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Both Mencken and Mattson are the only ones operating at a high level business wise in terms of their ability to extract value from relationships without giving anything up.
Mattson didn't have to deal with weasels trying to steal GoJo from him, he had a loyal team so he work with focus. Mencken is a politician and got to the top like how all politicians do...being a weasel themselves. match made in heaven.
Shiv really has no leverage at all. Scheming on behalf of Mattson, with no guarantee that he won't stab her in the back when the time comes. And I feel like he definitely will.
Absolutely, at no time was Matsson convinced to give Shiv an important position. Shiv is being very reckless, working for him practically "for free" and handing over the company to him without any guarantee
@@laimejannister5627 Yes, but without being a CEO, which is what she wants. After all, it is what the three want, otherwise they would not have made such a mess and sold at the beginning of the season. I think they would even consider it a loss to just sell, it's not what they're really looking for. As Kendall told Matsson: "already rich"
Her only leverage is knowing about his blood sharing habits and faking the subscriptions. Mattson will backstab her but she will take him down with her. But doubt she will get anything in the end.
The acting is fascinating here. Mencken, obviously displeased at what he's being sold initially, and Matsson picking up on that, nervously drinking away, seeing at what Mencken is picking up on, eventually hitting the right cord.
@@jackchop1576 He also mispronounces "Saint Augustine" in season 3. Great way to show Mencken as a sort of flaky dilettante who isn't really that well-read, but simply borrows historical iconography to lend some kind of profundity to his own prejudices. Turns out it works in America.
The actor who played Mechken did a wonderful job. Watching the scene where Kendall approaches him and this one back to back, you can just tell by his facial movements and body language which party he takes more seriously.
"I thought you hated me". That line to Shiv and the line to Kendall about being the soundsytem and wanting to pick the track were so sinister from Mencken. He seems to want nothing more to do with the Roy's anymore after he got what he wanted. I could totally see him screw Ken/Roman by allowing the GOJO deal go through and then block Shiv from being CEO as part of the deal.
@@zb3645 I’m not sure spiraling is the correct term, but she’s being used. She’s made good moves to help keep Mattsons deal alive, but isn’t gonna get anything in return (besides money from waystar sale) if she succeeds.
When Matsson calls Shiv at the end to tell her Mencken accepted I reckon he made a deal that Shiv would not be CEO. Would make no sense for Mencken to want Shiv, who despises him, to be at the top of Waystar.
I know Justin Kirk as Andy on Weeds and man, I always thought he was so fine. It feels wrong to think that while watching him in this role- he's so good at looking EVIL. Like damn.
Dude has been absolutely crushing every scene he is in. He doesn't show up much but he absolutely nails the charmingly cunning and unsettling evil character.
Goddd, they make this so real. I've had conversations like this, where people step over each other trying to make a difficult request and don't quite know how to ask it and fumble around.
Shiv is being played so hard but yet again her faults are laid bare whereby she has no clue she is being played while truly believing she's about to pull off an immense play against her brothers.
She is not as smart as she thinks she is. Rhea called that on Season 2. She knows nothing about business world. Also, she's giving the best liability in front of those men: Being Pregnant. Nobody wants a pregnant woman being a CEO as she will have her own maternity leave for 2-3 months. Who's going to take over the company when your CEO isn't there for her maternity leave? Also, Mencken and Mattson agreed to have an American CEO and the first think in everyone's mind to hear American CEO is a man. So, both of Mencken and Mattson played some words to confuse Shiv and Shiv thought she's the one. So, Mattson lets Shiv going on her way first only to interview Tom later which becomes 2 birds 1 stone to Shiv as 2 of the men whom she used killed her altogether.
Utterly fascinating scene. We finally got to see Matsson putting aside the tech bro clown act and really having to make a hard sell, and he came across intriguingly antsy the whole time given the stakes involved. It was also a bold and compelling choice basically framing this scene from the POV of Mencken - an otherwise repugnant character - as the person being mobbed by all the pitching. Felt like a more high-stakes mirror of a similar scene in episode 7 where Shiv is getting a thrill mediating the negotiation between Matsson and Nate (on the opposite end of the political spectrum), where Matsson similarly had to put on a "serious businessman" act. And also a brilliant follow-up to season 1's penultimate episode which saw Shiv broker a similar deal between Logan and Gil, himself an extreme politician who tempered his views for profit.
