The ‘Succession’ Series Finale Exit Survey - The Ringer

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Did “With Open Eyes” stick the landing? What comes next for the Roy siblings? And who wants to play “meal fit for a king”?

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With Sunday’s episode, “With Open Eyes,” Succession’s four-season run has come to an end. The finale brought fireworks, from the Roy siblings’ conference-room confrontation to Cousin Greg’s demise by iPhone translation app to the creation of “meal fit for a king.” So did the show stick the landing? What comes next for Kendall, Shiv, and Roman? Is Tom the right heir to the Waystar Royco throne? And will Peter ever recover after what happened to his special cheese? The Ringer staff breaks it all down.

1. What is your tweet-length review of the Succession finale?

Alan Siegel: The Roys predictably backstabbed each other to death and only Tom lived to tell the tale.

Katie Baker: A draining and fitting finale to a dear, dear world of a program.

Khal Davenport: I survived the Succession series finale and all I got was this existential crisis.

Austin Gayle: Smooth landing to first-class flight. Nobody dies. Nobody comes back to life. It wasn’t all a dream. No flashbacks or flash-forwards. It’s the same broken record spinning in a large room of awful people bellowing for their cut of the cake—a stunning, insatiable tune.

Ben Lindbergh:

2. What was your favorite part of the episode?

Lindbergh: The kitchen scene on the night before the board meeting, which made the predictable breakdown in relations the next day doubly poignant. Watching the sibs play in a childlike way that wasn’t akin to frying ants with a magnifying glass hammered home that they could have gotten along under different circumstances. It also served as a reminder that they aren’t serious people. And if we’re ranking Roy family games, “Meal Fit for a King” is so much better than “Bitey” or “Boar on the Floor.”

Siegel: The siblings’ climactic confrontation, by far. It was so intense that I admittedly had to watch it twice to pick up on Roman teasing Kendall for being infertile. The way Kendall was squeezing Roman’s face, I wouldn’t have been surprised if he popped the little shit’s eyes out of his head. Also, Shiv earned her “I watched Jane die” moment.

Davenport: The conference room confrontation. So much of that final vote hinged on that moment, and Kendall’s slip had massive implications.

Gayle: Tom placing the sticker on Greg’s forehead was. “Affix the sticker on the objects you covet,” Connor tells the group when he initially doles them out. Tom does exactly that while simultaneously marking a bull’s-eye between Greg’s eyes. Greg always will be Gregging for Tom.

Baker: Caroline offering “hearty fare; modest rations” and a side of a potential Ponzi scheme.

3. What was your least favorite part?

Siegel: The “meal fit for a king” part nearly made me gag.

Gayle: I get why the show had the Roys stay up past their bedtime to make noise and play with food in the kitchen, but the scene ran a bit long (and a bit gross) for my taste. It also had the kids smiling so wide that the vote later not going their way was practically spelled out in the smoothie remnants on the floor.

Davenport: The finale felt a bit long? The episode having an extended “let’s make a shitty meal for our undeserving brother possibly becoming CEO” scene was fun, but felt unnecessary in the long run.

Lindbergh: I didn’t dislike anything, really, though the fact that Jeryd Mencken and Daniel Jimenez went back to being names, not on-screen characters, reinforced my feeling that the election story line was somewhat out of place on Succession. I always had a hard time buying the Roys’ interest in anything other than themselves, and though the regulation angle gave Kendall and Roman a selfish reason to root for Mencken, it seemed sort of flimsy as a way to portray the larger fallout from the family’s internecine squabbles. In the end, the election’s impact on Connor and Willa’s living arrangements rated more of a mention than the implications for the country. (While we’re on the subject, Willa’s “second-week itch” bummed me out more than the rest of the Roy kids’ misfortunes.)

Baker: You know what, in many ways I generally disliked the entire experience of watching the finale. I say that totally separately from my opinion of how good it was! It reminded me of the times when my favorite hockey team has gotten deep into the playoffs and is in the midst of a stressful overtime game, and all I can think is … “I am not actually enjoying this whatsoever!” It’s too emotionally taxing and too close to The End—like I wrote at the start of the season, it’s like reading a really good book and seeing that there are only a few pages left. I look forward to rewatching the finale without the psychic burden of not knowing what is going to happen, because I did “like” the ending, if that all makes sense. (I know, I know: Ma’am, this is a Wendy’s.)

4. In the end, the successor to Logan’s CEO throne is Tom. Is he the right choice for the show?

Baker: I don’t think we can rightly call it “Logan’s CEO throne,” even if it’s technically the same chair. Logan ruled with an iron fist; Tom is positioned directly under a madman’s thumb. Logan was chairman of the company board and the head of the family trust; do we know if Tom even has a board seat? Logan was a big swinging dick; Tom’s quasi-estranged wife openly says he sucks. In this way, yes, he is the right choice for the show.

