Last week’s Succession cliffhanger, with Kendall face down in a pool, turned out to be a bit of a fakeout. Nobody died in the big season finale, unless you count various characters’ souls and potentially the future of Waystar-Royco as an independent conglomerate. Kendall survives falling off his float, and Logan’s plan to merge with streaming service GoJo ends with founder Lukas Matsson (a.k.a. the hunking pile of gravlax that is Alexander Skarsgård) negotiating to buy out the company and replace the board with whomever he wants. This terrifies Shiv and Roman, who spent the season battling against the prospect of being frozen out, and they prod a despondent Kendall to help them scheme a way into blocking the deal.
The three siblings figure they can stop the buyout by preventing a supermajority, a plan that relies on the terms of their mother’s divorce from Logan, and they storm their father’s villa — only to discover that he’s already renegotiated those terms with Caroline over the phone. Checkmate! As this is not Sailor Moon, the power of love can’t do anything to stop Logan: He’s selling off the company, and his children will have to prove themselves to a new overlord. Defeated, Roman, Kendall, and Shiv look around to determine who could have possibly betrayed them, and lo and behold, sir Tom Wambsgans himself walks into the room, receiving a hearty pat on the back from daddy. That’s the end of the season, folks. Until the next one, we can only spend our time pondering the many questions about where the show goes next.
What will Tom get from Logan?
As son-in-law, Tom has slid into Logan’s favor right ahead of the Roy siblings, but as we know, that favor can be very fickle. If Tom gets a significant role in Waystar-Royco, A GoJo Subsidiary, out of this deal, what’s the long-term game for him? Can he secure a spot in Matsson’s inner circle? Let’s see how far his corporate groveling can go.
What will Greg get from Tom?
Before selling out his wife, Tom goes to his leggy pal Greg to offer him a position at “the bottom of the top.†Greg happily goes along with it, because “what good am I gonna do with a soul anyway?†That’s standard-rate Greg word soup, but he does have a talent for accidentally knowing where the wind is blowing, and thus ending up on the right side of a big power shift. Tom loves to have Greg around as a punching bag, but what will he get out of the deal? (For some reason, I’m picturing a Greg-does-Hollywood season with him running the streaming service.)
Will Tom and Shiv’s marriage survive?
They’ve both admitted to each other that they don’t like being together, but now that Tom has proven he has a spine, will his betrayal end their relationship? Or will Shiv realize she needs to cling to her husband to stay in the loop? Is Shiv even smart enough to sense that, or would it conflict with her innate self-importance?
How will Roman cope with Gerri’s choice?
Once the jig is up, Roman turns to Gerri to plead for help, but she is, as ever, a company woman at heart and has decided that she represents the shareholders, not the dick-holder standing in front of her. It’s the canny move for Gerri to make, but a very tough moment for Roman and his chronic mommy issues. (Especially on the night of his mother’s wedding!) Does he continue spamming her with dick picks, run back to an old girlfriend, or find a new mommy to cling to?
Will Kendall get away from all this?
It seems Jeremy Strong isn’t getting written off after all. After nearly drowning, Kendall has an emotional breakthrough and admits to his siblings that he killed the waiter at Shiv’s wedding, but Roman and Shiv aren’t quite capable of processing this information. Instead, they force Kendall back into one of his many addictions — scheming for control of the company — and he’s again swatted down by his father. Will the next season find Kendall back in the game, working alongside Shiv and Roman to stop the deal? Or will he accept his fate and try to move on? Or, considering the possibility of an investigation into him, will his actions at Shiv’s wedding finally come back to roost?
What does Marcia get out of this?
Tragically, Hiam Abbass spent most of the season offscreen, but Marcia still makes her way to Italy for the finale. Amid all that dealmaking with GoJo, what will she negotiate for herself? Considering that she’s already soaked Logan for a lot following his indiscretions with Rhea, it’d better be something big.
Will Kerry get pregnant?
Logan has been so disappointed in all of his children it’s no wonder he’s downing maca root in order to procreate with his assistant. If Kerry gets pregnant, she’s suddenly that much more secure within Logan’s inner circle, and the Roy siblings will have to take her seriously. More screen time for Zoë Winters is always fun!
How did Logan reopen the terms of his divorce agreement with Caroline so quickly?
In Italy! Over the phone! In a matter of hours! Those lawyers work fast.
Will Greg end up as a claimant to the dormant throne of Italy?
Given his tendency to fall upward, we can only imagine his flirtation with the grand duchess gets him all the way there. More importantly, the Succession writers room definitely passed around this piece, right?
Will Connor, the eldest, ever get any respect?
No, but Willa is apparently willing to gamble on just how bad marriage to him can possibly get. Very bad, one assumes.
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