@Trevor Distance he's not that serious haha. He's just more skilled at this type of pitching. However he's got those garbage India numbers, sending Ebba blood bricks and just overall the way he treats her, and then Ebba said he's not even that skilled of a coder - that he got a 'box of tech' and brought it to market.
he made a mistake in interrupting Mencken so many times though, I don't think he liked that I think Mencken wants these people to know they work for him not the other way around.
@@brandonwhite4992 the indian numbers are fake dude, it was a ruse to get royco to give a bad initial offer for gojo which then allows Mattson to potentially sue for injurious falsehood. The blood story was fake too. Mattson is playing shiv to soften up her brothers so he can then go in for the kill with them divided on shares and decision making. Do you really think ebba and mattson are going to purposely go to a party and then randomly just leak sensitive corporate info on a whim? that was obviously a plot and the roys were too stupid to notice.
They aren't discussing Shiv. They're discussing Tom. He's competent, obedient, and not independently ultra-wealthy. Watch Mattson's reaction to Shiv and Greg telling him that Tom's missing the funeral because there's a lot going on at ATN offices that he needs to oversee. Mencken and Mattson are going to push to make Tom CEO. Whether or not Kendall can get that info from Ebba and figure out a way to counter them is the real question.
Also, in most of everyone thought when they heard American CEO, it would be a male not a female. Also, Shiv is pregnant and it will bring the biggest liability for her to be CEO as she will have a maternity leave for 2-3 months.
@@ADifferentVibe Tom would be a better Greg imo. Ken getting along with Mattson, screwing over his family would be interesting. Can't rule out Stewie, Frank, etc either, but eh.
Greg def not but that’s not his strength, he’s the dirty work guy. He gets stuff done consistently and is one of the only people in the show not blinded by ego. He won’t be the #1 but he definitely won’t lose
In King Lear, the Cordelia-France alliance, which represents a separate locus of power to that of England and is just as powerful, is brought to battle by the Britons- all of them- Albany (who argues that while he disagrees with all the evil that has gone on, they must fight to defend England from foreign control), Gloucester’s forces under Edmund, Goneril and Regan who win decisively. It is possible that the board rallies behind Kendall, Roman and Connor who might together seek to keep their father’s company American-owned and American-operated. At the end of the day, if Roman after the ending of S4e09 is prepared to sacrifice himself to scupper the deal, so that Mattson loses, it is possible for Kendall to spin a tale such that Mencken, Mattson, Shiv and Roman were all in it together from the start to hand over control of an American news corporation to a Swedish billionaire. Tom and Greg can corroborate that it was Shiv and Roman who outvoted Kendall, to force ATN to declare Mencken as President-Elect presumptuously. Kendall seized power under a cloud, but there is nothing like the presumption of an outside threat to rally the board. It is likely that here, Jimenez is declared the proper President-Elect and Mencken loses big-time.
In Maatson's shoes, I would think that making comparisons between Mencken's outsider candidate "overturn the status quo" status and Maatson's wish to transform the news through ATN would be an easy, logical pitch and not the technobabble he ends up stammering out in this scene.
Tom will win and Greg becomes number 2. Loyalty always wins. From Tom and greg sticking with Logan turning against entitled wife and turning down 250million inheritence.
She played too many sides and kept too many options open too many times. No one trusts her and she has no real leverage from a business perspective except for hearsay secrets.
@@miseendriste6337 Shiv's unique flaw is that of all the siblings she's the only one that had no experience. Logan offered her an in if she went with a multi-year training plan which she rejected.
This is the moment when Matsson decided (or at least considered) that Shiv would never be CEO. Shiv would make a terrible puppet in any political climate and least of all under Mencken. Meanwhile Tom, a professional punching bag, literally got him elected with ATN.
