Here’s why Succession’s blindside finale was a masterclass of shock and awe

This story contains spoilers for season four of Succession. Every week The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald has been recapping the latest episode of Succession. You can listen to our recap podcast here.

The Roy family knows better than anyone how easy it is to crumble under pressure.

Time and time again, we’ve been forced to watch these people, blessed with excess from the day they were born, fall victim to their own frailties and fail to deliver.

The Succession finale delivered on the hype.Credit: Marija Ercegovac

Heading into the Succession finale, the stakes have never been higher, both for the characters on the show and the show itself. Succession has become the benchmark for prestige TV, a series that has managed to galvanise an audience fractured by streaming culture and usher in the return, for a while at least, of appointment viewing.

For those who have dissected, debated and discussed the series for the last six years, the Succession finale, With Eyes Open, was an appointment not to be missed.

Here was the chance to get all of our burning questions answered. Who would come out on top? Could Kendall “carpe the diem”? Might Shiv one-up her brothers? Would Matsson prove too much? And what to make of that eternal amoeba, Tom Wambsgans.

And yet, for all the questions posed in With Eyes Open, it answered the most important one in the most impressive way. Would the finale deliver a conclusion worthy of a series that has been so good for so long?

Thankfully, the answer is yes.

In this finale, Succession reminded us why it is often cited as the best show on television. Over 90 excruciatingly tense minutes, the siblings were stripped back to their most revealing selves - power-hungry rich kids who can’t get out of their own way.

After a season that spent so long trying to piece this broken band back together, With Eyes Open proved, not for the first time, that Logan was right all along.

His children are not serious people, they are not fit to succeed or lead. Instead, they are hamstrung by a mixture of self-importance and self-absorption, a combination that would ultimately cost them the grandest prize of all.

In the lead-up to the finale, many suspected that the siblings would lose, but picking a winner was always complex. Therein lies the genius of Succession, a guessing game where every option seemed problematic yet plausible.

Ultimately, those so desperate to see a new king crowned got what they came for: all hail Tom Wambsgans.

The man who is king (for now, at least), Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen).Credit: HBO/Foxtel

In a breathtaking blindside, Shiv’s husband completed his evolution, becoming not quite Logan Roy but more like Logan Lite.

In teaming up with Matsson to oust his wife as CEO, Tom’s tenacity and malleability took him to the top. Matsson needed a pain sponge, and ironically, it was Shiv’s long-term mistreatment of Tom that made him the ideal candidate.

With the benefit of hindsight, perhaps we could’ve seen this coming, especially since the episode begins with Shiv and Matsson canvassing boardroom numbers. As part of that discussion, they consider Tom’s future at ATN. Matsson isn’t fussed about keeping him, but Shiv offers a warning: “Tom will honestly suck the biggest d-ck in the room.”

Pulling a reverse-reverse Viking: Alexander Skarsgard as Lukas Matsson.Credit: Foxtel

Meanwhile, Kendall is also carrying out a head count of his own, as he tries to resist the Mattson takeover. He’s got Ewan, Paul and Dewey (a person we’ve never seen) on the side, but the elephant in the room is the person who isn’t in the room at all: Roman.

Following last week’s punishment by protest, Roman has escaped to the Caribbean to be nursed by his mother, Caroline.

Kendall and Shiv make a mercy dash to the seaside, each desperate to convince their brother that he should side with them. For his part, Roman seems fed up with it all, rocking three-day beard growth and a bunch of bandages, the aftershocks of having a “chat about the merits of liberal democracy.”

Ostensibly this is meant to be a sales pitch, but as is so regularly the case in Succession, the business of business gets hijacked by the mess of the family. Having all three siblings in one spot, with their overbearing mother buzzing around, triggers a regression.

Fancy a Caribbean getaway at Caroline’s place? The Roy siblings retreat to their mother’s place, and promptly regress.Credit: HBO / Binge

It is sibling rivalry at its very best, they’re arguing over the future of a billion-dollar business, but it may as well be a clash over who gets the top bunk. “I’m sorry for winning, but I did,” says Shiv, aware she has the upper hand.

In the world of Succession, it’s an irrefutable rule that claiming to win is a guaranteed way to cement your loss. And from that moment, the wheels begin to fall off as we return to New York, where Matsson is wining, dining and eventually, ensnaring Tom.

Over a Last Supper of sea bass and codfish, Matsson lays out his intentions. Shiv has too many ideas and at the end of the day he doesn’t want a partner, he wants a puppet. A “pain sponge”.

Matsson then tests Tom’s pain threshold in real-time by detailing how he’d like to “f–-- her a little bit, and under the right circumstances, I think she’d f--- me too.”

If Tom has inner turmoil, he hides it well enough, and so begins his accidental ascension. Shortly after the world’s weirdest promotion, Greg approaches Tom to do what he does best: awkwardly inquire about his future.

Tom assures him he will be safe, but his promotion means a demotion for Greg. “You’re going to get castrated on pay, like decimated,” says Tom, a nod to his Nero-Sporus reference back in season two.

In an episode heaving with Very Important Moments, this conversation seemed borderline insignificant, but it spoke to what lies at the heart of this show. Throughout its entire run, Succession has been musing on the intoxicating pull of power, how it poisons and reshapes us, and makes good people do bad things.

Initially, Greg was a nice guy in a dog suit, but now he’s just another man in a power suit who is afraid of losing hold of what little power he wields.

Tom ripping the ladder out from Greg’s corporate climb begins a domino effect that brings the finale to a deafening crescendo. While celebrating Tom’s elevation with the Swedes, Greg overhears a conversation in Swedish which he translates using an app.

