The Ending Of Succession Season 4 ACTUALLY Explained

today I'm going to analyze the ever living heck out of succession season 4 while the ending of succession season 4 which is also the ending of the entire series and which is why I'm sad oh yeah and before I begin there's gonna be spoilers for uh all basically all of succession so don't continue this video If you haven't finished the series yet don't do it great so now that we got the spoiler stuff out of the way congratulations team Tom which is Bravo as a con head I was very much caught off guard but regardless of my opinion I think that the ending of succession is one of the best cases of misdirection that I've ever seen from like any Series in fact it was so good that like I genuinely felt disturbed by the ending in the best way possible I for one actually thought Kendo was gonna take the cake as Ken basically became a mini Logan this season when Kendall assumed that the poison drips through he wasn't wrong in season 4 episode 3 Conor's wedding right after everyone has come to the conclusion that Logan is dead the camera lands on Kendall and Ken delivers the most rational plan out of his siblings in the calmest way possible not do anything that restricts our future freedom of movement showing how level-headed he's becoming in season 4 episode 4 honeymoon States Ken is being ignored by all of his siblings because of his politeness and passiveness you know do we agree to Flying to Madison so he bursts out yelling will you stop ignoring me please for sake not like how he did in the finale boy the more like how Logan would yell you know an authoritative yell something that commands respect and it made everyone listen to him in the same episode shiv even admits that in terms of the public eye if they put Kendall as CEO it would be no different than Logan at Logan's funeral Uncle Yuan said that Logan fed a kind of meager-ness in men and that perhaps he had to because he had a meagerness about him and that maybe he does as well implying that we all have a dark side to us because corruption and greed and Etc but Uncle Ewan goes like at least people like him try to combat this instead of feeding into it I try I try and then proceeds to scold Logan for deciding to not try anymore he decided not to try anymore and it was a terrible shame when watching this for the first time I was like whoa hold my acorns because I need to go back to the season three finale as something has sounded pretty familiar right now to be more specific I'm talking about the scene where Kendall claims that he's not a good person saying I I really I I tried and the episode before this Kendall also claims that he's not evil like Logan and that he wants out Ken placed himself above Logan and he thought he could be better because he tried I did I did try so here I am standing over here like a fool thinking that this was all hinting at the fact that Kendall was gonna be our hero but then he would fall down this path of corruption like Logan and then the cycle would just keep repeating itself because the Thor shadowing freaking continued in season 4 episode 8 Kendall tells his kids that he loves them and that everything he does he does for them tell Sophie I love her and that is why I do every everything I do repeating the same hello excuse that Logan said in their family therapy session all the way back in season one everything I've done in my life I've done for my children Ken's parents use their kids to get back at each other and Kendall is now doing the same trying to get full custody of his kids because he's wanting to get back at his ex-wife rava literally just wanting custody out of spite after Roman freaked out at Matson it was pointed out that Kendall is unreadable same with Logan which is another reason on top of the many reasons as to why people feared uh Slash respected him Kendall even got Colin the man got Colin working for him I know it's not as significant as the other stuff but you know it still proves my point but after all this progress and him mirroring Logan Kendall broke to the point where he was shouting I'm the eldest boy over and over again reminding me how uh Connor the eldest son was shouting I am the eldest son I am the eldest son in both their cases they're claiming that they deserve something that they don't thinking they can do something that they want to be good at by the way I'm just gonna point out one of my favorite moments in this episode it was right here when uh Kendall is about to sit down at Logan's desk every intro of the show we see Logan from this perspective and right when we're about to see Kendall from the same perspective the camera cuts and then we see him from the front and then he sinks in his chair like a child this small little moment was indicating how much he does not belong in that position putting his feet up on the desk also didn't really help his case but what was it that pushed Kendall to the point where he broke other than the fact that he's not a serious person in order to better understand our man can we actually have to go back to Logan's Rosebud AKA his sister Rose in the episode that made Logan underline uh Kendall's name in his will Ewan told Logan this all those years blaming yourself for rose that really wasn't your fault this though this is your fault oh and there's also that moment that Logan's children tell Reya to mention Rose during her toast and his sister Rose up until his death