Succession: An Immersive Tale of Despicable Characters and Hollow Endings

You can't really argue whether or not Succession is a great show. It's an immersive, hilarious, and tragic tale that made us root for the most despicable characters on TV, and we did it with passion too. Despite the show delivering on its promise, the ending felt empty and hollow.

The three siblings battled it out for four seasons, and you would have expected them to continue the battle until the last episode. But what we witnessed was Shiv, Roman, and Kendall finally finding happiness. They were free from their father's expectations and abuse, but it didn't last long. The episode reminded us of what could have been a better life for the traumatized vultures, a life where they broke the cycle of abuse. However, generations of trauma cannot be undone in a single day.

Let's start with Roman, the witty but heartless younger brother. His only way of experiencing love was through Logan's twisted means. While his past didn't clearly reveal the extent of his abuse, it was evident that he craved pain and humiliation because that's how he was conditioned to operate. With Logan gone, he turned to his brother Kendall, who had been slowly morphing into Logan throughout the past four seasons. However, Kendall's transformation is incomplete, and perhaps it will never be. Kendall proved himself capable of handling Roman as Logan did, but he couldn't sustain it, maybe due to lack of time. Therefore, Roman's ending is predictable. He never desired the top position; all he wanted was his father's love. Despite witnessing Logan displaying manipulative affection toward his other siblings, Roman never experienced it himself. He never basked in the glow of light like Shiv did, nor did he have the opportunity to become his father's successor like Kendall was raised to be. Consequently, he remains alone but content. He lost his father, Gerri, and his family in the process, but he's finally free from the futile pursuit of love.

Shiv's ending is perhaps the most tragic. As a woman, she was raised to be on the sidelines, never considered as part of her father's empire or a potential successor. She worked, fought, and craved recognition to prove a point. Yet, in her pursuit, she ended up losing everything. The show doesn't explicitly reveal what changed her mind at the last moment, but it can be concluded that it was her inability to see her siblings achieve something she couldn't. It wasn't because she lacked intelligence or experience; it was simply because she was born the wrong gender. In an attempt to maintain some semblance of control in her life, she betrayed her family and sided with her estranged husband, condemning herself to a loveless, empty marriage as a powerful CEO's wife. Shiv didn't carve her own path as she had attempted to; she didn't even prove Logan wrong. All she did was replace him with a man who held her in even lower regard than Logan ever did.

It's hard not to root for Kendall. We've experienced this show mostly through his eyes. He loses, he wins, and he loses again. However, he never gives up. He was raised to believe that he is his father's successor, groomed to take over the empire and expand it. His sole purpose in life was to fill that role, but he spent years trying and failing to achieve it. His self-sabotage, coupled with Logan's interference, knocked him down several times, but it was Shiv's betrayal that ultimately defeated him. Being betrayed by Logan had become almost predictable to him at that point, but his attempt to repair his relationship with Shiv and reach a common ground was his way of breaking the cycle of abuse. Though his motivation was clearly driven by the desire for the top position, his intentions were somehow pure. He believed he could have it all—the family, the children, and the company—without becoming another version of his father. But in just one vote, everything was taken away from him, as well as from us, the viewers.

Just as Kendall was promised to be the successor, so were the viewers promised to see him on the throne. It would have been a predictable but satisfying ending. Yet, just like Kendall, all of that was snatched away from us in one vote. Kendall's ambiguous final scene is as cruel to him as it is to us. We never know if he will jump, but we somehow believe it's over.

Succession is one of those rare shows where you can hate every character arc and plotline, but still acknowledge its merits. What made this finale so painful is how exceptionally well-executed it was. Despite humor being central to the show's language, mockery was never directed at the viewers. Succession respected our intelligence and our desire for a successor. Then, it shattered all of our expectations, not for the sake of shock value, but to tell a well-written and tragic tale.