Warning: This review contains spoilers for Succession season 4.
Much like the presidential election that takes place in the final season of Succession, while the show is over, the results are far from conclusive: Shiv is clinging onto her barren marriage with Tom, who is now the empty-suited CEO of Waystar; Roman is left broken, contemplating at a bar sipping on a martini; and Kendall looks out at the endless abyss of the ocean, thinking about what he thought was his destiny. Even with all of those final shots hinting at what’s to come, are we really to believe that Tom’s tenor is going to be successful? Or that Kendall’s career is over because of his failure to retain Waystar? Succession’s ability to end the show on this specific chapter in the Roy’s family history without definitively stating what happens to them is one of the show’s greatest achievements, among many in the exceptional final season.
Another one of season four’s boldest moves was killing Logan Roy in the third episode, “Connor’s Wedding.” The trio of children were in a heated battle with their father in the opening episodes of the season with a compelling bidding war to acquire Pierce, shot in the show’s signature handheld POV and dramatic zooms like it’s a Jason Bourne thriller (The Bourne Identity was one of my first introduction’s to the acting talents of Brian Cox).
The moments leading up to Logan’s death were some of my favorites to return to from this season because losing Pierce lit a fire under Logan, and you got to see Brian Cox in full “fuck off” mode one last time. He makes an impromptu visit to ATN, and during the last confrontation he has with his kids, where he attempts to apologize, he tells them that “they aren’t serious people.” Later Roman calls them all “bullshit.” One look at how the supporting cast acts around them and treats them signifies how they’re both right.
Having his death take away the attention on Connor’s big wedding day is a dark joke but also a way to put all of the kids together in one room where they are forced to grieve together. The largely one-take sequence where they are on the phone with their dying father on a flight is a masterclass in writing and acting as each sibling grieves in their own way. The scene has them talking over each other on speakerphone with Tom as he relays the information that their father is dying. The confusion and regression each of them has is heartbreaking and provides a chance to see their vulnerability in a way that they rarely are able to display in the cutthroat business world in which they live.
After the fallout of Logan’s death, everyone worries about their position within the company and what is to come: His wife Marcia returns and says they had “intimate conversations” every night. Roman is still denying his feelings about Logan’s death, and Tom is soft-pitching himself to everyone who will listen since his only true ally was Logan. The three children together (Roman and Kendall as co-CEOS) are taking over the GoJo negotiations about whether they will sell Waystar for a price they are happy with. Their negotiation with Matson is a preview of how they would be as the bosses of the company: a disaster. Roman goes on a firing spree, and Kendall is non-committal. Matson even calls them a “tribute band,” and that while Logan was a prick that at least he knew what he wanted.
And what do the kids want? This is a question that the show explores, and I think it’s fair to say that the obvious answer is Logan’s approval. They never got that when he was alive, and they couldn’t come together to save the company after his death either. At his funeral, Shiv says that the kids used to play outside of his office just to get some interaction with their father, even if he was scolding them and scaring them. One gets the sense that their pursuit of positions within the company was just another way of them playing outside of his office.
And while the show is ultimately a tragedy, the final episode, “With Open Eyes,” does provide several heartwarming moments with the characters that remind you why they have been such a pleasure to watch these last couple of years. In the wake of the election and Mencken controversially being called the winner of the presidency after several absentee ballots were destroyed in Milwaukee, the three Roys work together to save Waystar. One scene at their mother Caroline’s house has them anointing Kendall the king and making him a “meal fit for a king,” which is just a nice way of saying put anything you can find in a blender and make him drink it. It’s a reminder that even with the nastiness they all spew out, there is still a love there between them that they don’t get to express.
Another scene at Logan’s memorial has them watching a home video of Logan in his final days having a laugh with Frank, Karl, and Connor over dinner. The scene was not originally a part of the script, but the cast got so emotional that they wrote it in, and it’s hard not to get emotional watching it when you realize that this is a side of their father that they yearned their entire lives for. Of course, the final reveal of Waystar’s future is a gut-wrenching revelation that comes to a split decision and leads to more hurtful venom being spewed by all of them in a way that suggests that maybe none of them were fit for the top job in the first place. The power shifts are always punctuated by Nicholas Britell’s score with the theme giving off feelings of inspiration when the siblings work together, and an inevitable sadness when the throne is taken away from them.
Ultimately, creator Jesse Armstrong and the brilliant cast of actors brought us into the world of billion-dollar acquisitions while also creating a fascinating family drama about money, power, and greed as the ultimate motivators that dominate their lives. How even with all of the money and resources in the world, none of them could ever achieve true happiness. As Ken tells it, “Life isn’t nice. People who say they love you, fuck you.” In the cutthroat framework of Succession’s America, you better hope you’re the one doing the fucking.
Final Rating:
‘Succession’ is streaming now on Max.
Rated TV-MA.
(Photos: HBO)