Logan was haunted by the death of Rose a person that we finally got to learn about during Uncle ewan's eulogy at his funeral how Logan was sent to a better school that he hated and after returning home on his own accord Logan believed that he returned home with polio and they gave it to his younger sister resulting in Rose no longer being alive and apparently their aunt and uncle did nothing to disabuse him of this notion which means they definitely you know made him feel like he killed her unfortunately Kendall was given his own Rose after he crashed that one car into the river resulting in the death of the waiter back in season three when Kendall claims that he wants out of the company and that he's a good guy Logan reminds him of the waiter asking how long he was alive before he started sucking in water Logan knew how to hold something like this over Kendall because he too beared the responsibility of another person's death having his own parental figures put that on him later on shiv and Rome were able to add some gray to the situation to help alleviate some of that guilt from Kendall convincing Ken that the blame wasn't entirely on him same with rose it wasn't clear fear of Logan was the direct cause of her death and for both cases you could form a compelling argument saying that they weren't responsible towards the end of season 3 it seemed that Kendall was able to bounce back but also hold himself accountable for his actions oh and this is probably an important time to point out that Kendall was promised the title since he was seven years old becoming CEO has been his life's purpose and he will be nothing without it and it wasn't just Ken Logan told all of them the same thing it was no different than Matson telling shiv that she's going to become the CEO Kendall's name was crossed out the same way that shiv's name was crossed out no one was destined to do it it's interesting how the show pitched us that Kendo was going to be the main character the guy destined to become the CEO but they wanted to treat it like real life the position was going to go to the best person at the time it was circumstantial in this particular case it was taught because he was the most logical Choice it's not because he's the eldest boy plus he was someone who deserved it more than the kids after all Tom did Skip Logan's funeral world to run the news coverage ATN a huge contrast to Kendall showing up to Logan's birthday instead of focusing on a deal at waystar anyway a huge theme in succession is that words mean nothing a good indication of this would be Logan saying whatever he needed to keep everyone in their place starting with the lie that they're going to be his successor all the kids picked up certain kinds of leadership strategies that Logan had but they didn't know how to use them properly rum thought that he could just like do whatever he wanted and that he could fire anyone because that's something Logan would do the shiv ended up being the most manipulative out of the bunch I find it absolutely incredible how shiv can be really good at her job as a political strategist but somehow is lacking all these strategic capabilities when it comes to the people closest to her if she is just going to town betraying everyone most of the time it's almost as if she doesn't know why she's doing it and on top of that she doesn't know how to threaten people at the proper moment Kendall has this ego to him that wasn't earned so he still comes across as arrogant and childish Matson actually had an astute observation he said that they were a tribute band they try to replicate Logan but failed to do so in every way imaginable because they don't understand what it actually takes to be Logan however Tom did Tom is the closest person to becoming Logan as he's a country mouse who came from nothing and did whatever it took to get to the top same as Logan I don't think Matson wanted to do anything with shiv I think he was trying to see how agreeable someone like Tom would be chip was a good person to have a CEO but she was too smart for someone like Madison Matson just wanted another Yes Man someone who wasn't gonna fight him on stuff random thought but I did like how shiv delivered the whole uh pregnancy information to Tom in episode 8 an episode that premiered on Mother's Day such a nice detail you know and just speaking of Tom for a second I thought it was interesting how Tom mentioned Greg's salary we never really hear about people's salaries that much just more like the fact that they're gonna be making millions however it said that Greg's salary is two hundred thousand dollars don't get me wrong two hundred thousand dollars is a good chunk of chatter but it's nowhere near how much everyone else in the family is making and Tom actually mentions that he's gonna bump it down I remember back in season two that Greg was turning down like a quarter of a billion dollars because Logan promised he would look after him but Greg said it was cool because he was still inheriting five million dollars but then Connor and Tom both came to the same conclusion that five million dollars will make you the poorest rich person in America and that's exactly what Greg ended up doing becoming the poorest rich person ever so at the beginning of this video I was gonna congratulate the disgusting Brothers but then I was like wait a second I don't think Greg won like at all like the whole Connor sticker on his forehead