Another week, another excruciating episode of Succession. Season four, episode six of the hit HBO show saw each character crank up the dial on their insanity levels. As the interim CEO bros, Kendall and Roman, attempt to launch their late father's retirement housing project Living+, their prospective buyer Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgard) watches on in disdain.
The episode, following Lukas' bulky offer to buy the Roy's media empire Waystar Royco, sees the brothers desperately attempt to exercise as much power in the company as possible before it's torn off them. Roman (Kieran Culkin) runs around town firing crucial senior staff, Kendall (Jeremy Strong) has what seems to be another identity crisis as he plans a bizarre Living+ presentation for investors, and Shiv (Sarah Snook) plays mind games with her estranged husband Tom (Matthew Macfayden).
What happened during Kendall's presentation?
Just before they were due to go on stage, younger brother Roman pulled out of the joint presentation in fear of humiliating himself. CFO Karl (David Rasche) warned Kendall that he'd withdraw his support if he fudged the numbers in his presentation as he had planned. And as an audience, we sat anticipating another version of the 'Too Much Birthday' episode, where Kendall exposed himself as a reckless and delusional fool.
However, in a shock twist the CEO did away with his earlier ideas of a mock retirement home and fake clouds on stage, and delivered an engaging and somewhat convincing presentation. Matsson, meanwhile, tuned in angrily from home – having already asked Shiv to kill the project because he did not want to inherit it.
What did Alexander Skarsgard tweet?
After a round of applause from the audience and a resounding sigh of relief from the Waystar team watching backstage, Kendall opened the floor for questions. The first of which was how he felt about buyer-elect Matsson's tweet.
The tech disruptor tweeted a dopey dog mascot that had been photoshopped in front of a picture of the gates of a concentration camp during the talk with the phrase 'Doderick Macht Frei.' It is supposedly a twisted play on the phrase 'Arbeit macht frei,' a German phrase that means 'Work sets you free' and was sent to mock Kendall's presentation. Doderick is the company logo - referenced fleetingly earlier in the episode, with a poster of a film Doderick And Friends. And if you cast your minds all the way back to season one cousin Greg dressed up (and was sick in) a Doderick costume during his disastrous stint working at a Waystar theme park.
Kendall was forced to react to the offensive tweet live on stage and said Matsson was 'very European' and that often people come across differently to how they intended on social media. Matsson then swiftly deleted the tweet. The scene made for very uncomfortable viewing and seemed designed to expose the callous personality politics of media and tech moguls. If things continue along this path, the final four episodes could get very ugly indeed.