Thirty eight episodes and five years of watching all the rich white folk arguing, we’re finally going to find out who, ultimately, is going to win a kiss from Daddy Roy.
We don’t know what’s going to happen in the epic 90-minute finale tomorrow, but we do have some guesses.
The GoJo deal goes through, Tom becomes CEO
Succession is not a show about who the most competent person is, it is a show about who understands power. And no one understands it better than Tom. He’s always aligned himself with the most powerful, at the risk of ruining personal relationships. He’s proved himself time and again; Tom will happily debase himself for whoever is at the helm and his servile behaviour is ideal for Matsson’s desire to install a puppet CEO.
But how does Tom get there? There’s a boardroom fight—Kendall’s role in the waiter’s death from Season 1 comes up, as do Roman’s dick pics to Gerri, and Shiv convincing a a Waystar Royco rape victim to not press charges against the company. None of the Roy kids are deemed fit to be CEO (maybe Shiv is, but she’s a woman and she’s pregnant now, the stakes against her are simply too high), so who’s left?
Tom.
Kendall dies
Will Kendall face legal consequences for killing a man? Of course not, he’s a rich man. He’s part of the 1%, and they don’t pay for anything. He’s just not going to be CEO.
When he says in his eulogy for Logan, "That magnificent, awful force of him, but, my God, I hope it's in me," he probably finds that what he hoped for came true—but as the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for. The “awful force” of his father is definitely in Kendall, but there’s nothing magnificent about it. Kendall finally realises that he does have a bit of his father in him, that he has just enough of the meanness that “fed that dark flame in men.” But he doesn’t have enough of the awful force—and in trying to find it, he will simply end up burning himself out and kill himself.
Shiv and Tom get back together and stay unhappy together, forever
Of course they get back together. Unhappy as they are, terrible as they are for each other, of course the two get back. Especially now that Shiv is pregnant. They’ll continue together as they have been—they have okay phases and have great sex with each other, then they’re honest and say awful things to each other and have sex with other people. They’ll ignore their kids just as Logan Roy did, and the cycle continues.
In fact, Shiv probably votes for Tom to become CEO. In a continuation of what’s been her entire life, she will be passed over for a man, but will remain close enough that she can taste what could’ve been hers but never will. “He couldn't fit a whole woman in his head,” Shiv said of her father. Sadly, no man can.
Roman comes to terms with what he’s done, and lives unhappily ever after
Roman realises he has no one. Episode 9 ends with Roman absolutely crushed—his father is dead, the fascist he helped elect has reneged on a promise, his siblings are not on his side, there’s a video of his breakdown on the Internet, and the city he lives in is overrun with violence. Roman is not okay. His abusive father is dead, and he goes looking for the only way he’s known love. He gets punched in the face and trampled on, and that’s how he leaves the penultimate episode. No, Roman is not okay and he’s not going to be.
Jeryd Mencken wins, and America goes where America is
Obviously. Come on.
Connor and Willa move into his overpriced family mansion and live happily ever after
Connor needs Willa and Willa needs Connor’s money. They’re both happy.
Greg continues Gregging
Greg continues to do whatever it is he’s been doing. Will he win his fight against Greenpeace? Probably not. Will he continue his weird sort-of-sexual relationship with Tom? Probably yes.
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