Note: This article incorporates spoilers for a number of Succession episodes, notably season 4, episode six, “Living+.”
The opening scene of Living+, the sixth episode of the ultimate season of Succession, is sort of a jolt down the backbone. It’s Logan, captured in medium close-up towards a inexperienced display, in an unedited, premortem video filmed to advertise a brand new Waystar enterprise to be introduced on the subsequent traders’ assembly: a gated retirement group known as Living+ that may deliver the “cruise ship experience to dry land,” Logan (Brian Cox) says.
Kendall (Jeremy Strong) and others from Waystar’s internal circle are watching the video, and Logan can’t make it even a minute with out shedding his persistence with the movie crew. “You’re as bad as my fucking idiot kids,” he growls. Kendall winces and asks to play it again once more.
“Minimize surprise, maximize satisfaction” is Living+’s anodyne slogan. It seems like a subscription service; pay $9.99 and improve to a tier above mere existence.
“Mere existence” occurs to sum up the present state of the Roy kids. They’re mourning, however are additionally a bit numb. After the tradition shock of their Norway journey, they’re again on the semi-familiar, mundane floor of LA, the place co-CEOs Ken and Roman (Kieran Culkin) have to organize for the annual traders assembly, whilst they inch nearer to promoting Waystar to streaming firm GoJo.
Roman, feeling disrespected by everybody he meets with, seems glum as he attends to his new CEO duties. Shiv (Sarah Snook), it seems, is obstructing out time on her calendar to cry. And her brothers are nonetheless attempting to wreck the GoJo sale; Living+ begins out as only a stale remnant of Logan’s plans, however turns into their likelihood to persuade shareholders that Waystar has a future sans GoJo CEO Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård), whereas Matsson is attempting to claim his dominance over the Roys.
This is an episode that’s actually about resurrections — the retreading of outdated concepts, outdated relationships, and outdated pains. There are solely 4 extra episodes left to wrap up the arcs of those characters, and Living+ is establishing ever greater stakes for the final word destiny of Waystar and GoJo. It’s additionally ruminating on what it will imply for the Roy siblings to not simply survive, however thrive.
Erratic habits
Kendall and Roman name a gathering with the senior crew, citing issues about Matsson’s “erratic behavior.” Shiv asks what they imply — she is aware of about Matsson’s unusual fetishes, however her brothers don’t.
They lie that Matsson had a meltdown in Norway (it was really Roman who did), and advised them he didn’t really need the deal. Everyone’s confused by this. It was most likely a negotiating tactic, Tom (Matthew Macfadyen) suggests. After all, he made a suggestion — a really beneficiant one.
Kendall plows forward with this shoddily constructed case. “Can we recommend a deal with a person of this character?” he asks.
It’s a ridiculous factor to say given the historical past of Waystar and its founder — to not point out Kendall’s personal questionable habits prior to now.
The farce of Ken and Rome’s reign is that they must a minimum of try and run the corporate utilizing a democratic course of. Logan wouldn’t have known as a gathering to ask main questions and persuade others to take his view. Logan would have barked out an order, and they might have fallen in line with no squeak. Even although his sons (particularly Kendall) generally mimic Logan, they know intellectually that he was a despot. Yet all through Living+, they notice that it would simply be simpler, simpler, to easily lead like Logan. Roman feels this intensely: his typical stream of inappropriate jokes, his schtick of not taking a lot in life severely, doesn’t work so effectively when he’s the one in cost. His insecurity about not being good sufficient nor revered sufficient flares up with a vengeance on this episode; he fires one studio govt and even tries to fireplace Gerri (J. Smith-Cameron).
It’s not in Rome’s head, not fully. The board is on the verge of mutiny. In response to Kendall’s query about Matsson’s character, Gerri says. “He’s a genius. Nobody minds a genius acting weird.”
“Honestly, it kind of adds to the mystique,” Tom provides. (We do see Matsson strolling outdoors barefoot on this episode, presumably a reference to a different eclectic tech founder, Steve Jobs; in the meantime, Living+ appears impressed by Apple’s branding whereas calmly mocking tiered subscription providers as a complete.)
