The Box Set: "Succession."

Ep. 4. "Honeymoon States."

This was a table-setter episode, a pause before all of what Roman might call the “petty fuckery” rains down. Depending on where you are on your tolerance meter for the Roy clan, this is either good or bad news.

It’s pretty common for the writers to move around some pieces on the board after a particularly surprising and/or exceptionally great episode and we certainly got that last week. As noted:

The Box Set: "Succession."

So “Honeymoon States,” a sarcastic response from Willa about the fact that Connor is about to swing through some battleground states to pointlessly keep his one percent from shrinking, was a deep breath before the machinations that we know are about to come based on the ending of this particular episode, but more on that below.

First, “Honeymoon States” as a title also fits the shifting fates of so many characters — now in flux, likely to change for the worst for many of them — and their craven sucking up (hello Tom, are you ready to serve?), willingness to lie and desperation to cheat to get what they want or what they think they have coming.

There was at least one minor surprise, a fairly predictable end note and, compared to previous episodes, a lack of memorable, top-shelf zingers (save for one).

Well this state didn’t last long.