Succession: Full Series Retrospective

correct the bottle of fine wine and you store it you hoard it while we are save it for a special occasion and then you smash someone's [ __ ] face [Music] yeah the following is an in-depth story analysis if you haven't seen succession you may want to before watching this video I didn't consider it until I started actually trying to choose intro Clips but boy oh boy is it hard to abide by YouTube's no F words in the first seven seconds content guideline when this month's subject is succession Ryan Cox is a fairly well-known actor but the rest of the regulars on succession are lesser-known character actors finally given the chance to really strut their stuff with some compelling and subtle a material even if hilariously half the cast are seemingly identical to the characters they portray on the show in interviews it may not be the most flashy Series in the world with scenes mostly consisting of compelling character confrontations in boardrooms and penthouses but the Despicable Roy family quickly worked their way into the audience's hearts even when audiences knew they should know better and as a result succession became the little show that could ascending to a level of Pop Culture relevance that impressively Rivals even its Prestige HBO contemporaries the provocative Euphoria the westerosi Redemption Arc House of the dragon and the impressive high-budget adaptation of the only video game that has ever existed The Last of Us I think I've made this intro long enough that YouTube will allow me to include clips of people effin and gethin so let's open the floodgates this is succession succession details the legal political familial and business struggles of the fictional Roy family Logan Roy the family patriarch built a media Empire that dabbles in the film industry cruises and themed entertainment but is more notorious for owning and operating Fox News I mean Fox News I mean ATM the Roys are pretty openly based on the Murdoch family although the official line from the show's creators of the Roy's Drew inspiration from multiple real life families presumably so that they don't get sued in addition to the Murdoch inspiration succession's pivotal plot points also draw from real historical scandals including the Ted Kennedy Chappaquiddick incident and some alleged controversies from the 2010s surrounding the Disney Cruise Line you hear that house of mouse I said alleged because I too don't want to get sued the final season also incorporates some ripped from the headlines this is the most important election of our lifetimes and I promise I won't say that again two years from now political unrest to demonstrate the toxic byproduct of the prod product that allowed the Roy's to amass their fortune and influence the series was created by Jesse Armstrong who previously worked as one of the creators of the Immaculate Peep Show which was all the pedigree succession needed to sucker me into watching with succession Jesse Armstrong utilizes a compelling show don't tell execution with a stellar cast that easily Rises to the occasion to portray the internal conflicts of the characters with subtlety it's a bit of a well-known thing at this point that every minute detail right down to the jokes is critical to what's going on and the scripts used to feature more explicit explanations behind the characters actions thought processes and motivations that were left on The Cutting Room floor after being deemed too obvious which is an amusing juxtaposition the peep show where the entire concept of the show is that the audiences in the main character's heads and can literally hear their thoughts back him up and sling him out I'm definitely going to agree to this I just need to put up an acceptable level of objection so I can be all reproachful if it proves to be a disaster a which it almost certainly will no succession has gone on to be universally lauded by critics but there are two common critiques I've seen about the Show's first season the first was that the cast is too white so I guess the show should just be written off out of hand as another rich white people problem series or should never have been made in the first place or Logan Roy's children should have been born from a multi-ethnic harem I don't know naturally the vast majority of those critics quickly changed their tune when they actually watched the show and realized it shared their Eat the Rich sympathies I know that we have had our differences but I do think you are so brave for picking the brown man I think that we should get you a message now the second main criticism of the first season that I actually feel warrants a discussion is the claim I've seen in quite a few places that succession starts slow and will I degree to a degree I found the series gets into a comfortable Groove as early as the second episode part of the starting slow feel when watching for the first time is just the nature of the type of show succession is succession is an ensemble cast pitch black dramedy that is intensely character focused the comedy largely comes from moments where you chuckle and go that's such a great thing to say oh that's such a Conor thing to do and the drama comes from dreading the Perpetual cycle of abuse neglect and emotional exploitation as characters fall back into predictable self-destructive habits oh no I can't bear to watch Kendall do this again oh god of course shiv is going to do that again so naturally jumping into the character-centric show newcomers may not get the hype since right off the bat you won't know who Greg or Tom or Kendall or Roman or any of these people are fortunately succession gets everyone up to speed on the family members and their relationship Dynamics both past and present with relative ease avoiding being either too indecipherable with who all these characters are like for example the original edit of the Game of Thrones pilot while also trusting that audiences are smart enough to not necessitate a bunch of internal monologuing from Kendall to explain to us exactly who these characters are much Dr Lucian Sanchez Hot Shot surgeon he's a good body though we sometimes have punch-ups speaking of Game of Thrones remember that bit South Park did a while back where they meet George R.R Martin and he orders a pizza that never gets there and it's making fun of how long it's taking for the dragons to come to Westeros like oh don't worry they'll get here eventually that's the other reason the early days of succession feel a little less kinetic than the majority of the run because the writers are going don't worry Logan Roy will get here eventually Brian Cox's performance as the tyrannical Logan Roy is so commanding that after four seasons the character's reputation precedes him in the real world almost as much as it does in succession's fictional world but for the bulk of season one he's not entirely himself Logan spends the pilot for lack of a better term hiding his power level then suffers a stroke and spends half the season slowly recuperating I've seen a contingent of audiences swear that succession Only Hits its stride when Logan lays down the law in episode 6 but even with the big guy on the bench I'm much more generous I found myself enthralled as early as episode 2 with Logan's stroke opening the door for Kendall to make some aggressive moves to advance his position in the company all well paradoxically the possibility of Parental death Amplified the show's humor via amusingly mean-spirited banter and playfully absurd moments when it came to injecting more of the show's signature dark humor following a relatively self-serious Premiere a trip to the hospital was fittingly just what the doctor ordered he didn't talk to you about cryogenics you talk to him about cryogenics because you're obsessed with cryogenics and what he didn't tell you and what I'm telling you now yes is that you are an idiot Logan may be the most boisterous of the bunch but the cast is killer to a man there's not a bad performance in the bunch and some are among the best TV performances of the decade even if Jeremy Strong's notoriously intense method acting did wind up misrepresented in the press as creating a toxic working environment on set when at worst it seems like his co-stars are mostly just bewildered by his level of dedication might as well go through the introductions since I know at least one of you is going to watch this video instead of ever watching the show welcome to the family son here's the rundown there's Kendall the quote unquote eldest son still somewhat fresh out of rehab for a cocaine addiction that destroyed his marriage Kendall is attempting to Rebrand himself from the boss's strung out son to a forward-thinking hip businessman when Logan refuses to retire and hand his company over to Kendall Kendall starts making plans to hold a vote of no confidence to unseat his father with Logan's Antiquated business tactics and questionable mental faculties post-stroke serving as