was Tom Mark and Greg as human Furniture I know hindsight's 20 20 but I'm telling you Greg you should have stuck with Uncle Ewan turns out you would have received way more money if you just waited on your now non-existent inheritance but at least Greg got a chance to be reunited with his old friend the summoning Bell apologize if my bell summoned you see there were happy moments in this episode I'm getting sidetracked shiv couldn't give Kendall a logical excuse as to why she changed her mind last minute and why she wasn't gonna vote for Ken well I know why she was acting this way I know she resented Kendall because she didn't want him to be king she even claims that she can't stomach him and this is because throughout her life she was led to believe that she could be the successor as I discussed in my season 3 analysis season one belonged to Kendall season two belonged to shiv and season three belonged to Roman each season showed us how much the kids wanted to be in that position how much they wanted to lead waystar because they've been conditioned to know nothing else they think that taking over for Logan is going to be the key to their happiness and success so last minute shiv and Rome ended up resenting Kendall I mean just look at their faces when Ken sits in Logan's chair look at the hatred wasn't changing her vote last minute because she thought that Kendall couldn't do it whether or not Kendall could do it as irrelevant social events of pulling a Logan and uses the waiter's death against Kendall and this was the most Reckless move from shiv it was just something she said because it was more of like a last resort but she unintentionally ended up breaking Ken Logan kept everyone divided this entire series and even after he passed he still kept everyone divided it's almost like Logan did such a number on them that they're all broken Beyond repair Roman just has this like inclination to bring up stuff that their father would say like Kendall's kids not being the true bloodline well that's just what Dad said I'm just saying what Dad said even when two-thirds of them know that they're not going to be CEO they still try to tear down the others so that they can't take the title during the series finale we got to see one final moment of what the kids would have been like if Logan didn't just pit them against each other all the time as mentioned before no one was destined to be CEO but thanks to their father they were destined to be separated at the beginning of season 4 episode 7 Tom hanshiv a scorpion I don't know why Tom thought this was gonna be a good idea because this scorpion is a clear reference to the Fable the Scorpion and the Frog and for those who tend not to read fables the Scorpion and the Frog is about a scorpion and a Frog but the Scorpion needs to get from point A to point B however there's a river in the way and the Scorpion can't swim just can't do it so the Scorpion goes like hey frog can I get a ride across the river but the frog is hesitant because it's scared that the Scorpion is going to sting it because the Scorpions got this stinger and that's typically what scorpions do with the Stinger however the Scorpion is like Tom I'm not gonna sting you because if I sting you then we're both gonna drown together and then the frog is like you know what that makes sense to me so the Scorpion hops on the Frog's back and even though logic is a thing the Scorpion manages to Sting the Frog before they can make it across the river and when they're both doing their drowning the frog goes like why and the Scorpion goes like I'm sorry but I couldn't resist the urge it's in my nature and to me this applies to all of Logan's children in the finale Roman even calls Kendall Lynch of scorpions look at this scorpion party they've been conditioned to sting each other even if it goes against all their interests I'm just gonna say it shiv did make the right decision by sticking with Tom because as we know by now shiv's brothers would have excluded her when Roman Ken were on the phone with Tom as Logan was dying they said that they would get shiv but they forgot and ended up unintentionally waiting a bit before bringing her on the call this right here was emblematic of their relationship with her and how things were going to be moving forward so shiv picked Tom and Matson even though the power Dynamic and her and Tom's relationship did a complete 180. Tom now has all the power that shiv was wielding for the past four seasons shiv gravitated towards someone like Matson after Logan's death but it now looks like Tom is the one to replace the Logan in her life it's kind of tragic that shiv gave up becoming the successor so that Tom wouldn't go to prison for cruises but then over time Tom got pushed to the point where he was able to take the title away from shiv and he did it he took it for himself in the episode prior to this Uncle Ewan gave Rome and everyone else but mainly Rome's no more insight as to why his father was the way he was triggering this wave of grief that didn't hit him yet this would cause the fall of Rome Logan knew how to keep Conor Greg the egg and those kinds of incompetent parasites under control Kendall was gradually getting there but Roman messing up his speech and Connor and Greg messing up Ken's chance with Minkin it made Kendall kind of lose it so Kendall wrongfully reminded Rome that he it it's been hinted at through the entire series that Roman may