MAUREEN CALLAHAN: How WILL we cope without our Succession obsession?

2023-06-02

How WILL we cope without our Succession obsession? MAUREEN CALLAHAN’s razor-sharp review of the series finale that provided a poetic catastrophe of an ending for the grasping, idiot Roy siblings

WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS

Now that was a serious finale for serious people.

The final episode of ‘Succession’ will go down as one of the greatest endings to the greatest series of our era – one that guided us to a truly Shakespearean conclusion.

‘The show is against bulls**t,’ creator Jesse Armstrong said in an interview in February.

How fitting, then, that the denouement of series 4, episode 10, saw the failed scion of a media empire – Roman Roy (Kieran Culkin) – finally admit, of himself and his siblings: ‘We’re bulls**t.’

That was always the conceit, wasn’t it? The grasping, idiot children of Logan Roy (Brian Cox), the imposing patriarch who most often told them to ‘f**k off,’ who pitted them against each other and promised favoritism, then fed from the trough of their self-abnegation — none of them had the smarts, the sophistication, the inner resources to succeed their great and terrible father.

‘I love you,’ he told them earlier this season. ‘But you’re not serious people.’

The final episode of ‘Succession’ will go down as one of the greatest endings to the greatest series of our era – one that guided us to a truly Shakespearean conclusion. (Pictured: Jeremy Strong as Kendall Roy).

In the end, the grasping, idiot children of Logan Roy — none of them had the smarts, the sophistication, the inner resources to succeed their great and terrible father. (Pictured: Sarah Snook as Shiv Roy).

The denouement of series 4, episode 10, saw the failed scion of a media empire – Roman Roy (Kieran Culkin, pictured) – finally admit, of himself and his siblings: ‘We’re bulls**t.’

That line was the thesis statement for the show, which reflected America circa now: The unthinkable rise of a demagogue, likely racist and xenophobic, to president of the United States, backed by Logan’s hard-Right news operation, putting profits above democracy.

The amorality and cynicism it takes to amass such wealth and power, let alone gain access to the rooms where such things are decided. The dismissiveness and carelessness of the one per cent, never to be touched by the violence and insurrections in their wake, embodied here by ‘parochial striver’ Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen).

Yes, for all the online theorizing about who would ‘win’ in the finale, it was hapless Tom who came out on top, happily allowing Waystar-buyer Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgard) to sensationally shun his own wife and appoint him CEO instead.

An unlikely end? Or should we have taken a clue from his last name, shared in common with the otherwise unremarkable major league baseball player Bill Wambsganss, who pulled off the only unassisted World Series triple play back in 1920.

As the season progressed, Tom’s ambition came into sharp focus. He toggled between deference and defiance, skulking about after Logan’s death with the mantra, ‘I’m here to serve’, and, once regaining his footing, confronting Shiv (Sarah Snook) over her hypocrisy: ‘I really, really, really love my money. If you think that’s shallow, why don’t you throw out all your stuff for love?’

Have we heard a better description of late-stage American capitalism?

And his ultimate triple play, of course: Taking out the sibling triumvirate of Kendall, Shiv and Roman to become Logan’s named successor.

And it was made all the more vivid, by that blistering dialogue. Holy hell, could ‘Succession’ pull off the ugliest sentiments with verve and wit.

Indeed, here was Kendall’s vile, hilarious outburst at his own sister: ‘C*** is as c*** does.’

‘Succession’ gave us the horrors of bodega sushi. The cliché of Patek Philippes. The vulgarity of ludicrously capacious handbags! Oh, how greatly you will be missed.

Yes, for all the online theorizing about who would ‘win’ in the finale, it was hapless Tom who came out on top, happily allowing Waystar-buyer Lukas Matsson to sensationally shun his wife and make him CEO.

Yet there was gravitas here, as always. And the show’s darkest themes reverberated throughout this finale.

The repeated references to murder; the sadistic crowning of would-be king Kendall (Jeremy Strong), force-fed a disgusting brew by his laughing siblings; and, of course, the water motif, with Kendall – who has nearly drowned so often in this show – drawn over and over towards what seems a fated end.

Abandon all dignity, ye who enter here – as underscored best by Tom, seated across from his new corporate overlord, grinning blindly as Mattson fantasizes about having sex with pregnant Shiv.

The cost of doing business has never felt so high nor cut so deep.

And so we witnessed Roman’s inevitable mental collapse, his masochism peaking as he let Kendall literally reopen a bleeding wound in his forehead; Kendall’s sadism exposed in hugging him tight until the stitches burst.

This was Kendall as the emotional successor to Logan, who we once saw smack Roman in the face, and who we know kept him in a dog cage as a child. Kendall gone over to the dark side, full Darth Vader.

For all the amorality on display, though, Armstrong built something of a moral universe, where none of the undeserving children won.

But even Tom’s victory was hollow: As Mattson made clear, he is his lapdog, his waterboy.

The sandblasting of humanity allowed us, the regular people, access to the property porn, private jets and helicopters, the lingua franca of stealth wealth and $500 Loro Piana cashmere baseball caps, at no such cost.

But the Roy children, in the finale’s climax, pay dearly.

The show’s darkest themes reverberated throughout this finale. The repeated references to murder; the sadistic crowning of would-be king Kendall by his siblings; and the water motif, with Kendall – who has nearly drowned so often – drawn towards what seems a fated end.

We witnessed Roman’s inevitable mental collapse, his masochism peaking in the finale, as he let Kendall literally reopen a bleeding wound in his forehead; Kendall’s sadism exposed in hugging him tight until the stitches burst.

This was Kendall as the emotional successor to Logan, who we saw smack Roman in the face early on, and who we know kept him in a dog cage as a child. Kendall gone over to the dark side, full Darth Vader.

In a brutal fight to succeed Logan, Kendall physically attacks Roman. Shiv calls Kendall out for killing someone, the young waiter from season 1, Kendall’s own Chappaquiddick.

‘I love you,’ Shiv tells him, ‘but I cannot f**king stomach you.’

The board sees and hears it all – the shoving, the screeching, the slapping, the crying. These are not serious people.

‘Succession’ gave these characters, and their fans, the endings they deserved: Roman, broken but free, drinking the martini favored by his unrequited obsession, Gerri; Shiv making a resentful peace with Tom, placing her hand on but not intertwined with his as they sit, ‘Graduate’-style, in the back of a blacked-out SUV; and Kendall alone, no family, no future, gazing out at the Hudson River — water, death — as the sun goes down.

It was perfect, poetic, silent and still.

‘Succession’ could easily have continued. HBO would doubtless have offered heaps of money and creative freedom, yet Armstrong was strong enough to end on this high note.

That’s a rare kind of artistic fortitude. We salute Armstrong even as we mourn: For what can ever replace ‘Succession’?

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