Kendall's patricidal Silver Bullet one of the votes Kendall needs is the younger brother Romans who was recently promoted to coo Romans a snarky felmel slime who despite some big talk is unlikely to see the Takeover planes through he seems aware of tall poppy syndrome and is perfectly content to keep his head down in a comfortable position and when the rubber hits the road he's never going to stick a knife in their father's back because there's only one thing he really wants the big thumbs up from Poppy outside of the way star royco organization is shiv the only daughter shiv elected to forge her own path as a political consultant rather than integrate herself into the family business the series notes that getting Democrats elected in New York isn't much more challenging than the make work nepotism jobs the other Roy boys were set up with although Logan does throw plenty of hurdles shiv's Way by making her candidates targets of his right-leaning ATN News Network there's Conor the actual eldest brother but from another mother so nobody seems to think his seniority counts also Aloo from the family business and instead occupying his time with harebrained Hobbies with his latest fixations as the series begins being marrying his escort and running for president do you think that that's like a natural progression from never done nothing never to most important job in the world well like could you maybe get a little experience at like a CVS last but not least we have the recently unemployed distant cousin Greg Hirsch who comes to the big Apple to try and sneak into a cushy nepotism job since he's an outsider oblivious to the family Dynamics thrown into the deep end of waystar's corporate Intrigue you'd be forgiven for assuming Greg is going to be the audience's eyes in character but Greg is so utterly gormless that even the least Savvy audience member watching succession half drunk is going to figure out strategies smarter than this guys I don't want to bring anything up to you in a way that feels like horrible but would it be bad for me to like mention those to you now are you asking if you can blackmail me no it's so rare these days to see comic relief characters that remain comic relief characters without getting some sort of tragic Arc or backstory further down the line but Greg is classic comic relief the few moments where he does manage to outmaneuver one of his devious blood relatives with a dirty trick of his own are so rare that they're awe-inspiring to both the audience and the characters despite his ineptitude Roman Kendall shiv and Logan all see some potential in using Greg as a spanner in the works but the major player who really takes Greg under his wing is shiv's less than shiny new fiance Tom Tom is the head of waystar's parks and cruises division who has been the disrespected family punching bag as shiv's boyfriend for some time with no Roy throwing the gloves on more frequently than shiv I mean she demands the two have an open marriage on their wedding night that's gotta Sting with Greg's arrival Tom recognizes he can pass down the mantle of the family FNG and begins to torment Mr Hirsch I have got my eye on you yeah you need any help seriously any help any advice just you know don't [ __ ] bother okay when Tom learns of a scandal within the company Cruise Line where sexual assaults and even murders of foreign workers were covered up by bribing corrupt authorities abroad Tom uses Greg as his unwitting henchmen to destroy the incriminating documents along the way establishing a bizarre sort of evil mentorship with the hapless new recruit part self-aggrandizing bullying part creating the perfect Fall Guy and part genuine affection Tom and Greg's perplexing partnership is a highlight of the series I half expected the finale to end with the two of them diving off a cliff together after killing the Great Red Dragon I'd castrate you and marry you in a heartbeat Kendall's vote of no confidence ends in spectacular failure when a terror threat causes traffic problems that prevent him from physically appearing at the meeting without his opportunistic son ready to go toe-to-toe with him Logan realizes he can batter the room into submission with his terrifying presence and retain control Kendall still hasn't made it to the table so Logan roll for intimidation you better be smelling your [ __ ] armpit Romulus um the climax of which side are you on is pulse pounding to an impressive degree in fact I've seen a lot of shows with all kinds of crazy life and death Stakes that didn't leave me on the edge of my seat nearly as much as succession's boardroom meeting the Direction performances and score are just inundating the scene with nail-biting tension as Logan slowly catches on to what's afoot will his opposition tried to stall hoping Kendall's late arrival will Salvage a vote that was supposed to be a shoe-in it's an old joke that succession fans will tell you they just saw the most wild captivating scene ever and then present a screenshot that looks like this but damn it if the succession team doesn't totally make it work which side are you on is basically the non-comedic version of the iconic Veep episode kissing your sister which makes sense since the shows share a few writers well veep's desperate scramble to get to the vote on time as everything falls apart with the stakes being the leader of the Free World was expertly played for comedy succession's execution of a similar hopeless race through traffic and hallways this is almost terrifying even though the stakes are just which of these two [ __ ] will run this [ __ ] company at the end of the day we can't do that so fa will pull my license if we take off now we can be shot down by an F-16 hey don't maybe call an Uber we can't call an Uber I've been banned for life because I have a low rating speaking of the characters being [ __ ] that brings me to another huge strength of succession in my book yeah I've got another good thing to say about the show if he can believe it it's almost like it's really good or something in a show stuffed with morally ambiguous or outright monstrous characters I love that there's never that scene the scene where the show effectively sits audiences down and explicitly tells them how they should feel about a character you probably expect me to bring up BoJack Horseman as the counter example but I'll just go with the easy target everyone in your family you included use intelligence to justify sickness you seem to alternate between viewing your own mind as an Unstoppable force and as an inescapable curse succession never blatantly spells out what's going on with the characters to the audience their actions speak for themselves while still leaving enough room for our individual interpretations I can't speak for everyone but I found myself slowly sympathizing with and rooting for certain characters as the series went on only for them to do heinous things that caught me off guard and upset me a party who feels betrayed well a part of you realizes that you should have known better all along they're all really not lovely Underneath It All I am interested in becoming a method yeah well we're the [ __ ] right people dude following the disastrous vote of no confidence Kendall has no confidence of his own his father may be putting out rumors that Kendall has fallen off the wagon to justify sacking him but Kendall doesn't seem to need any rumors to justify actually falling off the wagon at the same time as his spiraling Kendall organizes a vindictive buyout of waystar with his longtime Finance bro friend Stewie as well as his father's longtime rival Sandy both the addiction and the buyout come to a head at shiv and Tom's wedding Kendall drops the buy out on his father then gets high with a waiter and crashes their car while on the hunt for more cocaine after a half-hearted frazzled inebriated rescue attempt Kendall leaves the waiter to drown then trudges back to shiv's wedding soaked to the bone upon Ken's return his father reveals that way star's Pi witnessed Kendall's little Journey to Atlantis and cleaned up the crime scene and Logan welcomes a defeated Kendall back into the Roy family fold with all this manslaughter dirt on his son the power plays are over now you're mine it could be what it should be nothing at all Assad little detail at a lovely wedding where father and son are reconciled the whole season won Arc of a recovered addict attempting to rebuild their life relapsing after a climactic unexpected failure then suffering a horrific consequence for their relapse in the finale that will disrupt the status quo The Following Season isn't new ground for dramatic television but that's succession all over the show isn't doing anything you haven't seen before it's just doing things you have seen before impeccably well it's like HBO came to Jesse Armstrong and said we want to Own Zone the early Netflix catalog take all the political and corporate scheming of House of Cards and the one percent familial