See full version: Succession season 2 episode 10 (finale) spoilers: The sacrificial lamb
Next week, Succession season 2 episode 10 is bringing you more than just your standard episode of the series — it’s airing the finale! This is where the rubber meets the road, and definitely where some big decisions are going to need to be made by Logan Roy and the rest of the family.
All of this does sound very much crazy, and that’s without even mentioning that there’s going to be a season 3 on the other side. The benefit to bringing this up now is mostly this: We’re going to have a chance to see things get even crazier from here. [links]
On the Roys’ grand Mediterranean yacht, Logan (Brian Cox) weighs whether a member of the family, or a top lieutenant, will need to be sacrificed to salvage the company’s tarnished reputation. Roman (Kieran Culkin) shares his hesitations about a new source of financing, as Kendall (Jeremy Strong) suggests a familiar alternative. Shiv (Sarah Snook) proposes taking her open marriage with Tom (Matthew Macfadyen) to another level. Connor (Alan Ruck) finds himself in an unenviable position as reviews of Willa’s (Justine Lupe) play roll in. [links]
Moreover, looking back, it was obvious he was always going to choose Kendall, even before the many seaward discussions. Not only did he and Shiv come to that choice themselves, but Logan knew his efforts to avoid it were futile. (Hence dismissing the visit to Stewy at first request, while eventually relenting for Kendall’s sake.) In his bones, he felt Kendall didn’t have the killer instinct. And when someone like Logan Roy believes that, there’s really no coming back. [links]
Kendall didn’t win a kiss from daddy, so he gave him one instead.
[Editor’s Note: The following review contains spoilers for the “Succession” Season 2 finale, Episode 10, “This Is Not For Tears.”]
Armstrong then starts dropping more obvious indicators toward the inevitable. He tells Kendall “What I oughta do, I don’t want to do,” and then meets with Shiv where they discuss their previously agreed upon route: Kendall gets the axe. He has to take the fall for the company, before the shareholders’ meeting, and they both know it. here
Be it the squirmy giggle fits induced by biting insults or the stomach-turning abuse inflicted by each member of the Roys, Armstrong’s satiric drama strikes a nerve at every opportunity. Each of those elements is carefully constructed to elicit a specific reaction, whether it’s Kendall’s quipping to Greg, “Sails out, nails out, bro” or Greg saving Kendall’s ass with the cruise documents he ripped out of Tom’s bonfire. “Succession” is precise, and you better believe the Season 3 war between father and son will deliver more brutal family crossfire paired with vicious takedowns of the single-minded 1 percenters. (Even that shot of Kendall walking away from the press conference carried a reminder of who the real victims were, as reporters shouted for an apology from the son who only cares about fucking over his dad.)
In the closing minutes, Logan sits with his guests on the yacht one last time, his back to the camera, just like in the “Succession” opening credits. But the more important mirror image in this episode is between Kendall in the Season 2 premiere and Kendall in the finale. At the start of this season, Ken is so beaten that all he can do is repeat in monotone whatever his dad’s lackeys tell him to say. At the end, no longer the obedient lap dog, he dupes those same handlers and uses Greg’s purloined documents to take a kill-shot at his father. For now at least, he has snapped out of his funk. here
Then, just when the outcome seems clear, Kendall hits Logan with a classic blindside. In the episode’s closing minutes, Ken pulls an impressively sinister switcheroo, accusing his father of gross malfeasance during a televised news conference in which he was supposed to resign in disgrace. This jaw-dropper ending works because the writer Jesse Armstrong sets it up superbly, beginning with that long scene when everybody debates — with hilariously exaggerated politeness — the matter of whose body might best fit under a bus. here
For about 10 minutes in the middle of the “Succession” Season 2 finale, the show briefly becomes a bit like the reality series “Survivor.” The Roy family and their top Waystar executives have a kind of tribal council on a super yacht, sitting around a breakfast table with Logan, discussing whom to sacrifice over the scandal in the company’s cruise division. The argument turns into a fascinating study of human nature as these people try to save their jobs — and their senses of self — with a combination of strategic shade-throwing and personal appeals. here
But the biggest breaking point comes toward the episode’s end, when Kendall agrees to be his dad’s “blood sacrifice,” then asks outright whether Logan ever had any intention of letting him take over the company someday. “I dunno,” his father says, before admitting that Ken’s big stumbling block is, “You’re not a killer.” Kendall responds by giving his father a kiss — a Judas kiss, as it turns out.
That’s quite a yacht the Roys sail on, with its helipad, inflatable slides and all. If you’re curious about what goes into making and maintaining such a vessel, The Times ran a story about that very subject just last week. here
Synopsis: On the Roys’ grand Mediterranean yacht, Logan weighs whether a member of the family or a top lieutenant will need to be sacrificed to salvage the company’s tarnished reputation. Roman shares his hesitations about a new source of financing, as Kendall suggests a familiar alternative. Shiv proposes taking her open-marriage with Tom to another level. Connor finds himself in an unenviable position as reviews of Willa’s play roll in. here