Succession season 4 episode 2 recap: All's not well in Roy town

Succession season 4 episode 2 premiered on April 2, 2023, bringing back the familiar premise of the Roy family's inevitable demise with the war now stretching to newer fronts. In a surprisingly full episode for so early in the season, the HBO show showed no signs of holding back the drama as it pitted several characters against each other in an episode filled with moral conundrums.

As this is the final season of Succession, the writing team may have decided that a lot must happen in whatever time is left with the Roys. In the second episode, the series not only had Shiv (Sarah Snook) start a bitter fight against her father, Logan (Brian Cox), but also saw Roman (Kieran Culkin) going through a tough decision that may see the collapse of the newly-built 'sibs' empire.

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Succession season 4 episode 2 recap: On the brink of big changes?

The show is hardly a battle of succession anymore. It has evolved into a bitter emotional fight, where Logan is still trying to emotionally hurt his kids and save his company, with the three (or two, in a more real sense) children trying to ruin their father. This packed episode has everything that makes this HBO show so special.

The episode begins after the siblings snatch the Pierce deal away from Logan. Shiv contacts the divorce lawyers to complete the formalities of leaving Tom. However, it turns out that her first-choice, second-choice, and third-choice lawyers have all spoken to Tom. This is the strategy Logan had used earlier to divorce her mother. She understands that Logan was siding with Tom, leading to a rage-filled Shiv plotting revenge.

Of course, Kendall (Jeremy Strong) is always on board when it comes to hurting Logan. After talking to Sandy, Shiv and Kendall decide to vote against the GoJo sale to force Logan to get more money.

On the other side, Logan, having removed the children he could harass every day, decides to give fiery speeches in an uninspiring environment. Soon, he has to deal with something crucial - an outrageous audition tape. In what is Succession's most meme-worthy achievement in a long time, Kerry (Zoe Winters) submits an audition tape to be an anchor, leading to a disastrous decision resting on Logan.

Logan assigns it to Tom, who assigns it to Greg (Nicholas Braun). Getting the rejection from Tom must have hurt, but getting it from Greg is off-the-charts pain. However, Succession soon moves on to explore some other crucial things.

Conor (Alan Ruck) is having his rehearsal dinner. The siblings are late and almost discuss work in the face of their brother going through something difficult. Conor reveals that Willa (Justine Lupe) is having second thoughts before the wedding, which somehow seems to be coming anyway.

In a rare moment of genuine sympathy, the brothers finally bond, even though the scene was brief. Their eventual Karaoke night is then interrupted by Logan, who appeals to the human side of his children not to intercept the deal. After getting rebuked by Shiv, he leaves the room with no further words.

The final few moments of Succession season 4 episode 2 sees Roman going back to Logan's after Conor's party, where his father convinces him that he is needed and appreciated in the company. This suddenly generates a threat of breaking the siblings apart after their hard-found bonding.

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Succession's next episode will continue this story and explore what happens if Roman leaves. The first two episodes are now available for streaming on HBO Max.