have gone through some physical abuse with Logan especially after seeing this to me that was the reason Roman goes out into the crowd to antagonize protesters and get himself injured he was inflicting some deep-rooted form of punishment on himself giving himself a scar that held as much significance as the scars on Logan's back Kendall really did seem like the protector of his siblings like how he defends shiv right here you sound a little unhinged you watch it Tom and how he reacts to Logan after Logan hits Rome No don't touch him but then Kendall was filling Logan's position he wasn't Logan but G dang it was he taking all of the poisonous traits from him like rubbing that scar that symbolic of the abused Roman went through into his shoulder so that Kendall could make Roman more pliable and make him more agreeable to his plan and because of this I feel like Kendall was halfway there he wasn't Logan yet but I mean come on he still had the potential of being Logan it was the fact that Logan died out of nowhere no one was expecting him to go this early except there was a suspicious airplane in the promo photo for some reason that was like the only hint that we got every time the kids were in a bad situation with the company it felt like their father was the one to pull everyone through and the reason I say Kendall was halfway there is because back in season one during the episode of which side are you on the vote for Kendall replacing Logan was all up to Rome however Rome decided not to really vote but Logan illegally took control of the meeting anyways and claimed that it was a deadlock and continuity prevails from this experience Kendall learned his lesson emulated his father and this time had Rome voting for his side but Kendall was unable to account for shiv so maybe it was the fact that Kendall needed a little bit more time learning from Logan but then again every single time we see Kendall starting to succeed he somehow self-destructs and messes it up due to his childlike behavior and arrogance he makes a really great move showing his competence but then he follows it up by a bunch of incompetence it's like he can't escape this cycle towards the end of the season Roman really did go through the five stages of grief as we see him go through denial anger bargaining depression and then acceptance except it wasn't really the acceptance of his father's death at the end there I think that's gonna haunt him for like ever but it was the fact that Rome was knocked out of the game like Connor he doesn't have to worry about wanting to be CEO anymore Roman finally recognizes that he's not a serious person and that he's not fit for the position it's almost as if Rome's being set free when Kendall is putting himself in a prison I thought it was an interesting detail how Rome ended up ordering Jerry's drink at the bar did anybody else pay attention to the water the use of the water and the meaning behind it has been a thing since like season one of succession to me the whole water thing started when Kendall developed the Bold strategy of a thousand lifeboats in the episode that was appropriately titled lifeboats the use of water comes at really important moments in the show the reuniting of siblings the crash with the waiter the time where Kendall almost you know stopped existing we see a clear contrast of Kendall being above or below the water when it came to being something like the waiter or Kendall at his lowest he was either at the bottom of the river or facing downward and in season 2 when his dad had the most power and leverage over him he appears like a fish out of water but towards the end of of episodes like living plus where Kendall feels like he can finally be CEO he does this back floating in the ocean so he's facing upward Kendall also goes for a swim in the ocean when his brother and sister come to the conclusion that he will be the next CEO but at the end of the series The Last Shot we see of Kendall is him on dry land looking out into the ocean and the camera lowers itself so the fence is covering the water symbolic of Kendall being locked out of the company and symbolic of him entering his own personal prison he may be able to start up different companies or grow his net worth but he will never be in Logan's position he will never be able to fill those shoes and he will never be able to live up to Logan when Kendall said if he doesn't get to do this he might die I don't think he was lying the Roy children may be getting a boatload of money from the Gojo deal but as Kendall has already pointed out I'm just trying to make you rich already rich it's not really about the money I mean the money is a huge component in all of this but it means nothing if he doesn't have his perceived Birthright the real winner of succession is no one even though Tom is at the top now we still saw how broken he was in the episode prior to this so in my opinion I think everyone's going to be miserable and that's where the cycle is going to be repeating itself I also feel like I forgot to analyze one of Logan's kids trying to think no I think I got them all we're good anyway if you want me to talk more about succession let me know in the comments and as always thanks for watching [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: Bryce Edward Brown

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Id: ZSjEhEfgFVw

Length: 19min 15sec (1155 seconds)

Published: Wed May 31 2023