Not quite a red wedding but certainly a black one. Here’s the order of service from the devastating third episode, titled Connor’s Wedding …
Spoiler alert: this recap is for people watching Succession season four. Don’t read on unless you’ve watched episode three.
‘This is not the end’
Well, we knew it was probably coming – the clue is right there in the show’s title – but not this soon. This gamechanging episode began with billionaire silverback Logan Roy (Brian Cox) seemingly in rude health. As he boarded a private jet to Stockholm for face-to-face negotiations with mercurial tech mogul Lukas Mattson (Alexander Skarsgård) over the impending sale of Waystar Royco, “Loganus Maximus, slayer of Vikings” barked instructions. Time to “clean out the stalls, strategic refocus, a bit more fucking aggressive”. He’s often at his most dynamic under pressure.
Or so it appears – until 18 minutes into the episode, when son Roman (Kieran Culkin) answers the phone to the “fucky-sucky brigade”. Logan had suffered breathing problems and promptly collapsed in the plane bathroom – an echo of his stroke aboard a “whirlybird” in season one. Chest compressions were being desperately administered. Daughter Shiv (Sarah Snook) had been ignoring calls from estranged husband Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen).
Tom placed his mobile phone by Logan’s ear and told the siblings to speak to their father, in case it was their last chance. Was it just me, or did you momentarily suspect some kind of sicko bluff? Tragically, it was all too real.
The Gerroman dream died too
Logan hadn’t wanted longtime legal counsel Gerri Kellman (J. Smith Cameron) at the Matsson meeting, and we learned why. While Logan ousted Cyd Peach (Jeannie Berlin), veteran boss of Fox News-alike channel ATN, Roman had to fire Gerri – secretly planning to let her retrospectively take the fall for the cruise division scandal. “You push Cyd, Roman knifes Gerri, all in a day’s work,” crowed Tom.
Romulus was so reluctant, it was cringe-inducing. He contorted his body into awkward shapes and couldn’t make eye contact with his former mentor-cum-dominatrix, babbling about her slow work on the DoJ investigation and losing Logan’s confidence. “I danced us through a thunderstorm without us getting wet,” she replied, eyes blazing. Roman sending her “repeated images of your genitalia” hadn’t helped. Roman promised a generous payoff. Simmering with fury but forever the pro, Gerri coldly closed him down.
He phoned Logan to tell him the deed was done, but left a message dripping with self-loathing: “That was horrible. You can’t expect me to keep bending over. Are you just being shitty with me? That’s the question, are you a cunt? OK, give me a buzz.” Not the ideal parting voicemail.
Logan’s run was over
In those deathbed calls, little-lost-boy Rome whispered: “You’re going to be OK because you’re a monster and you always win. You’re a good man and a good dad. You did a good job.” Kendall (Jeremy Strong) said: “I can’t forgive you but it’s OK and I love you.” Shiv struck a similar note: “Daddy, don’t go please. Not now. No excuses for the [betrayal] but it’s OK, I love you.” Some truly top-tier acting from the siblings during these scenes. Start polishing those 2024 Primetime Emmys.
The entire ensemble’s reactions to the news were revealing. Kendall requested “the best heart doctor in the world” and demanded to speak to the pilot. Roman was in denial, even when Logan was long gone. Shiv fleetingly hoped it was their mother who’d carked it and needed Advil for a stress headache. Connor (Alan Ruck) poignantly muttered: “I never got a chance to make him proud.”
Tom’s venal facade briefly melted away to reveal a human interior – until once again, we soon saw how scheming he is. He sent cousin Greg (Nicholas Braun) straight to the ATN offices to delete incriminating computer files and stick tightly to Cyd. Tom lamented that he’d “lost his protector” but immediately wanted word put out that he’d been with Logan when he died.
Meanwhile, Logan’s “friend, assistant and adviser” Kerry (Zoe Winters) had a weird rictus grin and was immediately dubbed “Chuckles the Clown”. Logan had spoken to her during his last moments. What was said could prove pivotal. No wonder CFO Karl (David Rasche) reached for a “stiffener”.