infighting of Bloodlines but then make it actually good my only other big complaint for the first season is Logan may be benched for the first half of the season but shiv is basically benched for all of it it didn't seem odd in the first viewing I guess she's just lower on the totem pool of characters Logan has the pseudo villain and Kendall as the pseudo hero with Roman as his right-hand man of tenuous loyalty Tom and Greg have their little Cruise Scandal cover-up going on which is clearly a setup for season two Conor is such a forgotten character that it's actually a joke within the show itself and then there's shiv she's working on the presidential campaign of totally original character Ernie Landers trying to get her father's News Network off his back but unlike Kendall's schemes which have specifics whenever it comes to shiv shooing off the mudslingers it's just trust me I'll stop my dad given shiv will effectively become the deuteragonist in the following Seasons it's odd looking back and seeing that she spends most of season 1 out of the loop simply snickering at her sibling slap fighting well except for in episode 2 when she and Roman literally slap fight you man much to my surprise on the first viewing and much to my delight on a re-watch shiv steps into the spotlight as the first season draws to a close using her spousal knowledge of the crew Scandal to Blackmail ATN into backing off shiv Tom and Greg no waystar's dirty little secret and Logan knows Kendall's even dirtier little secret and that's season one of succession before moving on to year two I figured I'd touch on a few house Style Elements of the series that I appreciate given the central focus of the series is the lifestyles of the ultra wealthy I admire the restraint from HBO to not indulge in excessive sex position the network established a bad habit in the 2010s of taking every opportunity no matter how tasteless to insert a little TNA and I appreciate them holding back when succession's premise would pretty much allow them to have tapless hookers on screen every other scene cart launch and finally the score is magnificent listen to it while you're doing your taxes you'll feel like you're the most important person in the world my only ding is that the first few episodes reuse the main theme over and over and over for half the scene transitions I was going to say it's like they're a little too proud of the main theme but then I realized you can never be too proud of that main theme it's a masterpiece so I may have heard it to death Four Seasons later but when the show first aired I can understand wanting to use it to death speaking of using someone to death Logan now has Kendall under his command we're off to season two as Logan steers way star toward the iceberg with no crewmates daring to question his leadership tomorrow is there a plan the city will be down one fair enough fair enough can't ladies and gentlemen the first [ __ ] thing my son's ever done right in his life even though he's managed to reign in his rebellious son Logan still has Sandy and Stewie's offer to consider his Baker cautions that with the emergence of big Tech in a few years only one Legacy Media company will become large enough to survive so it would be prudent to sell glomming onto the wrong part of that piece of advice a light bulb clicks on in Logan's head only one Legacy Media company will be large enough to survive well then let's make waystar so big that it has to be us in pursuit of this goal Logan intends to acquire Pierce news despite Pierce being ideologically opposed to the right-leaning ATN scratch that I meant because pierces ideologically opposed to the right-leaning ATN and Logan is ready to drop a cool 21 billion to literally own the libs your Outlets have been essential to the functioning of our Grand Republic long may they so remain your hair yeah he would like to kill and [ __ ] on you I've mentioned in previous videos that whenever a Series has a talked about scene stealing villain in its first season the writers will feature that villain front and center in the sophomore year to confirm for newcomers oh yeah he's just as bad as you heard the first few episodes of succession season 2 are all about Logan's tyranny and mind games now that he's sitting in the driver's seat uncontested coming to a head in episode 3 where Logan torments his executive staff with a game of ritual humiliation titled boar on the floor if you'd like to play it with your friends here's how first assert your dominance over them then find whoever you suspect is leaking company Secrets force them to crawl around on the floor making pig noises and throw sausages at the ground the last one who eats a floor sausage is the mole not only is it fun for everyone but it's a foolproof strategy to determine who has been leaking company Secrets Tom yes sit on the floor it's fun seriously yeah it's a game boar on the floor I really I feel get down amidst the attempted acquisition of Pierce Logan is tasked with naming his successor and this time he lands on shiv oh gee Shame about the conflict of interest with your current employer the presidential hopeful whose beliefs I am diametrically opposed to guess you'll have to quit your day job if you want to take me up on this golden opportunity but despite the obvious manipulation there the opportunity is too golden to pass up not even entirely for the job itself but also because being chosen as CEO is the ultimate affirmation of her father's approval that none of the other Roy's could ever hope to achieve even if it means cucking her husband's rise up the way star corporate ladder just rub salt in the wound after her you know actually cuckolding him because I thought that it was wanted for me we do to have it we did that was I mean that was just the plan that's still the plan me it's just a modification of the plan no sure it turns out Logan's Gauntlet of Mind Games is only getting started as he throws secret test of character after secret test of character shiv's way to test her Readiness for the CEO position although it starts to become increasingly apparent to both shiv and the audience that Logan is hoping for shiv to fail so he can justify abandoning his promise to her and appoint the woman he's having an affair with Raya instead though it stings to be burned by her father yet again when shiv catches wind the cruise line sexual abuse Scandal is about to come under investigation by the doj she quietly seeds from contention for the CEO position and lets Logan toss that grenade into an unsuspecting reya's lap aha it's going to be huge it's going to blow us wide open sour any CEO announcement the new face is going to get ripped to shreds speaking of rip to shreds let's check in with Kendall who has taken the Guinness World Record from Philip Jennings and is now the new saddest man on television soft blackmailed into becoming a puppet of his father Kendall is further compelled to devote his life to waystar because he's filled with self-loathing and only sees value in himself by how valuable he can be to the company by extension to Logan in a Twisted way Kendall and Logan are closer than we've ever seen them before in season two and closer than it's implied they've ever been in the past even if Logan's Sinister sort of Love is extremely conditional Logan can only ever care for a broken servile malleable Kendall but he's letting that broken Kendall back into his arms so convincingly that most of the cast misread their Dynamic and get it backward they assume Kendall has some sort of blackmail material on Logan and that's the only reason Ken's back in Logan's good graces even as Kendall's drag himself through a humiliating tripping at the Finish Line apology tour you know the long and the short of it is I saw their plan and my dad's plan was better yeah I I saw your plan and uh my Dad's plan is better I saw their plan you know Dad's plan is better okay [ __ ] I mentioned criticisms directed at the Freshman year of succession that found the first half a little sluggish but honestly I found the middle of the second season of succession was when momentum was at its lowest where the other three seasons are defined by ever shifting alliances and opportunistic power grabs following cool Uncle Logan's sausage fast in episode 3 the entire waystar roster are scared straight spend the rest of the season Towing the company line so well some of succession's most iconic comedy scenes are peppered throughout that part of the run like Tom's alarming interview with a Nazi newsman or Kendall's L to the LG rap honoring his father the bulk of Act 2 can feel a tad aimless on a first viewing when you don't know this whole thing is headed toward a senate hearing over the cruise scandal in the end for a majority of the run time there's Rumblings that the cruise Scandal might come to light there's walking on eggshells to keep the Pierce family from jumping ship but the deal always seemed doomed from the start to me Logan