Succession recap: Shocking twist as Logan Roy bows out in brilliant episode
Brian Cox as Logan Roy in Succession.
In the first two episodes of its farewell season, there was a sense that Succession was re-arranging pieces on a chessboard. But now with its jaw-dropping latest instalment writer Jesse Armstrong has upended the table and sent everything careening into the unknown. The show has broken the safety glass, pulled the emergency brake and killed off a major character.
This is after a low-key start which suggests business as usual. It’s the morning of Connor’s wedding to Willa and Roman is en route to the nuptials. He receives a call: it’s Logan about to board the flight to Sweden to talk with tech mogul Lukas Mattson. He’s skipping his eldest son’s wedding – but has a gift for Roman. He wants his “number one boy” to fire Gerri (with whom Roman has had an off/on/off relationship).
Roman works himself up to sort of give Gerri the heave-ho at the reception and then leaves a voicemail for his dad telling him he’s a terrible person for making his son do this. That’s before Shiv arrives and the Roy siblings chill in a VIP room on the boat where the knot-tying is to happen (Connor is downstairs freaking out about the wedding cake – which, for complicated reasons, has triggered flashbacks to his mother being committed to an institution when he was a child).
Then the call comes through. It’s Tom, on the flight with Logan. The Elder Roy is “very very sick” says Shiv’s estranged husband. Kendall and Roman crowd around the phone and, while it is possible Logan is already dead, Tom cradles the handset to his ear so that his children can say their farewells.
“You’re a monster. You’re gonna win,” stutters Roman.
“I love you… I can’t forgive you,” says Kendall, reminding us again that he is a collection of daddy issues in a suit.
Then Kendall dashes off to retrieve Shiv. “I love you… don’t go, please not now,” she says over the phone. But it seems Logan is already dead. In her final interaction with her father, Shiv is once again speaking into the void. Logan ignored her when he was alive and she is excluded even at his death.
Kendall is meanwhile playing all the hits as the poor little rich kid of the ensemble. He commands his minions to get the world’s best heart doctor on the phone – and then demands to speak to the pilot of the plane. Logan’s senior advisor Frank takes it upon himself to be the adult in the room – even though he’s hundreds of miles away.
“He’s flying the plane son,” he says of the pilot. Kendall then presses him: is Logan really dead? “I think he went,” says Frank.
It’s time to tell Connor, still having his wedding cake freak out. Shiv, Kendall and Roman say that their father “may” be dead. “Well is he?” asks Connor, before storming off.
Back on the plane, Logan’s lackeys are already working on a statement – and excluding Kerry, Logan’s adviser (and possibly more). Tom is making plans too. He calls Greg at the wedding and tells him to go to the Waystar offices and wipe some incriminating files. Why? “Because Logan is dead”.
On the boat, the Roy kids are struggling to keep it together. Shiv wonders if they can put off dealing with their father’s death by having the plane circle: she wants reality to stay up in the air a little longer so that she can adjust. Kendall, for his part, cautions that they need to remember that everything they say or do will be judged in the context of Logan’s death. “What we do today will always be what we did the day our father died.”
Either way, the plane is landing. Shiv, Roman and Kendall leave for the airport. Connor confesses to Willa that he still wants to get married. He’s worried she’ll change her mind and that she’s only with him for his wealth. There’s something to be said “for money and safety” she nods – but then adds, “I’m happy... I am” and they exchange vows.
Along with Logan dying, it seems that Waystar Royco’s share price is not long for the world. As the stock plummets, the three Roys arrive at the airport. They hug and disperse. Kendall, alone on the tarmac, watches the bodybag containing his father as it is loaded into an ambulance. And with that the curtain closes and what may well go down as the TV episode of the year.
