful, dead-eyed business shark, but is really an insecure wreck; Roman (Kieran Culkin) wants to carry out his father’s dying wish of selling Waystar Royco but retaining ATN; Shiv (Sarah Snook), who lest we forget is suffering the dual tragedies of her father’s death and being pregnant with Tom Wambsgans’ (Matthew Macfadyen) baby, simply wants to wash her hands of the affair and move on to a newer project. “Shiv, we’re death-wrestling with ogres,” Kendall tells her. “You’re reading documents, Ken, is what you’re doing,” Shiv says, flatly. A nice, subtle touch as everybody boards the jet: Frank (Peter Friedman) and Karl (David Rasche), two elders wrestling with death in their own way during their first trip on the plane since Logan’s demise, are seen putting on compression socks.