Mattson actually questioned Shiv quality to run a company and Mencken did not trust Shiv at all. Don’t think Shiv could end up become the new CEO. Roman breakdown during Logan funeral showed he was a laughing stock for the old guards, but also unveiled Gerri had a soft spot for him. Gerri may at the end help Roman but suspect he could become a new CEO. Greg honestly was a nobody but very sneaky. Do not think he could become the new CEO but should be comfortable to get one top spot of new Waystar. Kendall throughout the whole season was becoming Logan. Like in America Decide episode, he was struggling between being a good dad who care about her daughter or keeping Waystar and ended up choosing the latter. At the end GoJo may not be able to takeover Waystar due to the fake subscription scandal hurting its valuation and thus the ability to raise debt for the takeover deal. Maybe it could ended up a merger deal instead, but honestly I believe the deal of Logan was the best which is spinning off ATN, as ATN reputation could hurt GoJo and Waystar. However, I think Tom may end up a pawn to be sacrificed as publicly it was Tom decision to declare Mencken as the winner. They could all just push the faults to Tom.
true, but my question is why is Mattson even calling her back after finding out the deal is in? the logical thing here to do would be to put Tom in charge because Mencken likes Tom for ideology stuff. What use is telling shiv about Mencken agreeing at this point? maybe they just did it for narrative reasons, but I think eventually Mattson will backstab shiv for mencken to get the deal, and then shiv will threaten to expose the gojo numbers (which are fake leak from ebba) and the blood story (which was also fake).
Good points. I don't think Roman or Shiv will end up CEO. Too many breakdowns in emotions and trust with no leverage. They may snag top spots of companies but not top dog. Tom is going to be scapegoated. Greg will be up with either Kendall if the latter is chosen or someone else. That's how I think it will go down but we'll see next week.
@@ADifferentVibe lmao imagine greg as ceo hahahaha but nah he is too incompetent, the only 2 viable options are kendall and tom kendall has a race mixed family though, mencken likely will not want him because of that alone he even says "I don't want some motherf*ckers in my tent" I think way this plays is shiv's stupidity will be used by mattson to bait kendall into lowballing gojo with the fake ebba numbers, mattson then sues for injurious falsehood to create leverage over the deal, and because kendall has a giant ego now as he thinks he is logan 2.0 he will buyout gojo at a stupid price since kendall does not understand the value of money at all or how tenuous his wealth is. The winner I think will end up being Tom, but tom will have to betray shiv in order to get his position as I doubt Mencken would allow shiv anywhere near the reins of his propaganda machine. That is assuming Mencken's presidency is not contested somehow.
The numbers did come to light. In the church before the funeral Shiv asked Matsson how the press with numbers was being received, and he said that it was being taken better then expected because they went out ahead and let people know instead of trying to cover it up.
Shiv is getting thrown down the bus 100%. Out of the 3 she seems the most desperate and dumb (no offence). Ken is smart and knows how to rally the troops in his favour and almost pulled it off when Logan was alive. Roman is smart enough to know since his father’s demise, his brother is the only one with the balls and brains to shoo away Matsson
My take is that Lukas is going to withdraw the offer, the guys are going to stay at Waystar but the board is going to get them out of the way and someone else will end up as CEO.
My money on Tom or Gerri. The show will somewhat lose its gloss if Kendall “becomes” Logan all of a sudden. I think it may look like Kendall winning and then shiv will leak the waiter drowning story, culminating in Kendall having to be sidelined. Mattson will play Shiv and she won’t have a role either. All these children will realize they gave their power to outsiders like Mencken or Mattson with their infighting and lack of strategic sense. These outsiders will betray them all. Or I am just hoping for a satisfying finale where all of them lose out.
