SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers from “With Open Eyes,” the series finale of HBO’s “Succession,” now streaming on Max.
After four riveting, profane seasons and two best drama Emmys (so far!), “Succession” — the story of the Roy dynasty — came to an end on Sunday night. Creator Jesse Armstrong, who conceived the story of the Roys loosely around the mythology of the Murdochs, announced in February that Season 4 would be its last.
The death of patriarch Logan Roy (Brian Cox) in Episode 3 provided the engine for the rest of the season, and once again divided the adult Roy siblings — Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Shiv (Sarah Snook) and Roman (Kieran Culkin) — who have an interest in running Waystar Royco, the family’s mega-corporation that was about to be sold to tech giant GoJo. As the three of them fell back into their old feuds and reopened childhood wounds, the deal solidified and dissipated as the season went on. Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen), Shiv’s on-and-off husband; his sidekick Greg (Nicholas Braun); GoJo founder Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård), and a trifecta of Waystar executives, Gerri (J. Smith-Cameron), Karl (David Rasche) and Frank (Peter Friedman) were also players in the high-stakes, often confused chess game among the siblings. Only Logan’s hapless oldest son Connor (Alan Ruck) remained on the sidelines of the family back-stabbings, and well … front-stabbings.
So, what happened on the series finale and who came out on top?
Once again, there’s an important boardroom vote. With a majority, the Waystar board will either approve the GoJo deal (putting Matsson in charge) or kill it (leaving the Roys in command). Kendall and Shiv rally their sides and gather their votes, with Kendall on the backfoot. They both need to know which way Roman will vote, and he’s currently recuperating at their mother’s Caribbean estate after he was punched by a protester in the penultimate episode after flaming out while trying to deliver a eulogy for Logan. He “fucked it,” as Kendall put it.
Shiv begins the episode thinking she would become Matsson’s new CEO after GoJo acquires Waystar, but he soon reveals that he’s second-guessing the decision, in part because he is attracted to her. “I want to fuck her a little bit,” Lukas tells Tom (Shiv’s husband). “Sorry to get weird, I think under the right circumstances, she’d fuck me too.” Tom is such a kiss-ass that his only response to Lukas’ slight apology is, “We’re men.”
(Excerpt) Read more in: Variety