Succession’s ending explained why almost every character in the show has relentlessly pursued the position of CEO through four whole seasons. Shiv, Roman and Kendall as well as the entirety of senior management are terrified of being betrayed. Their only salvation, it seems, is to become the most powerful person at Waystar. In this video essay, I explore how the constant pursuit of power is merely a proxy for this unending anxiety that has been passed from generation to generation.
LOGAN
“You’re a good guy. You’re my pal. You’re my best pal.”
After meeting thousands of people in an 82 year life, accumulating vast wealth and rising to one of the world’s most powerful positions, Logan Roy decides that Colin, a mostly one-dimensional yes-man, is his best and most likely only friend. Waystar CEO, a position that is prized and worshipped by nearly every character in the show, seems like a life sentence of loneliness. So why do they all want it?
Part 1: It’s lonely at the top
LOGAN
“What are people? They’re economic units.”
With these words, it becomes clear why Logan is so lonely. Rather than seeing people for who they are, he looks at people in terms of their strategic value. Everyone from presidents of the United States to his own children are but pawns that can be bought, blackmailed and manipulated into doing what he wants. This has worked very well for him, and he has been able to cling on to his position at the top for an unprecedentedly long time, fighting off countless attempts to dethrone him. But what is there to show for it? The man has thrown away every chance of having a truly loving relationship.
LOGAN
“You think there’s anything after all this? Afterwards? I don’t think so. I think this is it, right?”
This is a depressing insight into the inner workings of Logan’s mind. For a brief moment, he seems to feel the utter emptiness of the realisation that, despite everything he has achieved, he is so alone at the end of his life that his closest relationship is with his own bodyguard – the only person that doesn’t “want” anything from him.
Each character, from senior management to Logan’s own children can see how miserable Logan’s situation is, so you’d think that they would all put all of their efforts into selling Waystar and leaving behind all the toxicity and stress of managing a debt-ridden multinational conglomerate. But, the prospect of a golden parachute just doesn’t excite them. Instead, they remain inexplicably intent on getting that top job, replacing Logan as leader of one of the world’s largest companies.
Part 2: A family corrupted by power
Through Logan we see that power is a poison chalice, isolating him from meaningful relationships, and leaving him utterly alone at the end of his life. But maybe this was the plan all along. A sacrifice in pursuit of the greater good. Maybe he wanted what was best for his family and was selflessly dedicated to a lonely, yet noble cause. A cause that would see his bloodline inherit a vast fortune and a thriving business, effectively guaranteeing a lifetime of stability for his children and his children’s children.
The same love and support is, on occasion, shared by Shiv, Roman and Kendall, suggesting that they too want what’s best for each other. Whilst it’s clear that they struggle to express their feelings in words, it may be that the only way they can truly show their love is by protecting their siblings within the shroud of the family business; the ultimate expression of which would be through the powerful position of CEO. We see them rally around this shared vision in the wake of their Dad’s death by putting up a united front against the “old guard” of senior management to help preserve family control of Waystar. This is just one of the many heart-warming moments of brotherly and sisterly love that we glimpse throughout the series.
But, however cosy this sense of comradery may be, it quickly falls down in the face of personal ambition. Only a few hours after the kids come together to prevent a hostile takeover, the scheming is in full swing. Kendall immediately goes behind his brother’s back and secretly requests an anonymous smear campaign targeted at their Dad whilst Shiv breaks the truce and aligns herself with Maddson in the hope of getting a top job once he buys the company. Over and over again, we see each sibling put the pursuit of power before their own family interests.
This is especially stark on election night when it becomes clear that Kendall values blocking the Maddson deal above all else. He knows that his wife and daughter feel threatened by Jeryd Mencken’s brand of dog-whistle politics, and that this is having a very real effect on their safety. In this situation, you would expect any self-respecting father to do everything they could to take their family out of harm’s way. But Kendall Roy isn’t any old father, he is a man obsessed with becoming CEO, who sees Mencken as a valuable asset with the power to give him full control of Waystar. By making the decision to call the election early in favour of Mencken, he quite literally puts ambition before his own family’s safety.
Part 3: Trust isn’t an option
So if the job at Waystar doesn’t lead to personal fulfilment or the advancement of common family interests, why is it so desirable? One explanation is that each character wants to use the position to advance their own distinct editorial vision. Shiv wants ATN to swing left, Roman wants it to swing right, Connor wants favourable coverage of his own presidential campaign and Kendall, well Kendall definitely has a lot to say when it comes to the future of Waystar. He uses streams of corporate jargon to sell his notion that his father is out of touch and that the company is in desperate need of a youthful makeover. It’s hard to tell if Kendall is genuinely passionate about all of this, but one thing is certain, he feels like the only way to achieve this change is from the powerful position of CEO.
This insistence on a revolution from the top down is worth digging into because it doesn’t have to be this way. Far from Logan’s notion that “life is a fight for the knife in the mud” and that to be a CEO, one must be a killer, it is possible to achieve change through a system of healthy relationships and alliances, where people are willing and able to cooperate in the spirit of achieving the same goal. Shiv, Roman and Kendall have all held very prominent positions in Waystar, from which they could have easily built powerful pacts and relationships aimed at changing the status quo. But, the siblings seldom show any desire for mutually beneficial cooperation.
This is because alliances are risky. For one to be successful, you either have to trust that the other person is willing and able to cooperate or you need to use external controls to forcibly influence their motivation and behaviour. Without the power to levy those external controls, alliances are entirely reliant on trust.
