TCTTS said:
Overall, I loved it.
Some absolutely incredible moments throughout - many of them surprisingly endearing, if not utterly brutal and heartbreaking - and I think the pieces fell exactly where they should in the end.
My only two quibbles would be...
- I agree that Shiv turned too abruptly in the vote. It was a great fake out, in that I totally expected Roman to be the one to backtrack. But while Shiv definitely *should* have turned, and it was the right decision (both on her part and that of the filmmakers), it felt like we missed seeing the thing that *made* her turn. Unless I missed something myself, it felt like one minute she was totally cool with the decision - the siblings were united and on a mission - then all the sudden, as if it happened off screen, it cut to Shiv and she had cold feet, almost out of no where. Again, cold feet/her decision = good, I just needed more of a bridge to that moment, I guess?
- I also wish we had, like, say, three more minutes in the end. Just something to wrap up Kendall's story a bit more. But even as I type this, I'm realizing that part of the point was that we're *supposed* to feel as lost/aimless as Kendall in that moment, so maybe anything more would have ruined that. I do love the metaphor of him being cut off from the water with the railing, and that his father's bodyguard now "haunts" him. Otherwise, Shiv and Tom's final moment was pitch perfect, and Roman's half smirk to himself at the bar tells me he's finally "free" now/that he'll probably be okay (or as "okay" as someone like him can possibly be).
As mentioned earlier in the thread tonight, and as I've heard speculated on a couple podcast recently, this show really does feel ripe for a movie in three or four years, and it doesn't at all seem out of the realm of possibility. As sad as I am that it's finally over, my gut says we're not quite done with these characters just yet (or at least that's what I'm telling myself as a coping mechanism).
Totally agree with those criticisms.
To me that finale was an 8/10, with the 2 detractors being these points. I don't have a problem with the Shiv switch in the meeting but the fact that when she figured out Tom was the pick being the thing that made her want to kill the deal more than anything else. Tom winning to her in that moment was more painful than Kendall or Roman winning. She talked herself into her own consolation prize. The siblings confrontation in the side room where emotions are just flowing freely shows she wasn't calculated, she's emotional, she's at both ends of the spectrum at once. Ultimately beating Ken and Roman was more important to her. Had she stuck with Ken and Roman she actually had a chance at being part of what the company is but she went the other direction instead. It's Mattson's company, she will have no input, that was clear but she "won" only in the sense that Ken and Roman lost. Though maybe it's just Ken that lost, pretty clear that Roman didn't really want the job.
I also wanted just a little something more with Kendall at the end. I felt like his character was given a disservice by not getting some closure. With a 90 minute episode they had the chance to tie up all the storylines but chose not to. I didn't need anything else for Shiv or Roman, I'm satisfied with their conclusions.
The highlight of the episode to me was when Kendall, Shiv, and Roman got to see the video of Logan with Connor, Carrie, Frank, Karl, and Jeri. It was sweet and painful at the same time, the guy they saw in that video wasn't the man they knew. There were people they knew and were close to that saw a side of their father they never did, an absolutely crushing scene.
I'm going to miss this show, but I'm thankful that we got 4 awesome seasons of it. Succession is officially an all-timer for me.