getting himself a new side piece minimizes his previously attention-grabbing tirades and Kendall is basically a dead man walking all season which I understand why but he doesn't do a thing to get out from under his father's thumb until the last 60 seconds of the Season before you all murder me I'm certainly not saying the slower Pace makes the second season bad in fact the thoughtful intricacies and interwoven character arcs are juicier than ever you can pick any Random episode out of the bunch and there's so many little things going on it's almost impossible to catch them all even on multiple viewings let's take episode 4 safe room for example a defeated Kendall is pondering suicide via shootless waste or base jumping a method that serves as a dark callback to an offhand joke from early season 1. meanwhile Tom interviews the aforementioned Adolf the Anchorman when a shooting occurs in the lobby the family is cordoned off to safe rooms or in Tom and Greg's case just the safest room nearby and a person can fit through there a person can definitely fit through that window a small person an attack child Greg is unhappy with his promotion to ATN uncomfortable with the company culture that would allow unsavory people like the news anchor to be a figurehead and unsettled by power tripping Antics like human Furniture itself a seeming throwaway moment that will get a call back at the very very end of the show after He suggests an open business relationship with Tom Tom erupts on Greg obviously because the open relationship comparison has brought up Tom's issues with his marriage and he's finally venting them Greg is able to finagle a new position All the Same by revealing he kept copies of the incriminating documents he was meant to destroy also a moment that seems like playful fun more than anything but which will later be the mechanism by which Kendall finally slips his father's grasp and the Catalyst to the events of the third season meanwhile the building lockdown seemingly catches Kendall mid and my life contemplation mode inadvertently tipping his father off to his Suicidal Tendencies and after firing the controversial anchor that seemed like a one-off joke scene as a pierce peace offering the gang learns the shooting was actually just a suicide Kendall arrives on the roof the following morning to find anti-suicide barricades freshly affixed with the employee's self-inflicted gunshot as a justification for the installation waystar threw up the walls as a pretend to Care Effort while secretly harboring the toxic culture that Greg complained about and that also was the motivation behind the employee taking their own life and at the same time Logan threw up the walls to save his son with similar motives pretending to care for his safety but really with the intention of demonstrating that there's no way out it's incredibly slick how the writers managed to Parlay seemingly inconsequential jokes into serious plot points or character moments or tie disparate characters together with an unlikely through line and that level of detail happens like every episode are there Easter eggs in there you didn't get the first time in season two we even get to spend more time with the old guard at waystar Frank Jerry and Carl were a sort of odd parallel emerges between them and Ken shiv and Rome it seems like Logan is almost grooming his children into mirroring his longtime business associates Frank and Kendall both have a history of trying to usurp Logan but instead of striking out on his own Logan wants to make sure Kendall always comes crawling back just like Frank with the temptation of the CEO position Logan expects shiv to drop everything just like Jerry even as he openly disparages her Womanhood as a weakness until occasions arise where he realizes he can tactically use her femininity and Carl and Roman are both yasm and Logan with strange sexual appetites though Logan notes that Carl has managed to keep his behind closed doors while Roman is still flagrantly disgusting people with his off-color one-liners no offensecom none taken yeah well a bit of a fence car because the smartest CFO might have seen this [ __ ] disaster coming got it yep offense now taken that brings me to common season two sends him on the road to prove himself to waystar a number of times but the real meat of his material this year is the Revelation that he's completely stunted sexually and can only get off to verbal humiliation wonderful as it is to see someone like me get representation I must admit I was initially trepidatious about his psychosexual fling with begrudging way star general counsel Jerry mainly because it landed in an awkward Middle Ground of being too inherently comedic as well as very on the nose to be meaningful dramatic insight into Roman psyche while also being too reliant on sexual gross out humor that just doesn't suit my tastes for me to find it all that funny I mostly just thought oh there's that pervy old HBO we all know and tolerate hindsight is 20 20 though and I can admit that I was wrong the writers are playing the long game with Roman's fetishes and while it won't pay off until all the way at the end of season 3 the sequence for Roman derails a critical meeting by accidentally texting a photo of his dick to his own father inadvertently exposing his relationship with Jerry in the process is probably the hardest I laughed the entire series it's either that or the failed rocket launch in season 1. Kieran Culkin is a comedic genius when it comes to making a face after seeing something that he really really didn't want to see on a smartphone it's also so insanely cringe-inducing that I'm somewhat convinced it was a leftover Peep Show script Jesse Armstrong found in a drawer then scratched all the names out and penciled in Roman and Logan but why why I don't know it's just like here's my dick I guess when a whistleblower comes forward about the bright star Cruise Line sexual assault cover-ups The Pierces Run for the hills while waystar Goes to Washington to testify it may be late in the game but these final two episodes rapidly restore the tension of the series as the stakes become dire it's just as enthralling to watch Logan Kendall and Jerry navigate the Senate like Smooth operators as it is to watch Tom and Greg die on the stand like the buffoons they are in which you did not send an email to Mr Hirsch with the title you can't make a tomlet without breaking some Greg's while the rest of the Roy's put on a show for the nation the real winning move is happening behind the scenes as shiv confronts the prosecution's key witness for a little implied intimidation sure you think you're doing the right thing by coming forward but can't you trust our giant Sinister Corporation to do the right thing internally without oversight I'll be involved in the internal investigation and see I'm totally the good cop here but if you come forward oof I mean I'm not saying this but you're just a [ __ ] a money-grubbing [ __ ] who wants attention that reputation will haunt you for the rest of your life again not me saying that I'm just being super nice and warning you that people will say that maybe possibly foreseeably on the major News Network that my father owns in the end shiv is able to talk the key witness into taking waystar's hush money and all it took to bring home the dub for dad was betraying her principles since she's compelling then that's it for my family's company all that's left to do now is decide on a scapegoat and the finale sees the Roy family and the key way star players all set sail on an opulent yacht where they can deliberate who gets to take the fall and go to prison the yacht booze cruise is the perfect Roy family gilded cage for the season finales gilded cage match Logan offers to turn himself in but it's a pretty Shameless [ __ ] test just to see if anyone has the gall to not immediately go no not you Logan it could never be you Connor also offers to take the fall in exchange for a 100 million dollar payout to recoup his losses from a Springtime for Hitler he forgot to over finance and continue to fund his presidential campaign but Conor is a tough sell since he's so divorced from the family business nobody will believe he had anything to do with the Scandal that in a way is another selling point in Conor's mind though tell the world I'm some Shadow Mastermind who's been pulling the strings for years I think he'd secretly enjoy develop station of the American public believing he was finally important just as much as I think he doesn't actually know what a prison is Roman picks Frank because he has a history of disloyalty to the company but that disloyalty counterproductively makes him a hard sell to the public because it'll just seem like Logan's scapegoated him to get even with him Kendall picks Jerry because she's been at the center of all the bad apples as general counsel but on the opposite side of the Frank coin she's too loyal and nobody wants to betray her Jerry Carl and Frank