Lindbergh: Yes, both because his origins as an outsider illustrate the corrosive effects of proximity to the Roys, and because even as CEO, he’s a sad, empty suit. Though I would have laughed if Lawrence Yee had been the one to keep Kendall from, um, vaulting into sole control of the company.

Siegel: Yes, he’s the perfect cynical, pragmatic climber to succeed Logan. Unlike the spoiled Roys, he was willing to eat shit on the way to the top.

Davenport: For the show? Indeed. In a series that highlights the fuckery behind the families at the heart of these mega conglomerates, Tom ending up at the head of the C-suite is poetic justice.

Gayle: It isn’t right or wrong. Life isn’t nice. It’s contingent. As Shiv told Lukas Matsson in the finale, Tom was always willing to suck the biggest dick in the room. Everyone else got caught in the measuring contest.

5. Which member of the quad squad played their hand the worst: Kendall, Shiv, Roman, or Cousin Greg?

Davenport: Kendall, easily. There was a point when everyone was resigned to Kendall becoming the next Waystar Royco CEO, and then Shiv needed a moment to think at the board vote. Kendall could’ve appropriately explained himself and had a heart-to-heart with his siblings that may have ended with a 7-6 vote in his favor. Instead, he decided to lie, fracturing the good faith he’d built since Season 3. It was an idiotic move at a crucial moment, and it changed the course of Kendall’s life from then on.

Lindbergh: Kendall, who came the closest to reaching the end zone before fumbling the ball. If he’d chosen his words more wisely when speaking to Stewy and Shiv, he might have gotten what he wanted. Then again, if he were wiser, he wouldn’t be Kendall Roy.

Siegel: Kendall. Always.

Baker: Roman. I feel bad saying so, because his fumbles—on the mountain with Lukas Matsson; in the eyes of the president-elect—stemmed from so many repressed and unprocessed emotions. But also, I shouldn’t feel bad saying so about a cruel Menckenite!

Gayle: Greg. Though he ended up with the sticker, he made a mess of the best hand. Kendall was one vote away from achieving his dream with a bad hand. Shiv’s seat at the table was never taken seriously by Matsson or anyone else. And Roman was never serious about pushing for himself. If Greg had gone to Tom with his Swedish-to-English translation (or if he just let the bottle of wine age a bit), he’d probably have earned a high seat in Tom’s kingdom. Instead, he was called a Judas at the crowning ceremony and will be perpetually Gregging for Tom with a leash shorter than Mondale’s.

6. Where do the Roy kids go from here?

Baker: If Kendall finds his way off that pier, I envision him entering a phase of balls-out attempts to thoroughly sabotage the Tommy Wambsgans administration, which won’t be pleasant for anyone—in particular Roman, whom I could see becoming something of a go-between for his now-dueling siblings. Shiv will have a daughter and ask Gerri to be the godmother, but like, in a threatening way? Connor, whose blessed assignment in Slovenia is precluded when Mencken ultimately loses the election, runs for mayor of New York City instead and is just kooky enough to win. All of them will be swindled, in various manners, by associates of Peter Munion.

Siegel: Shiv still has Tom to manipulate; she keeps scheming. Roman drops off the face of the earth with a smile on his face. Kendall hits rock bottom, again, but luckily Colin is around to help him get back up.

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Davenport: Roman feels like he may be the best off. Being the best off may include battling his inner demons, but he’s in a much better place than Kendall and Shiv. Kendall feels like a man who’s left pondering the terrible decisions he’s made in business and personal affairs; Shiv is with Tom, just outside of the controlling seat at Waystar Royco. Connor will always be a floater, and their father will stay rolling in his grave.

Lindbergh: I’m guessing that The Hundred and the Pierce purchase are now off the table. (How big is the down payment on a $10 billion bid for a global media company?) Nor do I foresee the siblings scheduling any group huggy things soon. (This show made me glad to be an only child.) So I’d bet it looks like a lot of long walks with Colin, silent car rides, and big bar tabs. It wouldn’t make for great TV—not on this show, anyway—but maybe the sibs will eventually learn to stop “chasing rainbows” and set more realistic, rewarding goals. They can’t be better business moguls than their dad, but they could be better … uh, philanthropists? Now that I say it, I hear how ridiculous it sounds.

Gayle: Therapy. Please, God, get these kids into therapy.

7. What was the best quote from the final episode?

Baker: “I am a cog that only fits into one machine.” Devastating!!! (Runner-up: “You like pancakes and waffles and you kiss guys on Molly.”)