Forget bridezilla, meet groomzilla
Leonard Cohen fan Connor dreamed of marrying beneath the Statue Of Liberty with attendant “razzmatazz”. His naff fantasy nearly came true. As a brass band played on the dockside, wedding guests entered through patriotic red, white and blue balloons and boarded a yacht to Ellis Island. The press were invited to revive Connor’s presidential bid. Logan had been set to miss the nuptials anyway, but he’d bought Napoleon obsessive Connor some letters between the power-crazed Corsican and Empress Joséphine. A sort of antique equivalent of the most expensive item on a John Lewis gift list.
Remember Connor micro-managing bread rolls at season one’s gala dinner? Now he fixated on cake, telling the wedding planners it was “inadequate”, for “display only, not for serving” because he didn’t want to see its “internal qualities”. Heartbreakingly, we heard that when his mother had been committed to a mental care facility, Logan gave young Connor cake to calm him down. He ate it for “a week straight”. Victoria Sponge was henceforth known as “loony cake”. Oh, Con.
He asked bride-to-be Willa (Justine Lupe) if she was merely with him for money. Well, duh. Willa sweetly reassured him that financial security was a factor but she was happy too. Should they cancel the ceremony or “could something good come out of something bad”? A closing shot showed them tying the knot as the few remaining guests applauded. A bright spot amid the darkness. Till death do us part.
‘Reagan’s funeral with tweaks’
This was essentially two chamber pieces – one up in the air, the other adrift on water. With his body mere metres away, Logan’s lieutenants mobilised to formulate a corporate response. Jockeying for position immediately commenced. “It’s important we’re mentioned by name,” the top team insisted. As PR chief Karolina (Dagmara Domińczyk) pieced together timelines and drew up a contact list (“the board, POTUS”), COO Frank (Peter Friedman) told the Rebel Alliance: “It’s a material event so we need to reassure the market.” When Karl suggested the family were “estranged”, Kendall bridled and denied that was the case.
Back on the ground, he began to take charge. Shiv suggested keeping the plane circling while they hatched business plans. Kendall wisely pointed out this could be perceived as cold-hearted. How they behaved was vital for the official record and their future prospects. Reporters were already circling (courtesy of Greg’s Tom-approved leak). They needed to make the statement themselves, signalling family continuity. Shiv duly told the media “we intend to shepherd the company through whatever its future may be”.
As the stock price nosedived, Ken and Roman swore at one another in a bittersweet bid to reassert normality. Shiv declined to see her father’s bodybag taken off the plane (“he’s not gonna get angry if we don’t”) and returned to Tom’s embrace. Roman rolled up his shirtsleeves and bit the bullet, still fretting about Gerri and that final voicemail. Kendall watched from a distance in the gathering gloom. The siblings seemed united and mutually supportive, but we face the prospect of seven Logan-free episodes. The game is afoot. Again.
The heir apparent
Your guess is as good as mine after the succession battle was thrown wide open again. Kendall seemed to take the lead. Shiv made the public statement. Roman was the one with Logan’s ear. Anyone? Anyone?
Line of the week
It can only be Shiv’s momentous press statement: “My father, Logan Roy, was pronounced dead on arrival at Teterboro Airport … My brothers and I want to say that Logan Roy built a great American family company … This nation lost a passionate champion and an American titan. We lost a beloved father.”
Notes and observations
Spare a thought for poor bodyguard Colin (Scott Nicholson), last seen looking shellshocked beside Logan’s limo. His “best pal” and meal ticket just turned up his toes.
Did Logan have an intimation of his waning health – hence his afterlife musings and uncharacteristic declarations of love? Did Jesse Armstrong know this episode would air at Easter?
Even at a family wedding, wealth hierarchies remained rigidly in place, with colour-coded invitations and VIP areas. Tom trusted the aircrew, the Roys definitely didn’t.
This gut-punch episode was written by showrunner Armstrong and directed by Mark Mylod – the dream team behind 11 of Succession’s 31 episodes so far. Nicholas Britell’s elegiac score was beautiful too.
A respectful minute’s silence for one of Succession’s finest hours. Rejoin us here next Monday. In the meantime, wealth creators, please leave your thoughts, theories and cable-knit cardigan eulogies below.
