The Brutal ‘Succession’ Series Finale Might Have Been the Best Episode of the Whole Series

Warning: The following contains spoilers for the series finale of Succession, "With Open Eyes."

Wow, how things can change over the course of 90 minutes. Succession just served fans a supersized series finale that may have been the best episode of the entire series. The last episode somehow manages to simultaneously sum up and destroy everything the show has been about since the hit HBO series first started and paint a weirdly relatable picture of the lifelong game of tug of war between siblings.

Shiv (Sarah Snook), Roman (Kieran Culkin) and Kendall (Jeremy Strong) love each other deeply and always will, but they're also not afraid to stab each other in the back with brutal honesty, even when that honesty involves millions of dollars and the future of an empire. None of the Roy siblings have perhaps ever been as honest as they are in the end, and it changes everything, mostly for the better. 

To be clear, no ending was going to be morally "good" for this show. That was never an option, and neither was any sort of lesser evil. Whether it was the Roys or the Swede on top in the end, it was still going to be a mess of capitalism and nonsense corporate speak for the rest of time.

However, what the finale does is perfectly illustrate the paradox of the Roy siblings as they squabble over who would be the best CEO going forward. Shiv has already been rejected by Matsson. She is too smart, too liberal, too much of a woman and has too many ideas to actually be CEO. Roman, meanwhile, is too much of a blubbering baby with a head full of stitches from a fight he actively sought out. Kendall is the Roy with the best optics and who makes the most sense as CEO, so the sibs agree he is to be "annointed" the "king." They even coronate him with a "meal fit for a king," which is basically a blender full of whatever weird or expired food can be found in Caroline's kitchen. 

This scene, where Shiv, Roman and Kendall giggle together in their mom's kitchen, makes these alien billionaires feel like real humans who really did grow up together. They were once just kids, and in a lot of ways they still are because their parents barely raised them. Kendall has never known anything except the dream of being CEO, so he's naturally the best choice among the three. But at the same time, as Shiv quickly realizes, it also makes him the worst choice. Shiv seems 100% ready to vote with her brothers and kill the Matsson deal, right up until it's her turn to vote. Kendall is already gloating, but it suddenly becomes crystal clear that if she votes to keep the company under Roy control, Kendall will destroy it all. 

Kendall, Shiv and Roman then gather in another conference room for a very different sibling scene where Shiv admits Kendall would be a very bad CEO, and Kendall loses all pretense. He throws a literal tantrum about how he really wants to be CEO and all he's ever wanted is to be CEO and if he's not CEO, what else is there for him? Shiv points out that he has literally killed someone, and suddenly Kendall never did that. He totally made that up and has never killed anyone ever. He then almost kills again when he grabs Roman's face in his hands and starts squeezing, and that's when Shiv goes back to the board meeting and deals the final blow, allowing the deal to go through. 

Shiv's role in all of this is extra complicated because Matsson's choice for Waystar CEO is none other than her estranged husband Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen), so voting against her brother is voting for the husband who has betrayed her and who also rejects her when she asks him to be in a real relationship with her. He is only ready to take her hand as soon as he is officially in charge. The last shot of the couple in the series is of him literally offering his hand, and her just sort of limply putting her hand on top of his. She makes this choice, but it sure is dark. Roman, meanwhile, is seen smiling into his martini as a purposeless Kendall stares into the ocean -- awfully depressed for a man who's just made millions of dollars. 

Then again, nothing anyone ever wanted on this show was really about the money. You gotta have money to rule the world, but you don't automatically get to rule the world, even if you have the money. 

And as for everybody's favorite lackey, Greg (Nicholas Braun) remains next to Tom, but he may be on thin ice. Greg has spilled the beans to Shiv that Matsson is going to screw her over and begs to officially join the "Quad Squad" in exchange for that info. So when Tom discovers the betrayal, he pulls Greg into a closet, and they slap each other around for a while. Greg gets a really good hit in, and hopefully it's a sign of a much more confident future for Greg the Egg.