“Coronation Demolition Derby”: Succession Season 4, Episode 4

Photograph courtesy of David M. Russell, HBO

Last week I compared Kendall Roy to Shakespeare’s Prince Hal. When we first meet Hal in Henry IV Part I, he’s a drunken layabout who hangs out all day at the Boards Head Tavern with Sir John Falstaff, and doesn’t seem to have the stuff great leaders are made of. However, when his father dies and Hal becomes King Henry V, he rises to the occasion, leading the British army to victory at the battle of Agincourt and demonstrating the leadership skills that his cruel father assumed had evaded him.

Kendall Roy has another Prince Hal moment in this week’s Succession, “Honeymoon States,” when, during a memorial for Logan at his Upper East Side penthouse, Frank finds a document wherein Logan designates Kendall as his successor as CEO. It isn’t clear whether or not Logan meant this sincerely: Kendall’s name has either an underline or a strikethrough going through it, and the document is undated. “The thing is old and you’ve tried to put him in jail like, 12 times since then,” Roman says. But it’s still the clearest indication yet that Logan wanted any of his kids to succeed him.

However, we have no idea whether the document was written before the Matsson deal came into play, so whoever gets appointed will only be interim CEO anyway. This shocks the board, who, at the episode’s beginning, are already plotting to appoint one…