Succession series finale a superb, dramatic whirlwind of familial calamity

Spoiler alert. this article includes plot details from the latest episode of the HBO drama series succession.

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succession It was never really a concern who would replace Logan Roy as CEO of Waystar Royco.

It was a front for the more compelling question of who Logan (Brian Cox) would become enough to fill the terrible void he left behind, to strike fear into people’s hearts the way he could, to drive away all love. and a desire for intimacy in favor of power.

Kendall Roy’s fate in Sunday night’s spectacular series finale, a 90-minute whirlwind that causes a double cross and family disaster, is in many ways a reversal of her father’s. While Logan was destined to die in the show’s 2018 pilot (in the title, after all), so is Kendall (Jeremy Strong, Lifetime), a man so irrevocably attached to his father figure that he wants to; kill himself doing the job that killed his father, or die.

The show breaks down a family through wealth and sets a precedent for love, loyalty and morality that boils over in the climax of the finale, where Siobhan “Shiv” Roy (Sarah Snook) decides not to humor Kendall’s frantic quest to drown GoJo. deal, taking back his council vote in one stunning final betrayal.

During the show’s climactic scene, Kendall, who has yelled things like, “empty the patriarchy” for four seasons. Whenever it suits him, he mounts his defense that he should have the crown because he’s the eldest son, while Roman Roy (Kieran Culkin) violently retorts that Kendall’s adopted children are illegitimate and of Roy’s bloodline. are not part of.

That the Royers are so attached to the idea of ​​keeping their future children’s wealth and control of the company, symbols of intergenerational power, but not much else, while denying them love, safety, and protection, is Logan’s ultimate legacy. It’s something we’ve seen Kendall repeat all the time in her relationship with her kids, two characters we’ve almost never seen as people who aren’t in orbit. successionThe central characters of are simply not shown.

When, midway through the episode, Roman and Shiv agree, and these agreements are always fleeting, that they’ll give in to Kendall’s longtime ambitions to run the company and give him the board votes to block Waystar’s acquisition by media streaming platform GoJo, Roman sums up their long bid for control of the company. the futility of years of struggle, the poisoned apple that Kendall wants to take a bite of.

For a family that constantly weighs the value of bloodline stocks, it seems fitting that the last string should be pulled almost entirely by outsiders; Jared Menken (Justin Kirk), the neo-Nazi president of Roy Creation; and Tom Wumbsgans (Matthew Macfadyen), a man who successfully infiltrated the family to be close to his money, a guy who sinks into moral decay like it’s holy water.

Where to even begin with Tom and Shiv, successioncursed romance? Shiv’s fate, in her own mind and self-definition, amounts to castration, best served by her husband, whom she always thought was inferior to her, after being used and neglected by puppeteer Matheson. Her marriage to Tom is poignantly captured in the final shot of them in her car, his hand resting weakly and dead on hers, with no sign of life.

The last shot of the episode is Kendall looking out over the water, a recurring motif that we’ve come to understand is related to her relationship with death; the young waiter who pursues him is dead in the water, and Ken himself appears; drowned during the show’s second season finale. When he learns that his father is dead, he is stranded on the ship.

Here he is almost completely alone, isolated from his brothers and sister, children and ex-wife, friends and business partners. The only person who follows her is Colin, her father’s security guard, best friend and constant shadow.

It succession The finale wasn’t about tying up every loose end or offering a neat ending for each of its players. Other finals such as Six feet under it’s well done, but it can be a thankless job. Here, each character’s fate is sealed in a way that completes the trajectory this show has laid out for them; Roman is left only with his nihilism. Shiv, oh, is just the CEO’s pregnant wife. and Kendall has become the worst parts of her father, with no empire to show for it.