They actually did it. Like every other season finale of the series, Succession 4th and final season ends spectacularly at a high. It's rare a series can end on such an intense climactic episode like this, but with the juggernaut 1h30m runtime it worked.
Beginning with both sides prepping and being delusional about their chances, as always the Roy kids were never serious people. They come together to find Roman with the beautiful scenery and cinematography of their mother's home. Their mom nearly as fascinating as Logan, almost trying to keep them together. Many people theorized the twist ending would be Tom on top, and of course the writers were ahead smartly revealing this early on. Greg plays one of his smartest moves yet using a translator besides Mattson, revealing to Ken, who reveals to Shiv that she's out. Just like the season 3 finale (still the peak to me), it seems like the sibs are truly coming together once again, finally realizing that Logan lied to them all, with false hope given as Kendall symbolically floats above the sea with his 2 shark siblings sneaking up. But like Roman put it, "we're nothing."
We see this so clearly in 2 contrasting scenes, the first one such a happy brotherly scene of Shiv and Rome accepting Ken as the king. It's so delightful funny-I love Shiv yelling "MOM!"-but as Mylod put it, "Every moment of hope like that is so cruel, because you're just waiting for that shoe to drop." We know they're misguided, no longer caring about their project The Hundred from the premiere. Then the super tense build with Tom telling Shiv it's him. Shiv going full force with Rome and Ken. With Tom realizing Greg screwed him, fighting him in the bathroom even though he slipped up with Shiv too. It's all classic Succession.
It all culminates in the board meeting. Tension is at an all time high. Roman is losing it and Kendall tries to support him with what seems like a brotherly hug that turns into Logan-like abuse reopening Roman's old wound. Tragic to see as Roman lost one abuser to gain another. We went from one of the nicest sibling scenes, to the opposite of the brotherly love. Succession shows both ends of the spectrum. In the end, Shiv can't let go of the resentment she felt for always being pushed aside and belittled, but is also truthful accepting just like Rome did, that they're BS. They all devolvei into the stunted children their dad failed to properly raise. "I love you but I can't stomach you." is one of the cruces of the show. Kendall going full baby, literally begging, whining, even lying and fighting. They were all so petty. Shiv bringing up Ken killing the kid, and him just desperately lying about it. But the real twist was the reveal from Roman that Ken's kids aren't even his. I actually thought the way they handled Rava and the kids was kind of below the show's standards, but this added context makes so much more sense and it's such a brutal jab from Roman. Kendall absolutely losing it and trying to strangle Roman, it's so hard to watch, but this is it, this is Succession.
It all ends, Kendall coming back to the board room, confidence lost, back to his stuttering. The show ended like it began: Kendall losing the vote. The dread of Kendall storming into that elevator, the audience expecting the worst. The shots of his back paralleling Logan a misdirect. Similarly Roman is in the same spot he was in the beginning of the show, but now there's relief, with Kendall losing power there's no longer a bully holding power over him and he's reached acceptance in the stages of grief. But Shiv, tragically she's now stuck in the same position her mother was in, history repeating itself, Tom and her relationship's power dynamic totally flipped. Incredible final shot of them in the car. Finally, Kendall. His story is over, Kendall is finally out of the water.
What an ending.
So many more little things I want to mention, like I love little callbacks to Lawrence from Vaulter. The last and nicest Logan scene, a side the kids rarely saw. Karolina screwing Hugo. RIP Frank and Karl. Caroline hating eyes? Peter is hilarious. Connor and Willa going long distance... uh oh. Loved Mattson's hilarious lines and intense yelling. If I had to give criticisms though is I do wish the elections had more importance in the end, Connor could've gotten a better send off, and I think there were some loose ends like what happened to Marcia's 2 board seats? Regardless, I want to say more but I think I'll leave it to when I gather my thoughts more.
So the Successor is Sleepless Tom, the pain sponge, Mattson's meat puppet, who's going to be dealing with the potential fallout from Mencken being called wrong, his Rocky relationship with Shiv, and his only friend constantly betraying him... Yup, he's the winner all right! Tom and Greg made it.
