“If you are sure you understand everything that is going on,” states the adage known as Mondale’s law, “you are hopelessly confused.” The saying was named for Walter Mondale, former US president Jimmy Carter’s deputy in the White House. His name was also, fittingly, given to the long-forgotten dog shared by Shiv (Sarah Snook) and Tom (Matthew Macfadyen) in Sky Atlantic’s blockbuster drama Succession. Now, as the show returns for its final series, that pooch finds himself at the centre of a crumbling relationship, and hopeless confusion reigns. Walter Mondale would surely approve.
At the end of the third season, WayStar Royco CEO and family patriarch Logan (Brian Cox) had just, in the show’s own parlance, screwed his kids. As the concluding chapter of this tetralogy picks up, Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Roman (Kieran Culkin) and the newly semi-single Shiv are teaming up on a new venture. But will the lure of screwing their dad in return prove too strong? And what game is Tom playing, exiled in New York to a lonely life where he does his father-in-law’s bidding, cavorts with cousin Greg (Nicholas Braun) as “the disgusting brothers”, and watches as Mondale forgets the scent of his wife?
