Succession Sees the Roy Siblings Take Hollywood by Storm in “Living+”
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The post Succession Sees the Roy Siblings Take Hollywood by Storm in “Living+” appeared first on Consequence.
[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Succession, Season 4 Episode 6, “Living+.”]
They hopped off a plane near LAX with a dream and their dead dad’s cardigan: Succession has brought the action back to the West Coast this week, where this season’s adventures first began. Kendall, Roman, and Shiv are gearing up for a presentation to investors, which includes the introduction of one of the final projects their late father had a hand in, a retirement community known as Living+ that feels pulled out of an episode of Black Mirror.
Speaking of Logan, the episode opens with the closest we could probably get to a jump-scare in Succession; what simple fools we were to cheer and tweet gleefully that we would never see that man’s face again. Archival footage of Logan discussing Living+ against a green screen is such a jarring opening, and it’s not long before Past Logan is tearing into his “idiot kids.” Just like old times!
While Kendall and Roman end up energized about a potential “tech angle” for Living+, essentially insinuating that the community could someday guarantee nothing short of eternal life, Lukas Matsson is less than thrilled. No matter how glossy and IP-friendly they might be, retirement communities are old; they’re boring. They’re not scalable. He doesn’t like it, and is sure to tell Shiv as much, crossing from his private jet to hers on the tarmac barefoot like the absolute deranged person he is. The “girl on the inside” and “boy on the outside” are as anxiety-inducing as they are delicious for viewers; maybe Alexander Skarsgård truly can have chemistry with anyone, but seeing him verbally spar with Sarah Snook is a delight.
Elsewhere, Shiv and Tom, two super normal people who certainly have functional, healthy communication methods, are enjoying themselves perhaps more than ever. The reality is that psychosexual games are their love language, and this chapter is, oddly, the closest thing to Tom and Shiv’s version of love we’ve seen on screen: They seem more into each other than they did leading up to their own wedding.
Dancing around each other in a perverse game of cat and mouse is their honeymoon stage; please, please sound off if you or anyone you know are familiar with someone who has ever challenged their partner to a game of “bitey.” (There hasn’t ever really been a boring season of Succession, but these writers have been firing on all cylinders lately.)
Succession (HBO)
On the subject of Tom and true love, though, it is interesting that Greg has taken a major backseat this season. He’s hovering on the periphery of the action, feeling distant from these central power plays, which could all be intentional — we’ll just have to wait to find out.
As phenomenal as Sarah Snook, Matthew Macfadyen, and, of course, Jeremy Strong all are in their respective roles, this season really is starting to feel like it belongs to Kieran Culkin’s Roman, who has had at least one noteworthy scene each episode this year. The news that Culkin would be submitted as Lead Actor for this final outing was met with mixed feelings on social media, reasonably so when there are so many incredible actors in this cast. Yet with each passing episode, though, that decision feels more and more justified — this week, Roman’s meltdown with Waystar Studios exec Joy (Annabeth Gish) feels dangerous and electric through the screen.
Roman is unhinged, he’s grieving, he’s horribly confused, and, despite the fact that the siblings appear closer than ever, he’s still alone in many ways. Who knows if it’ll stick — the idea seemed to tickle Kendall, if nothing else — but Roman snapping and firing Gerri (yes, Shiv’s godmother, that Gerri) is the clearest indication of how Roman is functioning this season.
Succession (HBO)
Meanwhile, Kendall is ready to take things to the moon with a harebrained scheme to try to make Living+ feel modern, palatable, and necessary to the business. At the end of the day, Kendall is a foolish boy who loves the spotlight and just wants to be cool, and this episode seems him spending most of his time trying to stage manage a frantic, exhausted crew working to bring his elaborate presentation vision to life overnight (notably, this crew includes award-winning writer and director Lorene Scafaria as the “director”).
While Greg tries to get a video editor to essentially turn Logan into AI, Kendall is pulling numbers out of thin air and building one of his shakier houses of cards. There’s nothing quite like the anxiety of watching Kendall Roy step onstage with a microphone: “L to the OG,” you will always be famous! Here, Kendall’s walk-up music is another impeccable needle-drop from the music supervision team, and from the moment he takes the stage accompanied by Public Enemy’s “Harder Than You Think,” the audience at home is taken through the stress the characters onscreen are all experiencing. It has all the hallmarks of a classic Kendall trainwreck: cringe, laughs, and the classic “can’t look away” feel of a trainwreck.
Succession (HBO)
Throughout this season, every small victory for these characters is tinged in foreboding: There are many things about Succession that feel Shakespearean, from the family dynamics to the betrayals, and this season feels like it’s hurtling towards something particularly dangerous. Just what awaits us has yet to be seen, but one thing’s for sure: Kendall in a body of water of any kind doesn’t usually end well for the Roys.
Best One-Liner: “We’re just gonna do an acoustic set. Ken and Rome Unplugged.”
New episodes of Succession premiere Sundays on HBO.
Succession Sees the Roy Siblings Take Hollywood by Storm in “Living+”
Mary Siroky
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