This article obviously includes spoilers of the final season of Succession, so if you're not up to date then get out of here – it's not safe for you!
Logan Roy’s death shouldn’t have come as a surprise to us.
The entire premise of Succession is hinged on the death of the patriarch and the siblings’ fight to become his successor.
But as the media mogul lay motionless on the floor of his private jet, while a flight attendant performed chest compressions on him for 30 minutes, the overwhelming feeling was one of shock. We never saw this twist coming. In killing Logan off in episode three of season four, Succession pulled off what will go down as one of the greatest plot twists in TV history.
And it all came down to the timing.
Watch: The trailer for Succession season 4. Post continues after video.
Logan’s death was inevitable. In the very first episode, the head of Waystar Royco suffered a stroke aboard his helicopter on the way back from his 80th birthday celebrations. It was the event that intensified the siblings’ rivalry and kicked off the ultimate fight for power, but it also forebode his eventual downfall.
Show creator Jesse Armstrong had originally intended for Logan to die during season one, but after having conversations with Brian Cox (the actor who plays Logan) he decided it would be more powerful to have the old guy stick around for a while.
He was right.
As Logan made an unexpected recovery and clung onto life (and power) for three more seasons, we got to know the patriarch, his children, and the rest of the Roy family entourage.
We became familiar with the deeply flawed, needy humans underneath their witty dialogue and petty power plays.
We knew Connor, the eldest of the Roy siblings and the one who received the least screen time, felt rejected by his powerful father. He is the butt of the family joke, a middle-aged man who is floundering, trying to find meaning in unsuccessful presidential campaigns and a doomed marriage to a woman who will never love him the way he wants her to.
We discovered Kendall, under all his Beastie Boy playlists and backward caps, just wants his father’s approval. But not if that approval means he has to bury the hatchet.
We knew that Shiv, the matriarch of the family, and the voice of reason, is torn between forging her own path and remaining in the family fold. Her family’s business has taken everything from her, even her husband. And while Tom is desperate for power, deep down he knows he will never be good enough for the woman he married.
We learnt that Roman is a lost little boy who talks a big game but who is ultimately terrified of confrontation and will run back to the safety of his father’s inner circle whenever he’s presented with the opportunity. And then there’s the Gerri thing. Mummy issues much?
We discovered that Logan, underneath all his piles of money and “f**k offs” actually really loved those little f**k ups he called kids. But that love was conditional, because can you ever unconditionally love someone who might throw under the bus for a business merger?
Even Cousin Greg, the ridiculously tall family blow-in, is an outsider who is as desperate to be a part of something as he is desperate to get his hands on some of that sweet Roy family money.
By this week’s episode, the Roys felt like family to us. Albeit a deeply dysfunctional family who says f**k a lot and who have made backstabbing into an art form.
That’s why it hit so hard when Tom made that phone call to Roman and told him “there’s something wrong with Logan”.
In that moment – and in the 40 minutes of episode three that followed – the Roy siblings were no longer absurdly rich people living in an exclusive world most of us will never even get a glimpse into.
They were kids who had lost their dad.
The private jets, the multi-million dollar houses, and the non-ludicrously capacious bags were stripped away and what was left were the deeply flawed characters we’ve gotten to know over the past four years.
Because we knew the characters so well, their reactions felt incredibly raw, like we were watching this play out in real life. And the uncertainty surrounding Logan’s death only added to this sense of authenticity.
Death is messy and confusing. It’s uncertain up until a final call is made. Nobody knows how they’re going to react when they receive the worst possible news. And no one knows what to say in that moment.
How do you summarise a whole lifetime of love and hurt and regret in a shaking phone call in the VIP room at your wayward brother’s misguided wedding?
You can’t. You call your father ‘daddy’ like a lost little girl. You try to bury the hatchet but in the end, you can’t. You feel immense guilt when you realise that last thing you said to your father was “are you a c**t”.
In keeping Logan alive for three and a bit seasons, Succession pulled off the unimaginable. It made us feel compassion for the worst people on TV.
And has there ever been a bigger plot twist than that?
Feature Image: HBO.
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