all go in circles picking each other and Tom picks Carl because he stole his sausage during boar on the floor amidst all the discussion one name is the clear front-runner Tom womsganz he's part of the family but not blood he was personally involved in the cover-up and he gave a poor performance at the Senate that made him look guilty as Sin and if Tom goes down even odds Greg goes down with him since Greg was his gopher when it came to document destruction even shiv attests to how compelling Tom would be as a scapegoat during the Round Table anyone care to speak to my qualities no Tom looks logical what cruises document destruction what Tom confronts shiv on the beach over her increasingly callous treatment of him and prepares to storm away from the Roy family that is on the verge of destroying his life stopping on his way to eat the chicken off Logan's plate right in front of him as a final [ __ ] you that may sound like a pretty unimpressive way to stick it to someone who's about to ship you off to the big house but given how innately not intimidating Tom is while Logan's well Logan this is a moment of true badass bravado after a whole season of Crossing Lines to appease Logan in a quest for a dangling carrot that seems to be perpetually Out Of Reach shiv finally sets a boundary on how cold she's willing to go to win the title of Logan's successor and pleads with her father to spare Tom from being the Fall Guy behind closed doors this finale isn't just about deciding who's going down it's also secretly about Logan realizing that in his eyes all of his children are too soft to be worthy of succeeding him for the big job you have to be a killer Conor's campaign has made him a laughingstock Roman just pragmatically threw away the foreign Victory he brought home for the safety of the team rather than reaping the temporary rewards all for himself Kendall may be a literal killer but the job requirements call for killer in the figurative sense and now here comes last resort shiv all boohoo don't send my husband to prison what a bunch of softies nonetheless Logan relents turning his sights from the phone your family answer Tom to the lamb he's been fattening up all season feistar needs a sacrifice let's all grab our pitchforks and set fire to the Wicker can now Kendall's a broken man so he's willing to get put away for the cruise Scandal while using it as a personal Penance for the death of the waiter he feels responsible for when Logan attempts to assuage the heartbroken Kendall's guilt over the waiter's death by telling Kendall he shouldn't beat himself up because the lower class employee wasn't even a real person invoking the no real person involved nrpi acronym that the cruise sexual assaults operated under Kendall realizes maybe Logan really should be the one to face Justice for the awful antics of his organization the boy ah no no no no no not that an RPI you're the best don't beat yourself up no real person involved with his resolve restored the only thing Kendall needs is ammo lucky for him the still somewhat kind-hearted Greg just happened to hold on to some with a few copies of damning documents in tow Kendall arrives at the press conference where he's intended to turn himself in and throws Logan under the bus instead all while a mysterious smile creeps across Logan's face Logan's world just got a lot more complicated but maybe he's proud to see a glimpse of that Killer Instinct in Kendall after all a bully and a liar and he was fully personally aware of these events for many years and made efforts to hide and cover up that's season two of succession as I mentioned earlier a slower burn than the rest of the bunch but ending in a bang much like season three of The Americans I can only imagine a nightmarish alternate reality where the show gets canceled after the slow burning season that ended on a status quo disrupting Cliffhanger all that time setting up the dominoes being for naught fortunately we live in one of those wonderful timelines where succession ran for all four seasons which means we can hop over to season 3 where everyone has to pick a side tangle with the feds and fly by the seat of their pants as Pawns in a game of father-son speed chess in the light of this wild new development want me to ride with you you want to suck my dick it's what he said to his son as the sexual assault allegations poured in succession season three hits the ground running as Kendall goes whistleblower on waitstar this season is all about Kendall Switching gears to manic mode to contrast last season's 10 straight episodes of depressive episodes he's aiding the feds and taking his father and waste her as a whole to task for their enabling of sexual abuse and exploitation the cause itself is a righteous one though Kendall's motives are blatantly self-serving overnight his self-image has gone from Kendall Roy manslaughtering drug addicted corporate puppet to Kendall Roy feminist champion celebutant and if he consumes just the right amount of drugs and alcohol cultivates just the right self-aware ironically gallivanting Public Image and manages to destroy his father without the battle becoming so bloody it destroys the company and takes the throne he's vying for down with him who knows yeah if all those things go just right maybe Kendall can live in manic episode never Neverland forever I'm sure there won't be a huge embarrassing come down when one or all of his private issues has a huge and very public setback [Music] the patriarchy after the scramble to NAB the best lawyers in town Kendall sets his sights on poaching whoever he can from waystar while Logan looks to shore up support from the key players and family members as well as steal away Kendall's lone Ally Greg the two may be pitching team Ken vs team Logan to Frank Connor Roman and the rest but given the central issue facing the company is historically enabling the abuse of women all those fellas are just consolation prizes and the real Target is shiv Kendall and Logan both want her support because they're approaching the pr angle with the mindset how could I possibly be sexist some of my best blood relatives are women having the feds breathing down your neck is an undesirable position to be in and though Kendall's individual pitches as he works his way through the roster make for some utterly gripping television none of the waste our team are in a hurry to jump ship and join Ken's side the first reason is because Kendall's over-inflated ego has made him uncompromising and untrustworthy as uncompromising and untrustworthy as Logan just with a different and even even more insufferable flavor the second reason is that Kendall's a two-time loser who's already gone for the kill shot in his old man twice and both times he shot his own Dicky dick off instead the drones at waystar may be scrambling to concealed documents burden the feds with paperwork hold off a buyout with an oncoming Deluge of federal fines and even be staring down the barrel of a handful of lengthy prison sentences but the unspoken and later spoken concern is that Logan Roy the man may just be too big to fail it's not even that he's so good at the game you'd be crazy to go against him as season 3 demonstrates even when he's making all the wrong political moves all the wrong business moves or just making nonsense moves while sick and Delirious that his lackeys follow blindly Logan's still Invincible my hunch is that you're going to get [ __ ] because I've seen you get [ __ ] a lot and I've never seen Logan get [ __ ] once the Roy children realize that their powers combined could smoke their dad but for each of their own reasons shiv Roman Connor leave Kendall to fly solo after pondering his offer to bolster waystar's image Logan appoints shiv as interim president but leaves the actual importance of the title and what goes into the job description up to shiv shiv takes the position of president to mean PR Warchief who can earn herself a favorite child medal if she goads Kendall into having a breakdown and shiv and Kendall rapidly descend into an ugly back and forth of attempting to destroy the other's Public Image Roman flirts with sabotaging Kendall's public Persona as well but ultimately elects not to get his hands dirty and instead attempts to become the favorite Child by bringing home a steady stream of small victories for his father a winning strategy as it turns out though Roman ultimately snatches defeat from the jaws of Victory via the previously mentioned dick pic of Doom and Conor takes the chance to exploit waystar's moment of vulnerability and attempts to Blackmail shiv for a position position within the news network which he can use as a springboard for his presidential campaign Connor's wacky presidential bid gets a lot more play in succession season 3 because with the doj and the attorney general and the president all factoring into the investigation who the president is actually matters to the story and on top of that Connors angst about his