The Succession Series Finale Was One of HBO’s Darkest Endings to Date
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The post The Succession Series Finale Was One of HBO’s Darkest Endings to Date appeared first on Consequence.
[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers through the series finale of Succession, “With Open Eyes.”]
In the final episode of Succession, the series’ focus narrowed the action down to its core trio, on the precipice of failure or success. Turns out that previously announced epic runtime wasn’t to give every last supporting player a big sentimental sendoff: Instead, it was one last chance to be embedded with Shiv (Sarah Snook), Roman (Kieran Culkin), and Kendall (Jeremy Strong), as the final fight for power came down to a single board vote.
For while the Presidential election may still be unresolved (good news, Willa! Connor may not get shipped overseas for an ambassadorship!), the time for the board vote on the GoJo deal is nigh. With Shiv’s Matsson-enabled maneuvering towards the throne initially keeping the sibs in battle mode against each other, Shiv and Kendall’s mutual scrambling for board votes brings them both to Barbados, where Roman’s hiding out after his unfortunate incident with the protestors following Logan’s funeral.
When Shiv gets tipped off to the fact that Matsson will not be making her CEO after all (because back in New York, good ol’ Tom Wambsgams is getting offered the gig, albeit with the proviso that Matsson wants to treat the American CEO of Waystar like a front man/”pain sponge”), she’s devastated… and willing to negotiate. The ensuing late-night bonding session in Barbados, sweetened by some truly hilarious yet random asides from Lady Caroline, eventually results in the siblings reunited around tanking the deal.
A concept that stuck out while watching “the kids” cavort in Lady Caroline’s Barbados kitchen (very impressive, how the show managed to sneak one last exotic location in just under the wire) is the idea that when people experience trauma at a young age, they become mentally and/or emotionally “stuck” at that same age. Seeing these grown adults literally regress fully to messy children playing disgusting games feels like confirmation of that idea, as we’ve learned enough about Logan Roy’s parenting over the past four seasons to know how much damage he inflicted upon his offspring.
And it’s this realization which is so key to the final board room scenes, in which the siblings end up tearing each other apart in the final stages of a power struggle that sees the Roys lose and Tom become Lukas Matsson’s puppet officially. It’s hard to decide which is the most brutal moment: Shiv and Roman stuttering over just how many people Ken might have killed, Roman bringing up Logan’s less-than-kind opinions about Kendall’s children, or Roman putting his whole body into defending his pregnant sister from Kendall’s physical wrath.
Succession (HBO)
In centering the sibling bond, and the degree to which everything that’s occurred over the last four seasons — no, everything that’s occurred over these characters’ lives — has built up to this moment of demolition, Succession ends with plenty of unresolved plot points. Yet the details that are confirmed, the moments of resolution we do get, paint a bleak portrait of where we leave things. “It’s all fucking nothing, man,” Roman says as it all falls apart for him, and in that moment, it’s hard not to see his point of view.
Shiv casts the final vote, the Gojo acquisition is confirmed, and Tom steps forward to enjoy his moment of victory, even telling Greg that he’s keeping him around. The papers are signed and the photos are taken and the champagne is popped, and Tom and Shiv leave together, united by power and mutual interest — however, there’s a blank surrender in Shiv’s face that we’ve never seen before, a resignation to her new circumstances. She can’t bring herself to fully hold Tom’s hand; she just rests her palm on top of his. Of the three, she’s technically the closest to having won. Being so close to the possibility and now being so close to the actual champion is likely going to haunt her forever.
Yet even darker than that is our final moments with a destroyed Kendall, who stares out at an unforgiving skyline, maybe on the verge of saying… It doesn’t matter what he’s going to say. He’s been made irrelevant, cast out of the one place he was ever able to function. He has the safety and protection of money, yet it was never really about money for him. Instead, it was about “the eldest boy” getting what he deserved.
In a way, that’s exactly what happened. There’s no pleasure to take in this comeuppance, however. He’s just too broken.
Not counting limited series (which tend to be bleak affairs), the big iconic ongoing HBO shows have largely featured big iconic endings with some glimmer of hope for the future. Claire Fisher drives towards the horizon as Sia sings. Tony Soprano lives forever mid-meal with his family. Carrie Bradshaw strides down the streets of New York with a Manolo Blahnik shopping bag. Even Game of Thrones included Sansa Stark being crowned Queen of the North and Arya setting sail for new adventures.
Meanwhile, Succession offers no promise of future happiness for its characters beyond the small smile of Roman (who hopefully takes whatever money he gets out of this deal and invests in literal 24/7 therapy, to unpack all the mental anguish he’s unlocked over the last two episodes). In some ways, it confirms the series as a cautionary tale, a four-season exploration of how what might seem like an aspirational life is far more hollow than any of us realize. In its final moments, Succession made it clear that there’s nothing aspirational here.
Succession is streaming now on Max.
The Succession Series Finale Was One of HBO’s Darkest Endings to Date
Liz Shannon Miller
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