I think this might be a masterpiece of a finale, for a masterpiece of a final season from an overall masterpiece of a series. There are just my initial thoughts, but I will surely come back and add more to the review as I think of it more. The rest of the review I'd like to give my thoughts on the season and show.
It's been an incredible journey watching this season weekly when almost every episode has been amazing and surprising. One of my best TV viewing experiences ever. Every week the power dynamics shifted in such riveting ways, always keeping you on your toes, never quite going where you expected. One episode one character was on top, the next they were at their lowest, while another was rising up. Always done in believable ways that escalated the plot and stakes, whilst exploring one of the best and most complex cast of characters on TV. Every episode got better the more I thought of it after watching. This is one of the greatest seasons of TV ever and I'm so glad to have watched it while it aired.
The Munsters: Having the Roy siblings united. Seeing Logan reflective for the first time. (8.7/10) Rehearsal: Connor's most heartbreaking moment "The good thing about having a family that doesn't love you is you learn to live without it." Logan's incredible villain speech, but also his last scene trying to reconcile with his kids. (9.2/10) Connor's Wedding: The absolute shock but brilliance of Logan unexpectedly dying off screen. Such a raw and visceral realistic relatable episode dealing with a death on the phone. (9.8/10) Honeymoon States: Kendall's arc becoming Logan begins when he thinks his dad chose him, killer shock ending. (9.1/10) Kill List: Matsson takes up the antagonist role. An incredible outburst from Roman and the incredible twist where Shiv becomes a real player secretly siding with Mattson (9.2/10) Living+: Underrated episode where Logan's spirit is felt throughout, Kendall finally doesn't crack under pressure while he delivers his presentation, and Roman is unhinged. As relevant and sharp as ever. (9.5/10) Tailgate Party: Election coming. Shocking revelations about Mattson. Surprising plot developments like Greg getting close to Mattson, and Nate coming back. Mattson and Kendall confrontation, and aha all-timer scene of Tom and Shiv's argument. (9.6/10) America Decides: Election Day comes with probably the most jam packed episode, full on the intensity, depressing but also has so many hilarious moments. Brutal pregnancy reveal, Roman at his most devious playing with America's fate. Kendall stuck between his morals, family and the business. All culminating in an incredible scene where Shiv shows her hypocrisy, gets exposed by Greg for lying losing the trust of her brothers, while they decide to call the election for Mencken, risking the entire company. (9.9/10) Church and State: Logan's funeral comes bringing together so much of the cast one last time. Ewan is the highlight giving an amazing eulogy explaining the Rose story giving us the last piece of the Logan Roy Puzzle. Roman depressingly breaks down, sours relations with Mencken, Kendall steps up, Shiv makes plan, it's now Roy Bros vs Shiv. Bit of a slow down though for the penultimate, I expected more personally, but still amazing.(9.3/10) Finally, With Open Eyes: (9.6/10)
This show just fires on all fronts. Nicholas Britelli making possibly the best score on TV. One I hum literally all the time and have listened to endlessly and still gives me chills.
The crew of the series, with the wonderful handheld style, lavish and subtle visuals. Directors like Mark Mylod pushing the envelope with crazy stunts like most of the funeral scene done in one take. Just awesome.
The cast. I feel bad for the Emmy's because Succession's cast is so stacked they're practically competing against themselves. Truly they're all incredible. Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook, Matthew Macfadyen, Kieran Culkin and Brian Cox all deserve awards.
But finally the writers and creator Jesse Armstrong. Some of the sharpest, funniest, cleverest dialogue in any drama. The tragic Shakespearian storylines and character arcs done in modern time. The incredible exploration of language in our modern society that I've never seen done before and find incredibly fascinating. The Strained complex family dynamics, deep themes and character psychology... I truly believe this to be one of the most important shows of our time, like The Sopranos of our generation.
Succession has now become my Top 2-3 shows ever after The Wire and next to The Sopranos. HBO is truly the king of TV. (Honorable Mention to The Shield as my Top 4, but #1 in my heart).
Thank you HBO, the cast, crew, writers and creator Jesse Armstrong for having worked together to create one of the greatest pieces of art ever.