role in the company his relationship with his siblings and his hopeful marriage to Willow the playwright slash escort gives the character some welcome wonderful additional screen time I couldn't help but chuckle at the presumably coincidental real world parallels of Conor blackmailing shiv for an expanded role in the company since the actor asked for Conor to be killed off in season 2 after being given so little to do I'm glad he lived so that we could get this expanded role and hear the tale of how he [ __ ] his sleeping bag yeah you know why because I took you two [ __ ] [ __ ] on a camping trip because Dad couldn't be bothered that's why and I ate some bad [ __ ] fish okay okay Logan Roy may be Invincible but Tom wamsgan fans is not with Kendall escaping his fate of having his heart cut out and being dropped into a pit of FBI lava still screaming it means Tom is back on the sacrificial altar realizing he is probably going down for his actual crimes anyways Tom willingly offers to be the company Fall Guy to earn Logan's respect a decision which he immediately regrets as all of waystar's Bad actors start to hang their misdemeanors on him like ornaments on a Christmas tree for such a big sacrifice the people ducking prison time don't seem terribly appreciative we are hearing rumors that the case is weakening and that no one big is likely to do jail time great with the notable exception of Tom obviously sorry no please you've understood to prepare him for prison life Tom decides to get hard denying himself the Earthly pleasures of his Upper Crest lifestyle and rejecting Andy dufresne's message of Hope in favor of an ideology of utter despair a despair that is easy to cling to when he tries to try for a child with shiv to give himself a reason to suffer through his sentence only for her to shoot him down he may still love her despite their rocky relationship leading him to be increasingly pedily passive aggressive but shiv's Devotion to him is questionable in fact some characters accuse shiv of hoping Tom will be incarcerated so she can be rid of him for a few years and play pretend like she's single again an accusation that only becomes more plausible when shiv uses sexy mistress role-playing as an opportunity to tell Tom she doesn't love him quote unquote in character that's why maybe you love me [ __ ] you even though I don't love you apologies of my season 3 discussion is becoming more of a recap than a dissection but that's just my way of saying the show is firing on all cylinders and yeah season three is pretty much Flawless the investigation electrifies the character interactions and keeps the excitement high from episode to episode and the plot pushes Kendall and Tom in particular to their emotional extremes allowing them to steal the show in the process after a whole season of moping and misery Kendall is on a tear as a wonderfully unbearable wannabe while by contrast the walls are finally closing in on Tom and as utter anguish is the perfect culmination to three seasons of steadily building anxiety you've played your hand well and you're sitting at the top table wow Shucks thank you I fell in love with your sister that's what happened sure oh yeah right right right sure sure man I guess I could see some people having criticisms of season three if you're in this for the actual way star vs FBI investigation of it all succession is proudly entirely about the consequences the developments of the investigation have on the characters and doesn't let itself get bogged down by whatever the legal equivalent of technobabble is there aren't scenes of characters discussing legal jargon there's no resisting the feds what they want they're gonna get we don't even see the characters testifying there's even a scene where Kendall spills his guts and we just see the end and learn it didn't go as well as he'd hoped second hand from his lawyer but the writers figured it's not important enough to see the actual testimony so why bother season 3 episodes will start by just going waystar had a surprising Victory the rest of the episode is everyone reacting or waystar had an unexpected setback the rest of the episode is everyone reacting but since succession has always been more about the emotional interpersonal conflicts with the corporate and legal Logistics as a backdrop I don't mind the show continuing its focus on character over narrative it would seem that some agents of federal law enforcement are rating the premises right now so if you see them that's what that is Logan attempts to pressure the president into firing the adversarial AG by running constant negative coverage of his re-election campaign on ATN until he does but the plan works a little too well and the negative press goes the president who was once a Roy family Ally into not running for re-election it's up to the Roys to play Power broker and decide who the next Republican nominee will be after running through a roster of uninspired neocons as well as briefly flirting with propping up the ever ambitious Conor Roy who has been interested in politics from a young age Roman ultimately talks his father into backing Jared Menken whose political platform could best be described as a platform high enough to push all the brown people of the world off to their death I'm mostly kidding actually succession is fairly unhistrionic when it comes to introducing its alt-right Boogeyman character considering succession is produced by the writer and director of don't look up I was expecting a mustache twirling cartoon character that would feel out of place in the show climate said I should just step aside I guess I'm a climate denier Macon is less a recurring character and more the centerpiece of a handful of succession very special episodes that Lament The disproportionate Power Media institutions and Elites have been usurping the will of the people and in a series where even defending a corporation that systemically covered up sexual assaults becomes disgustingly morally gray as the supposedly righteous investigation morphs into a tactical ego trip for a spoiled billionaire support for mankin is really the one big issue on the show that is portrayed as unambiguously evil and depletes the character's Karma meters like they're in a Fallout game you may have your sympathetic excuses for throwing family members under the bus when they've done nothing wrong or shielding them from consequences when they have done something wrong but if you prep up mankin you're effectively trying to bring back Hitler from hell like it's the second season of preacher oh and speaking of preacher hello hair star give me the micro fish you better I'll tell you and your family as predictably as the sun rises in the East and sets in the west Kendall's Crusade ends in an emotional breakdown you know how it is chicken go clock clock cowgirl moo Kendall Roy go I don't even want to be around anymore waystar wriggles its way out of his whistleblowing so well that even wamscans is off the hook with the doj Roman manages to steal the acquisition of streaming giant Gojo that was Kendall's brainchild out from under his nose Kendall embarrasses himself at an awkward extravagant and self-absorbed but in a supposed ironic sense 40th birthday party and on top of all that add the ever-grinding misery of being a functional addict who has more or less given up the ghost on Ever Getting clean again and after a meeting with Logan where Logan twists the knife by reminding Kendall about the waiter's death Kendall nearly dies by drowning in a swimming pool though it's ambiguous if this was a deliberate suicide attempt or just a mishap caused by his never-ending substance abuse if you find him in the pool again there's a C note in it for you to just let him sink okay too soon said the room when the stock price of prospective streaming acquisition Gojo spikes the tables are turned and Gojo founder Lucas Madsen plans to acquire waystar instead much to the Roy children's surprise Logan is amenable to the buyout so long as he gets to keep the news network as his own personal playground and much to the Roy children's horror they realize that their dad pays a premium to keep them all as puppets in his little theater but any other boss is going to realize they're ludicrously underqualified and ludicrously overpaid and fire their asses so Roman shiv raced rally Kendall for one last shot at pulling one over on their problematic pop Kendall breaks down in their arms and confesses to his involvement in the waiter's death while shiv tips off Tom that the kids are about to block the Gojo deal Roman takes the time to comfort Kendall in his inimitably sleazy fashion Kendall's been carrying the immense guilt of this terrible secret for two seasons with his father only exacerbating the emotional turmoil to achieve his own ends so having a new outside voice encourage Kendall to not endlessly beat himself up in a flippant and blackly hilarious manner is a moment just as humorously Twisted as it is