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Shiv Roy Outplays The Boys
In season four: episode five “Kill List”, Succession’s perpetual also-ran uses her perceived weakness as an advantage
This article contains spoilers for season four of Succession
“Let’s bleed the Swede,” smugly intones Kendall Roy at the start of episode five of this, the fourth and final season of HBO’s Succession, with a cocksure attitude he has only acquired in the few days since his dad died.
Kendall is sad, but also riding high (it helps he has “the best grief guy” as per the previous episode!). We should be more suspicious by now when Succession gives us a nostalgic throwback to the pilot intro of Kendall’s character.
Jeremy Strong as Kendall has, against some odds, created a loveable loser arc for the world’s richest sad boy. So, when we see him cruising up to the Waystar skyscraper with his Jay Z. hype music playing in his chauffeured chariot, it’s a red herring by design.
In the pilot of season one, Kendall is shown in a very similar circumstance. He is wearing headphones, listening to the Beastie Boys, and psyching himself up for a meeting by rapping anxiously and shadowboxing. In contrast, in the latest episode “Kill List”, he looks cool as a cucumber.
