Succession is over and we actually have a successor! So, what did we make of that series finale?
Look back on our live discussion where we unpacked that ending and bid farewell to the Roys.
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Live updates
Succession power rankings: watch the Roys' rise and fall
By Jessica Riga
Over the course of the final season I've been recapping each episode on a weekly basis, plus charting the rise and fall of the Roy family.
Catch up on the weekly recaps below:
We'll wrap things up here
By Jessica Riga
Thank you so much for reading along with me today and sharing your thoughts on Succession's series finale!
I'm so sad it's over, but you can't be mad when a great show ends with such a satisfying conclusion.
If you're just joining us, you can read our discussion from the very beginning by clicking the "oldest" button above.
And if you'd like to look back through our weekly Succession recaps and power rankings, you can find the complete list below:
So is every Succession actor winning an Emmy now?
By Jessica Riga
I sure hope so! But there's so much talent, and only so many categories.
Sarah Snook and Kieran Culkin are still yet to win Emmys for their performances in Succession, but they have routinely been nominated in the supporting actor categories.
However it's been heavily rumoured that both will enter in the lead actor categories.
That helps clear Snook's pathway a little, as award show favourite Jennifer Coolidge is usually nominated in the supporting actress category for her work on The White Lotus.
Things gets a bit crowded in the lead actor category, though.
Brian Cox and Jeremy Strong are always nominated for lead actor, but bumping Culkin up might result in HBO deciding to enter Cox in the supporting category instead.
There is also huge competition from other shows, with Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul) and Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us) no doubt also getting a nom.
One thing is for sure though: Succession will definitely be sweeping the awards.
Turns out Tom Wambsgans got everything Matthew Macfadyen wanted for him
By Jessica Riga
Just a handful of reactions from the internet
By Jessica Riga
A note on the power rankings
By Jessica Riga
I think gerry should be higher than kerrie and Marcia considering Tom wanted to bring her back into the company.
- Dan
Gerri is definitely higher! I don't rank every character each week because smaller roles, like Marcia and Kerry, don't appear in every single episode.
So Gerri being ranked in the finale episode is huge! You can't compare these women, but Gerri is doing JUST FINE as Tom knows she's super valuable. Plus, she's getting paid out with millions.
More thoughts from you about Succession's meaning
By Jessica Riga
People’s deep confidence in their judgments and abilities is often at odds with reality...........
- Ben
Here's what Jeremy Strong thinks is the meaning of Succession
By Jessica Riga
Speaking to HBO's official Succession podcast, Jeremy Strong gave his own take on what he has always believed to be the meaning behind the show.
"There's this thing I read that [Carl] Jung said, that 'where love is absent, power fills the vacuum.' To me, that's what the show has always been about," he says.
"I don't think Jesse [Armstrong] is offering any kind of prescription, but that to me would have been the thing that could have helped, and maybe even saved these people.
"And the vortex of power which is drawing them all in, and drawing us in, is a clear and present danger. That's what it means to me."
Unpacking the meaning of Succession
By Jessica Riga
We all want to be loved and have our place in the world, wealth and power isn't the answer to that unless Jesse Armstrong writes it so...
- Mae
"We all want to be loved and have our place in the world."
Mae! I love this. What do we all think?
What do we think Succession is about?
By Jessica Riga
Not to make this sound like a high school English classroom, but what's the meaning behind Succession?
IS there even a clear meaning? Or is that exactly the point?
I'm so curious to hear what you all think, so drop me a comment below.
Let chat all things 'stealth wealth'
By Jessica Riga
Shiv Roy wins the wardrobe department across ALL seasons, money talks, but wealth whispers......it was quiet luxury across the board. Her outfits were inspirational. Whoever chose the sunglasses for all Roy's was also on point........
- Cilla
Completely agree! Succession costume designer Michelle Matland has previously said that Shiv's outfits reflect the changes which happen to her throughout the series.
Matland told the Evening Standard that at the start of the show Shiv is "trying to live in a world that’s antithetical to her family, she doesn’t want to be identified as a Roy, or as wealthy or affluent, because that could be detrimental to her career – that could kill her."
“Then, in season three, we see her try to become her own person, so yes she’s wearing suits but they’re her own personal suits, we find a femininity to her, a subtlety to her, she has little nuances of the Shiv she wants to become.”
Here's some of Shiv's best looks throughout the series (in my humble opinion.)
Thought Kendall was going to end it all? Jeremy Strong thought so too, and even filmed an 'alternate' ending
By Jessica Riga
Speaking to HBO's official Succession podcast, Jeremy Strong revealed he actually filmed one take of that final shot where he climbed over the barrier before his bodyguard saves him.
"It always to me felt like there was no coming back from this. And I looked at these waves and it was so windy that day, and so cold, and there was some piece of metal clanging, this terrible sound. And I couldn't bare it. So I stood up and walked slowly to the barrier and climbed over it," he said.
"I didn't really know what I planned to do. And the actor who plays Colin saw me and ran and stopped me from doing it. I'm sure Jesse's choice [of not using that take] is better, I think you see the intention in the character."
