Succession Finale: The Most Satisfying Unhappy Ending
I can't stop thinking about it, it was so perfect.
All ye who enter here beware of spoilers for the Succession series finale!
Succession ended this week in a time, it feels like, when there hasn’t been a massive series finale (I mean, the Vanderpump season 10 finale was also epic, but that’s blessedly continuing, baby!). In comparison to the iconic ones of recent years—Game of Thrones, Mad Men, Breaking Bad—those all feel so long ago. And I admit that I didn’t think this one would be able to compete. I’ve said it before here, but I love being wrong (about TV anyway, winkie face!).
I talked a minor bit of shit about Succession this season, wondering if maybe it wasn’t getting a hype boost from the fact that there’s not much other prestige TV on right now for it to compete with (ahem, let me remind you that the three shows I mentioned above were all on TV at the same time, for a bit. Spoiled doesn’t begin to describe it). As recently as last week, I think I claimed to not care who ended up as CEO! Anyway, words eaten and all that.
This has been Kendall’s story since the beginning. Every season has kicked off with him having the same drive to get Logan’s seat, and only Logan’s seat. The finale was the closest he got, next to the season premiere, when it looked like his dad was dying. He’s used the series run to be up and down with not just Logan, but the position. He wanted that job and that job only, to his own detriment. When it looked like the dynasty dreams were over for all three of them at the end of season three, the kids almost went out on their own—before being pulled back in to the fight for the seat. And never through work—just, what’s owed to them, but more, to him. “I’m the oldest boy!” He said last night, not for the first time. Shiv’s reaction to him saying that is the last way everyone will see him: pathetic and whining about what he’s entitled to. It’s a stunning character arc for Kendall, thinking about where he’s been, so much so that him ending up as CEO would have actually been unsatisfying.
His lack of being able to see any kind of life and career (which is life to him) outside of CEO of Waystar is why you worry about him, staring aimlessly into the water. He’s right—there’s nothing else for him after this. Looking at the water felt like both a callback to Roman saying all the seas were connected, allowing danger to come and get you; it seemed like he was yearning for that glorious night in the Caribbean when he wasn’t just king, but his siblings (grudgingly) celebrated him. Also maybe a callback to the death that both he and water brought to an innocent in season one.
Ok, enough about Kendall; this was, in many ways, Shiv’s showcase. (Roman’s was last week! Did we not all go, ‘Oh this is the Emmy clip’ at the funeral?!) I’ve already seen a TikTok on how the character names predicted the ending of Succession, which touches on how the name shiv (short for Siobhan) is a knife—the kind that betrays you, usually, in prison. It’s always made her a badass, I thought, and she acted like a badass until season three, when she lost her footing. To be clear, I don’t think she betrayed Kendall; I believe and agree with her when she says she thinks Kendall would be bad as CEO. Again, he has nothing to say, listing his meager credentials. (“I’m the oldest boy!” is def his LinkedIn summary).
“With Open Eyes” is the name of the episode, and I think it clearly refers to Shiv and this moment. The oldest boy means nothing, she realizes. It shouldn’t. I had been kinda rooting for her to be CEO, but of course, that’s the episode’s big betrayal: Matsson going back on saying yes to Shiv as the American CEO1. She thought she had schemed her way forward, and the fact that the way she loses it is due to her femininity (Tom! You got her pregnant, so it’s like, the same!)… the same way she lost the birthright from her dad. When Shiv said her dad was hard on women at his funeral, that went a lot further than him. She didn’t hear Matsson and Tom’s disgusting convo about his feelings toward her, but she could guess. In the end, she ends up with some semblance of power, being married to Tom, and being, at this moment, in love with Tom, despite all of it. She’ll be fine, because she got the clear eyes of how far she could actually go in this world. It’s depressing, but I still loved the final look at her with Tom, holding hands, and him shrugging off her congratulations. It’s a win for Shiv in the sense that she (or at least exposure to her) molded Tom into the man he became.
And Tom! He’s the ultimate Roy in the end. He’s like those Survivor contestants who made it far by flying under the radar, learning the game, learning weaknesses, and knowing when to grab an opportunity.
Is it wrong that I’m proud of him?2 I don’t care! Ironically, he’s also the person who worked. At a job. The Roy siblings sort of had those job thingies sometimes, and Tom certainly didn’t earn his position at ATN in the traditional sense, but he went through the most leadership-forming trials at the end. Bitch was tired! You never saw any of those kids needing a nap, and one was pregnant.
Finally, Roman and Connor. The real oldest boy came out on top because he recognized his place long ago. The fact that he was the only sibling in that dinner party video proved to his siblings that he was closest to their dad, and none of them had that kind of emotional connection. Heartbreaking! Connor and Willa became the most surprising power couple, behind Shiv and Tom, of course.
And Roman. I loved his final martini, I loved his vulnerability in paradise… his character arc is my real favorite of the whole series. I hope everyone realizes we’ve been sleeping on Kieran Culkin before this!
Speaking of stuff I was personally sleeping on, the opening credits: So I have been skipping the intro all season because it eats up valuable viewing time (and this might be THE technology that defines a generation!) but I chose to watch it this time because, you know, finale vibes. And holy shit, the changes they made for season 4 (watch it above; here’s the link to the original) kinda give away the ending?
They flash a pool that ends up being the pool at their mother’s house, which is where Kendall, then Shiv, finds out that Shiv’s not going to be the US CEO, changing her whole trajectory, and giving us the crowing of Kendall and brief, cute, cease-fire.
There’s a kid driving a little red car in front of a real, adult’s car. I’m the oldest boy!
The StarGo app! That is Waystar and GoJo in one app, showing the deal was going to close this whole time.
Last rando thoughts:
Did their mom call eyeballs “face eggs”?! WTF LOL
Loved the final Tom/Greg scene. Reminiscent of their entire relationship.
Someone get me Shiv’s sunglasses! (They’re sold out obvs)
To be fair, it was a very short amount of time she had it. Weird fast timeline!
Watch that TokTok I linked to hear why his last name made him the true heir. Christina Ricci, but it’s fun.