Spoilers Ahead: One of the most pivotal characters in “Succession” is now gone, giving way for an excellently crafted episode filled with award-worthy performances and gripping dialogue.
Spoiler Warning: This review contains spoilers for the Season Four, Episode Three of “Succession” titled “Connor’s Wedding.
The recent “Succession” episode, titled “Connor’s Wedding,” is one of the most gripping and anxiety-inducing hours in television history.
The death of Logan Roy, played by Brian Cox, was bound to happen at some point. The CEO of Waystar Royco would’ve never let go of his power until he was on his deathbed, but dying on an airplane in the third episode of the final season was a complete shock.
The episode starts seemingly typical of “Succession” — the Roy family’s youngest son, Roman (Kieran Culkin), calls his father, Logan, and discovers that he will not be attending Connor’s (Alan Ruck) wedding. Logan instead decides to go on a business trip to meet CEO of the giant media company GoJo, Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgard), which proves to be a mistake.
A call from Tom (Matthew Macfayden) to Roman that begins with the words “Logan is very sick,” sparks the madness that ensues.
Tom explains that Logan passed out in the bathroom and is receiving chest compressions, while eldest son Kendall (Jeremy Strong) and Roman are pressing him with questions. They insult the passengers on board for not handling the situation properly and begin to worry. The sense of panic is felt, which takes the audience from a place of comfort to complete anxiety.
Tom suggests that Kendall and Roman speak to their father while there is a chance he can still hear them — in case he doesn’t make it.
Neither of them know what to say or how to say it. They may have had strong feelings against their father, but now that they may never see him again, these feelings begin to blur.
Roman plays into telling Logan how tough he is and that “he always wins,” while Kendall continuously says “I love you” but “I can’t forgive you.” Calling the relationship between Logan and Kendall complicated is putting it lightly, so he can’t forgive his father in good conscience after all the terrible things he was put through.
This is the moment between Kendall and Logan that has really been built up for the entirety of the show, as Kendall was the first focus as a potential successor. Finally Kendall has the opportunity to prove himself to his father, but without Logan alive to see.
Once Shiv (Sarah Snook) is brought to the phone, she breaks down into tears. In just the previous episode she lashed out at her father and completely rejected his apology, but the abruptness of his likely death puts her into shock.
Now the kids contemplate telling Conner about the situation.
He is soon to be married, so there is obviously some concern that it could ruin the day, but they decide to anyway. In a heartbreaking moment, Connor says, “Oh man. He never even liked me.”
Connor’s place in “Succession” has always been in the shadow of the other Roy children. The difference between him and his siblings is that he accepts that Logan doesn’t care about him, and he understands that will never have a loving relationship with his father. After all, Logan couldn’t even show up to the biggest day of his life. Connor decides not to talk to Logan on the phone, and the wedding goes on as planned later in the show.
Strong, Snook, Culkin and Ruck were all brilliant in this extensive scene, completely absorbing their characters to make their reactions feel as real as possible. The writing allows them to be authentic and adds to the realism of the situation. From just this episode, “Succession” should be a front-runner for many television awards.
The Roy children do not get much time to grieve, as the company is finally up for grabs and decisions have to be made. Shiv, Kendall and Roman reluctantly decide to draft the statement, and word fully gets out to the public once the short press conference is given at the airport where Logan’s plane returns.
Even after everything that took place, there was still a lingering feeling that this was all another stunt by Logan to challenge his children. Nothing can be put past the ruthless businessman, so the writers smartly wrote the episode in a way to keep the viewer guessing, opting to rarely show Logan the entire episode.
However, the visual of his dead body being carried out of the plane puts that theory to rest.
Writing Logan’s death in such an abrupt and shocking way was a risk that creator Jesse Armstrong took, but it completely paid off. It was one of the most realistic portrayals of death in television history, taking place before anyone could expect or be prepared for it. When people hear about sudden deaths of close ones in real life, it is likely by a phone call too, and it is often at the worst time imaginable.
Logan prioritized business and power over his children, and in return he died surrounded by people who didn’t care about him. While he tried to offer his apologies to his children, it wasn’t enough, and their relationships ended in a bitter way.
Brian Cox’s performance as Logan will go down as one of the greatest in television. For the last three seasons, the hope for viewers has always been that Logan would be overtaken by his children. But now, it feels like somehow we are not ready for what will happen next.
What happens to Waystar now? Will the siblings’ alliance continue? What happens to Shiv and Tom’s relationship? The rest of Season Four will take a huge shift, and there is some uncertainty on what direction it will take in the final seven episodes. All that is known is that Logan Roy is no longer and that the siblings now face extreme decisions to make.
Edited by Scout Hudson | shudson@themaneater.com
Copy edited by Brooklyn Cross and Mary Philip