After 4 fast-paced episodes of Succession left us breathless with birthdays, a wedding, karaoke, and loss of life, “Kill Checklist” feels a bit like a seventh inning stretch, an opportunity for the present—and the viewers—to take a break, seize a contemporary drink, and re-center earlier than the rest of the season. Episode 5 slows down the motion significantly, strolling us by the primary (and in some methods final) 24-ish hours of Roman and Kendall’s reign over Waystar Royco. At occasions, it appears like an earlier season episode, slowed down by enterprise discuss and negotiations (a lot of which, I’m not afraid to confess, went over my head). Paced by the back-and-forth of gives and counteroffers, it was additionally a reminder that a lot of what goes on in company America is painstakingly boring.

That’s to not say “Kill Checklist” is painstakingly boring. There are, unquestionably, nice moments inside the 60 minutes, and I’ll proceed to cherish each second I’ve left with these characters till the ultimate credit roll on the final episode. It’s simply that—they will’t all be winners, proper? Episode 5 left me extra disoriented than anything, and I’ve to imagine I’m not the one one. So, I’m laying out all of the questions rolling round my mind following “Kill Checklist.” Like, when did Greg grow to be the DeuxMoi of Waystar? Hopefully, we’ll get some solutions when subsequent Sunday rolls round.

Did Shiv simply show she needs to be the CEO?

It’s clear the “equal as fuck” deal made between the three siblings to separate the whole lot was very a lot lip service on Roman and Kendall’s half. In reality, that was clear the second the Surprise Trio make their settlement on the wake. What’s unclear, although, is whether or not Shiv knew her brothers have been simply attempting to appease her and push her out of the way in which. Shiv spends the start of episode 5 a step behind the brand new CEOs, seemingly falling prey to each one in all their traps. However both she was feigning ignorance or she rapidly catches on, as a result of by the top of the hour, Shiv manages to benefit from an HR nightmare, out sensible all of them, and find yourself in a extra favorable place than both Kendall or Roman. Possibly, Logan underestimated his solely daughter, and it ought to have been her identify unceremoniously underlined on the paper.

And that’s not even mentioning her actions with Tom. Shiv has all the time jerked Wambsgans round, however at this level, it’s getting ridiculous. She laughs off her brothers’ comfort proposal to “reduce his throat,” however when she encounters her ex later within the episode, she acts particularly infantile, dirtying his pearly white footwear (against the law that, truthfully, is likely to be punishable by loss of life among the many sneakerhead group). It’s a continuation of the “she loves him, she loves him not” we’ve gotten for 3 and a half seasons now, ending with a basic quid professional quo trade that seemingly interprets to “she won’t love him, however she’s sexy.” Possibly, she’s using excessive on her victory, or maybe, after enjoying the position of token lady at some stage in the journey, she needed to flip the ability swap and ship somebody a half-liter of her personal blood (hypothetically talking). Or, she’s feeling sentimental, and needs to do one thing good for the (assumed) father of her youngster, conserving him off the “Kill Checklist” so her youngster can develop up in a twin revenue family.

Why would anybody give Connor carte blanche for something, ever?

Because the Waystar Royco crew ascends a mountain earlier than the primary of many negotiations with Matson, Roman will get a name from Connor, who’s again in New York and ironing out the main points for Logan’s funeral. It appears they didn’t go together with the “off the rack” choice like Kendall recommended, and now Marcia is pushing her agenda, which includes putting the just lately deceased in a kilt. The Waystar staff could also be coping with a multibillion-dollar negotiation, however Connor needs some excessive stakes of his personal. To be truthful, this may doubtless be a reasonably salient funeral, however that additionally leads me again to my query of: why would you set Connor in cost? The forgotten son has confirmed he has no love misplaced for his father. I wouldn’t be stunned if he used his affect over what’s going to doubtless be a significant political occasion to additional his personal marketing campaign’s agenda. And I wouldn’t be stunned if, ultimately, sending Roman a graphic picture of Logan at an inopportune time turns into the least of Connor’s infractions.

What number of insults can the writers provide you with for Gerri, Karl, and Frank?

Really, we type of get the reply to this one, and it’s loads. The jabs start with the uninspired, “the march of the emperor penguins” from Roman in the beginning of the episode—and hardly subside from there. Matson will get a number of good ones in, labeling the trio “the village elders” and my private favourite, “boiled eggs.” In reality, in a matter of an episode, Karl and Frank grow to be the previous fogies there for a gag and a great time. From their coordinating compression socks on the flight to their matching robes outdoors the sauna—they’ve the makings of a spot-on curmudgeon uniform.

The worst (or finest, relying on the way you have a look at it) insult wasn’t directed on the older threesome, however a trio I’m now calling the Triangle of Unhappiness—Roman, Kendall, and Shiv. When the negotiations attain a head and Matson calls the entire second-gen Waystar operation a “tribute band”? Yeah, that was a slight above all others, one which’s going to get introduced up in remedy for years to come back.

Is Matson for actual?

Possibly it’s simply me, however I can not get a learn on Matson. At first, when he and Shiv break up off from the remainder of the group for some one-on-one hygge time, I used to be certain he was enjoying her. However because the dialog continues, his motives grow to be much more blurry. In comparison with Kendall and Roman, he’s a cool, conventionally good-looking, absurdly rich and highly effective man who all the time is aware of what to say, however it looks as if, simply perhaps, he has his personal socially inept aspect too. Scotch and coke flip right into a fact serum as Matson and Shiv open up to one another—a story of 1 damaged relationship for one more. However whereas Shiv’s story is the basic “I broke his coronary heart and he broke mine,” Matson tells the less-often heard, “I can’t cease sending my comms director half liters of my blood” like a one-sided Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton. I watched this second again and again and I genuinely can not learn it. The entire thing is surreal and feels particularly unusual in a straight-shooting present like Succession. Sure, characters have carried out bizarre, sick, terrible issues, however this vampiric story is on one other stage.

Am I the socially unaware one? Is Matson joking? Is that apparent to Shiv? She jumps into disaster response choices as if the situation have been actual, however that might simply be her enjoying alongside. A person who misplaced that a lot blood would doubtless be within the hospital awaiting a transfusion, not frolicking round a Norwegian mountain. Set on this lovely, but creepy wooded setting, the entire thing left me shaken, like I’d unintentionally modified the channel to an Ari Aster-directed horror movie. For the fifteen remaining minutes of this episode, I most likely had the same look on my face to Kendall and Roman’s once they obtained Matson’s last provide: confused, defeated, and a little bit queasy.