How Long Does It Take the Roy Siblings to Tell Connor?

Photo: HBO

Spoilers for season four, episode three, of Succession, “Connor’s Wedding.”

As is probably fitting for his whole deal, Connor Roy has a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad wedding. First, he discovers that they plan to serve Victoria sponge cake, which reminds him of his mother’s institutionalization. Then his father dies. Worst of all, his siblings Kendall, Roman, and Shiv, who are all on the phone with Tom as medics perform chest compressions on Logan, don’t even bother telling him what’s happening until their father’s death is confirmed. They all get to say their teary, awkward good-byes. Connor is not so blissfully ignorant. How long does it take for the Roys to actually loop him in? We had to take a timer to it.

Here’s the timeline of the episode: Thirteen minutes and 18 seconds in, Shiv gets a call from Tom and then ignores it. (They’re currently at odds, so that’s forgivable.) Twenty seconds later, she ignores it again. Twenty seconds after that, she, Roman, and Kendall all see Connor, who expresses his hope that Logan is still going to “pop by” to the wedding. (Impossible for more reasons than one.) When Connor walks away, Shiv says that “somebody’s gotta tell him” and then gets deputized to be “the Wedding Grinch.” She goes off to talk to Connor. Eight seconds after that, Roman gets a call from Tom and answers as the “fucky sucky brigade.” At 14 minutes and 38 seconds, Tom tells Roman that his dad is “very, very sick” — the first and clearest indication that Logan is ailing.

Let’s start our official timer at that mark, because after hearing that, Roman quickly puts the phone on speaker (12 seconds into the call) and gets Kendall to listen. Soon, Tom tells them that Logan is nonresponsive (45 seconds in) and that they are doing chest compressions. After that, Frank comes over to Tom and says that Kendall and Roman should speak to Logan, given this may be their last chance (1 minute and 46 seconds in). Then, Tom says he’ll bring the phone to Logan’s ear and says that they should get Shiv to talk to Logan too (2 minutes and 27 seconds in). Roman says his awkward good-bye to Logan, insisting he’ll get through the health scare, and then gives the phone to Kendall (3 minutes and 19 seconds in). Kendall stumbles over his words too, and Tom asks “Is Siobhan there?” (4 minutes and 25 seconds in). Kendall finds Shiv at the party (5 minutes and 15 seconds) and pulls her away. She asks if it’s their mom, and he says it’s Dad (5 minutes and 23 seconds). Soon Kendall tells her that “he was still breathing a minute ago, but it’s very bad” (6 minutes in). When they both get back to the room, Roman tells them “they think dad died” (6 minutes and 12 seconds in).

After that, all three are in the loop, yet they all stay in the room on the line without going to get Connor. Shiv starts her good-bye to Logan at 7 minutes and 40 seconds, and after that, Tom tells them that “they say his heart has stopped, for a while maybe” (9 minutes and 36 seconds). Roman does ”that doesn’t mean he’s dead, medically.” From there, the siblings start scheming about logistics. Kendall talks to Frank and then hangs up (12 minutes and 47 seconds in). Shiv asks why they didn’t come and get her earlier (13 minutes and 12 seconds in). And then finally they look across the boat and hear Connor going on about the cake (14 minutes and 28 seconds in), which makes Roman realize, “Fuck, we need to tell Connor.” Shiv and Kendall walk toward him together holding hands and interrupt him (15 minutes and 13 seconds in) and then tell him Logan has died (15 minutes and 40 seconds in). So, there you go: It takes them more than 15 minutes to tell Connor, a full 13 minutes more than it takes Kendall and Roman to tell Shiv. Of course, everyone is highly worked up and the Roy children have trouble communicating at the best of times. But also, of course, it took them 15 minutes to tell Connor.