Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Succession season 4, episode 9!
Shiv Roy and Lukas Matsson make a new deal with President Mencken in Succession season 4, episode 9, setting up Succession's saddest ending. The GoJo deal is finally being set in stone, with Shiv and Matsson seemingly tying off the acquisition's last loose ends. However, this decision could prove to be a bad choice, setting up the worst possible outcome for the Succession finale.
Succession season 4 is the final season of HBO's beloved comedy-drama, with the series chronicling the Roy family as they attempt to run Waystar Royco. The stories of seasons 3 and 4 mostly focus on GoJo, a Swedish company ran by Lukas Matsson that hopes to buy out Waystar Royco. Kendall and Roman are fully against this, preferring to continue running the company themselves. Shiv, on the other hand, is a big fan of the deal, with her attempting to get in good with Matsson before it goes through. While things are going their way for now, it's likely that Shiv and Matsson's Mencken deal will go horribly wrong.
Shiv & Matsson's Mencken Deal Sets Up A Roy War For Succession's Ending
Kendall and Roman's plan to subvert GoJo's acquisition of Waystar Royco was to get Jeryd Mencken elected president, with him promising to block the deal once in office. While Mencken did get elected, Shiv found a way to get around Mencken's potential block. Shiv and Matsson proposed that Shiv would become the CEO of GoJo's American operations, something that Mencken surprisingly approved of. While this means that Shiv could end up winning, it is also setting up a Roy war for Succession's ending.
Having found out about Shiv's deal with Mencken, Kendall and Roman decide to take a drastic measure: going to the board. The two co-CEOs are going to attempt to force Shiv's deal to die, with this battle presumably taking place in Succession's series finale. Rather than the siblings growing closer, this Roy war will only push them apart, setting up a pretty tragic ending for Succession.
Why Nobody Will Truly Win In Succession's Ending
Although Succession has always revolved around the mystery of which Roy will be the victor, Shiv and Matsson's deal cements that no one will truly win in the end. No matter who has the highest position at the company, each member of the Roy family will have burned so many bridges and undercut so many loved ones that they will only be left alone. While money is their main motivator, none of Succession's characters will wind up truly happy.
This tragic ending is heavily foreshadowed by Logan, who was in this exact same position before his death. At Logan's funeral, his brother Ewan gives a scalding recount of Logan's life, pointing out how miserable and harmful he was. Although each of the Roys hate Logan, they are all going down the exact same path, meaning that Kendall, Roman, Shiv, and the rest of the cast will actually lose at the end of Succession.
New episodes of Succession air Sundays on HBO.