He also spoke about the John Berryman poem which we covered in the blog a little earlier, but you can read the full story here.
"I've been sitting with that poem for a long time, and there's something in the [John] Berryman poem... I sent Jesse and Mark [Mylod, the director] a text after we filmed the scene. 'There sat down, once, a thing on Henry's heart, so heavy, if he had a hundred years and more, and weeping, sleepless, in all them time Henry could not make good. Starts again always in Henry's ears, a chime.' And that chime was the clanging.
"Jesse wrote back immediately, and this is Jesse's mind, with a passage from T.S Eliot's The Wasteland Part IV, which is called Death by Water. There's a line in it which is 'entering the whirlpool.' And that's what the ending is for me."
'When Logan died, everybody was freed'
By Jessica Riga
Jessica, when Logan died, everybody was freed. Some are taking a little longer to digest it. Looking at you Kendall
- Jay
Points were made!
'I see Connor as the winner'
By Jessica Riga
I see Connor as the winner. Connor got the apartment, the best partner in Willa, the first round of sticker perambulation and to just to rub salt into the wounded psyche of Shiv Kendell and Rom, he deftly left the video playing so they could see he got to be in the warm light of Logan.
- Jay
JAY. The point you made about him leaving the video playing is excellent. I completely overlooked that.
(Also, his impression of Logan singing 'I'm a little teapot' was incredible.)
I totally agree. The winner of Succession is the person who doesn't play. When Logan died you could just sense this huge weight had been lifted from him. He was free from that moment on!
More stitches chat
By Jessica Riga
So.. did Roman WANT Kendall to reopen the scar? Because it doesn’t look like he’s trying to break free THAT hard?!
- More Scar chat
I think both interpretations are right and can exist at the same time!
That's what's so good about the show, everything from the writing to the acting. I'm going to miss it so much 😭
What do we watch now that Succession has ended?
By Jessica Riga
Wow, what a night of television! Probably the most satisfying ending to a show since Breaking Bad and somehow BARRY matched Succession's chaotic energy. So what now? What are some shows similar to Succession that capture the same political backstabbing and dark sense of humour?
- ConheadForever
I know right! I'm at a loss on what to watch next 😔
I actually wrote about what to watch after finishing Succession back when season three ended.
At the top of my list was The Thick of It. It shares A LOT of the same writers of Succession, mainly Jesse Armstrong but also Tony Roche and Georgia Pritchett.
The Thick of It is a dark comedy about the workings of Westminster and centres around the fictional Department of Social Affairs and its incompetent staff.
There's a couple other shows on my list which you can check out below, but I would be so interested to see what others recommend!
More chat on that awful hug between Kendall and Roman
By Jessica Riga
Ok so Roman is saying, before that awful wrestle with Kendall.. “look, I still look competent, my scar is healing, people are going to wonder why it’s not me” Kendall then smooshes his face so hard that it tears open again. Kendall reassuring him that he doesn’t have to worry now? Kendall bringing him back down a peg? Kendall reopening his pain? More chat on the chat before that awful hug, please!
- The breaking of the scar
Yes! Kendall was 100% sabotaging him and bringing him down. It was so hard to watch because we were just as confused as Roman.
I lost all faith in Kendall when he lied about the waiter, but this was the second last straw for me.
Thoughts from you: 'I was worried halfway through'
By Jessica Riga
I was worried half way through - Kendall, Shiv and Roman all aligned but heading into a complicated Board meeting - might we see Brandon Stark chosen as the Successor?
- Ian Seal
Oh Ian I am SO HAPPY Greg didn't come out on top.
But when I saw Kendall, Shiv and Roman being HAPPY for once in their lives, I knew it was all about to end. Phew.
Shout out to that opening title sequence
By Jessica Riga
The weekly opening 'credit' is brilliant. A 50/60's home movie look invoking wealth & privilege background. However it appears to me that each week of the final series the intensity/hue of the 'credit' colours have been incrementally increased, final was very saturated colours. Real? Purpose?
- siddane
This is such an interesting observation!
I just watched the season four, episode 1 credits and compared them with the finale and I didn't see a difference.
However some old film shots that have been added over time are definitely more saturated than ones that have been there since the first season.
'Jeremy Strong is now in the top echelon of the greatest TV anti-heroes'
By Jessica Riga
Jeremy Strong is now in the top echelon of the greatest TV anti-heroes. In my opinion he’s now in the same conversation as Cranston and Gandolfini.
- Sam
I made the same comparison in yesterday's recap! Great minds ;) Here's my chance to shamelessly plug it again.
Any doubt that Kendall Roy was the protagonist of Succession was quashed when the series ended with a shot of him in contemplation, his father's former bodyguard watching over him. Over the entire series, Jeremy Strong has cemented his performance among the greats, now uttered in the same breath as James Gandolfini's Tony Soprano and Bryan Cranston's Walter White. Succession was never going to be about Kendall winning, because that would be too neat of an ending. But what a pleasure it was to watch him try.
You can read the complete recap below.
