Reaction Review: Succession Season 4 Episode 7: Tailgate Party
Written by Andreas Babiolakis
EPISODE SUMMARY
Warning: major spoilers for Succession season 4 episode 7, “Tailgate Party”, are throughout the entire review. Reader discretion is strongly advised.
Tom Wamsgans is making sure everything is just so when bringing Siobhan Roy (Shiv) a meal and poll updates: it is the eve of the election that Connor Roy is a part of, and there is a party that Logan Roy was to host before he died. Lukas Matsson texts Shiv during this exchange; it’s clear that he is still fond of her, at least as a friend. Tom, on the other hand, is trying too hard to be sultry with his awkward flirts, but he does gift Shiv a scorpion in plastic; it’s a present Shiv doesn’t understand. Tom states that Shiv is the scorpion, as they both kill each other despite their love. They both go on with their day. Elsewhere, Kendall — sunglasses and baseball cap and all — finds ex wife Rava on a bench. Their daughter, Sophie, is having issues at school concerning bullying (mainly surrounding ATN and its issues). Kendall gets defensive and accuses Rava of not taking care of their family.
Roman Roy is on his way to lunch with Shiv, Kendall and brother Connor to discuss funeral plans. During a call he has in the car, he asks Tom to find dirt on Matsson that they can leak. He arrives to the lunch, and Connor discusses how therapeutic it is to visit their dad at the morgue: something the other kids have clearly not done yet. Kendall asks if they can bring Nate Sofrelli — the political strategist that Shiv used to have a thing with — to the tailgate party. It appears to be okay with Shiv. Once all of the boys have left, Shiv calls Matsson and insists that he has to be at the event that evening: she is clearly playing both sides.
Tom and Shiv continue to send awkward sexts towards each other (the flirts feel so forced) when he and Greg address members of the Waystar Royco team remotely. Greg delivers the news of massive layoffs to all of the employees that are in the call. Tom leaves him to defend himself on his own. While setting up for the event (to be held at their place), Tom meets with Shiv away from the other preparations. She discloses how Kendall and Roman are trying to destroy the GoJo purchase of Waystar Royco. She also admits that they want to invite Nate, which clearly upsets Tom. Despite his displeasure, Tom pretends that it’s fine.
The pre-election party is on. Tom tries to team up with Greg to flatter Matsson when he arrives, but Greg insists that he is team “Ken-Ro”. Sure. Speaking of Ken-Ro, the two Roy boys discuss that Connor may need to drop out because of the support of opposition Jeryd Mencken for Waystar Royco. Nate shows up and Tom instantly grabs a glass of champagne to prepare. Roman pulls Connor aside and asks him to pull out. He laughs a hearty “no”. The only alternative is if Connor can relocate to Mogadishu, Somalia as a representative. He needs to ponder this. Kendall addresses the party with a speech, but then uses the opportunity to host a moment of silence for Logan. Of course this is the precise moment where Matsson arrives with his posse a little loudly. Kendall talks to him directly in front of everyone; it’s professional yet awkward. Kendall closes off and tells everyone to have fun before storming outside to ask the Roys why Matsson is here. Roman states that he was invited by Logan before his death; Shiv plays coy. Tom uses this opportunity to talk with Matsson right away; and the latter knows it’s ass kissing.
Shiv instructs Matsson who he needs to parlay with while she keeps an eye out for her brothers. Connor addresses Roman privately stating that Mogadishu isn’t going to happen. They go through a whole list of possible locations before settling on the Sultanate of Oman; he needs to ask his new wife before deciding. Meanwhile, Matsson is talking with Nate, and the former reveals that Tom is likely going to be cut as a higher up at ATN. Nate then talks to Kendall privately to express his condolences. Kendall uses this opportunity to try and connect with Nate in a business way but reinforces that the GoJo deal has to fall through. Nate needs to marinate on this partnership. Shiv and Matsson connect privately as well. Things look great until Shiv feels the need to ask “what have you done for me lately”. Matsson states that she can have whatever she wants. She demands a major role post merger. Matsson also needs to marinate on this choice.
Kendall spots Shiv and Matsson walking together. He then asks Greg to monitor Matsson. Shiv reconnects with Tom when he starts to hear word that he may be expendable. Shiv follows to discuss more. Nate tells Kendall that there likely won’t be a connection between their two companies and then confesses that he is feeling uncomfortable with this conversation; he leaves the tailgate party. Connor is talking with wife Willa about Oman and tells her this is because of Mencken. Meanwhile, Matsson upsets his head of communications, Ebba, and she bolts to go outside. Kendall and Roman console her and she admits that much of his stature is fabricated: he isn’t the techno wiz that her team has made him seem. She then brings up that the biggest concern right now is “India”: Matsson has been lying about his numbers with his business over in the South Asian country.
