This episode addressed the first of those topics early, after a bit of a tease at the start. Yes, Kendall survived passing out facedown in the swimming pool after what he insists was “one too many limoncellos.” Comfrey fished him out and got him medical help. For the first time in a while, all of his siblings seem concerned about him. They may think he is conceited, and they may be furious with him for trying to wreck Waystar, but they don’t want him to kill himself. They are bonded to him. Maybe — as Shiv and Connor both insist — they even love him.
The “intervention” scene between Kendall and his brothers and sister is the second indication that this episode is going to be something special. (The first is a scene between Logan and Matsson. We’ll get to that.) While Shiv is trying to reassure Kendall that they care about him, he counters that they have no idea how it feels to be jerked around “as the eldest son.” That’s what causes Connor finally to crack, and to stop being the clueless buffoon everybody loves and nobody respects.
Connor is genuinely upset that no one has bothered to keep him looped in on the GoJo deal — “Matsson wants to de-platform guys like me,” he grumbles — and also that no one has congratulated him for proposing to Willa. “What do I get from you chumps but chump change?” Connor asks. And he has a point. One of the many weaknesses of the three younger Roys is that each of them thinks they are better than anyone in the family not named Logan. Put any two Roys in a room and each will insist the other one is the family joke.
(As for Willa, she finally accepts Connor’s proposal, musing, “How bad can it be?”)
After Connor’s outburst, though, the remaining Roy kids are put on high alert. Connor hips Shiv and Roman to the possibility that Logan might be taking an herbal supplement to boost his sperm count, in hopes of fathering a child that could replace all of them. Worse, they get the news that the Waystar inner circle is meeting with the bankers to talk about selling to Mattson … and that none of the children have been included. Shiv and Roman run to Kendall to get his advice and support, and find their brother still mired in a funk and difficult to rouse.
Due Diligence
In keeping with the naming convention of past “Succession” finales, the title of this one comes from a line in the John Berryman poem “Dream Song 29.” (“All the bells say: too late.”) What snippet will Jesse Armstrong choose for next season? My money’s on “The Little Cough Somewhere.”
Greg was one of the first Roys to get an inkling that something might be afoot with Logan, Matsson and their various financiers, because he follows the buzz on “lackey Slack.”
Could it be that the healthiest relationship on this show is between Greg and Tom? Tom’s the man Greg rushes to tell about how well he’s getting along with the Contessa/Princess, who is maybe eighth in line for the throne of Luxembourg. (Tom: “Marry her and you’re a plane crash away from being Europe’s weirdest king!”) And it’s Greg that Tom grabs before he executes his maybe-betrayal of Shiv, asking for him to sign on for a trip “away from the endless middle and towards the bottom of the top.” (Greg, quickly assessing whether or not he should sell his soul, settles on “Boo, souls!”)