He promptly learns that Shiv is set to be cut and uses this information as leverage to take to Kendall in the hope that he can switch sides and continue on his Greg-trajectory: being overpaid and underqualified.

The man who would be king: Jeremy Strong as Kendall Roy.Credit: HBO/Foxtel

Kendall relays to Shiv that Matsson intends to cut her out, which she refuses to believe until she gets a hold of the draft press release and sees her name is missing. Not crossed out, not underlined, just removed entirely.

It’s no stretch to say that while each of the siblings has had their Emmy-worthy moments throughout this season, when all three are in the same room, the show sizzles in a different way.

Having accepted she must defect back to her brothers, the decision is made to anoint Kendall (after a brief joke between Shiv and Roman about possibly murdering him). To celebrate, Roman and Shiv serve up a “meal fit for a king,” a disgusting concoction featuring Tabasco, their step-father’s special cheese and day-old milk.

A meal fit for a king is never complete without Peter’s special cheese.Credit: HBO / Binge

It’s a brilliant passage because it feels so wholesome, a glimpse at what they must’ve been like before life and Logan got in the way. Watching their childlike regression, complete with a maternal scolding for being too loud, was heartbreaking because we know nothing good can last. The kids could’ve had their happily ever after back at the start of this season, running The Hundred and escaping their father’s shadow.

But instead, they’re hardwired only to view success through a Logan-shaped lens.

By the time we return to New York with the board meeting looming, showrunner Jesse Armstrong begins pulling at the thread until everything unravels.

The children gather at Connor’s apartment to divvy up their father’s furniture but get distracted by an old home video. It features a jovial Logan reciting a list of losers from presidential elections of the past. Gerri performs a poem, and Karl sings the Scottish hymn, Green Grow the Rashes.

It is a warm and cozy memory; people are smiling and laughing, but what feels most telling, even as the kids watch through tears, is that none of them was present (except for Connor).

Logan seemed most at ease when his kids weren’t around. He made them who they were but was disappointed in how they turned out. It’s a losing battle that has defined Succession from the first episode: they’re riddled with self-doubt, but they don’t believe in each other either.

And it’s this self-fulfilling prophecy that plays out at the final boardroom vote.

Kendall manages to handle a last-minute wobble from Roman, turning a hug from an act of kindness into a threat of violence, but he isn’t prepared for what comes next. With the votes for the GoJo merger locked at six a piece, Shiv hesitates and exits the boardroom: “I might’ve changed my mind,” she announces.

It’s a stunning turnaround and perhaps the only moment in an otherwise faultless finale that felt off-beat. Shiv was ready to scorch the earth with Tom only a few scenes ago, but now she’s preparing to vote against herself and hand the company over to Matsson with Tom on top.

The argument could be made that Shiv sees her husband as more easily swayed than Kendall; she is his Scorpion. And perhaps she’s just realised that Kendall really is out of his depth. Yet, the justification for Shiv’s flip feels unexplained.

Even Kendall seems confused, pleading with her for a logical explanation. “I feel like if I don’t do this, I might die,” he says.

There’s an ugly truth to his words, but it only gets uglier when Shiv brings up Kendall killing the waiter (hands up if you knew that was coming!). Kendall plays it off as a false memory which backfires even more given how tenderly his siblings looked after him at that time.

It’s a desperate play, but he’s all out of spin at this point. There’s no time left for explanations and false promises; for Kendall, it all comes back to one thing: “I’m the eldest boy,” he screams.

Roman takes his turn to twist the knife by cruelly correcting Kendall: “She’s the bloodline, though.” He reveals that Logan never considered Kendall’s kids real because “they are a pair of randos, one is a buy-in, and the other is half-Rava half some filing cabinet guy.”

Succession makes a habit of hard-to-watch scenes, but with this entire exchange, the worst was saved to last. A lifetime of frustration, cruelty and vitriol spills out while the boardroom watches on as they self-implode.

In many ways, it was the perfect end for the Roy siblings. The trophy was so close they could reach out and touch it. Instead, they went and cut each other’s hands off.

The boardroom concludes with the merger approved, Tom striding through the offices of WayStar while the Succession theme song plays. A true winner was never on the cards, but Tom is about as close as possible. He’s already making plans, Gerri is back in, Frank and Karl are out, and yes, there’s still space for Greg.

“I got you,” Tom tells his perennial offsider. Oh, he got him good, alright.

For Roman, there is a hollow victory; he knows deep down that Logan didn’t want them to have it. “It’s all f---ing bullshit; it’s all nothing,” he reminds Kendall. “We’re nothing, OK?”

Happily ever after? Not likely.Credit: HBO / Binge

Finally, he has done as his father asked, and the last time we see him, he sits alone, sipping a martini with a hint of a smile. As for Shiv, she exits in a car with Tom, he holds his hand out, and she doesn’t hold it but submits to it.

The series closes with Kendall walking towards the water, shadowed by Logan’s trusty bodyguard Colin. Much has been made of Kendall’s recurring water motif and how it signifies death and loss. As he stares out at the Hudson River it’s unclear if he intends to lose himself in it at some stage or if he’s already gone.

Kendall Roy, alone again, drowning in his thoughts.Credit: HBO / Binge

The end of Succession was a doubly impressive magic act in that it gave the audiences what they needed and the characters what they deserved.

And as we all process the end of a series that has made us laugh, cry and rage for nearly five years, perhaps we can find comfort in the big man’s advice to his children: Nothing is a line. Everything, everywhere, is always moving. Forever. Get used to it.

The final episode of Succession aired on Monday, May 29 on Foxtel and Binge.

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