Whatever the case, Kendall’s betrayal leaves the show with fertile ground for season three: retreading the son v father battle from the first season, but with new stakes, heightened ammunition, and loyalties potentially up for grabs. Credit... Graeme Hunter/HBO Tom, meanwhile, is hurt by Siobhan’s unwillingness to stand up for him against the Waystar mob — as well as by her plan to spice up their marriage by inviting another woman into their bed. But given Kendall’s last-second twist, does Roman’s upward arc bend toward his father, his brother, or somewhere new? “For me.”. His children are tied to him — so tightly they can sometimes barely move or breathe. At the start of this season, Ken is so beaten that all he can do is repeat in monotone whatever his dad’s lackeys tell him to say. He is in this, too; his vengeance for being screwed over last week. He needs to even the odds.". All the bells say: too late. But as Brian Cox told Vulture, "The smile is him saying, 'Finally, my son is stepping up to the plate, doing what he needs to do to run a business. Attempts to “solve” Succession’s season 2 finale misunderstand what makes the show so good. Not the servile figure Logan has probably been holding in contempt, but a killer after all. There is a scene of almost affectionate lightheartedness between the siblings as they soak up the sun together. In a way, it's a completion. Regardless, he's drawn a very clear line for the rest of his family to start strategically choosing sides. Available for everyone, funded by readers. Except he doesn’t. Kendall has spent most of the season haunted, a wounded dog with an emotional crater so deep it drew even the concern of his sympathy-void siblings and former friend Stewy. Honesty of that sort, from a Roy kid to his father, is hard to come by on Succession. HBO. In this latest case, he poorly matched the decorousness of Congress. The rest of the Waystar executives prove just as eager to carve up their colleagues. At the same time, as broken as Kendall has often appeared to be, you could see the wheels turning when he asked whether his dad ever thought he had the right stuff to run the company, and Logan responded, "You're not a killer. Published on 10/14/2019 at 3:44 PM. But did he fully loop Greg in? The timeline of Kendall and Greg connecting is unclear, given how creator Jesse Armstrong deliberately doesn't show the moment when the two put their heads together. But Roman, with surprising, selfless honesty, declares it “horseshit”. You have to be a killer.". Water is never a good omen on Succession. Finally, he's the heir apparent to Waystar Royco.' For now at least, he has snapped out of his funk. Succession season two finale – battle of the backstabbers: discuss with spoilers. So Logan turns to Kendall to be a conduit to Stewy Hosseini, for one last shot at brokering peace in the proxy war. That’s quite a yacht the Roys sail on, with its helipad, inflatable slides and all. The argument turns into a fascinating study of human nature as these people try to save their jobs — and their senses of self — with a combination of strategic shade-throwing and personal appeals. Emptied of his ambition, Kendall would occasionally break under the weight of his guilt, like when he and Shiv hugged in Waystar's darkened corporate headquarters or Logan forced him to go to the home of the man he accidentally killed to watch his father broker a deal for the grieving family's silence. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com. All is not well on the island of Shiv and Tom, after a season in which Shiv’s ruthless attempt to ascend Waystar Royco has been largely despite, not alongside, her husband. Here are some of our lingering questions as we enter into the long wait until the confirmed Season 3. Greg’s wordiness on the stand made for a comedic appetizer before the tense feast of Succession’s second season finale. Management textbooks and Wall Street patter course through his speech patterns, but his old frenemy Stewy (Arian Moayed) exposed the worthlessness of his Gordon Gekko shtick. In the gasp-worthy final moments of the season, Logan sent Kendall to go on TV and claim culpability for Waystar Royco’s misdeeds, and Kendall used the opportunity to instead pin blame on his dad. On the up from two brutal slaps this season – Logan calling him a moron, Logan literally knocking out his tooth – Roman rebounds with the uncharacteristically sober (and probably correct) assessment that the central Asian money is bullshit. But there's life in the old dog yet! In the final moments, that decision crystallized in a manner that seemed both inevitable and perfectly logical, based on the arc that defined the first season. An angry Laird, who was due a big slice of commission on the deal, storms off and quits the boat. It doesn’t mean anything!”. Instead, Kendall throws away his pre-approved talking points, and Logan actually seems to relish the challenge, a sly smirk on his face as Kendall feeds him to the wolves. Succession recap: season two finale – it's a killer all right A truly Shakespearean closer, which sets us up for another stunning season. If you’re curious about what goes into making and maintaining such a vessel, The Times ran a story about that very subject just last week. But when a congressional hearing opened with a softball question to Gregory Hirsch (Nicholas Braun)—asking whether he is the executive assistant to Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen)—he went beyond “yes,” adding, “if it is to be said. Over breakfast with family and top executives, a truly Shakespearian scene unfolds as Logan tries to determine who will be the “head on a spike” to appease nervous shareholders. • It would be a great shame for Connor to have to give up his presidential campaign, especially now he has his army of “Conheads”. Kermit the Frog dancing to the Succession theme meme. By episode’s end, Logan names Roman permanent COO, solo. Last modified on Wed 16 Oct 2019 07.02 BST. Shiv later pleads with Logan, however, not to sacrifice Tom. Not much comic relief from Cousin Greg in this episode, though we did get a taste of the overly formal approach in his congressional testimony, featuring such responses as, “I really wish to answer in the affirmative fashion” in lieu of, “Yes.” We also learn that Greg’s not big on the shoeless, “sails out, nails out” yachting lifestyle, because his toes have what he calls “a benign fungus.”