‘Succession” Season 4, episode 2: Were Logan and Roman conspiring all along?

Succession is one of those shows where everybody goes behind each other’s backs so much that it’s sometimes hard to keep track of who’s double-crossing who.

Season 4, at least initially, seemed like the exception. The Roy kids, finally all banding together to take on their dad! An unstoppable alliance cemented by winning the Pierce bid!

Well, not so fast. Episode 2 makes it pretty clear that the cracks in that supposed alliance aren’t just already forming, but may even be past the point of repair. So what exactly happened at the end of the episode between Logan (Brian Cox) and Roman (Kieran Culkin), and how long had it been in the making? Let’s take a look at what we know.

What happens at the end of Succession Season 4, episode 2?

Conner’s wedding (Alan Ruck) is drawing closer, but the Roy kids have something else on their mind: The possibility of screwing over their dad by attempting to squeeze more money out of him via the upcoming sale of Waystar Royco to GoJo tech titan Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård).

Shiv (Sarah Snook) and Kendall (Jeremy Strong) are game, but Roman is less sure. Towards the end of the episode, after finding out what they’re planning, Logan tracks his kids down in a karaoke bar and attempts to persuade them otherwise by offering an apology that doesn’t go down too well.

Up to his old tricks.
Credit: HBO

Later, however, Logan gets a visit from Roman. He arrives on his own, looking conflicted and appearing to want to make amends — but it isn’t long before Logan makes him an offer.

“There’s a Night of the Long Knives coming. Cyd’s toast,” Logan says of Cyd Peach (Jeannie Berline), a senior employee at ATN who Logan calls and chastises at the end of episode 1. “I’m reinventing ATN. I need a firebreather. A ruthless fuck who’ll do whatever it takes,.”

And when Roman suggests that he should leave?

“You’re not Pierce,” says Logan. “Smart people know what they are.”

So were Logan and Roman plotting together all along?

Hang on a minute then. Was this meeting between Logan and Roman planned? Were they already meeting privately before this?

At first it seems difficult to say. On the one hand, earlier in the episode, Shiv and Kendall find texts from their dad on Roman’s phone despite their mutual agreement not to talk to him. The texts themselves don’t say anything business-related, but Kendall and Shiv are still suspicious — and Roman’s sudden visit to Logan at the end of the episode seems to confirm they were right to be. Coupled with this is the way Logan reacts to Roman’s sudden appearance without any surprise at all, almost as if he’s been expecting him.

So does this mean the two of them were plotting together the whole time? Honestly, I don’t think so. What seems more likely is that Logan has been up to his old, manipulative tricks: He’s trying to divide and conquer his own kids by finding and exploiting their weaknesses. Exchanging texts with Roman, and then offering a seeming apology, has appealed to the side of Roman’s character that wants to avoid conflict and seek the approval from his dad. Offering him a position at ATN, and taking his son into his confidence, was the final move.

And the reason Logan doesn’t seem surprised to see Roman? He’s been manipulating his own children for so long that he’s used to them coming back to him in the end.

Succession Season 4 is streaming now on HBO Max, with new episodes airing weekly on Sundays at 9 p.m.