Spoilers below for Succession’s latest episode, titled “Honeymoon States,” so be warned if you haven’t yet paid respects.
After the shocking emotional wreckage birthed from “Conner’s Wedding,” --- or would it be reverse-birthed? --- Succession successfully slid right back into fuck-factory machinations with Episode 404, presumably using flopsy-armed Kerry’s abundant tears to grease that re-entry. The grief and layover shock wafting about Logan’s apartment during his wake created an interesting new lens through which to witness the ruthless shenanigans we’re used to seeing from Waystar’s finest. Many fans would likely agree Kendall’s particular issues were expertly showcased through the paperwork found in Logan’s safe, in which the media mogul’s inability to clearly underline or cross out Kendall’s name will no doubt have gigantic ramifications despite not being legally binding.
That Logan even drafted printed-out paperwork, in which Kendall was clearly specified to be the company’s next CEO, obviously showed intention. But the real question is whether Logan meant to cross out his son’s name in order to take him out of the running, or if Logan intended to underline it, presumably as a further sign of fatherly faith. Is it even worth the time to presume such things, though, when Succession writer and executive producer Lucy Prebble has voiced her own belief that the Roy family matriarch probably intended to take Kendall out of the running with that errant pen mark. Here’s how she put it when appearing on HBO’s Succession Podcast.
Yeah, I think it's much more likely to have been crossed out. That's the sort of thing I can imagine Logan doing. He's sort of petulant, or was petulant in that way, whereas I really can't imagine Logan sitting down to bother to underline Kendall's name. That's just not his style.
As soon as it became clear that Kendall would be leaning hard on the “underlined or crossed out” mystery, whether as a means of corporate ladder-climbing or as a sponge for his daddy issues, I started to wonder if this entire episode would be revealed as a fever dream Jeremy Strong’s character was having in lieu of restful sleep. Because who in their right mind (or even their batshit broken mind) would for a second think that Logan Roy, while reviewing that round of will adjustments, would take the time to double-down on agreeing with his decision to make Kendall next in line?
Lucy Prebble was possibly underselling things to imply that the late bazillionaire wasn’t known for taking any time at all to show inked-in support for any of his children, especially with none of them even around to see him do it. I honestly don’t even think Logan would have been the one looking over that paperwork himself, so that scratch-out (or underlining) may not even be his own handiwork. Which, theoretically, would make it that much more possibly an underlining, if someone else was involved. But that’s just grasping at coke residue-caked straws.
In any case, while it technically doesn’t matter to shareholders or the rest of the outside world whether Kendall’s name was underlined or crossed out, the lack of clarity is itself enough of a motivating factor to completely flip up any and all plans Strong’s new co-CEO had about vacating the family business. Because if Logan truly did mean to lock in that undated successor decision, the approval factor alone would be enough for Kendall to convince himself that he wants to make his pops proud.
More realistically, though, Kendall having hard proof of Logan dismissing his leadership capabilities would be more than enough to spark a spite-infused takeover attempt, which is basically what’s being incited now. And Succession’s Lucy Prebble talked to the podcast’s host Kara Swisher about how Kendall could repurpose his anger over Logan’s lack of support to justify choices that won’t put the family in a good light. In her words:
On a deep level, I think there's an anger there being enacted. But also, on the other side of that very same coin, Kendall's often driven by this idea of 'Well, it's what dad would do.' Like. He says it a lot, partly because he wants to be like his father. But also, as you say, there's an aggression underneath that which is like, 'Well, I'm only doing what he would have done.' It's a way of excusing himself, and of lessening his sense of guilt also. That's often a key thing with Kendall, and it feels like what it allows him to do is go, 'Actually, Dad was a ruthless son of a bitch, and he was proud of that. And in this moment, if I'm a ruthless son of a bitch, well, he can't blame me. Nobody can blame me.' And so he gets to hide his personal anger underneath this sort of business decision, which is 'Gotta move on. Gotta keep moving.' And that is a Logan trait of, you know, 'He's dead now. Come on, let's get over it. Let's move forward.'
Now, this is a show that aimed to throw viewers off the scent of Logan’s death by having Brian Cox take part in filming trickery, so it’s entirely possible that a reveal is coming where Frank confesses he actually typed up that paper himself specifically to give Roman that many more self-esteem issues. Probably not, but I already like Kendall adopting his “L to the DGAF” attitude again, and I’m perfectly fine with all of Logan’s dirty laundry being hung out for public viewing. Perhaps if he hadn’t been genuinely intent on selling the company, Kendall might have felt respectful enough to just walk away with burning some of it down.
As far as “things that shouldn’t burn” go, Prebble also chuckled while talking about the creation of the paperwork in question, and the fact that they had to make a formal choice for which iteration looked best for TV. Here’s how she put it:
It's also one of my favorite props to create, because you've someone whose job it literally is on set to underline a word, but looks like it could also be crossed out. And so you're looking at like 10 different versions of it and then picking the one and going, 'That nailed it. That's nailed it exactly between underlined and crossed out.'
It's a whole other conversation to think about how much that paper in Logan's safe affected Shiv's state of mind that particular day, given her lack of happiness about her newly revealed pregnancy, so the added emotional rejection there, combined with being left out of the co-CEO choice, left her in a pretty desperate position.
Find out where things go next when Succession delivers "Kill List" next Sunday night on HBO, with streaming available for any and all with an HBO Max subscription, which will also grant viewers access to lots of other shows still yet to arrive in the 2023 TV schedule.
