Succession season 1-4 spoilers below – no, really, be very, very careful with this one
If you thought episode two was the episode that blew everything wide open, hang tight: matters in episode three get far more dramatic.
Preamble
The third episode picks up on the day of Connor’s wedding. Roman, who the night before had agreed to go with Logan to talk to Matsson, is on the phone to his father, who is once again saying that he needs his son by his side during negotiations. Roman, now out of Logan’s intimidating physical presence, is umming and ahhing – he does feel like he should attend his brother’s wedding.
Perhaps as a punishment, Logan asks Roman to fire Gerri – he’s not been happy with her recently – and also says he probably won’t make it to the wedding. He and Kerry bought Connor some “Napoleon Josephine letters” which he seems to believe will placate his eldest son.
On the boat
It seems that Connor won the wedding planning argument: against a grey sky and with the Statue of Liberty in the background, a brass band welcomes guests onto a luxury yacht that is going to circle the harbour. But somehow, despite all the money everywhere, the boat looks about as glamorous as the booze cruiser that takes cars from Dover to Calais.
Once on the boat, everyone is being their awful selves. Connor is arguing with the staff about his cake, which he finds less than perfect; Greg is trying to flirt with an uncomfortable-looking journalist; the Roy sibs are talking business as usual; Greg’s on the phone to Tom – Tom is on the way to Sweden with Logan, but Greg hasn’t been invited because he’s in Logan’s bad books after the Kerry debacle. Willa and her Mum are talking on deck. Willa’s mum says that Connor will look after Willa, which certainly counts for something.
Then, Roman fires Gerri in his absolutely painful-to-watch Roman way – i.e. difficult to decipher, and ultimately blaming his dad (this time though, it really is Logan’s fault). Gerri is furious and upset, but doesn’t take it out on Roman.
15 minutes in
Shiv receives a call from Tom. She declines. Then Roman gets a call from Tom. He picks up. Tom says, in his also not quite straight-to-the-point way, that Logan is not very well. It’s difficult to tell what he means. Not very well? Logan was on a private jet heading to Sweden to talk to Matsson, but started to have trouble breathing. Now he’s on the floor of the plane getting CPR and having his chest pumped. There are medical teams on call.
Kendall comes to the phone – he and Roman are in a separate room away from the guests. Tom says that Logan is not in a good way, that the kids should talk to him. Then it suddenly dawns on everyone what may be happening. Logan is unconscious. The kids must bid goodbye to their father.
Oh, these are incredibly moving scenes. Both Kendall and Roman speak to their dad, though they have no idea what to say – they murmur I love you, then they’re furious at him, then they say I love you again. Tom has placed his phone down next to Logan so that if he can still hear, he will be able to hear his kids. Kendall gets Shiv, who also murmurs her difficult, complicated, uncertain goodbyes. Of course no one can be absolutely certain noone has died because despite him being quite elderly and incredibly rich, there’s no medical team on the plane (and also because no one wants to say the actual words).
Stumbling to the end
AND THERE IS STILL HALF AN HOUR LEFT of the episode. But as sometimes happens after the bodyslam of grief, it somehow slips away. Connor is told about Logan’s death – his tragic response is: “Oh man, he never even liked me”, but then he corrects himself, saying, “He did, he did. I never got the chance to make him proud of me.”
Everyone is talking, no one quite knows what to do. Roman keeps denying that Logan is dead, and gets angry at Shiv, who true to form is being more practical. Kendall, Shiv and Roman have gleaming eyes, but quite what that means is unclear. Logan’s team are all extremely shaken, and without his guidance, have no idea how or when to announce his death – they don’t want to affect the market. They start drafting a statement, even though the plane hasn’t yet landed.
Kendall, Shiv and Roman decide that they will make the statement. Tom calls Greg and tells him the news, and asks him to get off the boat and go to the office and delete a file called “logistics” on a computer. He also says, “I lost my protector.” It seems that Tom is already thinking about the succession.
And what next for Connor and Willa? Their conversation is touchingly honest. Should they go ahead and get married? He’s afraid that if they don’t, she’ll run off. Is she staying with him just for his money? he asks. She says she is, a bit, but that she’s happy. The exchange is somehow sweet and the duo in the end decide to go ahead and say their vows.
The young Roys leave the boat and go to meet the plane where it has now landed. Press are already circling, and so Shiv gives a statement.
“This nation has lost a passionate champion and an American titan... And we lost a beloved father,” she says, refusing to answer any further questions. She also shares an intimate hug with Tom (is this an opportunity for a rapprochement between them? Obviously now is not the time to ask, but, you know...)
Down on the tarmac, Kendall watches his father being taken off the plane from a distance as the sky darkens. Roman goes closer, meanwhile, Shiv leaves with Tom – and we hear her asking him about what really went down on the plane.
Final thoughts
Speculation that Logan might die began the second that Jesse Armstrong announced that this would be the last series. It makes sense: Logan would never step down, so for a successor to really take over, he’d have to be out of the picture.
But was this the death we imagined? Tragic, desperate phone calls, Logan lying in a plane surrounded by none of his friends and only his cronies? No medical team on hand? A depressing scene on the tarmac with his body being carried out of the plane? No, not at all.
No death would have been a good death, but there was something bleak – and the boat setting absolutely did not help – about Logan’s exit from the world. But perhaps that’s right. Death is rarely poetic, and it was always going to be the one thing Logan couldn’t control.
Now the ante is upped as we face seven episodes of absolute mayhem as his family and business partners scramble for power. Death also rarely brings out the best in people, especially where money is involved. Brace yourself.