unconventionally heartwarming one waiter down that makes sense it took me forever to get a [ __ ] drink at her wedding please man okay finally facing down their father as a unified front shiv Roman and Kendall announced their intentions to block the buyout withstanding Logan's final Salvo of psychological warfare in the process but it turns out Logan's Hail Mary to manipulate his children into breaking ranks wasn't a desperate final play it was only fun and games true to form Logan has already won thanks to being tipped off to his children's incoming power play Logan renegotiated voting Powers with his ex-wife prior to their arrival which means he can block their plan to block his plan ew morons well no because you need a super majority because I mean the super majority but who could have tipped off Logan to his progeny's failed Blindside block well that would be the no longer under investigation Tom if the ludicrously capacious bag doesn't fit you must acquit now that he's got a career to look after once more he needs to think about who he's going to be answering to so when shiv tipped him off to their plan he wondered who was going to be looking out for me in the long run my wife who constantly puts her own happiness ahead of mine or my father-in-law was the only man in the world who seemed to actually appreciate my offer to be the Fall Guy so Tom puts another straw on the already obliterated back of his marriage camel and sides with Logan and almost as abruptly as the season 2 Cliffhanger kicked it off that's the conclusion of succession season three bit of a terse ending but it's far and away my favorite season thanks to the higher Stakes amplifying the already delicious character Dynamics we're off to the fourth and final season where I bet Tom's New Alliance will pay dividends as Logan repays his favor for surely years to come but it seemed to me that I was going to be caught between you and your dad and I really really really love my career and my money Love on the Rocks ain't no surprise especially when your name is Tom womsgans and you just betrayed your wife to stay on the low gang the two are now separated and careening toward divorce but one of the big emotional through lines of succession season 4 is the couple going through marriage Death Rows after three seasons of Tom being a human doormat and shiv treating him with all the respect he deserves read none watching her soon-to-be ex-husband grow some balls and fight back actually gets shiv a little sweaty down below putting a little spark back in their failing relationship and inadvertently getting shiv Knocked Up in the process on the other side of the coin the two circling each other's orbits so frequently during the marital end times means the gloves are coming off on a nearly once an episode basis where in previous Seasons husband and wife spent most of their screen time in separate worlds shiv and Logan land while Tom fasts around with Greg with the simmering resentments between the two left on the burner to boil over in a single confrontation each season finale Tom and shiv are putting everything on the table in succession's Final year whether the fights are quiet and captivating or explosive they always tend to be the jaw-dropping signature moment of each episode you shouldn't have even married me actually what the [ __ ] yeah actual [ __ ] you proposed to me for both of you my lowest [ __ ] AB my dad was dying what was I supposed to say perhaps no I didn't want to hurt your feelings oh thanks thanks for that it's a good thing Tom and Chip's relationship this season is so spectacular to watch probably not to be a part of because aside from that new Dynamic succession has a sort of going through the motions Vibe as season 4 kicks off Kendall shiv and Roman have gone into business together to form a digital News Network with the obvious intention of continuing the spat with their arch nemesis father both sides are in talks to purchase Pierce news again and on top of all that the sale of waystar is only days away and they're really only playing around with the lower Stakes table scraps You Wanna [ __ ] dad you want to [ __ ] Tom I'm the only one who wants to set up a business as a business and doesn't want to [ __ ] anyone Rome this acquisition will be nothing to do with Dad it's completely unrelated don't believe you nothing stays the same forever though and successions world is about to be turned upside down because Logan is about to die on the day of Conor's wedding the rest of the siblings step away for a nearly episode spanning panicked call with the plane where Logan maker in a hauntingly good episode that captures the raw Humanity of all these characters in the wake of a loss that still devastates them despite a lifetime of mistreatment the first few episodes of this final season I feel worn to re-watch more than any others because so many scenes are recontextualized when you realize they are Logan's final interactions with all these characters whether it's as impactful as his half-hearted Unapologetic apology to Kendall and chiv at the karaoke bar as retroactively tragic as his back room deal with Roman or as simple and succinct as telling Greg to [ __ ] off because reheated Pizza isn't as good as fresh pizza these scenes are even better reheated than watching Fresh for the first time add to that what is effectively Connor's mic drop exit speech not so much abandoning the family but just abandoning any hope of them ever reciprocating his love and the start of succession season 4 is hugely significant even if watching for the first time you don't know it yet your needy love sponges and I'm a plant that grows on rocks and lives off insects that die inside of me Jesus Christ following Logan's demise succession season 4 becomes a sort of variety pack of different episode flavors all occurring over the span of less than two weeks in the show's timeline Conor's wedding honeymoon States and church and state all Wrestle with the reality of Logan's death Conor's wedding focuses on the immediate tragedy the Wake features more of the farcical elements following Logan's demise as the family reacts with grim humor and appoints Kendall and Roman as interim CEOs to Usher the Gojo deal across the Finish Line in their father's absence and the funeral reflects on Logan's lingering Legacy and the possibility of his offspring terrifyingly becoming too much like him tailgate party and America decides are the Democracy dies tonight episodes and kill list living plus and the finale all pit Kendall and Roman against succession's new acting big bad Lucas Madsen after getting a taste of running the ship and getting a taste of what an insufferable prick Madison is Kendall and Roman hatch a scheme to make waystar seem worthless in Madison's eyes and blow up the deal which will only work if they can do so without arousing the suspicions of the board who are all eager to cash out if the Old Guard smells that we're getting smart they're gonna [ __ ] their beans go crying to the board and we're [ __ ] toast oh yeah sure it's a [ __ ] tightrope walk on a straight razor hilariously after all that big talk to psych themselves up for a corporate scheme of their own the plan immediately fails though not as humiliatingly spectacularly as silicon Valley's minor toggans haversack good God that sentence was difficult Madsen catches on to their plan to give him cold feet and make him think it was his idea instantly are you scooby-dooing me here is that where you went Hannah Barbera [ __ ] business school he's telling me the theme parks they're haunted your big movie is shitty are you attacking the deal following that disastrous display Kendall whips up a new plan to cook waystar's books and make the sale unfeasible shiv secretly allies herself with Madsen as a mole after getting quietly left out of the loop by her brothers for the billionth one billionth time and Roman turns to Republican nominee Jared Menken to request he blocked the Gojo deal on a regulatory front following the burst of emotions directly following the death of Logan I did find myself drifting off at times when it came to Gojo deal discussions I mean succession isn't structured like [ __ ] Dexter each season doesn't cold open with some new evil businessman taking down a company with a new evil Mo oh my God only the Roy family can stop him so when the show shifts gears and devotes multiple a plots to Kendall vs Lucas May the best businessman win I did find myself taking a few episodes to get into the New Groove Logan's gone and though his Specter looms large and quiet personal scenes his absence is felt when it comes to Wheeling and dealing and as effective Madsen is as a sleazy love to hate Tech bro foe I found myself tuning in for shiv and Tom squabbling and Roman doing a little Logan LARPing with Kendall and madsen's Mind Games as the weakest link because sometimes there just wasn't enough there there though again it's never bad and certainly has its moments your