After five years and 29 episodes, Jesse Armstrong’s superlative satire, Succession, has come to an end.
***Warning: this article contains major spoilers for the season four finale of Succession***
Ahead of episode 10, many were speculating on what might happen next – would Kendall (Jeremy Strong), the show’s protagonist, come out on top? Roman (Kieran Culkin) had gone awol… what would become of him? Would Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård) screw over Shiv (Sarah Snook)? And would the “Disgusting Brothers” Tom (Matthew Macfadyen) and Greg (Nicholas Braun) come out victorious?
In the end, it is Tom Wambsgans who “wins” Succession. He is plucked from the social climbing ladder he so tightly clings to by Matsson, with the GoJo CEO telling him that he doesn’t want to take Shiv with him if the Waystar Royco takeover goes through, essentially because he fancies her and it’s too complicated.
Plus, the woman’s got too many opinions, which he really doesn’t need because running the company is “f***ing easy”.
“What if I hired the guy who put the baby inside her, instead of the baby lady?” he asks Tom, in the most uncomfortable line of the episode.
And so Tom, with barely a hint of hesitation or a second thought for Shiv, accepts.
Greg, with the help of a translation app, then overhears the Swede and his associates talking about the plan to drop Shiv, and puts in a call to Kendall to tell him he’s got “knowledge to take down solar systems, man”.
The news soon gets back to Shiv that she’s out, so she sides with Kendall and Roman and says she will back Ken to be king. Their reunion is genuinely joyful, with the siblings having a laugh (an actual laugh!) and sharing something resembling a loving moment in their mother’s kitchen.
But peacetime is brief. Later, when the board meet to cast their votes and it’s looking like the GoJo deal could go down the drain, Shiv starts to wobble. She doesn’t want Kendall to win, saying he can’t because he killed someone (the waiter who drowned at her wedding).
The sibs get into an almighty, highly public and very embarrassing, slappy sort of brawl in the Waystar HQ.
Everyone sees it play out as the whole office is made of glass, and by the time Kendall returns to the boardroom, the votes have been cast – Matsson’s takeover bid has been accepted and Tom is his CEO.
Greg, nicknamed “Judas” for spilling the beans to Kendall (although “Rasputin” or “cockroach” almost seem more apt at this stage, as he’s so unkillable), still seems to have a place in Matsson’s crew.
Er, long live the “Disgusting Brothers”, I guess?
