Just when we think things can’t get worse for our favorite firstborn (sorry — second born) son, Succession’s Kendall Roy somehow manages to hit a new low. From running through the streets of New York while missing a board meeting to frequently evading death, the billionaire just can’t seem to escape humiliating himself in situation after hairy situation.
Things might be on the up and up for Kendall in Season 4, which is set to be the final one of the HBO drama. Will the last episodes of Succession usher in a new era of prosperity and mental health for him? That remains to be seen.
Here’s our list of Kendall Roy’s lowest points (so far).
Doing Meth (Season 1, Episode 7)
After being ousted from his father’s company, Kendall falls down a rabbit hole of self-destruction that ends in a meth den. That’s not a great place for a future CEO, but we get the impression that Kendall really wants to test the depths of how depraved he can be.
Surprisingly, this one kind of pales in comparison to some of Kendall’s lower lows. Experiment successful.
Forcing Greg To Snort Coke (Season 1, Episode 8)
It’s one thing to snort coke — it’s entirely another to force your subordinate cousin to snort coke to prevent you from snorting coke.
Greg (played by Nicholas Braun) obliges, as not to enable Kendall’s threat to do all the coke. He was so innocent before this.
The Incident At Shiv’s Wedding (Season 1, Episode 10)
It’s understandably hard for Kendall to maintain his sobriety given his lifestyle — he’s constantly surrounded by temptation and casual cocaine users. But whenever he decides to ditch his sobriety, he goes all in.
After convincing a member of the wait staff to shirk his shift and get fucked up, Kendall and his new friend hit the road to pick up more drugs. One ill-timed deer in the road later, and the pair of them are sinking to the bottom of a lake.
Kendall makes it out alive, but his cursory attempt to retrieve the waiter from the lake fails. So instead, he just…leaves. And returns to the wedding.
Obviously the death isn’t entirely Kendall’s fault, but it’s safe to say the way he handles the situation weighs heavy on his conscience.
Shoplifting Batteries Just To Throw Them Out (Season 2, Episode 2)
The all-powerful Logan Roy (actor Brian Cox) welcomes Kendall back into his life after covering up the incident on the night of Shiv and Tom’s wedding — but the leverage that gives Logan over Kendall is mountainous.
Under his father’s thumb, Kendall begins to act out in small ways, like when he shoplifts a pack of batteries from a bodega just to toss them in the first trash can he passes. At first I was like, “Why does he need to steal batteries, he has a billion dollars.” Then as soon as he threw them out I was like, “Oh, he just needs to feel something.”
Shitting The Bed At The Pierce’s (Season 2, Episode 5)
Following a tumultuous stay at Turnhaven, the opulent estate of the Pierce family, Kendall spends the night drinking and doing drugs with Naomi Pierce. She’s like the Kendall of her family, in that she has a crippling substance abuse problem that controls her life.
Naomi kind of burns Kendall at the end of their night and tells him to fuck off, which is embarrassing—but not as embarrassing as waking up covered in shit the next morning.
I can’t imagine anything more humiliating than hiding shit-stained bed sheets as a houseguest in someone’s mega mansion, but that’s exactly What he had to do. This one especially makes me wonder just how far Succession actor Jeremy Strong’s commitment to method-acting goes.
Ken-W.A. (Season 2, Episode 8)
Kendall gives a nightmare-fuel performance at an event celebrating his father’s business achievements as Ken-W.A., in which he raps about how great his dad is and how much he loves him. Why, why, why would he have thought this was a good idea? HUGE millennial moment.
I had to get up and leave the room during this scene, which was even more unbearable upon rewatch. Knowing that Kendall was one episode away from being pinned for the misdoings at Cruises made this display of familial affection a little too cringey for me to handle. To quote Roman Roy, I may get sucked into a black hole of embarrassment I can never get out of.
Getting Rejected By All Three Of His Siblings (Season 3, Episode 2)
Kendall drops a bombshell by going against Logan’s wishes and exposing him as complicit in the Cruise scandals at the end of the Season 2 finale. At first, it feels like a fresh start for him: He’s finally stood up to his father, and might even be able to take him down.
He attempts to take his plans to the next level by inviting his siblings to join his team—but one by one, they all reject him. Even Connor.
Bailing On Sophie Iwobi (Season 3, Episode 3)
To distinguish himself as a “woke” icon, Kendall decides it would be great for his image to appear on the talk show of Sophie Iwobi, a TV personality known for roasting her guests. The show is really reminiscent of Showtime’s Ziwe — Ziwe Fumudoh herself even plays the character.
If he had appeared on the show, Sophie probably would have criticized his fake-woke showmanship and his Rich White Person complex. However, Kendall chickens out and hides in the building so he doesn’t have to appear, which is probably the only thing he could have done that was worse than just going on the show in the first place.
His 40th Birthday (Season 3, Episodes 6 And 7)
Despite explicitly stating that he doesn't “want this to look like an asshole’s birthday party,” Kendall’s 40th actually does end up looking exactly like an asshole’s birthday party. The whole event screams “mid-life crisis.”
To make matters worse, he has no actual friends who want to attend, although the room is full of A-list guests. Even his own siblings only came to make a deal.
The rock-bottom moment of Kendall’s party is when he opens a note from Roman and Logan inviting him to sell his shares of the company, but Roman pushing Kendall to the floor is a close second.
Almost Drowning On A Pool Floatie (Season 3, Episode 8)
While in Italy for his mother’s wedding, Kendall goes head to head with his father once again. The two meet for dinner, but the night turns sour quickly when Kendall’s attempt to play mind games backfires.
The next morning, we see a desolate Kendall on a pool floatie with a beer in his hand — until the beer begins to float away and we realize he’s actually knocked out and breathing in water.
I hate to say this, but almost drowning feels so much more humiliating than fully drowning. This incident also illustrates just how little Kendall values his own life at this point. Happy people don’t fall asleep face down in the pool.
New episodes of the final season of Succession premiere Sundays on HBO. Past episodes are available to stream with an HBO subscription.
