‘Succession’ finale: Fans react to end of Emmy-winning hit drama
WASHINGTON >> With the end of the critically acclaimed drama’s fourth and final season, dedicated fans of “Succession” now know the answer to the series’ central question: Which of the Murdoch-esque Roy family siblings will prevail?
Oh, and — for those who haven’t yet watched, here’s the spoiler alert.
The whopping 88-minute finale on Sunday evening, which concluded HBO’S hit series chronicling a billionaire media mogul and his children’s struggles to take over the family company, Waystar Royco, left viewers reeling — because none of the Roy siblings won.
In the episode, Shiv Roy took one final turn against her brother Kendall, blowing up his plans to keep their late father’s company and become CEO by voting to let their media empire be acquired by a Swedish tech giant, Gojo.
The series-long tussles between the three key siblings turned into an actual tussle, as a screaming match descended into a wrestling match, with the nihilistic Roman declaring the trio “nothing” in the end. And Shiv’s nolonger- estranged husband and soon-to-be-babydaddy, Tom Wambsgans, triumphed as the new chief executive, with Cousin Greg by his side despite last-minute treachery.
In the finale’s closing shot, Kendall stares in despair toward the water. And the credits roll.
“I put my marker down on Tom and Greg,” said Jennifer Gould, an Oregonbased trusts and estates lawyer, minutes after she finished watching the show, “and I was right.”
“Succession” always has been about the membership of its audience, not its size, and its popularity among the coastal media and agenda-setting groups that the show depicts and attracts means the finale will likely leave a cultural mark. # Succession was trending No. 1 on Twitter on Sunday night, followed by Shiv, Kendall, Greg and Tom Wambsgans.
The Emmy-winning show even permeated the discussion around the debt limit in Washington on Sunday when a deal was reached just hours before the finale aired. A White House official ended a call with reporters by telling them to “enjoy Succession.”
More recent prestige TV finales are a better analogue for “Succession” than those of the network behemoths of decades past. For example, “The Sopranos” suddenly cutting to black to the song “Don’t Stop Believin’” in 2007 set the standard for both talkability and inscrutability.
But “Succession” left its own unanswered questions. Did far-right presidential candidate Jeryd Mencken, who the Roys’ network questionably declared the winner, actually ascend to the White House? Will the Gojo deal really be finalized? Do Tom and Shiv make their marriage work?