Succession Season 4 Episode 9 -“Change Of Perspective” Recap & Review

Let’s get started—a recap of Succession Season 4 Episode 9. Will an Elon Musk-type individual destroy their father’s media company, or will the Roy children continue mismanaging the family business themselves? And then, in the extended 74-minute episode, we got pretty darn close to finding out.

That added 14 minutes to the typical narrative development devoted to backstabbing, evil whispering, and treating everyone who doesn’t have the last name of Roy with complete contempt. Is it hopeless to help the Roy children any longer? Without a doubt.

People are rioting outside of ATN the morning after the election because Jeryd Mencken (Justin Kirk), a far-right politician, was declared the winner by the Roys. Bad! Jeremy Strong’s Kendall regrets it, but he doesn’t feel terrible about it.

The GoJo agreement will be killed by Mencken, who will then “save the company.” It isn’t easy and, honestly, not Succession’s best feature. But the Roys are still willing to risk their name recognition for it.

They have long equated the success of WayStar RoyCo with their satisfaction. In their ideal conclusion, they get to spend the rest of their lives waving their cash in the air while massacring innocent people on Zoom. Roman (Kieran Culkin) says to himself, “I am a king; bow down to me,” as a self-talk ritual. Wahoo?

Kendall’s family gets the “monster treatment” on the way to the funeral. The Trump of this universe is being elected with his support, and now his family wants to leave? His separated wife, Rava, is “too online,” so he threatens to “get an emergency court order” to prevent her from fleeing the city with their children.

He is preparing himself for custody hearings and is even thinking about divorcing. The marbles aren’t just misplaced; they’re shattered into tiny pieces. He loses his cool when his assistant says she wants to go, too, and yells, “Everybody’s being fucking dumb!”

Shiv (Sarah Snook), on the outs with her brothers once again, tells them she is pregnant while driving them to the funeral. Laughingly, Roman asks, “Is it mine?” and threatens, “If I see you breastfeeding, I will have to jerk off.” Yuck, dude.

Kendall requests a “funeral truce,” pleading that everyone let “today just be today.” But like I said last time, no one will stop being petty and use this time to work through their grief. Even Nicholas Braun’s Cousin Greg doesn’t know this. To meet Mencken, he’d like Roman’s introduction. Sad.

Meanwhile, ATN President Tom (Matthew Macfadyen) is in a tailspin since his name is at the top of the hit list. During this episode, we see Shiv (Dagmara Dominczyk) try to convince Matsson (Alexander Skarsgrd) to name her as the domestic CEO, Roman (Hiam Abbass) make Freudian incest joke number two, and Marcia (Hiam Abbass) and Karolina (Dagmara Dominczyk) clasp hands.

She is still counting on the tech tycoon, so she plans to have Matsson persuade Mencken to stick with the agreement. Mencken is unhappy about the prospect of WayStar RoyCo selling to a foreigner.

Along with Kendall and Roman, he forged a pact to thwart the deal in exchange for favorable coverage on ATN. Although it’s a bit of a semantic loophole, Shiv proposes that the corporation remain “American” by designating her as CEO of the United States. It doesn’t matter as long as we win.

As we found out later, the extra 14 minutes were added so everyone who wanted to give a eulogy could do so. James Cromwell’s character, Ewan Roy, opens with a story of being stuck aboard a U-boat and then quickly shifts gears to show his scorn.

He calls Logan a villain who “darkened the skies a little, closed men’s hearts, and fed that dark flame.” I’m sorry, but Dad was a terrible person. After seeing the casket, Roman begins to cry on the podium.

The eulogy he had prepared so carefully? That won’t work. Kendall substitutes for him and defends his dad’s financial acumen. He portrays Logan as a man who valued “comfort” above all else, despite having access to the “great geysers of life,” such as the corporation and the financial stability it provided.

He only needed to be icy, crafty, and cruel to amass a fortune. Shiv, in her closing remarks, acknowledges that her father made an effort. Only the Roy children know if their claims are grounded in reality.

Soon after the burial, Roman stumbles onto the protest, where he sarcastically labels the protesters as “morons” before getting his face rocked. Self-destructive, but I suppose that’s how some people grieve.

After all, superior Kendall had teased him for fantasizing about becoming like their father. Kendall informs Roman, “You thought you were dead, and you fucked it,” about his younger brother’s failure to fortify their way forward from this bargain. Ouch.

Sorry to say, but that’s about it. Sure, we got the complete Logan Roy sendoff that we didn’t get from his off-screen death in Episode Three, but there wasn’t much given as to what happens next.

Previously, Kendall, Roman, and Mencken allied; now, Shiv, Matsson, and Mencken may form a similar one. Rough. Where did the concept of “reverse Viking” go wrong? At this point in the series, Kendall has decided—for the umpteenth time—to be CEO and take over the world.

(With a “Woof, Woof.”) While the Roy siblings may get closure after this episode, I still have questions. This is not typical of the second-to-last episode on HBO. I have no idea how this will all play out.

Blocking the GoJo deal: Ours to Keep and Closing Credits? It’s no secret that I want the Roys all dead at each other’s hands, Hamlet-style. Perhaps it’s not too late. Reader, I urge you to be in a reasonable frame of mind for the series conclusion of Succession next Sunday. Hold your breath.