Spoiler alert: The following contains details of the Season 3 third episode of “Succession” that aired April 9. Don’t read further until you’ve seen this episode of the HBO series.
Death comes to everyone, even to the super-rich and powerful – and especially major characters in HBO dramas.
But we didn’t see the excruciatingly emotional demise on “Succession.” Certainly not this early in the show’s final season.
Yet, Waystar Royco CEO Logan Roy (Brian Cox), the powerful being around which all characters revolve and seek to succeed, died after collapsing in the bathroom on his luxury private jet. Literally in the clouds, Roy is brought low to the ground, spending the episode silently enduring futile resuscitation efforts.
Even before his body bag is unceremoniously placed in the ambulance, the race to succeed him has taken on urgent life, finally fulfilling the promise of the show’s title. The major upheaval has reset the family-led power game. Let’s break it down.
Death visits CEO Logan Roy, and stays
The Lion in Winter Roy has battled health issues from the start, suffering a severe stroke in the first season, when he was nursed by his fiercely protective then-wife Marcia (Hiam Abbass). Cox told USA TODAY that Roy was supposed to die in Season 1, but series creator Jesse Armstrong – enamored by audience reaction to the Rupert Murdoch-esque curmudgeonly character – changed course. Instead, Logan recovered, delaying the succession battle (and divorced Marcia, knocking her out of the power game).
In last week’s episode, siblings Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Shioban (Sarah Snook) and Roman (Kieran Culkin) united to thwart streaming giant GoJo’s plan to acquire Waystar (minus ATN), sending the outmaneuvered patriarch on his fateful final journey to visit GoJo CEO Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård) to ask for more money.
Siblings united, and consumed by guilt
Roy doesn’t give a second thought to flying out and missing son Connor’s (Alan Ruck) boat wedding to Willa (Justine Lupe), which the siblings dutifully attend. There are nasty pre-nuptial dealings as Roman tells Gerri (J. Smith-Cameron), the suddenly out-of-favor Waystar general counsel and Roman’s former flame, of the Logan-demanded plan to fire her. The conversation goes horribly. The distraught Roman leaves his father a bitter voicemail delivered, as it turns out, about the time Logan heads into the private jet’s bathroom complaining of shortness of breath.
Quiet hell breaks loose at the wedding, as Shiv’s estranged husband Tom (Matthew Macfadyen) urgently calls from the plane with the unthinkable news: Logan has collapsed, and is surely dead or dying. Distraught, Kendall and Roy bluster through final words to their father as Tom holds the phone up to Logan’s ear. “I can’t forgive you,” Roman says, adding. “And I love you.” Whether Logan hears these words is unknown.
Shiv, who had ignored Tom’s calls, is ushered discreetly into the separate room to learn the jaw-dropping news and tearfully gives her jumbled goodbye. Roman is devastated, fearing his voice message might have been the dagger to his father’s heart.
Each sibling is consumed with grief and guilt over the karaoke room family meeting the night before, where Logan used words like “sorry” and “I love you.” Yet they still gleefully rebuffed him and sent him back for a sweeter GoJo deal, smugly satisfied that they had finally beaten their treacherous old man.
Ironically, Logan destroys the siblings’ long-awaited victory with his death. The trio quickly find themselves in a new power struggle for control of the company against Logan’s C-suite lackeys Frank (Peter Friedman), Karl (David Rasche) and Hugo (Fisher Stevens). This struggle begins to play out even from the plane, as the players strategize and maneuver over how to announce the world-jarring news that Logan Roy, the once-powerful media titan, is dead.
Who are the other big losers?
Logan’s death is immediate career-crushing news for the latest crew the ever-scheming CEO had recently brought close to his twisted bosom. Tom, who all but destroyed his marriage to Shiv, betraying the siblings in the Season 2 finale, starts desperately looking for new allies. “I’ve lost my protector,” Tom says to cousin Greg (Nicholas Braun), who had joined Tom’s treachery. Greg is also on the outs. “What’s at the bottom of your stocking?” Tom asks from the plane.
Logan’s assistant, pitbull and likely lover Kerry (Zoe Winters), is immediately frozen out of the high-level discussions that she played a pivotal role in just hours before. “Do you want me to help?” the shaken Kerry asks before being urged to head to the back of the plane to rest.
Who are the winners from Logan’s death?
The episode’s most obvious winner is Gerri, who wins an immediate reprieve from the chopping block with Logan’s death. Another unlikely victor: Connor, whose sham wedding to one-time call girl Willa is railroaded because of the unfolding chaos.
But Willa makes it clear she’s “happy” with Connor, feelings helped by his sizable family fortune. “I’m not going to walk… At least not today,” she says, giggling. They giddily continue the wedding in front of mostly empty seats.