@@Mopark25 tbh every prediction made has fallen flat I think it would be more of an open ending that’s the beauty of succession it’s not big twist which keeps happening it’s just small small twists that keep happening in between and leads to it
It's strange, I don't see Mencken agreeing to any of our characters as the CEO - Kendall did well in the speech, and Mencken might respect that show, but he doesn't really respect Kendall himself, as we see when the 2 talk. He seems irritated by him in truth, and probably knows that he wasn't keen/enthusiastic about getting him elected. He, for obvious reasons, doesn't respect or like Shiv, and probably doesn't like Matsson either. Connor is a non issue, and despite what we've seen of Greg, Mencken hasn't seen any of that development, so probably thinks he's a stupid hanger-on whose trying to ingratiate himself. He likes/liked Roman (we can see that from his expression when Roman comes to speak to him vs all the others) but he's probably turned off by the eulogy breakdown - hence the ribbing and teasing. I'm not sure if that means he no longer trusts Roman to run the new Waystar in his favour but it seems likely. I genuinely think that it's between Tom and Roman if he actually has agreed to anyone - he has the rapport with Roman, and knows that Roman pushed the button, but he seen a very big weakness in Roman that didn't seem to exist before. He would probably also know that Tom helped make the final call for him, and he's already the head of ATN, and his been weathering the storm to keep Mencken on air, even to his own detriment (Shiv's disapproval, PGN publically blaming him for the miscall, and his lack of sleep though Mencken wouldn't know that). But of course, he doesn't know Tom or his politics (or lack of), and fascists like to know that the people they work with won't balk at what they plan (hence why Roman was so appealing to him). I genuinely don't know. It's insane how literally anyone could be argued for or against
Tom is the only serious person there’s ever been in the kid's zone. Uncle Ewen should’ve been the winner. But life, I predict an Uncle Huan, Lukas Madison together with Tom, and I’m going to throw Rory in and Prez Mankin just for fun.
I might be a mile off here but I've got a feeling Matsson is talking about making Greg CEO. Makes sense. He's clearly intimidated by Mattson so he'd be easy to control whereas Shiv would just be a pain in his ass.
Shiv kind of biffed it with Mattson here. Showed him that she was unable to put aside her political ideologies and simply compliment or profess loyalty to the new far right pres. This is the first time he realizes she cannot be his CEO
Shiv is a joke. The same as Roman, with the only talent, is to believe they are ready for the big job. Kenny has been longer and preparing himself for the post. However, he realizes he needs to be a killer for it. Shiv and Rom would tank ATN in a week. Last, Shiv is so full of herself that she thinks she is manipulating Matsson when it is the other way around. The Swedish will eat her for dessert.
i dont know if theyre supposed to show that shiv is as bad as the other 2, but i just believe at this point that she is the WORST. too naive and too proud. so weak that both tom and greg have put one in her back. and soon, matsson and mencken.
I just can't win with Shiv bootlickers. They cried so much about previous episode calling Roman all these names and making her some paragon of social justice when it's clear she'd obviously work with and for someone she hates as long as it's in her best interest.
@@MyaB1986 i cant believe people still think she's any good at all as the series progresses. she's not even half as good as roman or kendall, business-wise or morality-wise. just running on pure emotion and arrogance, not even smart enough to realise that greg had a real leverage on her and then tried to bully him into submission because she was too proud to make a deal with greg. there's no way she's gonna end up anywhere near the top at the end of the series.
@@bill000 kendall didnt shoot someone it was a car crash and he tried to save the guy. and gerri was enabling roman while it served her interests. shiv told tom she wanted an open marriage on their wedding night, and was ready to give him up on many occassions like he was nobody. no wonder tom didnt even believe her on the pregnancy.
@@bill000 idk why people keep saying kill. Like he murdered him. He didn't even drive the car of the road, that kid himself did. So no, Kendall didn't kill anyone. If he was tried he'd be brought down with lesser punishment only because the crime he committed in this case is failure to render aid. When you're in this kind of situation, you're obligated to either help or call for help which he didn't. And people need to stop minimizing the actual crimes by calling the lesser crimes or bad behaviour the same name. Like being in a car with someone who died - killing, or working for low pay - slavery, or sexual harrasment - rape. The world is not that black and white.
Shiv gives the shiv. How fitting . Yes, she sometimes can’t focus on just one or two things, BUT…that’s where Mattson comes in. Two imperfect folks who can cancel out their flaws and give the best presentation. Roman showed this week he doesn’t have IT. The guts. The ability to take the punch . Kendall can but he can’t. And both ceos need to do that. Shiv and M can do it. And Menken is smart enough to see it. He wants winners. Not folders.
i’m sorry but this move from mencken makes no sense to me. isn’t he a racist? no way he’d go for this. makes no sense. he’s got full support of the Roy bros if he axes the deal. can someone explain how this doesn’t break his character?
I mean racist fascist it’s all terms used by these donkeys just to scare people he has not said anything racist in that capacity in the end it’s all business who benefits from whom that’s all there is to it
Mencken, like everyone else in the show, is about power at the end of the day, and he'll make whatever deal benefits him most. Plus, unprincipled capitalists like the Roys provide great cover for bigotry.