. ... and, thanks to Greg… Shiv (Sarah Snook) pulled a ghoulish inverse of that same maneuver. But the crash of keys had to hit at some point, both literally and metaphorically. Instead, his father agrees to cover his losses to the tune of $100 million, so long as Connor abandons the only project he really cares about: his presidential campaign. By the time Logan walks away from this circular firing squad, all that’s clear is that Tom is in serious trouble, and that Roman is safe. Instead, a strange look of pride floats across his face, as if to say, that’s my boy. “The notion that [Logan] would have allowed millions of dollars in settlements and compensations to be paid without his explicit approval,” Kendall said, “is utterly fanciful.”. In the face of her own cruelty, her messed-up act of kindness is to go to bat for her spouse, hanging her brother out to dry. The season two finale of Succession played out like a twisted game show, with contestants voted off the boat one by one. They care only about the returns. Only now, Logan has no idea how fucked he really is. Its reputation has grown enormously this time round; with its relentlessly acidic wit, it has represented many of the sordid realities and characters of modern life – Weinstein, Trump, Murdoch – with unerring pertinence. As my colleague Sophie Gilbert notes, deep down her slogan appears to be, “I literally don’t give a fuck.” But in her one-on-one with Logan, she refused to outright say who she thinks the sacrifice should be—even though she’d already pushed for Kendall, and even though she’d pleaded that it not be Tom. Connor, meanwhile, is anxious about the bad reviews for Willa’s show. By Emily VanDerWerff @emilyvdw Oct 16, 2019, 2:30pm EDT Share this story Kendall has long felt like the human embodiment of a ticking time bomb, but, aside from his humiliating and catchy rap in the eighth episode, "Dundee," he has been the most silent player this season, following the orders of his father and getting into "psychosexual" romances with the lead in Willa's poorly reviewed play. When it comes to accolades, if "Succession" continues to ride this wave, it's going to need a bigger boat. It's fertile territory -- see Showtime's "Billions"-- but has seldom been executed better than this. He’s also not immune to “how was your call reception?” pop-ups on his cell phone, notable in how striking it is to watch Logan have even a small brush with daily inconvenience. Soon, everyone is spit-balling aggressively. She nevertheless evaded giving a final answer. • There is a touch of the Citizen Kanes about Connor’s bankrolling of Willa’s clearly awful show, reminders of Susan Alexander and her terrible opera career. This jaw-dropper ending works because the writer Jesse Armstrong sets it up superbly, beginning with that long scene when everybody debates — with hilariously exaggerated politeness — the matter of whose body might best fit under a bus. A press conference is set up; he will make a prepared statement, explaining his role in the illegality in the cruises division then take questions. But as Logan arrives in his black helicopter, the mood darkens, lowering all their spirits. You have to be a killer.". He now reveals he has never been happy about the open relationship, proposed by Shiv on their wedding day, that he feels “shanghaied into an open borders free fuck trade deal”. If Succession wasn’t the breakout HBO hit in 2018, then it’s achieved hit status in its second season, one of the best sophomore outings in recent TV memory. By trying to win their hearts and minds, Logan may be fighting on the wrong battlefield altogether. What better way to demonstrate that grit, obviously, than for Kendall to pull a double-cross, throwing his father under the bus -- a maneuver that, as the closing shot indicated, spurred a certain grudging respect from the old man? ", Something clicked in "Succession's" second season -- not with the show, which was terrific from the get-go, but rather the audience. If it is to be said, so it is.” Senator Gil Eavis (Eric Bogosian), concerned by the strange answer, asked if he was all right. What about Tom and Shiv together? TheAtlantic.com Copyright (c) 2020 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. (And also, what did the New York Times say about Willa’s play? On the other hand, he could be hyper-aware that he's digging his own grave, and dragging his dad into it with him. After a teasing glance at Cousin Greg’s bumbling congressional testimony on the buried cruise mismanagement, Succession moved to the Mediterranean, where the Roys tower over lowly fishing boats in their huge yacht. As the Roys tried to decide who should serve as the family's "blood sacrifice" in light of the congressional hearings on the company's cruise line cover-up, the serene sounds of paradise added an air of queasy stillness to the proceedings. But they’re not always as bound to each other. Buzz surrounding the HBO drama has steadily built at an extremely opportune time for the pay channel (like CNN, a unit of WarnerMedia), what with another show about the lust for power, "Game of Thrones," having ended.