In the end,it was none of them. The crown so coveted by the Roy siblings,Siobhan (Sarah Snook),Roman (Kieran Culkin) and Kendall (Jeremy Strong),went elsewhere. And they had no one but themselves to blame for it.
Ambition,power and entitlement (from left):Sarah Snook as Shiv Roy,Jeremy Strong as Kendall Roy and Kieran Culkin as Roman Roy.Foxtel/HBO
Since its debut in June 2018,and across four seasons and 39 episodes of razor-sharp dialogue and endless twists,turns,backstabbing and manoeuvring,the question that has animated the HBO seriesSuccession and made it one of the most acclaimed dramas on television remained constant:which of Logan Roy’s children would inherit the reins of his vast media empire?
But when it all wrapped after a superbly crafted 90-minute finale that saved its last and best twist until the very end,it was an outsider who took the throne.
In fact,it was a pair of outsiders. The Scandi tech-bro Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgard) pulled a reverse-reverse Viking,and succeeded in his long-gestating takeover bid for Waystar-Royco. And his first act was to install corporate cypher Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen) as his American CEO.
This was one of the best finales of television’s golden age,set to rival the end notes ofBreaking Bad,The Sopranos andThe Wire. It was a Shakespearean power play to top any the show had thus far thrown at us,full of characters driven by ambition and undone by hubris. It was funny,ugly,and genuinely moving. And even if its audience is comparatively tiny – last Monday’s episode was watched by just 44,000 pay TV viewers overnight,plus another 43,000 on BVOD in the week since (its audience via streaming has not been revealed by Binge) – the show’s massive following among media and political types ensures it will be talked about reverentially for years to come.
The crown was supposed to have passed to Tom’s wife,Shiv,who had swung her vote as a member of the 13-strong board behind Matsson’s bid on the condition he would make her his American boss. But then Matsson realised his interest in her might lie in a different area,a fact he confided in Tom,whose marriage was already clinging to life by the narrowest of threads.
“We’re a bit clickety clickety,if you know what I’m saying,” Matsson told his soon-to-be CEO-elect. “I wanna f--- her,a little bit … is this making you uncomfortable? I’m sorry if it’s weird.”
“No,” said Tom. “We’re men.”
Which was the point,right? In this corporate power play,it was always going to be the men – or a man – who came out on top. The fate of Gerri (J. Smith-Cameron) – sacked forreceiving dick pics from Roman – had made that abundantly clear.
Because everyone in this show is plausibly fighting for survival,but no one is not a terrible human being,Cousin Greg (Nicholas Braun) saw in Matsson’s sudden change of direction an opportunity to leverage some power for himself,and leaked to Ken. And when Shiv got wind that her would-be kingmaker was shopping around for someone else as CEO – and clicked that it was her on-again/off-again husband and baby daddy – the fury was beyond anything Hell might unleash.
Pulling a reverse-reverse Viking:Alexander Skarsgard as Lukas Matsson.Foxtel
“It’s Tom,” she thundered to her brothers,suddenly swinging her vote behind their mission to scupper the deal they had helped broker (you are following this,right?)
“F---ed by the dry cleaner,” sniped Roman,who always has a beautifully cut barb to hand.
Of course,whatever sympathy one might feel for Shiv’s sense of betrayal must be balanced against her own willingness to sell hubby down the river.
“He is very plausible corporate matter,” she had told Matsson earlier as they discussed whether he should be cut loose or not. “But he’s also just a highly interchangeable modular part.”
The Roy siblings – all four – watch a video of their late father in the finale of Succession.HBO/Foxtel
Moments later,puffed up with the sense of destiny fulfilled,she was asking Tom if he might want to recommit to their marriage,what with the baby on the way and her about to take on such a big job and all.
“If there was anything there … then it would be so convenient,” she wooed. “When you think of the scheduling,it’s mess free.”
“You’ve fallen in love,finally,” said Tom,the last of his illusions shattered. “You’ve fallen in love with our scheduling opportunities.”
Aargh,these people!
Heavy hangs the head,but who will wear the crown?Fairfax Media
In the end,though,it was Shiv who held the all-important cards. With the board tied 6-6 on whether to accept Matsson’s offer or reject it,she bolted from the room to reconsider,yet again,which way to turn.
Heavy is the head that wears the crown,even if it is only for a split second while deciding in which direction the parcel should be passed.
“I just don’t think you’d be good at it,” she told Kendall.
The man who would be king:Jeremy Strong as Kendall Roy.HBO/Foxtel
“If I don’t get to to do this,” he whimpered back,“I feel like that’s it,I might die.”
But finally it was her conscience – dulled by ambition,but still faintly visible from time to time – that asserted itself,and cast the deciding vote. She pulled out the big guns,as if the thought had only just occurred to her,which in all probability it had. “You can’t be CEO,because you killed someone,” she said,referring to Kendall’s teary confession at the end of season three.
“It did not happen,” he said,referring to the car crash in which he left a waiter to drown at the end of season one (and the way the logic of this conclusion had been sown so long ago,and left to gestate,is a big part of what makesSuccession so great). “I wasn’t even there. Just vote for me. I’M THE ELDEST BOY!”
But like so much else in the world of the Roy children,even this sense of entitlement was built on self-delusion.
The man who is king (for now,at least),Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen).HBO/Foxtel
“You’re not,” Shiv said,reminding him of their ever-overlooked brother from another mother,Connor (Alan Ruck).
And so it went to Matsson,and it went to Tom.
Together,Shiv and Tom drove away in a company limo,consigned to whatever miserably ever after they might concoct for themselves and their destined-to-be-scarred child.
As they did,Tom – newly installed king of the Roy empire that was – consented to lay his hand on the armrest between them,subtly inviting his consort to lay hers in it. And she begrudgingly complied.
No matter that she is much smarter than Tom and her brothers,and probably much more capable. The power balance had finally swung in his favour. Because he’s a man,and she is not.
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