Lindbergh: Two words: face eggs. They’re the windows to the soul.

Siegel: When Tom says to Greg, “You are a fucking piece of shit. But I got you.”

Gayle: “Hey, we are bullshit. We are bullshit. You are bullshit. You’re fucking bullshit, man. I’m fucking bullshit. She’s bullshit. It’s all fucking nothing, man. I’m telling you this because I know it. We’re nothing.”

Davenport: Roman saying “we’re nothing.”

8. With every episode in the books: Who is the show’s MVP?

Lindbergh: I don’t think Tom “won” Succession, despite finishing the series with the title of CEO. But he does deserve to win this award (which Matthew Macfadyen can accept on his behalf). Tom fluctuated from cruel to pathetic, revolting to sympathetic, tyrant to brown-noser, attack dog to forlorn-looking puppy. Sometimes he seemed like the best of the rotten Roy clan; sometimes he seemed like the worst (if only because he wasn’t born into it). At all times, though, he was one of the show’s most mesmerizing, thought-provoking characters.

Gayle: Tom “Triple-Play” Wambsgans.

Siegel: Tom!

Davenport: I want to give it to Roman. Of the four Roy sibs, he feels the closest to starting to do the work of recovery, even if he’s fragile and has an incredibly steep hill to climb. Being OK with not being in the limelight may come most naturally for him, as he’s realized that nothing matters anyway.

Baker: I’m going to interpret this as most valuable to the show, and not like, “who has consolidated the most [power at/shares in] Waystar Royco at this time.” So my answer is Jeremy Strong as Kendall Roy, who I think was the most irreplaceable performer in a cast of exceptional talent. He dripped snot, he shat beds, he was merry as fuck, and he was an all-time monster. Strong helped define the show’s abject, absurd ethos and tone while also keeping Succession somehow grounded. I will miss this performance extremely deeply.

9. Are there any loose ends you wanted to see tied up that weren’t?

Baker: I’m never not daydreaming about Nan and Naomi (and Marnie) Pierce, so that’s just going to continue for the rest of my life I guess.

Lindbergh: I worry that Ebba will continue to suffer in silence. The way Matsson treats her is consistent with the show’s portrayal of domineering men and workplace power dynamics, but I hope she gets her revenge—if not by spilling enough secrets to take down her abusive boss, then at least by parlaying the blood bricks into a windfall that rivals Gerri’s dick-pic payout.

Davenport: I would’ve liked to see Roman and Gerri have a conversation at some point in the finale, but with the way everything played out, those two not linking up made sense.

Gayle: Does Roman ever figure out his love life? I’d take a spinoff on that yesterday. We can call it When in Rome or something else that’s quippy but ultimately sad.

Siegel: I still need more Mondale.

10. Do you think this finale stuck the landing? And how does it affect how you feel about Succession?

Siegel: Yes. Kendall, Shiv, and Roman’s relationship devolving to a brutally petty fight is a perfect distillation of the show. They’re rich kids who can’t fill their awful father’s giant shoes. As Roman puts it: “You’re fucking bullshit, man. I’m fucking bullshit. She’s bullshit. It’s all fucking nothing, man.”

Davenport: Hell yes it stuck the landing. If you paid attention to how each character’s story line was being built from Season 1, you shouldn’t be surprised with how the series ended up. These were the most fitting endings to the games that each Roy child played. Serves them right.

Baker: When I reported a piece about the musical endings in TV finales, a music supervisor said something to me that stuck: the best album closers feel like beginnings. That’s how the Succession finale felt to me—in fact, I’ve found it hard to write answers to this exit survey because my mind is still spinning with possibilities and potential outcomes. How long might Tom last as CEO? (I think my favorite shot of the whole episode was Tom getting in the SUV at the end—doors opening for him; paths being cleared.) How long might Kendall live? (In an interview, Strong said that he filmed a take of the last scene that involved Kendall trying to enter the cold water and Colin trying to stop him.) Is Mencken president? Can Lucy Prebble write a play one day called “The Cow-Print Couch”? Succession always has been a show that withholds information the way its patriarch Logan Roy withheld affection, so all of this is of a piece with what it’s been like to watch the show all along: I remain desperate to know more.

Lindbergh: It doesn’t affect how I feel very much, because my opinion was pretty solidified after 38 episodes. Like most great finales, Succession’s last act was a well-earned outgrowth of everything that happened before it; it was more of a culmination than an elevation. But yes, unlike Logan on his fatal overseas flight, Succession stuck the landing.

Gayle: When Logan died in Episode 3 of this season, Succession earned its place among the pantheon of prestige TV. Every episode that followed, including the excellent finale, was simply a bonus, showcasing an all-time script and a wave of Emmy-worthy performances.

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