Kill List (Succession)

Kendall arrives at Waystar for his first day as co-CEO with Roman. The company learns GoJo wants Waystar's entire executive team to attend their annual corporate retreat in Norway to assess their "cultural fit", which the old guard takes as a sign that Matsson is indeed interested in going through with the acquisition; however, the siblings see it as an affront given the recent death of their father. The Roys' price minimum is $144 per share.

In Norway, however, Matsson surprises Kendall and Roman with an offer of $187 per share for Waystar's whole operation—including ATN, which was not part of the original terms. Kendall and Roman are uncomfortable selling their father's prized possession while the senior team is eager to push the sale through for the increased price. Shiv also informs her brothers that ATN is colluding with Jeryd Mencken's presidential campaign; she is content to give ATN up due to the network's right-wing politics and the potential scandal that would arise if news of the collusion was leaked.

Later in the day, the two sides sit down together over a meal. Tom and Greg attempt to gain favor with the GoJo team, while the other Waystar executives - particularly Hugo - take antagonistic approaches to their counterparts. The siblings attempt to renegotiate the terms of the deal with Matsson so they can keep ATN, arguing that he fundamentally misunderstands its value, but Matsson refuses to budge. Roman eventually agrees to pass on his offer to the board, but that night, Kendall tells Roman he wants to torpedo the entire deal so the two of them can continue running Waystar. Roman is initially apprehensive defying his father's dying wish, but eventually agrees; neither of them inform Shiv. They agree that Matsson must be manipulated into backing out of the deal himself since either of them calling it off would violate their fiduciary duty to shareholders and consequently get them fired by the board. Kendall later tasks Greg with leaking to the press that Waystar and GoJo's teams are not getting along, hoping to place pressure on Matsson to back out of an acquisition.

Shiv, meanwhile, meets privately with Matsson, who reveals that he was romantically involved with Ebba, his head of PR, but that after the relationship soured, he repeatedly sent her half a liter of his own frozen blood. Shiv, both disturbed and amused, advises him on how to avoid a public scandal and recommends him to Gerri. Matsson tells Shiv he enjoys her company and that she reminds him of Logan.

The next morning, Kendall and Roman ride a cable car to meet Matsson atop a mountain; Roman is unsettled when Connor, who is planning Logan's funeral, sends him an image of Logan's corpse. On the mountain, Matsson, who has deduced the brothers' attempts to botch the deal, confronts them, telling them their father would be embarrassed by their incompetence, and threatening to bypass them by going directly to Waystar's senior brass to see the deal through. Roman snaps and berates Matsson for summoning them to the retreat mere days after Logan's death, and openly calls off the deal. Matsson, however, is amused, claiming Roman has played into his hands.

On the return flight, the company learns Matsson has made a new offer of $192 per share; Matsson delivers the offer through Frank and refuses to speak directly with Roman and Kendall. The senior executives are elated and immediately pass the offer on to the board. They applaud Kendall and Roman, unaware they were actually trying to ruin the deal. However, they learn that Matsson plans to retain most of his own executive team rather than Waystar's, with only Tom, Gerri, and Karolina getting to keep their jobs. Matsson calls Shiv and asks her to send him a photo of her brothers' dismayed faces. Shiv then tasks Tom with firing Cyd for conspiring with Mencken's campaign and invites him to dinner upon their return home.

"Kill List" was written by Jon Brown and Ted Cohen and directed by Andrij Parekh. It is Brown's fourth writing credit and Cohen's second, and Parekh's fifth episode as a director. Parekh characterized the overseas-set episode as a "double whammy of [the characters] not being in their own element, but also emotionally being on the back foot, with the patriarch having passed away."^[1]

Nicholas Quah of Vulture felt the episode's characterization of Lukas Matsson evoked Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson, suggesting Matsson lived in "a constant swirl of apathy and exasperation" that echoed Persson's own accounts of his wealth-induced depression and loneliness. Quah also inferred that Persson's controversial political views and matching background as a Swedish tech billionaire were other points of reference for the Matsson character.^[2] Actor Alexander Skarsgård stated, "I don't think he's driven by greed or the need to accumulate more wealth. (...) He's very competitive -- just like a game, any other game. It happened to be about a multibillion-dollar company acquisition. But for him, it's like any other game."^[3]

The series filmed on location in Norway's Møre og Romsdal county for the episode, primarily around the town of Åndalsnes. Executive producer Scott Ferguson recounted that a Scandinavian setting was part of Succession creator Jesse Armstrong's vision for the series' tech-company storyline; Norway was chosen for its "remarkable architecture" and exceptional landscape", as well as practicalities it afforded to the filming schedule, such as the proximity of an airport to key production locations.^[4]

Filming locations included the Juvet Landscape Hotel — featured prominently in film Ex Machina and serving here as both Kendall and Roman's living quarters and a stand-in for Matsson's home — as well as Eggen Restaurant and the Romsdalen Gondola, the latter being the only form of transport to the restaurant. The restaurant sits atop Nesaksla Mountain, where Kendall and Roman's final negotiation with Matsson was filmed. The episode also features numerous landscape shots of the surrounding Geirangerfjord, as well as establishing shots filmed on both the Atlantic Ocean Road and Trollstigen, a mountainside road known for its steep hairpin bends.^[4][5]

The episode's opening scene is a callback to the series' pilot episode, which also depicts Kendall listening to rap music on his way to work.^{[6][7][8][9][10]}