The ‘Succession’ finale brought the greatest TV show of all time to its fateful and hopeless end

This review contains spoilers for Succession.

Who would have thought it would take a trip to Barbados and a forbidden block of cheese to unite the Roy brothers?

last episode ever Inheritance Took us out of New York for our last private jet trip. Roman (Kieran Culkin), sutured and bruised in a mob encounter, has shut himself up in his mother’s Bhajan mansion, hiding from his brothers’ overlapping thumbscrew pressure. Ahead of the impending board vote on the GoJo agreement. But peace comes when they arrive, and Kendall (Jeremy Strong) tells Shiv (Sarah Snook) that Mattson (Alexander Skarsgard) isn’t going to be CEO.

And we’re shown one of the sweetest, most vulnerable scenes the show has ever seen among a trio. After working together during a midnight swim to thwart a deal and making the much-needed decision to make Kendall CEO, Mr. and Mrs. Roy unleash their inner children to lick their stepfather’s fine cheese and eventually end up in the trash can. I made a “meal fit for a king” that would be thrown away by Head of the future Waystar boss. Inheritance Pure happiness rarely happens. And it was a real pleasure to spend this moment in her final hour and a half with these characters we’ve come to know intimately over five years.

But apparently it was too good to be true.

or Inheritance Being able to turn boring events like board meetings and phone calls into boring television has long been one of its many strengths (a surprisingly sharp script and one of the best ever collected along with an unparalleled performance by one of the cast). The upcoming board vote is the final battle, and the surprise appearance of Brian Cox as the late Logan in an emotional home video will rally the army before charging into battle in his name. It sounded like a war song.

As the finale accelerates towards the inevitable GoJo decision, the gears in Roy’s plan begin to slip when Tom (Matthew Macfadyen) confirms to Shiv that he will wear Logan’s crown during Mattson’s reign. rice field.

Still, they had deal-breaking numbers, right? Everyone just kept their word and voted against it. However, once the money was handed over to Shiv, who had her deciding vote, she quickly lifted her demeanor and left the table. It wouldn’t have been surprising to see a (admittedly very subtle) development.

The final scene of the Roy brothers fighting will go down as one of the greatest moments in television history. From Shiv’s deceptive selflessness that he didn’t betray just because he was better off being the CEO’s wife than being his sister, Kendall’s miserable cries of “I’m the eldest”, Kendall’s children It wasn’t “real” until years of trauma exploded into a pitiful mess.until Inheritance‘s usual unrestrained insults, but it was painful to watch them gut each other after seeing them so happy in Barbados.

In the end, the GoJo deal went through, Tom became CEO (Greg was on the side, despite the Judas moment), and the Roy family lost Waystar Royko. It was a dramaturgically sensible ending. Some might say it was expected. But adding a shocking twist would undermine the series’ artful and sensitive storytelling. It was hard for anyone in the Roy family to see a happy ending on the horizon, but seeing it happen didn’t make it any easier.

There was little fanfare for this finale. Jesse Armstrong could have changed his mind and continued with the dynasty drama (that’s a great idea, if you ask me). However, by its nature Inheritance It could not end with a definite full stop. Instead, a typical mid-paragraph emotional ending awaited. Roman drinks his grief in a bar, Shiv gives up on her intolerable life as her husband’s second, and Kendall, almost king, ruminates at the battery. Park is accompanied only by his father’s loyal bodyguards. Even top dog Tom, who climbed to the top over the years, found no joy in the aftermath.

Boundless, perceptive and uncompromising to the end. Inheritance It’s the best TV series ever made.