WARNING: Spoilers for Succession Season 4 Episode 4 below.
Following the shocking death of family patriarch Logan Roy on last week’s Succession, the three siblings Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Roman (Kieran Culkin), and Shiv (Sarah Snook) gathered in their father’s spacious apartment for tense negotiations over who will serve as interim CEO and land the merger deal with Alexander Skarsgård’s Lukas Mattsson. There’s also a fight for Logan’s vast wealth in the background as his estranged wife Marcia (Hiam Abbass) suddenly appeared out of nowhere and claimed to still have intimate contact with the deceased media mogul while already selling off the apartment and icing out Kerry (Zöe Winters).
While the children think one of them is the obvious choice to lead the company, the Waystar Royco board is also squabbling amongst themselves over which exec should take the top spot instead of the kids. In a hilarious moment, Tom (Matthew Macfadyen) actually tries to throw his name in the ring, only to get ruthlessly eviscerated by Succession‘s underrated secret weapon, Karl (David Rasche).
The situation takes a turn, however, when a piece of paper is found that seemingly contains Logan’s last wishes. At some time in the past four years, Logan named Kendall as his successor. At a later date, he either crossed out or underlined Kendall’s name, which led to an extremely tense moment with Shiv. Sensing a potential foothold for the interim CEO position, she highlights that the name looks crossed off. Kendall returned her cut-throat move in kind by brutally saying, in front of everyone, that it “sure as sh*t doesn’t say Shiv.”
It was an ice-cold moment by Kendall, who’s already fully channeling his father’s ruthlessness by the end of the episode, and Succession fans were floored by the Shiv jab. You can see some of the reactions below:
https://twitter.com/thoughtsndtings/status/1647815790878662656
"it sure as fucking shit doesnt say shiv" is one of kendall's lowest moments im not taking questions at this time
— i am the eldest boy! (@vickykrieps) April 17, 2023
kendall: well, it sure as fucking shit doesn't say 'shiv
everyone in the room:#succession pic.twitter.com/1kKVnOJD1G
— . (@herboldsoul) April 17, 2023
Kendall really said "it sure as shit doesn’t say Shiv" #Succession #SuccessionHBO pic.twitter.com/0IUFYeLfSv
— Grake only cares about Kendall Roy (@myassistired) April 17, 2023
“Well it sure as shit doesn’t say Shiv” sorry but I’m GAGGED. Kendall getting LOW #SuccessionHBO
— 𝙥𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙥. 🤠 𐚁 (@phillip_tho) April 17, 2023
Kendall's "it sure as shit doesn’t say Shiv"#Succession #SuccessionHBO pic.twitter.com/jXApO4YjJS
— Grake only cares about Kendall Roy (@myassistired) April 17, 2023
“sure as shit didn’t say Shiv” oooo clocked her…. shiv im so sorry but that Kendall hitpiece will never be forgotten! pic.twitter.com/8kPkdUdGAc
— Music Enjoyer (@busyguy75) April 17, 2023
New episodes of Succession air Sunday on HBO.