‘Succession’ Season 4 Episode 1: Recap & Ending Explained

So far, the start of this year has been heavily impacted by HBO originals, and their repertoire has been knocking it out of the park compared to other streaming platforms. Shows like The Last Of Us, The White Lotus, and somewhat before that, House of the Dragon, are all making history as far as TV series are concerned. Another show that would’ve easily made it on the list as one of HBO’s best is Succession. Let’s just say that the turbulent ending of season three left us all in anticipation of the fourth and, unfortunately, the last season of Succession. 

We will not get all sad and mushy just yet, the season has just started, and we will kick it off with a recap. The first episode is directed by the show’s executive producer Mike Mylod. In an HBO interview, he talked about how he was drawn to direct the first episode of the season because of the interesting dynamics between the Roy children that were displayed, which we didn’t see so often since they were usually in constant competition with each other. With all that said, let’s look at what happened so far in episode one and read at your own risk – there are spoilers ahead!

Kendall, Roman, and Shiv’s separation from Logan: Are the three little birds finally leaving the nest?

The episode starts off with Kendall and Roman reviewing the promotional materials for their new media brand called The Hundred, after the intense ending of season three, where Logan decided that he has decided to sell Waystar, which led his children to try and stop him from doing that. If he were to sell the company, Kendall, Roman, and Shiv would lose the potential to ascend to the position of CEO.

Logan didn’t reveal his intentions to his children, and after he had found out that the three of them were trying to stop his efforts, he made a preemptive move and swayed the shareholder votes in his favor. By the end, in a subtle moment of exchange between Logan and Tom, it was revealed that Tom was the one who leaked this information to Logan. The first episode of season four picks up a couple of months after that incident.

As the kids are getting ready to meet with potential investors for their new media brand, Shiv receives a call from Tom telling her that he met with Naomi Pierce. At first, Shiv thought that she and Tom had hooked up, but he told her it was just a social call. After some debating about this meeting, the kids find out that Logan is trying to buy Pierce Global Media again.

The question is now raised about what is going to be their next move. Should they start from ground zero with launching their media company, or should they try to buy PGM and build off their already established brand? This episode is structured because it pulls the viewer in immediately; the creators don’t use a slower approach to introduce you to the situation at hand. Rather, they follow their usual fast pace and mockumentary style, whereas the viewer is put in the center of the action. 

Interestingly, when most of the competition is removed from the equation, Kendall, Roman, and Shiv actually work well together. Other than the usual spicy insults they throw casually at each other when working towards the same goal, they can almost compare to Logan. While discussing different possibilities for their team ventures, Roman is the one who suggests that they should focus on The Hundred. 

Shiv and Kendall point out the benefits of an already established media company, and while both arguments seem valid, they obviously have their own biases. Kendall wants another chance to win against Logan, and Shiv seems to want to do the same, but mainly to hurt Tom in the process, which Roman pointed out. On the other side, we have Roman, who doesn’t want to go against Logan, somewhat out of fear and somewhat out of his need for his validation. This leads us to the next segment of the article. 

The saddest birthday party of all time 

The director of this episode, Mike Mylod, described these next scenes as one of the most depressing birthday parties in the history of birthday parties. After the kids agree that they will compete in the bidding war for PGM, we also see that Logan is celebrating his birthday. Only this time, he is surrounded by what he feels are strangers.

As Logan walks through his home and says hello to the party attendees, the only one he seems to be glad to see is his eldest son, Connor. After some fake smiles and handshakes, Logan calls his security guard, Collin and escapes his own birthday party. The two of them went to a regular dinner together, and this was probably the first time we saw Logan vulnerable to some extent.

There is a theory in the Succession fandom that when the characters are having a meal, it displays a certain level of comfort and vulnerability. This is one of the few times we see Logan eat in front of someone, and he even tells Collin that he considers him a friend. The creators explain that Logan respects someone who does their job without wanting something else from him.

Are Tom and Shiv still together?

An interesting interaction between Tom and Logan during the birthday party set certain expectations for the future of Tom and Shiv’s relationship. In his conversation with Logan, Tom tried to implicitly ask what would happen to him if Shiv and he got a divorce and separated permanently. He says that he’s not certain yet what would happen and that the two of them decided to do a trial separation. 

Logan’s response didn’t really evoke much reassurance; maybe it did in Tom to a certain extent. From the viewer’s perspective, Logan might’ve said the words that Tom wanted to hear, but then he made a joke immediately after it. In any case, Logan will not go out of his way to protect someone unless they are his kids or of use to him in some way.

In a recent interview, the actress Sarah Snook said that Siobhan doesn’t want to really process Tom’s betrayal against her. When we finally see the two of them meet towards the end of the episode, Shiv is gathering her clothes which wakes up Tom. They start to fight, and Tom tries to start a conversation regarding the future of their relationship. Shiv cuts him off and says they should get a divorce and finally end it. 

To Shiv’s surprise, Tom agreed that they should separate, so they essentially avoided discussing what Tom did. Shiv wanted it to be like that because it’s hard for her to rationalize his betrayal, and she usually avoids processing her feelings. Furthermore, with Shiv’s personality, she could never be with Tom if he wasn’t subordinate to her. 

The Disgusting Brothers 

Our favorite chaotic duo, Tom and Greg, gave us their usual hilarious banter with interesting new developments. Greg has brought yet another girl that we are sure couldn’t resist his incredible charm. Unfortunately, Bridget doesn’t fit in with the crowd, and people are noticing. The first one to point this out is Logan’s assistant, and she explains to Tom that she is not accounted for and might leak sensitive information.

Later on, it turned out that the warnings were justified because Bridget took photos at the event and posted them on social media. Before she was kicked out of the party, Greg told Tom that he had hooked up with Bridget in the guest room. Tom had been poking fun at Greg the whole time they were together, especially after Greg called the two of them The Disgusting Brothers. As you watch, you can probably notice how Tom wasn’t in the mood for joking. 

In fact, Tom tried to tell Greg that his new nickname for the two of them was not something he would be spreading around. After Greg told Tom about his sexual escapades, he told him that all of the rooms in Logan’s house were filled with cameras. Greg was mortified; Tom made him believe that he had to speak to Logan about this so that he wouldn’t get caught later on when he reviewed the footage. One theory on why Tom picked on Greg a bit more than usual was most likely connected to his situation with Shiv.