HBO’s Succession season 4, episode 5 recap: Kill List

Episode 405 of HBO’s Succession begins a few days after the death of Logan Roy, with Kendall/Ken and Roman Roy as the newly coronated co-CEOs, or “CE-bros,” of Waystar RoyCo. Among their new responsibilities, they have to grapple with reshoots in a Transformers-like action movie called “Kalispitron”.

Lukas Matsson summons the Roy brothers and their entourage to Norway to negotiate Logan’s deal, as well as a “cultural compatibility check.” Ken approaches the meeting confidently, saying “Let’s bleed the Swede,” but there’s still a sense that things are rocky.

Can they pull it off? As a sign of how serious the meeting is, Greg Hirsch is quickly chided for mentioning that he’s “looking for some hotties” or “arctic foxes” during their travels.

At the same time, Greg also attempts to formulate “the quad” between himself, the co-CEOS, and their sister, Siobhan “Shiv” Roy. Speaking of Shiv, there’s an awkward moment on the plane when Ken offers to “cut Tom’s throat” for Shiv, referring to her (apparently) soon-to-be-ex, Tom Wambsgans.

Tom is actually on the plane but doesn’t seem to overhear it.

Succession season 4, episode 5 recap — Snakes on a plane

Confidence is not high among everyone aboard the plane; Hugo Baker (Fisher Stevens) says “We’re snakes on a plane.” Shortly after they arrive at Matsson’s business retreat in mountainous terrain, Connor Roy calls his sibling about whether or not Logan should be buried in a kilt (Logan is originally from Scotland).

However, Ken and Roman are a bit more interested in business. Lukas takes advantage of their father’s recent death, knowing they are at a psychological disadvantage, and initially offers to buy their operation for the “price of one single dollar.” Lukas soon says it was a joke, but then says he wants ATN, which Roman says his dad left off the table as part of the deal.

Shiv seems less concerned, and possibly relieved to get rid of ATN, calling it a “toxic asset” due to its increasing ties to far-right extremists like Jeryd Mencken (Justin Kirk). Meanwhile, when Tom asks Greg for some inside information about the deal, Greg says Matsson’s people have a “kill list” of Waystar people who will be fired if the deal is successful.

In fact, during Lukas’s private negotiations with Ken and Roman, he dismisses ATN News as “good parts, bad brand.”

Succession season 4, episode 5 recap — A weird tale of bags of blood(?!)

This episode of Succession may not be the most intense overall, but it’s not without a few curveballs. For one thing, a viewer obviously does know how this business meeting will go or how it might impact the Roy family.

Ken is pretty quick to talk about tanking the whole deal, but Roman does not want to abandon their dad’s final business goal. Still, that’s not quite the weirdest development in this episode.

That actually comes from Lukas. While talking to Shiv, Lukas confides in her that he engaged in some stalking behavior with his ex, Ebba (Eili Harboe), the Head of Communications at GoJo. That’s not all, though, according to Matsson; he sent Ebba numerous bags of his own blood!

It’s definitely a weird tale and suggests that Lukas has some unique, disturbing proclivities. For obvious reasons, Shiv tells him to stop sending people his blood.

Shiv, who had perhaps been getting a little flirtatious with Lukas, might have been given second thoughts after that little revelation. On the lighter side, this is no doubt a semi-joke reference to Skarsgård’s previous appearance on the HBO vampire series True Blood.

Succession season 4, episode 5 recap — A deal is struck!

In a different, even more remote meeting with Ken and Roman, Lukas says he wants to speak directly to the Waystar board. He also insults them and their father, which is a bit too far for Roman.

Roman says that Lukas’s deal is actually what killed Logan, and notes how it was wrong of him to arrange this business meeting so soon after Logan’s death. After it all appears to fall apart, Roman later muses, “If a deal collapses in the woods and no one hears it, is it an SEC violation?”

However, Roman’s display of backbone seemed to actually pay off, as Matsson agrees to a final deal for $192 per share. Shortly after, there is little time for celebration as Gerri Kellman reads the apparent “kill list.”

Those named listed are Ray (Patch Darragh), Mark Rosenstock (Brian Hotaling), Hugo, Frank Vernon (Peter Friedman), and Karl Muller (David Rasche). Karolina, Gerri, and Tom are not on the kill list.

What are your thoughts on this episode of Succession? Let us know in the comments!

Succession season 4 episode 6 airs on April 30 on HBO.