Roman and Kendall find Shiv and tell her their findings, while Greg tries to distract Matsson. Shiv zips to their conversation and insists that she and Matsson talk alone. She talks about the numbers right away, and he catches on about India. He admits that some subscriber numbers are a “little bit bullshit”: a metrics error that has skewed their India numbers to a drastic degree. Matsson states that GoJo buying Waystar would allow them to hide this information by next quarter when the numbers will be legitimate. He tries to sugar coat it by implying that Shiv will be able to use her upcoming powers to hide this, but she doesn’t really buy it. Roman finds Gerri at the tailgate party to tell her that he wasn’t actually firing her, yet she’s still irritated with him. She threatens to blackmail Roman if he doesn’t leave her alone and deliver her hundreds of millions of dollars.
Roman slinks over to Connor and Willa, but they have decided not to pull out. He starts threatening Connor and tells him that everyone thinks that he's a joke: Connor reminds him that Willa doesn’t. They both leave the room. The party gets quiet when Kendall and Matsson begin targeting each other personally; Kendall uses the opportunity to bring up the “numbers”. Matsson addresses the bloated numbers that Kendall had during the talk of Living+. Matsson leaves, and Tom looks like he’s leaving as well; he claims to be tired. He admits that he is aware that he is going to be fired from ATN. Shiv expresses concern about Matsson’s fudged numbers and how she has backstabbed her family for this liar. Tom doesn’t care, because he is more frustrated about the gossip about Tom’s impending termination. She brings up the scorpion present from earlier and the callousness of it all; she proceeds to call Tom a bunch of animals, including a snake and a hyena. Tom retorts that Shiv is self absorbed and states that they should have never even been married.
They continue to trade blows before Shiv claims that Tom used her for power and money. Shiv brings up how Tom betrayed the Roy kids to Logan for his own gain; Tom reminds her he would have gone to prison. He then states that she is too toxic to bear children with. Shiv then brings up that Tom’s choice stole the last six months of her dad’s life that she could have had with him. Shiv declares that Tom never deserved her before going back in. Kendall has a private talk with Frank Vernon about the discrepancies in India. He then asks if Waystar can instead buy GoJo and even states that Waystar Royco may operate better with just “one head” and “one crown”: Kendall’s own. Before we get resolution to that, we see Tom come back in to the party and he tells everybody to leave. Before everyone leaves, Roman brings up the funeral: a conversation no one has had all night. He asks if he can be the speaker at the funeral. The Roy kids all agree that this is fine. Post party, Shiv is alone in the dark and frozen in place after what had transpired before. Tom is in bed, but he cannot fall asleep: he cannot let go what has happened either.
FIRST REACTION
Somehow the Connor-centred episodes seem to be the best ones of season 4 so far (especially since, ironically, the episodes aren’t really about Connor at all; just the events in his life, be they his wedding or the election he has campaigned for). There’s something poetic about having this tailgate party at Shiv and Tom’s flat: they address their issues with everyone else but not each other. That is until the bombastic, climactic argument that Succession has been building towards for three and a half seasons. This marriage is built on lies, and to see it finally crumble for good is heartbreaking but also satisfying. I’m not a sadist, but the honesty here is some of the sharpest you’ll find on television today. Clearly Tom was resentful of the other men (Nate and Matsson) circling around Shiv and is feeling threatened — in the exact same way he knows his time is up at ATN (although I doubt Greg will be sent to terminate Tom, but you never know with this show).
Additionally, I would have been a bit sour if Matsson just showed up to stir the pot yet again with zero cracks in his armour, but Succession dropped a juicy tidbit at precisely the right time: he’s as full of shit as the Roy brothers are (okay, maybe not as full of shit). Kendall’s head has gotten bigger than it ever has, and the bombshell idea he drops at the end of the episode (to fulfil a solo-CEO takeover of GoJo) is insanely absurd. If Waystar Royco wasn’t fucked before, it most certainly is now. Meanwhile, Shiv is now unsure of GoJo herself, and she recognizes the same disloyalty that Tom exhibited with her dad that is now in herself.
Two things were barely talked about, and that’s the remarkable thing about the snakiness of Succession: the funeral details for Logan (who lives through the backsliding choices of his children, but that’s about it), and the election itself. What were the projected numbers? After all of the revelations of fudged numbers, I guess these election polls don’t matter. Connor recognizes this as well. He isn’t going to win. He’s still happy that he tried and has an actually loving wife (we hope) by his side. This is what real love is. Maybe Shiv and Tom had that one day. Maybe Tom wasn’t trying to marry into power. Once the never-happy couple labeled each other instead of supported one another, claws came out and they were fibbing their love ever since. It’s a tragic relationship that — at this point — is likely beyond repair. Without Shiv, Tom is likely done at ATN for good. Will he try to get Greg to do one last favour for him to keep him on board? We will have to see: there are honestly bigger concerns than Tom Wamsbans being the selfish fuck up that he is (but how I love his character anyway).
Final Grade: 4.5/5
Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Toronto Metropolitan University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.