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Spoilers for Succession ahead.
Marcia! Where the hell have you been, loca?
Succession season four, episode four was packed with revelations: Shiv is 20 weeks pregnant. An old document is unearthed in which Logan named Kendall as his successor at Waystar Royco (then either underlined or crossed out his son’s name … who can say?). Kendall and Roman end up taking the reins of the company, and Shiv finds herself shut out once again.
And, at last … Marcia Roy is back.
This comes on the heels of “Connor’s Wedding,” an episode which we now know was less about Connor and Willa tying the knot and more about Logan Roy grumpily shuffling off this mortal coil. When Kendall arrives at Logan’s opulent apartment for his father’s wake, he ineloquently speaks for all of us when he stammers: “Oh, hello, Marcia. And where have you … when did you get in?”
Marcia, played by the inimitable Hiam Abbass, has been notably absent this season. Kerry, Logan’s assistant and paramour, curtly explained this away by saying, “Marcia’s not here. She’s in Milan. Shopping. Forever.” But as Marcia revealed, she and Logan still spoke every evening. Intimately.
My main gripe with Succession is that, after the first season, the show didn’t quite know what to do with Marcia. She got less and less screen time. Which is too bad! Because they often made her devastatingly funny. (Remember that season one exchange with Willa about her friend from Paris “who was your way?”) With her comeback, we’re reminded of something else: Marcia’s consistently been one of the most cunning and, consequently, most powerful characters on Succession.
Logan’s third wife is an international woman of mystery. She’s charming and elegant and also clearly knows that all of her stepchildren are dumbasses. Her quiet contempt is kind of beautiful to behold. Shiv had a background check run on Marcia that revealed she moved to Paris when she was 31 and that her first husband was a Lebanese businessman. Other than that, there are allusions to a difficult past, which no doubt bonds her and Logan—remember, she’s the only person Logan allows to see the scars on his back that were inflicted during his abusive childhood. She also gave him some esteem in the eyes of others: perhaps the only time Nan Pierce expresses admiration for Logan is when she compliments him for marrying Marcia instead of some bimbo. And as Logan’s closest confidant, Marcia is one of the only people who’ve known all along that Kendall accidentally killed that cater waiter (which she subtly lets her stepson know, too).
Above all, Marcia has a well-honed survival instinct. In season two, she takes off when Logan steps out on her with Rhea Jarrell and names her CEO. Early in season three, Logan wants to Marcia at his side to deflect the fallout from Kendall’s revelation of his role in the Waystar Royco sexual assault scandal. Marcia agrees, but with a hell of a caveat: she’s getting her role in the trust finalized, her children’s prospects assured, and her financial position improved. “Things must be made right,” she explains. “He was led with his prick.” Unlike Logan’s children, who constantly tried and failed to overtake him, Marcia was the only one who could play at his level.
The real-life analogues to these characters could learn a thing or two from Marcia about the fickle tastes of powerful men. As our friends over at Vanity Fair reported this week, 92-year-old Rupert Murdoch just called off his impending wedding with the woman he began dating after he split with ex-wife Jerry Hall. Hall herself found out about their divorce from an email that began, “Jerry, sadly I’ve decided to call an end to our marriage.” One of the terms of Hall’s divorce settlement was even that she couldn’t “give story ideas to the writers on Succession.”
In this most recent episode, Logan’s death has left everyone else scrambling to get theirs. Gerri, Katrina, Frank, and Karl cloister themselves to figure out who will be in charge going forward. Tom tries to get in on the plotting, but his moment of savviness from the end of season three has passed, and he’s immediately shut out by the inner circle who see him for what he is: “a clumsy interloper.” Shiv gets screwed—again—out of a leadership position by her brothers. By the end, even Kendall is going behind Roman’s back.
Meanwhile, Marcia keeps her head. She even comes out of the whole thing $63 million richer, having agreed to sell the apartment to Connor. With Kendall in charge now, it’s yet to be seen how she’ll leverage her knowledge about his deepest, darkest secret. Marcia very well could come out winning it all.
The coldest Marcia moment, by far, comes when Kerry enters the apartment, flustered and crying and begging to go see Logan’s body. Marcia won’t have it. She gets Colin to escort the assistant out and, after Marcia sends Kerry and her blunt bangs a-packin’, she explains that “we’re calling her a taxi to the subway so that she can go home to her little apartment.”
It brings to mind something that Marcia said to Rhea back in season two: “I have fought and I have lost and I have fought and won. But when I lose, the other one will generally lose an eye.”