Gerri closes the ebook on the dialog, saying that Matsson’s repute has been priced into the supply. There’s a quantity at which every part is permitted; Ken and Rome ought to know that by now.
Meanwhile, Matsson tries to persuade Shiv to place a cease to the announcement of Living+. Kendall and Roman are simply minding the store till he formally owns Waystar, and anyway, he doesn’t like actual property ventures — they’re not “scalable.” Spoken like a techie.
Matsson dangles a place for Shiv excessive up within the new world order — somebody who can advise him intently. It’s the type of noncommittal bait that her father continually waved in her face, solely to govern her later. Matsson makes it sound like each a enterprise proposition and a sexual proposition, however Shiv continues to be fence-sitting about whether or not she actually needs Matsson as a associate in both realm.
Tom and Shiv are by no means, ever getting a divorce
Shiv’s livid that her brothers didn’t inform her about Matsson’s supposed blow-up — or, extra to the purpose, that they need to torch the deal.
“Honestly, we were protecting you,” says Kendall. That sends Shiv’s blood strain even greater. The three of them had a plan — to promote, get out, and purchase Pierce Global Media, which nobody even appears to say anymore. Ken means that they might maintain each Waystar’s information community, ATN, and purchase Pierce. (How would that even work when the 2 are ideological opposites?)
Roman apologizes, asking, “Can we do the huggy thing?”
Emotionally stunted they could be, however they do care about one another. The factor concerning the Roy siblings is that in contrast to Logan, they do apologize. But it doesn’t appear to make Shiv really feel higher.
Shiv’s assistant interrupts; she’s been reserving assembly rooms for Shiv, who’s utilizing them to take a seat in and cry alone, not simply over her father being gone, however over the dying by a thousand cuts of being ignored and underestimated by her household. Tom and Greg (Nicholas Braun) by accident stroll in on one in every of these crying periods; Tom’s radar is hyper-tuned to any signal that Shiv could be in misery. “You’re scheduling your grief?” Tom asks incredulously. He hugs and consoles her, and so they kiss. Throughout the season, the 2 have been extra tender and genuinely intimate than we’ve ever seen them within the sequence; they’re ostensibly on their approach to divorcing, however absence appears to have made the center — Shiv’s particularly — develop fonder.
But Tom and Shiv are additionally now on extra equal footing than earlier than. There’s a brand new dimension to their relationship that brings them nearer. Tom isn’t her punching bag anymore; she realizes that he’s an actual individual with difficult feelings and motives, in addition to a humorousness. Later, on the traders reception, Shiv and Tom flirt like youngsters within the schoolyard. Shiv asks Tom if he needs to play a recreation known as “bitey.” The guidelines are easy: You chew the opposite’s forearm as onerous as you’ll be able to, and the primary one to cry uncle loses. Surprisingly, Shiv surrenders first.
“Tom Wambsgans — finally made me feel something,” she says, sounding pleased with him.
All of this play-fighting can imply just one factor: They’re sleeping with one another once more. When Shiv admits that she and Matsson appear to have a connection, Tom tells her, “I think I want you. I think I would like this back.” But it’s not so easy. Tom’s betrayal final season continues to be a wedge between them.
Tom doesn’t apologize for it. He says what they’ve each recognized about their relationship. His love for her wasn’t only a gooey heat feeling, however an obsession with cash and standing — having good issues in life. He betrayed her as a result of he felt he was about to lose all of that. “If you think that’s shallow, why don’t you throw out all your stuff for love,” he says. “Come and live with me in a trailer park.”
“I’d follow you anywhere for love, Tom Wambsgans,” Shiv replies playfully. They each begin laughing, perhaps as a result of the thought is so absurd, or as a result of the fantasy of leaving the tangle of Waystar behind — of getting unconditional love — is definitely alluring.
Resurrection
Painting Matsson as unreliable and ill-tempered didn’t work, so Kendall and Roman now want a plan B to dam the Waystar sale. What they want is one thing so thrilling and explosive that it might make the Waystar share worth soar, to an outlandish valuation. Matsson, they presume, most likely wouldn’t match it; he’d stroll away.
