The Tragic Cycle Is Complete

Warning: This article contains spoilers for the ending of Succession.Succession began its life in 2018, and while its first season was well-received, it hadn’t yet found a huge audience. It wasn’t until 2020, when the vast majority of people were at home watching countless hours of TV, that it was discovered by the masses. From then on, it was one of the most anticipated shows. Whether we were waiting for it week to week or in its breaks between seasons, there was always a ravenous appetite from its viewership. With so much excitement for the finale, it’s hard to remember the last time a show built up so much suspense, besides perhaps Breaking Bad.

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Whichever way you watched the show, rooting for one of the siblings, all of them, or hoping they all fail, everyone had something to look forward to in this final showdown. With Roman out of the race, the battle was set between Kendall and Shiv, who had both always been more realistic options than their emotional and offputting brother. But, of course, it wouldn’t be Succession if they followed the expected path, so really, anything could have happened. Here is everything you need to know about the Succession series finale, and of course, beware of spoilers ahead.

What Happened to Waystar-Royco?

When the episode opened, we learn that Matsson’s deal to take over the company and merge with his own streaming service, GoJo, is looking like it’s ready to go ahead. With Shiv on his team readying to become the new CEO, she has helped him to get enough board members on his side for the vote to go through. Kendall’s prospects, on the other hand, are not looking so optimistic. He is losing votes left and right and doesn’t even know where his co-CEO Roman is.

Shiv, and later Kendall, receive word from their mother that Roman is with her and they both take the opportunity to get him on their side. As she was notified first, Shiv arrives earliest and is able to get Roman on board with her plan to become CEO, which Kendall is upset to learn upon his own arrival. However, Shiv’s victory glow doesn’t last long — as always on Succession — because Kendall informs her that Matsson has played her and is looking for someone else to be his CEO now that he has no use for her anymore. The ‘someone else’ in question is later revealed to be Tom as Matsson argues he’d rather have the person who put the baby in Shiv than “the baby lady” herself.

Related: Succession: 10 Twisted Moments from Tom and Shiv’s Toxic Relationship

This devastates Shiv and after much back and forth, the siblings band together and decide to back Kendall as CEO and block Matsson’s deal. The three of them share a few silly, happy hours as a trio, which we know by now means something terrible is coming their way, and head back to New York City in the morning for the vote.

When they arrive, Kendall is hesitant to sit in his father’s chair, symbolizing his new reign as CEO, and while the others laugh it off, there is obvious tension and discomfort in the room. Shiv exits swiftly in order to try and rally some more votes for their team, leaving Kendall and Roman alone. Roman begins to get upset about not being the new CEO and Kendall attempts to comfort him with a vice-like embrace that is so strong it opens up the stitches in Roman’s forehead, leaving him bleeding.

Miserable Endings for Everyone

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When it comes down to the vote, everything goes as expected; the votes are evenly split, leaving Shiv as the deciding factor. She is visibly upset about something and asks to leave the room, followed by Kendall and Roman. After telling Kendall she doesn’t like the idea of him becoming CEO and doesn’t want to block the deal, ostensibly because he killed someone, Kendall becomes enraged.

He shouts about how this is what his father wanted and that they needed to keep the company in the family, which Roman interjects by arguing that Kendall wouldn’t be continuing the bloodline as his children are not biologically his own. This is the final straw, and Kendall physically attacks Roman, which allows Shiv to make up her mind and vote the deal through.

So, in the end, Matsson takes over the company and appoints Tom as the new CEO. This leaves all three of the kids outside the company, with miserable endings. Shiv is stuck in his unhappy marriage, Kendall has lost what he believes to be his purpose in life, and Roman is as aimless and emotionally stunted as ever.

Why Did Shiv Vote Against Kendall?

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From the moment Shiv stepped into the boardroom for the vote, it was clear that she was distressed, which conveyed a sense of indecision on her part. The only thing that had changed since she left her brothers is that Roman’s stitches were now open and bleeding. Knowing her brothers as well as she does, it wouldn’t be hard for Shiv to make the leap that Kendall was responsible for this change in Roman’s appearance. This being the reason for her indecision is compounded by the fact that it was Kendall attacking Roman in front of her that made her decision final.

Shiv could see that Kendall was becoming like Logan, that the poison had dripped through. Throughout the show, when Logan physically harmed someone, be it Roman or Kendall’s son Iverson, Kendall immediately defended the wounded party. But now, with the taste of being CEO in his mouth, he was morphing into Logan before their eyes. This was what Shiv couldn’t stomach, especially coming off the happy evening they had spent together the night before.

Who Won Succession?

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The driving force behind Succession is the desire of all three kids to become CEO, so it’s easy to see the show as a fight between them all to “win.” Both Shiv and Kendall came incredibly close to snatching the crown in the final episode, but both had their plans foiled. Shiv’s was foiled by Matsson himself and Kendall’s by Shiv at the last second. Instead of the kids taking over as CEO, it was Tom Wambsgans instead.

Matsson told him he needed someone to be a “pain sponge” and deal with the undesirable management work while he did the things he enjoyed about tinkering with the company, and that is exactly what Tom is. He places money and status over everything else, including his ego, and that’s how he ended up in the CEO seat when the others couldn’t. They wanted to be visionaries and change the company — and the world — whereas Tom just wanted the money however he could get it.

Related: Succession: Best Moments in the Series, Ranked

However, when you look beyond the CEO’s chair, it could also be argued that Logan is the true winner. Though he may be dead, he is still yet to lose a battle against his children. The Matsson deal was exactly what he wanted, and he died trying to make it work. Kendall once again lost to his father in the boardroom, just as he did in the first season, though he was so confident both times.

Additionally, Logan never wanted any of his children to take over the company, which is why he dangled it over all of their heads, so none of them could ever be sure of their position. The finale of the third season also made it clear that Logan and Tom were growing closer, with Tom willing to be a similar spineless pain sponge for Logan as he became for Matsson. With the benefit of hindsight, we can be certain that the company would be in the exact same position in this finale whether Logan had died or not. He got exactly what he wanted as he always did.

Succession’s Perfect Tragic Conclusion

HBO

If you look beyond the business surface of Succession, it is primarily about cycles of trauma and violence. So there was only one way the show could have ended, and it’s this. Roman is beaten down both literally and emotionally, Kendall Roy has lost to his father once again, like Sisyphus rolling his boulder up and down the hill, and Shiv has succumbed to the fate of being a mother and a wife after railing so hard against those roles.

The kicker of Succession is that even with the cyclical nature of the show, the ending is somehow still shocking and emotionally devastating. We hoped for so long that these characters would be able to break free of their father’s hereditary wounds and saw them get so close, but freedom always remained just out of reach. Like the characters themselves, who believed in their own agency, we kept thinking that each attempt would be the time they could win, but of course, it never happened. There is no other way the story could have ended, so even though there was tragedy instead of triumph, failure instead of success, the ending is still satisfactory, as the cycle is finally complete.

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