Max: “Succession” finale
Attention, “Succession”-ists! This review offers plenty of spoilers, so if you haven’t seen the finale of Season 4, keep calm and continue scrolling. Thank you!
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Now it can be told: none of the three overprivileged nincompoop kids of media giant Logan Roy (Brian Cox) will be his successor. Instead, the honor will go to Tom Wambsgans (Matthew MacFadyen), the spineless husband of Logan’s ruthless daughter Shiv (Sarah Snook). “Tom is always willing to suck the biggest d-ck in the room,” she said in last night’s episode. Sweet.
Of course we faithful “Succession”-ists have known about the Roys and their limitations all along. As Logan told his children some time back, “You are not serious people.” The finale of Season 4 had some fun with this concept, showing the three Roy brats having a food fight in their mother’s kitchen, then physically going at each other in the conference room while the vote to sell Waystar to GoJo headed by Lukas Mattson (Alexander Skaesgard) was taking place.
Did Logan really have a successor in mind? In Episode 4, Roman Roy (Kieran Culkin) says he thinks not. “ I don’t think he actually thought about it very much,” he opined.
A few things that could have been resolved in the finale were not. Will the purchase of rival company Pierce, headed up by matriarch Nan (Cherry Jones) ever go through? Will Jaryd Mencken (Justin Kirk) actually become president once the destruction of the Wisconsin ballots is fully resolved? Is “Succession II” being set up already?
Eh, perhaps not. Over the course of four seasons, head writer Jesse Armstrong made his point loud and clear: the dumbest among us can fail upwards as long as we have enough wherewithal at our disposal. The Roys will have plenty of that once their father’s estate is settled. Just without the power they so desperately craved.
Kudos to “Succession” writers and to director Mark Mylod taking us on a suspenseful journey through the corridors of the too-rich and infamous, not just in New York City, but in Scandinavia, Italy, the UK, and Barbados.
Whether or not you loved the ending, I predict your biggest challenge will be “Succession” withdrawal. This too will pass, just like Logan Roy. I miss him already.
Note: I am proud to say we predicted Tom’s win a day before the finale, after finding a clue buried in a comment in the digital NYT:
“A clue to Sunday night’s ending: Tom Wambsgans has such an unusual name that I've wondered whether the “Succession” writers chose it to intentionally evoke one of the most unusual and memorable plays in baseball World Series History. Bill Wambsganss was the second basemen for the 1920 Cleveland Indians when he pulled off an unassisted triple play--(about as rare as pitching a perfect World Series game). In Succession, is Tom about to pull off an unassisted triple play against the three opposing Roy siblings?”
Truly entertaining. Logan raised spoiled, winey, competitors never showing them an ounce of love. Logan saw his failure as a Father, and could not groom or appoint one of them to carry on, as no one would ever fill his shoes. Shiv played her hand at every turn to claw into a leading role, but now will sleep in the bed she made. IMO-With the reversal of power, she will never accept or respect Tom- be it his leadership decisions or kowtow as the supporting woman behind the man. The puppet master has risen and she holds a 'full house'.