The reply is tech. Kendall needs a tech valuation on Living+, and it’s not a nasty thought. It’s the trade of moonshots and fake-it-till-you-make-it blustering. Countless males, and some notorious ladies, have gotten wealthy off such braggadocio. Why not Waystar?
The pitch is that this: “Maximize your physical potential,” Kendall provides, by maximizing residents’ lifespans. Maybe the tech for immortality doesn’t fairly exist but, however they might reside a bit of bit nearer to perpetually. Longevity science is a well-known fascination of tech billionaires, nevertheless it’s additionally a topic on Ken and Rome’s minds proper now. “I just didn’t see it coming with Dad,” Roman says. “I think people would be very intrigued if there was another way through the whole situation.”
“You mean life?” asks Kendall.
“Life. Death,” he confirms. Rome is envisioning a type of Matrix brain-in-a-vat state of affairs. “There’s gotta be a way through — death just feels very one-size-fits-all.”
Ken is manic once more. Whenever he will get energized by an thought — often some scheme to take down his father — it has resulted in defeat, adopted by a fugue state of melancholy. But he’s heedless of previous smash. It’s what makes him a tragic, Sisyphean character. He all the time falls, and watching him stand up once more is painful as a result of the viewers is aware of the way it’s going to finish. This time, he needs to construct a formidable stage for the traders assembly. Standing on an empty stage, he’s starry-eyed describing his plan to the underlings. “No one can say no,” he declares.
“He’s got that gleam in his eye,” Shiv says. She’s seen this earlier than — Kendall all of the sudden going off script, making an attempt to tug off some loopy thought with out the backup he wants. Shiv convinces Roman to speak him down from these delusions of grandeur. “He has hare-brained schemes,” she says. “I love him, but he cracks under pressure. And I think we should protect him.”
No one sees Kendall’s imaginative and prescient. Waystar CFO Karl Muller is uncharacteristically (and understandably) aggressive about Kendall’s pumped-up earnings projections, which might land them in authorized hassle, and threatens Kendall to not current Living+. Ken is alone — his default state of being — however for the eyes on him, ready for him to self-destruct.
Somehow, he doesn’t.
Kendall’s large reveal is the video of Logan we noticed within the first scene, edited to make it appear to be they’re having a dialog. His siblings and the Waystar executives all cringe, however Ken forges on, pitching Living+ as a sanctuary, with cutting-edge life extension providers, the type often reserved just for “tech billionaires,” Kendall says. This tech might double Waystar’s earnings — however don’t take his phrase for it. Logan’s video has been altered in order that he’s the one making the declare. It’s a intelligent transfer by Kendall to puppetmaster the puppetmaster. In some methods, he’s a spot-on CEO, hitting the right notes of being clear, enthusiastic, and emotional, genuinely tearing up on the considered having extra time together with his father — the type of factor Living+ may need been in a position to make actual, he tells his rapt viewers.
Matsson hates the presentation, and once more asks Shiv to cease it. She suggests he do one thing about it — and Matsson’s transfer is to tweet a Holocaust joke referencing one in every of Waystar’s motion pictures and mocking Living+. Matsson finally deletes the tweet, and the Waystar outdated guard are pleasantly stunned by Kendall’s efficiency. But Roman and Shiv are each quietly upset — upset that he didn’t fail. Did they need him to repeat the cycle of failing spectacularly, and crawling again to his household in emotional smash? It additionally reveals how cowardly Roman and Shiv may be. They didn’t have the center to take the massive swing with Kendall, and now they don’t get to bask within the glow of a win both.
The episode ends with Kendall on the seashore, going through the water and the limitless horizon. The swells are excessive, however he goes for a swim anyway. In season one, he by accident kills a cater-waiter when the automobile he’s driving crashes in a river. In season three, Kendall nearly drowns — nearly kills himself — in a pool. But this time the water is restorative, like his Living+ pitch to traders: “It’s somewhere you’re really living,” he says.
