Over the past ten weeks here on Balls.ie, football scribe John Brewin has reviewed and rated the main characters in the latest episode of the final series of Succession, and so it is for the programme's epic swansong. As ever, please note this article does contain spoilers.
The triumph of Succession as a series, what makes it the prime TV drama of our age, is the drum-tightness of the plot. Its final episode was full of shocks and surprises and yet the denouement presented was one entirely predictable from almost the first seconds of the opening episode.
Jesse Armstrong’s success lay in making that timeline so entertaining, and that when the dust settles in soft focus, every one of the Roy children is exactly where you might expect them to land. During that closing 90 minutes, each of them reveals their true character and the reason why they could never be the one to take on the succession of Logan Roy.
He, and their cold-as-ice mother Lady Caroline, gave the world three monstrous, overgrown brats always likely to knife each other when it came down to it. Perhaps the greatest shock lay in who did the knifing, but then again, Armstrong & Co set that as a possible course of action from the start. Shiv has always ploughed her own, reckless path.
Including Connor, each of the four children, in their own way, ended up isolated and bereft, perhaps as Logan designed it.
Kendall Roy - 3/10
“If I don’t get to do this, I think I might die.”
Let’s start with the tragic anti-hero. Oh no. Kendall, mate. Towards the end of his Caribbean reunion with his siblings, there is happiness and unity, perhaps even happiness. By the end, Kendall, the character we’re perhaps supposed to feel warmest towards, has revealed himself to be just as venal as everyone else. From referring to his PA as “new Jess” to the bro-jousting with Stewie, he stenches of corporate whore, and then, when his life’s aim is pulled, there is genuine pathos. Lying about killing the ketamine waiter and screaming like a banshee, his fate is to end up as friendless as his father, Colin for company. As Tom, that previous sacrificial lamb and whipping boy, said to Kendall in the third series of Succession: “I’ve seen you get fucked a lot, and I’ve never seen Logan get fucked once.” And so it proves. Kendall got fucked once again.
The final reckoning: Phoning his dealer.
Roman Roy - 6/10
“It’s all nothing, we are bullshit.”
Perhaps Roman was the most human character after all, still grief-stricken by his father’s death, as he shows when watching a video of his father holding court, He proves unwilling to take responsibility despite wondering why Kendall is the sibling put forward for succession. Then, as it all comes down, it is Roman who calls the idea of any of them making it as “bullshit”. The nastiness is, of course, never far from the surface, and those jibes about the legitimacy of Kendall’s children are something else.
— no context succession (@nocontextroyco) May 30, 2023
The final reckoning: Wise-cracking barfly with a billion in the bank.
Shiv Roy - 6/10
“I played it better so why don’t you just eat it.”
As Tom walks away with the spoils, he has Shiv by her side. She’s sold out her brother for one last time, that warmth in the Caribbean so swiftly jettisoned. And Tom has her exactly where he wants her. For now. “I know you and I know that you would do the same thing if this were reversed,” he says once Shiv has been overlooked by Matsson. Ultimately Shiv’s arc has been one of trying to break the patriarchy she faces, the sexism of brothers being preferred over her when she is just as capable. And yet the truth was always that none of the Roy clan are truly capable.
The final reckoning: Cold as Lady Caroline.
her expressions here gets me everytime 😭 pic.twitter.com/IFRzEzVtnR
— kendall roy (@michaellbluth) May 30, 2023
Tom Wambsgans- 10/10
“You’ve fallen in love with our scheduling opportunities."
Forced to “self-pitch” himself to Matsson, Tom labels himself “a grinder”, espouses his own qualities - “a high tolerance for pain and physical discomfort” but then finds his actual route to success lies with the Swede’s desire to sleep with his wife and his expectation she feels the same. “Pain sponge” will be the new role, a front man for the new owner but it’s a triumph over Shiv, and Logan’s children.
tomshiv’s final scene. just perfection. pic.twitter.com/cMdH2EW7ze
— ceo tom wambs (@SATYRlCON) May 29, 2023
The final reckoning: Succession but sold soul.
Connor Roy - 6/10
“After two sticker perambulating circuits…”
Connor’s taken on that necessary family role of divvying up the inheritance furniture while new wife Willa has plans, his ambassadorial role in Slovenia and her overhauling the Logan Roy mansion in the latest cool shit, long distance adding “spice” as she suggests. “The second-week itch, I believe they call it,” snarks Roman.
The final reckoning: Slo boat to divorce.
Cousin Greg - 7/10
“I’m in the centre of the f***ing universe, with the knowledge to take down solar systems, man.”
“You’re going to get castrated on pay,” Tom says of the new Mattson world, ever the master of Greg’s destiny. Greg decides to play double-agent, trying to go “full-quad” with the Roy children. It lands him with a Tom beating, though he fights back gamely. Perhaps that wins him the respect of his mentor, who makes him suffer one more time before offering the olive branch.
The final reckoning: Gregging again.
The Suits - 9/10
“Big big day on the old salami line.”
Beyond Hugo, and a cameo viewing as “the second-tier bereaved”, the usual suspects are late arrivals in the drama, Frank in the chair at the crucial board meeting, he and Karl able to be glib since either eventuality will just add to their pile. With Tom describing the two lads as a “pair old cunts”, it is left to Karolina and Hugo to jockey for position in Waystar Royco’s world beyond the Roys.
The final reckoning: “Golden parachute or one last triumph?”
We thank you for reading all of our Succession player ratings.