Season 1 (9.2/10) Season 2 (9.6/10) Season 3 (9.7/10) Season 4 (9.9/10) Overall: (9.85/10)
Beginning with both sides prepping and being delusional about their chances, as always the Roy kids were never serious people. They come together to find Roman with the beautiful scenery and cinematography of their mother's home. Their mom nearly as fascinating as Logan, almost trying to keep them together. Many people theorized the twist ending would be Tom on top, and of course the writers were ahead smartly revealing this early on. Greg plays one of his smartest moves yet using a translator besides Mattson, revealing to Ken, who reveals to Shiv that she's out. Just like the season 3 finale (still the peak to me), it seems like the sibs are truly coming together once again, finally realizing that Logan lied to them all, with false hope given as Kendall symbolically floats above the sea with his 2 shark siblings sneaking up. But like Roman put it, "we're nothing."
We see this so clearly in 2 contrasting scenes, the first one such a happy brotherly scene of Shiv and Rome accepting Ken as the king. It's so delightful funny-I love Shiv yelling "MOM!"-but as Mylod put it, "Every moment of hope like that is so cruel, because you're just waiting for that shoe to drop." We know they're misguided, no longer caring about their project The Hundred from the premiere. Then the super tense build with Tom telling Shiv it's him. Shiv going full force with Rome and Ken. With Tom realizing Greg screwed him, fighting him in the bathroom even though he slipped up with Shiv too. It's all classic Succession.
It all culminates in the board meeting. Tension is at an all time high. Roman is losing it and Kendall tries to support him with what seems like a brotherly hug that turns into Logan-like abuse reopening Roman's old wound. Tragic to see as Roman lost one abuser to gain another. We went from one of the nicest sibling scenes, to the opposite of the brotherly love. Succession shows both ends of the spectrum. In the end, Shiv can't let go of the resentment she felt for always being pushed aside and belittled, but is also truthful accepting just like Rome did, that they're BS. They all devolvei into the stunted children their dad failed to properly raise. "I love you but I can't stomach you." is one of the cruces of the show. Kendall going full baby, literally begging, whining, even lying and fighting. They were all so petty. Shiv bringing up Ken killing the kid, and him just desperately lying about it. But the real twist was the reveal from Roman that Ken's kids aren't even his. I actually thought the way they handled Rava and the kids was kind of below the show's standards, but this added context makes so much more sense and it's such a brutal jab from Roman. Kendall absolutely losing it and trying to strangle Roman, it's so hard to watch, but this is it, this is Succession.
It all ends, Kendall coming back to the board room, confidence lost, back to his stuttering. The show ended like it began: Kendall losing the vote. The dread of Kendall storming into that elevator, the audience expecting the worst. The shots of his back paralleling Logan a misdirect. Similarly Roman is in the same spot he was in the beginning of the show, but now there's relief, with Kendall losing power there's no longer a bully holding power over him and he's reached acceptance in the stages of grief. But Shiv, tragically she's now stuck in the same position her mother was in, history repeating itself, Tom and her relationship's power dynamic totally flipped. Incredible final shot of them in the car. Finally, Kendall. His story is over, Kendall is finally out of the water.
What an ending.
So many more little things I want to mention, like I love little callbacks to Lawrence from Vaulter. The last and nicest Logan scene, a side the kids rarely saw. Karolina screwing Hugo. RIP Frank and Karl. Caroline hating eyes? Peter is hilarious. Connor and Willa going long distance... uh oh. Loved Mattson's hilarious lines and intense yelling. If I had to give criticisms though is I do wish the elections had more importance in the end, Connor could've gotten a better send off, and I think there were some loose ends like what happened to Marcia's 2 board seats? Regardless, I want to say more but I think I'll leave it to when I gather my thoughts more.
So the Successor is Sleepless Tom, the pain sponge, Mattson's meat puppet, who's going to be dealing with the potential fallout from Mencken being called wrong, his Rocky relationship with Shiv, and his only friend constantly betraying him... Yup, he's the winner all right! Tom and Greg made it.
I think this might be a masterpiece of a finale, for a masterpiece of a final season from an overall masterpiece of a series. There are just my initial thoughts, but I will surely come back and add more to the review as I think of it more. The rest of the review I'd like to give my thoughts on the season and show.
It's been an incredible journey watching this season weekly when almost every episode has been amazing and surprising. One of my best TV viewing experiences ever. Every week the power dynamics shifted in such riveting ways, always keeping you on your toes, never quite going where you expected. One episode one character was on top, the next they were at their lowest, while another was rising up. Always done in believable ways that escalated the plot and stakes, whilst exploring one of the best and most complex cast of characters on TV. Every episode got better the more I thought of it after watching. This is one of the greatest seasons of TV ever and I'm so glad to have watched it while it aired.
The Munsters: Having the Roy siblings united. Seeing Logan reflective for the first time. (8.7/10) Rehearsal: Connor's most heartbreaking moment "The good thing about having a family that doesn't love you is you learn to live without it." Logan's incredible villain speech, but also his last scene trying to reconcile with his kids. (9.2/10) Connor's Wedding: The absolute shock but brilliance of Logan unexpectedly dying off screen. Such a raw and visceral realistic relatable episode dealing with a death on the phone. (9.8/10) Honeymoon States: Kendall's arc becoming Logan begins when he thinks his dad chose him, killer shock ending. (9.1/10) Kill List: Matsson takes up the antagonist role. An incredible outburst from Roman and the incredible twist where Shiv becomes a real player secretly siding with Mattson (9.2/10) Living+: Underrated episode where Logan's spirit is felt throughout, Kendall finally doesn't crack under pressure while he delivers his presentation, and Roman is unhinged. As relevant and sharp as ever. (9.5/10) Tailgate Party: Election coming. Shocking revelations about Mattson. Surprising plot developments like Greg getting close to Mattson, and Nate coming back. Mattson and Kendall confrontation, and aha all-timer scene of Tom and Shiv's argument. (9.6/10) America Decides: Election Day comes with probably the most jam packed episode, full on the intensity, depressing but also has so many hilarious moments. Brutal pregnancy reveal, Roman at his most devious playing with America's fate. Kendall stuck between his morals, family and the business. All culminating in an incredible scene where Shiv shows her hypocrisy, gets exposed by Greg for lying losing the trust of her brothers, while they decide to call the election for Mencken, risking the entire company. (9.9/10) Church and State: Logan's funeral comes bringing together so much of the cast one last time. Ewan is the highlight giving an amazing eulogy explaining the Rose story giving us the last piece of the Logan Roy Puzzle. Roman depressingly breaks down, sours relations with Mencken, Kendall steps up, Shiv makes plan, it's now Roy Bros vs Shiv. Bit of a slow down though for the penultimate, I expected more personally, but still amazing.(9.3/10) Finally, With Open Eyes: (9.6/10)
This show just fires on all fronts. Nicholas Britelli making possibly the best score on TV. One I hum literally all the time and have listened to endlessly and still gives me chills.
The crew of the series, with the wonderful handheld style, lavish and subtle visuals. Directors like Mark Mylod pushing the envelope with crazy stunts like most of the funeral scene done in one take. Just awesome.
The cast. I feel bad for the Emmy's because Succession's cast is so stacked they're practically competing against themselves. Truly they're all incredible. Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook, Matthew Macfadyen, Kieran Culkin and Brian Cox all deserve awards.
But finally the writers and creator Jesse Armstrong. Some of the sharpest, funniest, cleverest dialogue in any drama. The tragic Shakespearian storylines and character arcs done in modern time. The incredible exploration of language in our modern society that I've never seen done before and find incredibly fascinating. The Strained complex family dynamics, deep themes and character psychology... I truly believe this to be one of the most important shows of our time, like The Sopranos of our generation.
Succession has now become my Top 2-3 shows ever after The Wire and next to The Sopranos. HBO is truly the king of TV. (Honorable Mention to The Shield as my Top 4, but #1 in my heart).
Thank you HBO, the cast, crew, writers and creator Jesse Armstrong for having worked together to create one of the greatest pieces of art ever.
Season 1 (9.2/10) Season 2 (9.6/10) Season 3 (9.7/10) Season 4 (9.9/10) Overall: (9.85/10)