{"id":281198,"date":"2023-04-24T16:49:19","date_gmt":"2023-04-24T20:49:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tvobsessive.com\/?p=281198"},"modified":"2026-08-14T03:24:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T03:24:22","slug":"succession-s4e5-breakdown-gojo-or-gono","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrevas.com\/?p=281198","title":{"rendered":"Succession S4E5 Breakdown: GoJo or GoNo?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We are now officially halfway through the final season<\/a> of Succession<\/em>. Despite the fact that most of us have pre-grieved, it stings all the same. \u201cKill List\u201d marks the halfway point and continues the Succession <\/em>tradition of at least one episode a year taking place somewhere in Europe. Norway was our destination this time and despite the beautiful backdrop, this was a knives out affair. If you haven\u2019t seen Succession <\/em>S4E5 yet, we\u2019re about to enter heavy spoiler territory. You\u2019ve been warned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Old Habits<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The episode opens with a great callback to the pilot, with Kendall on his way to work. Back then, he thought he was about to be named the CEO. Now, he is a Co-CEO but please don\u2019t call Ken and Roman CE-Bros. Kendall doesn\u2019t like that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We think we are being setup for a Kendall and Roman trip to Norway to close the deal with Lukas Matsson<\/a> but the tricky Swede pulls a fast one and requests every department head, EVP, half of the board and basically anyone with an important title to be on the plane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We quickly see that this is an elaborate power play. Logan is dead and Matsson is feeling emboldened. He respected the old man but he doesn\u2019t respect his children and employees. He\u2019s going to run all over them and do it in front of a large part of his company at their corporate retreat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Narratively speaking, Succession <\/em>S4E5 pulled a brilliant move here, inserting Matsson into the Logan role. The show has always had this power dynamic where Logan had the power, his kids wanted it and would fight with each other, often siding with their father and betraying their siblings. Here in \u201cKill List,\u201d Matsson assumed this role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With us being this close to the finish line, this was a smart move. It made sense to kill the old man off but why mess with a winning formula this close to the end? Matsson perfectly slotted into the power role designed to divide the siblings in their quest for power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GoJo or GoNo?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Matsson trying to now include ATN into the deal was an unexpected move. Why would he want the failing right wing \u201cnews for angry old people\u201d as he called it? My assumption is that it\u2019s because he knows that the kids want to fold ATN in with their newly acquired Pierce news outlet. Sure, I\u2019ll buy your dad\u2019s company but you don\u2019t get to launch a new company after I do. A Logan move if we ever saw one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This demand that the deal be restructured set the Roy siblings in motion. Roman is still thinking about what Dad would want. Kendall is starting to think and act more like Dad. And Shiv is ready to sell it all. Why not after all? She doesn\u2019t like ATN nor does she want to be on the outside looking in with this company. She wants the new company to happen with her brothers so she can rightfully have her seat at the head of the table and not just pushed aside for her brothers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As tensions escalated between Kendall \/ Roman and Matsson, Shiv found herself in a weird predicament. Matsson essentially recruited her in an attempt to pit her against her brothers. Which really wasn\u2019t that difficult to do and yes, was a total Logan Roy move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moving forward, I will not be surprised one bit to see Shiv continuing to get closer with Matsson, perhaps in exchange for a high profile role within his company. She doesn\u2019t need her brothers, she\u2019s found her own way. Perhaps. It\u2019s not out of the realm of possibility to envision Shiv running Matsson\u2019s company if the deal does go through, with her brothers on the outside looking in. It feels equally as likely that they don\u2019t sell to Matsson and that the Roy siblings have to find a way to coexist long term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roman is absolutely angry. He finds Matsson\u2019s request for everyone to come over mere days after Logan\u2019s passing to be disgusting and these are feelings he doesn\u2019t hide. Kendall is more insulted by Matsson thinking he can bully everyone into doing whatever he wants. And the newly confident Kendall is ready to tank the deal out of anger \/ a desire to rule his father\u2019s company on his own, the way he always envisioned himself doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The brothers deciding to tank the deal wasn\u2019t entirely surprising. Matsson picking up on the fact that they were doing so wasn\u2019t surprising either. But the mountaintop confrontation was a series highlight. Roman\u2019s raw emotional outburst in many respects was the most human and in touch with his feelings he ever was. Kendall was surprised at the play but his silent support of his brother spoke volumes. Kendall wants to move on with the family company and even if he didn\u2019t realize it before, it this moment he knew that he wanted to do it with his brother at the very least.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kill List<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While the Roy siblings were deciding whether to make the deal happen or tank it, rumors of a \u201ckill list\u201d aka those who would not be retained of Matsson bought the company floated around. Which gave us the type of hi jinx we\u2019ve come to expect from Tom, Greg and the gang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greg seems to be distancing himself from Tom, perhaps viewing Tom as a weak candidate to stick around post transition. Seeing Greg buddy up to the siblings and call the four of them \u201cThe Quad Squad\u201d or \u201cThe Quad\u201d was humorous. But Greg\u2019s instincts could be right here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matsson buddying up to Shiv and now being interested in ATN isn\u2019t good for Tom. Kendall has a soft spot for Greg. If Ken is going to spare anyone from the old guard, it\u2019s Cousin Greg. One of three big developments on the plane ride home was a preliminary version of the kill list, which showed Frank, Karl and Hugo being relieved of their duties while Gerri, Karolina, Tom and Greg kept their jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other big developments on the flight home were Matsson upping his offer after the mountaintop showdown. If the Roy brothers want to tank the deal, he\u2019s going to offer more money so they have pressure from the board to sell. I\u2019m not sure if the \u201cCE-Bros\u201d can get out of it with this increased price and the overwhelming desire to sell to Matsson. But they will try.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, Matsson calling Shiv on the way home, asking her to \u201ctake a picture of your brothers’ faces\u201d after his upped offer shows that war is here. Matsson doesn\u2019t like to lose. He wants to buy the whole company even more after Roman exploded on him and told him they would never sell. And he\u2019s going to weaponize their sister in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With only five episodes left, there\u2019s a lot of fireworks and drama still to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We are now officially halfway through the final season of Succession. Despite the fact that most of us have pre-grieved, it stings all the same. \u201cKill List\u201d marks the halfway point and continues the Succession tradition of at least one episode a year taking place somewhere in Europe. Norway was our destination this time and despite […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":281202,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"saved_in_kubio":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[283],"tags":[27,17,25,26,294],"class_list":["post-281198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tv-recaps","tag-brian-cox","tag-hbo","tag-jeremy-strong","tag-kieran-culkin","tag-succession"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrevas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrevas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrevas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrevas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrevas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=281198"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrevas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":298928,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrevas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281198\/revisions\/298928"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrevas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/281202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrevas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=281198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrevas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=281198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrevas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=281198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}