The Roy siblings meet their match in Lukas Matsson – Rolling Stone

This post contains spoilers for this week’s episode of Succession“Killing list.”

“Kill List” opens with Kendall Roy being driven into the offices of Waystar for his first official day as co-CEO. He blasts Jay-Z’s “Takeover,” because of course he is, and he walks with undeniable confidence through the building he’s been banished from. He and Roman technically run the company together, but it’s clear that Kendall sees himself as 1A on the org chart compared to his younger brother’s 1B, and it also seems like the staff are relying more on him. He finally realized his dream. He runs the family business. He is, he believes, master of all he surveys.

He is, as always, an asshole.

Most of “Kill List” takes place at a GoJo company retreat in Norway

where Waystar’s top executives (plus cousin Greg) came together for two purposes: 1) To see if Kendall, Roman and Lukas Matsson can come together and seal the deal for GoJo to acquire the bulk of Waystar, and 2) So Lukas and his team can get to know the folks at Waystar and figure out who, if anyone, they want to keep.

Although last week’s “Honeymoon States” had several notable guest stars and a bunch of extras, it was basically a bottle episode (all shot on pre-existing sets to save money), this which no doubt helped offset the cost of an episode featuring helicopters, the bus rides up windy roads past waterfalls, and several scenes take place on cable cars.

The desperation on this last point is palpable, and sometimes deliberately unbearable. When Tom sits down at Lukas’ table and awkwardly tries to remind the Swede of a joke they laughed at about a million years ago, I wanted to close my eyes and cover my ears like I was watching the worst parts. macabre of a horror movie. Cousin Greg continues to try to be part of the “Quad” with the three main Roy siblings, not realizing that if they never include Connor – who is stuck in New York dealing with funeral arrangements with Willa – in any real kind of decision-making, they definitely won’t include Greg. Even before several of the characters (but amusingly not Karl and Frank) enter the sauna, the amount of sweat seems to be pouring off the screen. That Lukas is such an enigma – partly by choice, partly because he never seemed to fully learn to act like a human being – only makes the situation more trying for everyone involved. (Hugo, when informed en route to Norway that there is a list of potential fires floating around: “We are snakes on a plane!”)

Editor’s Choice But there’s quite a bit of desperation from people other than Kendall and Roman to get that damn deal done already. Shiv — who sees through every move and every lie Kendall tries to make here — wants to cash in, say goodbye to the toxicity of his dad’s business, and start something new with Pierce. “The Grays,” as Gerri, Frank, and Karl are nicknamed here, want to make sure they get their golden parachutes whether or not Lukas intends to push them off the plane. And Kendall wants to prove that her name should have been underlined on Logan’s infamous piece of paper, rather than crossed out. Things get complicated almost immediately after everyone arrives at the posh Nordic retreat. Lukas is ready to increase his offer, but on one condition: he now wants to acquire all from Waystar, ATN included. Prior to his death, Logan had pulled him out of the deal (much like the Murdochs kept Fox News even after selling most of their other media assets to Disney), since the news operation was his pride and his joy, and would provide him with something to do in his later years. The brothers don’t need it to occupy their time, but Roman remains fully in the tank for their father and his legacy, and doesn’t want to give up the thing Logan loved most in the world – certainly more than he loved. Novel. and the other children. Kendall is much more flexible on the subject, until he realizes that this

Kieran Culkin as Roman Roy in “Succession” Season 4. Graeme Hunter / HBO This, of course, is a silly plan, as well as such a transparent plan that Lukas isn’t fooled for a second. He has abundant flaws as a human, which he lays bare to Shiv by not only admitting to having an affair with his communications director, but also scaring him by repeatedly sending him bags of his own. blood.

. But unlike Kendall, he wasn’t born on third base believing he had hit a triple. The Brothers Think They’ve Locked Lukas In – Roman, in a spectacularly performed monologue by Kieran Culkin, makes it clear how much he hates Lukas and how he intends to make this deal just out of spite – never a moment considering that

he

Lukas’ description of how the blood thing went from a joke to no joke, to a joke again, makes him look a bit like the Swedish equivalent of David Letterman. “We can’t sail with dad cards,” Kendall insists earlier. “He’s not here.” Even if Logan Roy was a trash person, he would never have done something so reckless and stupid, nor would he have been caught off guard like the brothers here are. They play checkers, and Lukas plays the Dunshire Cones, so many strokes forward he knows how to ask Shiv to take a picture of his siblings completely blown away by how easily he called their bluff.