In a note to critics ahead of Succession’s fourth and final season, series creator Jesse Armstrong signed off by saying that, if anyone needed him, he would be “here weeping about the foolishness of drawing things to a close.” He won’t be the only one shedding tears over the demise of such a singular series, but by fully embracing the end, Succession looks like it might be on track to deliver the finale that it deserves.
As the season begins, Waystar Royco is about to be sold, forcing each member of the Roy family to pick a new path for themselves now that their reign is over. Logan (Brian Cox) has decided to remain in control of the Fox News-esque ATN so that he can continue exerting his dark influence over America’s political culture. The kids—Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Shiv (Sarah Snook), and Roman (Kieran Culkin)—are now working together full time, with plans to create their own media venture. Meanwhile, Tom (Matthew Macfadyen) and Greg (Nicholas Braun) are enjoying Logan’s good graces after throwing their lots in with him at the end of last season.
It’s easy to see how Succession could have carried on for years simply by continuing to draw and re-draw the battle lines of the show’s first three seasons. Alliances are formed and then broken. One child moves to Logan’s right hand only to be replaced by another. Deals are brokered, angles are played, backs are stabbed. Kendall tries to take down his father and fails—again.
If you view the show mostly as a black comedy, then the prospect of watching the Roys take shots at each other for another few years is an enticing one. The sharpness of the writing hasn’t dulled in the four episodes made available to press, with jokes that have been precisely engineered to elicit uncontrollable guffaws. In one scene, Greg describes the sight of Logan prowling around the ATN office as “Jaws…if everyone in Jaws…worked for Jaws.” In another, Tom announces, with absolute seriousness, that an upcoming business meeting will be “like Israel-Palestine except harder. And much more important.”
But the problem with a show like Succession remaining in a holding pattern is that no matter the pleasures of its cutting dialogue, everything ultimately needs to get patched up so that viewers can go again for another round next season. Freed from this obligation, season four gives its characters permission to hurt each other in ways that feel as if they can never be healed. And when the big dramatic blows come, they land harder than ever.
The overall tone of the season is noticeably colder, more solemn. Having played a game of three-card shuffle with his kids throughout the series, Logan now finds that none of his apparent heirs will even return his calls. Tom and Shiv’s marriage looks to have been irreparably damaged by his recent power play, while Roman and Gerri’s (J. Smith-Cameron) strange liaison is equally frayed. The siblings themselves have maintained their protective huddle—and as ever the scenes in which they rattle jokes around together in a genuinely affectionate way are an odd delight—but we know it won’t take much for them to start throwing elbows at each other once again.
Really, season four finds Succession in full Shakespearean tragedy mode. The root of the main characters’ flaws has always been apparent since the very beginning of the series. In fact, it’s visible right there in the opening credits, as the image of an absent father walks out of frame while his children look on, doomed to spend the rest of their lives chasing hopelessly after him. Only now we get to watch them finally arrive at their miserable conclusion.
In spite of the show’s name, the real dramatic tension in Succession has never been about which Roy child would end up inheriting Logan’s empire of dirt. It’s been obvious since the start that becoming the new Logan wouldn’t make them any happier than it made the old one. Because there was never going to be a “winner” in the battle for the throne, the series has thrilled us with depictions of the extent to which the players lose in their quest. And as we approach the end, the Roy family’s journey toward self-destruction remains a darkly captivating spectacle.
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