numbers are gay my numbers are what gay my numbers are gay yeah you had this uh cute little valuation and your numbers just came out as gay with all other options coming up short the Roy's have to go regulatory to block the Gojo deal and are given the opportunity to earn the favor by erroneously calling the election early for the Republican stuck in the middle of mankin mania as Kendall on the one hand he needs Macon to block the deal on the other hand his adopted daughter was accosted by racist mankin fans and he's dreading the prospect of her growing up in Mankins America on one side is Shoulder Angel shiv pushing Kendall to put America and his own children's safety ahead of defeating Madsen while on the other side is the devilish Roman steamrolling his way through the ATN offices to get mankin elected at all costs learning that shiv has an ulterior motive behind her kind affirmations about his capability as a father since she's secretly working with Madsen Kendall's choice is made for him and he pushes through Macon as POTUS elect America decides is another highlight episode the pace is Breakneck the main Trio are at each other's throats like never before and on top of all that it's morbidly hilarious whether it's Tom running around at the background trying to keep the wheels on atn's tin pot station or pathologic troll Roman seeing how many conversations he can bulldoze with his everything's a psyop everything's a false flag nothing matters nothing ever happens nihilism I feel sick oh why it's fun my team's playing your team it's only spicy because of my team wins they're gonna shoot your team I was behind the times on succession so I wasn't really plugged into the cultural Zeitgeist for all four seasons and I was surprised to find some viewers are watching succession with the Game of Thrones mindset I'm in this to see who gets the throne at the end or the mindset even more prone to disaster I'm in this to see the character I'm rooting for get the throne at the end and if they don't owned the show was ruined I never really had my sights set on a certain character needing to win or lose for me to consider the show a success or failure when all is said and done despite the title of the series I never really struck me as being what the show was ultimately about becoming the successor was more about affirming Daddy's love or feeling that taking it from him by force and with the big guy dying while they were all at their most distant the big job is almost one giant consolation prize in the wake of all that lack of closure although Kendall ah he's burned all his Bridges he's burned the roads he's burned the hiking paths he sort of put all his eggs into this basket and kind of has nothing else to live for if I don't get to do this I I I feel like that's it like I might like I might die she as I said earlier succession is more character focused than plot focused all those episodes spent hemming and hawing over putting on the Jack Boots and aligning with Macon well mankin just doesn't hold up his end of the bargain the very next episode so it's back to square one of blocking the Gojo deal at the final vote however the deal is imperiled once more when Madsen decides to break his promise to fire bran shiv and appoints servile Tom as us CEO instead it's me shiv I'm the succession so after some deliberation the Roy children joined forces once more a point Kendall [ __ ] the deal rule the world maybe start a sibling rock band while we're at it since we're all feeling so touchy-feely I've seen enough succession to know that this shared Blissful moment is going to come to an ugly end when everyone walks into that boardroom and sure enough it does when deciding vote shiv gets cold feed despite his recent betrayal of her she approves of matson's acquisition partially because imagining Kendall running way star was less horrific than actually witnessing it nearly coming to fruition as we all saw in season 3 there's something oddly Disturbed about Kendall being happy it's inherently unsettling like watching a baby smoke crack but shiv is also put into a Sophie's Choice much like Tom was at the conclusion of season three only instead of having to choose between backing her spouse or her father-in-law she has to choose between backing her brother or the father of her child even if realizing she was pregnant has not curtailed shiv's boozing at all that kid's gonna have such severe fetal alcohol syndrome that its eyes are on separate continents it's you drunk Jay because you know when you're pregnant one bottle of wine a day and that's it and with Gojo successfully acquiring waystar royco that's the end of succession Kendall and Roman take their buyout money and leave with their tails between their legs well Tom shiv and Greg stick to the status quo just under new Swedish management there's a lot more to analyze with this finale than with shows I typically cover because usually my retrospectives end with either a the show turning to garbage so we just LOL at the [ __ ] show for a couple minutes or B the finale is great but everyone dies so what is there to say the most hotly contested outcome of the finale is Tom becoming CEO and more specifically is this a win a loss or did he come out in a Bittersweet neutral Middle Ground the Spiel that gets Tom the gig in the finale gives insight into what was already abundantly clear about how Mr womb scans ticks he's riddled with anxiety but that anxiety practically fuels him now he has a shinier title than ever but he's still under the thumb of a [ __ ] master who openly disrespects him the power dynamics between he and shiv may have shifted did but keeping her close by is probably cold comfort when its obvious love is not what's keeping them together but at least he's still got Greg Greg who has increasingly demonstrated how little empathy he has for his fellow man as season 4 progressed another ambiguous win or loss situation is Roman who declares the family and the company are all [ __ ] and storms off I think his succession went along we got our answer to the question of if the poison drips through boy oh boy does the poison drip through so Roman cutting ties and leaving the business world to return to the Playboy lifestyle he led prior to the events of the series is probably for the best but at the same time his family was his Social Circle even Kendall has Stewie Roman ends the series utterly alone I mean what's the closest thing he's had to a friend throughout the series Jerry Brian from management training Menken on the more openly heartbreaking end of the spectrum is shiv's ending after a whole season of the Roy children tangling with turning into their father shiv tragically turns into her mother instead trapped in a Loveless marriage with the CEO of waystar with a filed on the way that neither parent seems all that interested in raising relegated to this position after a slew of last minute betrayals courtesy of all the men in her life her mother claimed last season that she hadn't won a battle in her life and I imagine shiv now feels the same way despite some good hustle out there she's been undercut at every turn and once again is on the outside looking in not a major player but family of the major players and on the outside for good this time is Kendall with another ending that's up to the audience's interpretation is he going to take his buyout money and start a business of his own or will his first purchase post buyout be at the nearest Rope store serious Creator Jesse Armstrong imagines that Kendall will spend the rest of his days managing startups small fish in a big pond forever reflecting on this short year and change long period of his life where he was almost king of the world on the other hand Jeremy Strong went off script and attempted to throw himself into the Hudson on camera so again Ken's fate is Up For Debate I've ruined it I've ruined my life you only get one life and I've ruined mine so that's succession it's an absolute loot Masterpiece of your sensibilities aren't so soft that you can stomach a series populated by pretty Sinister characters and for all my talk of the golden age of TV it's a sign that heavy-hitting Classics can still come from the unlikeliest of places or if you're familiar with what the succession writers have penned before the likeliest of places guess all that's left to do is paraphrase the late great Logan Roy videos over [ __ ] off foreign [Music] I would like some suck suck on my Dicky dick oh my God same I'm feeling brutally on success right now you're babies

Channel: Slip Maker

Views: 295,475

Keywords: succession review, adam mckay, peep show, veep, the thick of it, succession recap, method acting, murdoch family, chappaquiddick incident, cruise scandal, boar on the floor, l to the og, l to the o g, kendall roy rapping, news anchor, red scare, succession rap, wasabi, election, finale

Id: IozQS1lEMSc

Length: 68min 37sec (4117 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 30 2023