Succession recap: the finale – probably the most feel-bad ending in TV history
Spoiler alert: this recap is for people watching Succession season four. Don’t read on unless you’ve watched the finale, episode 10.
“Carpe the diem, people.” As the curtain came down on the sweary superrich saga, the sibs self-sabotaged one last time. Here’s your board report on the feature-length finale, titled With Open Eyes …
Early bird catches the Rome
The Roy siblings were scattered. With regulatory concerns about GoJo’s takeover of Waystar receding, Kendall (Jeremy Strong) scrambled to gather support to stop the sale at board level. Meanwhile, sister Shiv (Sarah Snook) schemed for the other side. Behind her back, though, barefoot tech bro Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård) was sounding out candidates for the US CEO position she assumed was hers. A magazine cartoon of Shiv pulling his strings didn’t help.
That only left Roman (Kieran
Culkin), physically and emotionally bruised after imploding at their father’s funeral. Would he even turn up for the vote? Via double agent Greg (Nicholas Braun) and various “ratfuckers”, Kendall got wind that Roman was licking his wounds in Barbados – where their mother, Lady Caroline Collingwood (Harriet Walter), had invited them for a “Caribbean air-clear”. Kendall told his replacement PA, AKA “New Jess”, that he was flying down.
Little did he know that Shiv was a few hours ahead, hoping to lure Roman over for “unanimity across the board”. From the PJ, she called estranged husband Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen), who was terrified of getting shit-canned by the new regime. She assured him she’d “do her best” before floating the idea of a marital reconciliation. Tom sat on the fence, leaving
Shiv a blend of heartbreak and fury. Sarah Snook deserves an Emmy for her eye-work alone this season.
Putting the barbs into Barbados
In tropical paradise, Lady Caroline looked after the “fragile” Roman the best way she knew how – by delegating it all to her husband Peter Munion (Pip Torrens). Kendall arrived, shouting about the deal pivoting on Roman’s vote. In contrast to Ken’s stress, Shiv was smug. “I won,” she gloated. “Take it like a man and eat it.”
Back in Manhattan, Tom had his third “vibe-hang” with Matsson (“more hanging than a dictator’s birthday”). Fearing he was failing the audition, Tom took out his frustrations on whipping boy Greg. Even if he hung on to his job, his $200k salary (“the highest-paid assistant in human history”) would be decimated. Matsson suddenly levelled with Tom. Shiv was too pushy, too smart and their sexual chemistry was distracting. Misogynistic, much? He offered the US CEO gig to Tom, reasoning: “Why don’t I get the guy who put the baby inside her, instead of the baby lady?” He needed a “pain sponge” who could shield him from blowback and Tom had a high punishment threshold.
As they celebrated with vodka shots, Greg slyly used an app to translate their Swedish chat about binning Shiv and fed the intel back to Kendall. It was the silver bullet he needed. Saving his siblings from an excruciating dinnertime pitch by Munion’s friend Jonathan – who’d flown in from tax exile in Monaco – Kendall said Matsson was interviewing alternative CEOs. When disbelieving Shiv confirmed that her name had been deleted from the draft deal announcement, there was