The Succession Season 4 Premiere Puts Logan Roy In Uncharted Territory

This piece contains spoilers for the "Succession" season 4 premiere.

"I've never seen Logan get f***ed once," declared Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen) last season on "Succession." The Roy family patriarch has a talent for pulling victory from the jaws of defeat. Just look at the season 3 finale, "All The Bells Say." The episode built up to the Roy siblings, Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Shiv (Sarah Snook), and Roman (Kieran Culkin), finally uniting and standing up to Logan after he decided to sell off Waystar Royco, their family company and birthright, to tech CEO Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård).

It looked like the siblings might finally get one over on their abusive father. But then, at the last minute, it turned out that, thanks to a tip-off by Tom, Logan had reached out to their mother Caroline (Harriet Walter) and gotten their divorce settlement rewritten to remove the siblings' veto power over the merger. A flabbergasted Shiv declared, "We just walked in on Mom and Dad f***ing us."

Season 4 begins with "The Munsters," set months after that finale. Logan isn't on speaking terms with his kids. Echoing the pilot, it's his birthday, but Connor (Alan Ruck) is the only one of his kids attending this time. However, the Roy children soon find themselves in conflict with their father again and prove Logan's unf***able reputation may not be so ironclad.

"The Munsters" lays out some details about the deal between Waystar and Matsson's company GoJo, which is 48 hours to go from completion. While GoJo takes most of Waystar's assets, Logan will keep the news network ATN. His true passion has always been for spreading right-wing propaganda as far and wide as can be. That's why back in season 2, Logan tried to buy out rival network PGM from the Pierce family. If the Roy clan is the Murdochs and ATN Fox News, then the Pierces are the Sulzbergers, old-money publishing stewards of the New York Times. The Pierce deal fell through back in the season 2 episode, "Argestes." But now it turns out that on the heels of the Waystar-GoJo deal, Logan is biting at his rival again — and Nan Pierce (Cherry Jones) is considering saying yes.

On their dad's birthday, the Roy siblings are pitching a new media company, "The Hundred," to investors. Kendall calls it "Substack meets Masterclass meets The Economist meets The New Yorker." After Tom calls Shiv to let her know he met with Naomi Pierce (Annabelle Dexter-Jones), they realize Logan is trying to acquire PGM again. So they decide to beat him to the punch.

The Roy siblings fly out to get face time with Nan and Naomi, then convince her to reopen the sale. While Nan hates Logan's guts, she has a soft spot for Shiv, the only woman and lone Liberal in the Roy family. What follows is a bidding war, even if Nan refuses to let it be called that. The Roy siblings decide to seal the deal by overbidding $10 billion. Nan declines to hear any more offers from Logan, so he finally breaks his silence and calls his kids: "Congratulations on saying the highest number you f***ing morons."

Not only did Logan lose, his kids beat him. It's a stunning reversal from the season 3 finale, and the siblings relish having gotten under their dad's skin. But while Logan is the loser of "The Munsters," "Succession" is a series of rope-and-dopes. The season 2 finale, "This Is Not For Tears," ended with the implication Kendall would be taking down his father — then he instead spent season 3 spiraling. Season 3 Episode 5, "Retired Janitors of Idaho," was the culmination of the long-awaited investor vote for control of Waystar, but despite the odds stacked against the Roys, continuity prevailed.

There's a whole season left to go (though "Succession" will officially end with season 4), and a lot could happen in those remaining episodes. Even if they're united as the new owners of PGM, how long can the "Rebel Alliance" last? In the season 4 trailer, Logan is heard telling his kids, "I love you, but you are not serious people." It's maybe the nicest thing he's ever told them and, with knowledge of the premiere's events, a sign he's not taking his loss lying down.

"Succession" airs on HBO and streams on HBO Max every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET.