It's over. The fight for the crown of Waystar RoyCo is over. After four great seasons that progressively got better and better, "Succession" finished its run with a fantastic final season that boiled down to the very essence of what this show is - very funny, very engaging, and very, very tragic.
This show has always been a tragedy, inspired by Shakespeare's King Lear. Things were never going to end well for the Roy kids. Ever since they were born, they have been irrevocably broken. This show has managed to display this so clearly, while also leaving just enough room for hope that they could, somehow, prevail, and become better. But they never did. Kendall still gets in the way of his own interests, putting moves over genuine emotion, and dishing out verbal and physical abuse to his siblings, just like his father. Doomed to become him, only to not earn his power. Shiv still made selfish moves that ended her up exactly where she never wanted to be - married to a new version of her father, doomed to be that close to true power without actually having it. Roman is the one character who may actually have a chance at a better future, whether he acts on that or not. He ends the show again as an abused puppy, and has a chance at a fresh start, ending exactly where he started.
And talk about a barn-burner hour-and-a-half. So many vital plot and character moments, that flowed well together, with pacing that always felt natural, and never dragged out. The first third was the slowest, picking up the leftover threads from last week, and setting them into motion. Once all three siblings reunited at Caroline's retreat in Barbados, everything collided and the end was set in motion. From there on, the pacing steadily increased until its unbearably tense and riveting final twenty minutes, which felt like pure, distilled "Succession." The kids are scheming, their flaws get in the way, Tom and Greg do something hilarious, and the process starts anew.
But here, it doesn't. This is the end. There is no going back. The kids lose. Ken loses. There's nothing else he can do. He was never going to be CEO. Shiv was never going to be able to stomach it. And he needed her support. Maybe Shiv's instincts went against her self-interests, but that doesn't stop them from being correct. By the time the board vote starts, Ken is the worst possible version of himself - gloating, braggadocious, cruel. There are a number of images from this finale that will stick with me, but Ken hugging Roman so tightly that he breaks his stitches to sedate him with love-veiled abuse is so evil and cruel that it has really stuck with me. If this man was given the keys to this company, it wouldn't have went well.
But Shiv (probably) wasn't given the time to think this through. She just acted on instinct, and in trying to appease her, Ken made things so much worse. I was wondering how the waiter's death would tie into this finale, as the finales have all tied back somehow, and I was not disappointed in how it was looped in. In lieu of the predictable "Shiv leaks it to the press, thus destroying Ken's public image," Shiv merely tepidly brings it up as a reason why he can't be CEO. And Ken stupidly tells them that it never happened, so as to clear his name. But all he does is alienate his siblings.
This all feels so inevitable. It's a tragic outcome, with many of these characters ending up in the worst possible endgame. But none of it results from plot contrivance. It all stems from the characters. And as a result, it is unsatisfying in the most satisfying way. Ken and Rome are free, even though Ken will likely never see it that way. He was forced from a cage he never wanted to leave. And looking out into that bay, he's forever locked out from the wave of water that was also the only machine his cog could fit in. He has nothing. No wife, no kids, no siblings, no company. He's a husk of a man stuck with the ghost of his father in Colin.
But in all of this rambling, I've somehow neglected discussing the true winner of the finale, Tom Wambsgans. He's the new US CEO! All of his hard work, lack of sleep, and paranoia have all paid off. And in lieu of the family lineage and visionary candidates, a spineless suit ends up at the top spot. Which is entirely appropriate and true-to-life. Tom will never implement an original idea in this new job, as if he ever had any to give.
From a technical standpoint, this finale was pretty unbelievable. I've rarely seen a 90-minute episode that felt as tight and cohesive as this did. Every scene was nicely paced, and nothing felt like wasted space. Every scene has at least one or two bits of really insightful information into the characters or story, and does a great job of fleshing out a lot of this world in the final episode. Jesse Armstrong & co. Are quite the group of writers, and Armstrong delivered some of his best work of the series here. Mark Mylod also did a great job behind the camera, utilizing the show's signature style to great effect, while also creating some great sequences that break the norm. The Tom-Greg bathroom scene stands out in particular, as a lot of it was filmed in wide lens long takes, which let the physical comedy thrive. Great stuff.
This is an all-timer show. I felt great about the finale last night, but as I've sat on it and haven't been able to stop thinking about it, this has quickly become one of my favorite series finales of all time. I don't know if there will ever be another show quite like this one.
This show has always been a tragedy, inspired by Shakespeare's King Lear. Things were never going to end well for the Roy kids. Ever since they were born, they have been irrevocably broken. This show has managed to display this so clearly, while also leaving just enough room for hope that they could, somehow, prevail, and become better. But they never did. Kendall still gets in the way of his own interests, putting moves over genuine emotion, and dishing out verbal and physical abuse to his siblings, just like his father. Doomed to become him, only to not earn his power. Shiv still made selfish moves that ended her up exactly where she never wanted to be - married to a new version of her father, doomed to be that close to true power without actually having it. Roman is the one character who may actually have a chance at a better future, whether he acts on that or not. He ends the show again as an abused puppy, and has a chance at a fresh start, ending exactly where he started.
And talk about a barn-burner hour-and-a-half. So many vital plot and character moments, that flowed well together, with pacing that always felt natural, and never dragged out. The first third was the slowest, picking up the leftover threads from last week, and setting them into motion. Once all three siblings reunited at Caroline's retreat in Barbados, everything collided and the end was set in motion. From there on, the pacing steadily increased until its unbearably tense and riveting final twenty minutes, which felt like pure, distilled "Succession." The kids are scheming, their flaws get in the way, Tom and Greg do something hilarious, and the process starts anew.
But here, it doesn't. This is the end. There is no going back. The kids lose. Ken loses. There's nothing else he can do. He was never going to be CEO. Shiv was never going to be able to stomach it. And he needed her support. Maybe Shiv's instincts went against her self-interests, but that doesn't stop them from being correct. By the time the board vote starts, Ken is the worst possible version of himself - gloating, braggadocious, cruel. There are a number of images from this finale that will stick with me, but Ken hugging Roman so tightly that he breaks his stitches to sedate him with love-veiled abuse is so evil and cruel that it has really stuck with me. If this man was given the keys to this company, it wouldn't have went well.
But Shiv (probably) wasn't given the time to think this through. She just acted on instinct, and in trying to appease her, Ken made things so much worse. I was wondering how the waiter's death would tie into this finale, as the finales have all tied back somehow, and I was not disappointed in how it was looped in. In lieu of the predictable "Shiv leaks it to the press, thus destroying Ken's public image," Shiv merely tepidly brings it up as a reason why he can't be CEO. And Ken stupidly tells them that it never happened, so as to clear his name. But all he does is alienate his siblings.
This all feels so inevitable. It's a tragic outcome, with many of these characters ending up in the worst possible endgame. But none of it results from plot contrivance. It all stems from the characters. And as a result, it is unsatisfying in the most satisfying way. Ken and Rome are free, even though Ken will likely never see it that way. He was forced from a cage he never wanted to leave. And looking out into that bay, he's forever locked out from the wave of water that was also the only machine his cog could fit in. He has nothing. No wife, no kids, no siblings, no company. He's a husk of a man stuck with the ghost of his father in Colin.
But in all of this rambling, I've somehow neglected discussing the true winner of the finale, Tom Wambsgans. He's the new US CEO! All of his hard work, lack of sleep, and paranoia have all paid off. And in lieu of the family lineage and visionary candidates, a spineless suit ends up at the top spot. Which is entirely appropriate and true-to-life. Tom will never implement an original idea in this new job, as if he ever had any to give.
From a technical standpoint, this finale was pretty unbelievable. I've rarely seen a 90-minute episode that felt as tight and cohesive as this did. Every scene was nicely paced, and nothing felt like wasted space. Every scene has at least one or two bits of really insightful information into the characters or story, and does a great job of fleshing out a lot of this world in the final episode. Jesse Armstrong & co. Are quite the group of writers, and Armstrong delivered some of his best work of the series here. Mark Mylod also did a great job behind the camera, utilizing the show's signature style to great effect, while also creating some great sequences that break the norm. The Tom-Greg bathroom scene stands out in particular, as a lot of it was filmed in wide lens long takes, which let the physical comedy thrive. Great stuff.
This is an all-timer show. I felt great about the finale last night, but as I've sat on it and haven't been able to stop thinking about it, this has quickly become one of my favorite series finales of all time. I don't know if there will ever be another show quite like this one.