Throughout Succession, it becomes clear that almost all characters have absolutely no appetite for the risks associated with this trust-based approach. The fear of being betrayed is so pronounced that it extends far beyond the realm of Waystar and into their most intimate relationships; as exemplified by the marriage of Shiv and Tom.
LOGAN
“You’re marrying a man fathoms beneath you, because you don’t want to risk being betrayed.”
Putting aside the foreshadowing of this comment, Tom does eventually betray Shiv, let’s take a moment to understand Logan’s cutting observation. Shiv willingly entered a relationship that she knew was going to be unhealthy just so she could have full control. It is a pretty damning indictment of your psyche if you would rather have a coercive relationship than a loving one.
Part 4: Inheriting fear
To understand why Shiv is so scared of being betrayed, look no further than her relationship with her Dad. Logan has brutally deceived, coerced and manipulated his daughter to the point that she cannot forgive him, even as he lies on his death-bed. Take the time he promised her the position of CEO. In that moment, she chose to believe her father and feel the warmth of their bond, only for him to rip it away in front of the entire family.
Other than Logan being his manipulative self, there is a deeper explanation for his actions. It is possible that he genuinely wanted to install Shiv as CEO, just as there are many indications that he also wanted to crown Kendall or Roman at various points throughout the series, but there is always something that stops him finalising the decision. On the one hand, this indecisive strategy allows him to play his kids off against each other, but it also reflects the same deep-seated fear of betrayal that we see time and time again throughout the show. When Gerri temporarily takes over as interim CEO, Logan is terrified that she will go behind his back and employs Shiv as Waystar’s new “president”, just to keep an eye on her.
This overriding need to always be in control probably stems from Logan’s childhood. We know that he was physically abused by his uncle and that there were many moments in his early life where he had to surrender to outside forces. Ewan captures this sense of utter helplessness as he recounts how he and Logan were once hunted by U-boats after being left behind by a civilian convoy.
All this trauma manifests into a tragic heirloom that is passed onto his kids as they grow up to share the same fears as their Dad. Whilst Logan’s reneging on the promise of CEO to Shiv presents an insight into the damage he can inflict, it is just a taste of what he’s capable of. Sometimes the mere threat of betrayal is enough to spell terror in his children’s minds.
In Kendall’s lowest moment, right after he crashes his car into the lake at Shiv’s wedding and kills one of the waiters, Logan chooses to take advantage of the new leverage he has over his son. Comforting words and emotional warmth are only offered if Kendall backs down from his leadership bid. The message is clear. If Kendall tries to take over the company, Logan will release the story of what happened that night and ruin his son’s life. Though indirect, this threat is enough to make Ken realise that, no matter what, his father has complete control.
Part 5: What does it mean to win?
This realisation explains Kendall’s relentless quest to become CEO. The grand speeches about wanting to revolutionise Waystar are just window dressing for his true motivation, a motivation that leads every character to seek power at all costs; fear. The only way to fully escape the fear of betrayal is by controlling everyone that might be a threat. As Kendall slowly comes to power through the final season, we see him take on more and more of his father’s coercive strategies in the spirit of achieving this goal, such as blackmailing Hugo into doing his dirty work and even showing strategic sympathy to his struggling younger brother in one of his lowest moments; holding Roman just as Logan held him at the end of season one.
It is poetic, then, that the one who eventually takes over from Logan is not Kendall, but someone who is actually honest about their motivations. Far from Kendall’s jargon-filled, corporate window dressing, Tom’s CEO pitch to Maddson is refreshing in its honesty, perfectly surmising how he fits into the cut-throat culture of Waystar. We hear him describe the near constant misery brought on by his fear of betrayal. He understands that Maddson, just like all the billionaires that he’s been surrounded by for the past few years, is motivated by these same anxieties and plays into them by demonstrating unconditional loyalty, even if that means allowing his new boss to degrade his wife.
But, with great power comes great loneliness. Tom might have allayed some of his fears of being betrayed by rising to a position that is more powerful than the president of the United States, but he has followed Logan down the same path towards a miserable, isolated existence. Tom doesn’t have many genuine relationships in his life but the two that come closest are those he shares with Shiv and Greg. When it comes to attaining the position of CEO, he is more than happy to throw both of them under the bus. He doesn’t warn Shiv about Maddson’s plan to sideline her and refuses Greg’s wishes for a more prominent position at Waystar, effectively treating him like a piece of furniture. In their last scenes together, we see the same fear on both Greg and Shiv’s faces, it is clear that they are only with Tom to preserve themselves, not because they hold any particular affection towards him. With a complete lack of trust-based relationships in his life, Tom ends the show with no true friends or allies, just like Logan did.
On the flipside, we see the opposite happen to Kendall. The eldest son has been impetuous in seeking the position of CEO since the very beginning of the show. Yet in the last few moments, we see a glimpse into a version of Kendall that is finally out of the game. He looks out across at the water as the sun sets on a toxic chapter in his life that has lasted since the age of 7. The scene is a perfect juxtaposition with the repeated image of Kendall in the water. Head up, head down, he has spent his whole life riding the waves of brutal corporate intrigue right up until this quiet moment of release. Now, he might finally be able to rebuild his life and the relationships that he tarnished on his doomed journey to the top. Perhaps he can become the father Logan never was.
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