Editor's note: The below contains spoilers for the Succession series finale.The series finale of Succession has finally dropped, airing this past Sunday and wrapping up a four-season journey. The episode, titled "With Open Eyes," gave us some of the Roys' highest highs and some of their lowest lows from some heartwarming and well-deserved sibling scenes between Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Roman (Kieran Culkin) and Shiv (Sarah Snook) and also some dark and confronting moments too. Yes, we do mean that Kendall-Roman hug.
Off the back of Episode 9, "Church and State," we are left with a very fragile Roman who has, against all odds, become one of the most emotionally complex characters of the season. The episode tackles the inevitable funeral of patriarch Logan (Brian Cox), taking us through an emotionally exhausting 60 minutes that leaves Roman running through the streets of New York City, pushing and shoving anyone who gets near. He initiates multiple physical fights, outsourcing his abuse from aggressive protesters instead of anyone closest to him. By the time the finale picks up the story, Kendall and Shiv have continued heading forward in their own respective sides of the GoJo deal, whilst the absence of Roman lingers in the air. Sadly, both Kendall and Shiv only feel an urgency to see him in order to secure his vote for their agendas, leading us to their mother Caroline's (Harriet Walter) Barbados home. Roman appears in a small blue t-shirt and a patched-up forehead, almost regressed into a child. Important information is shared and disgusting smoothies are poured, resulting in a reformation of the Roy alliance.
The Roman-Kendall Hug, Explained
Back in the offices, Roman spirals into a panic when he spots Gerri (J. Smith Cameron) in the vicinity, his emotional baggage still fresh and unmanaged. Roman then peers down at his reflection in the bar cart, inspecting his forehead and rambling on about his very, very good stitches. He holds a sense of anxiety about how it will look for him if the GoJo deal is blocked and Kendall is named the CEO, manifesting into an insecure ramble. He fears that people will think that he "pussied out" of the position, the discussion developing into a silent begging for Kendall to give him, and everyone else, a reason for Roman to not be CEO.
Kendall then brings him into an embrace that for a second seems purely out of brotherly love. It soon becomes clear that Kendall is actually pushing Roman's forehead, specifically his stitches, into his shoulder forcefully. His younger brother verbalizes his pain but neglects to resist the motion, letting his older brother open up his wound again. It is confronting to watch such a calmly violent action between these characters, something that has become so normalized in the series but at its most frightening in this moment. Here, Kendall is physically hurting Roman in this loving embrace to give him a plausible out, to protect him from public reception — which, for the Roys, could be considered a deeply loving deed. Kendall does love Roman, as he loves both Shiv and Connor (Alan Ruck), and this is a way of showing him.
Kendall Has Become Logan
In many ways, Kendall has completed his transformation into his late father, and not because of his CEO status. Kendall has constantly proven that he will do wrong by his children, by his siblings and by America to reach his goal. This thesis is confirmed in the crux of the episode, whereby he physically attacks Roman and Shiv, a last resort in his effort to keep Waystar Royco. His metamorphosis isn't into CEO, but into the intimidating and domineering force that his father once was. Reopening Roman's wounds highlights the power imbalance that Kendall continues to inflict on his siblings, and is exactly the dynamic that he thrives in.
This scenario mimics a scene between the pair in the previous episode where Kendall, with a stone-cold expression, tells the already emotionally obliterated Roman how he "fucked it." Over and over again, he insults Roman, leaving him visibly fraught and preempting his breakdown among the protestors on the street. A good way to understand who Logan was and who Kendall is becoming is through the impactful statement by Caroline in "Chiantishire" — "[Logan] never saw anything he loved that he didn't want to kick it just to see if it would still come back." Kendall isn't just making Roman's injury look worse or harmlessly insulting his sibling, but he is kicking one of the people he loves most, just to see if he would come back to him. We know that Roman exhibits masochistic tendencies, which was clear in his brief rendezvouses with Gerri, but now it has proven to have infiltrated all relationships of his life with the embrace of his brother. The only way that he can accept love or help is through pain — the same pain that he has experienced since childhood. He has learned this through Logan, and will now practice it through Kendall.
This Roman-Kendall hug is more than just a sibling favor. It is a presentation of how the Roys communicate and a visual conclusion to their dynamic that has been developed over the last few years — or more so, how it hasn't developed. This story is not linear but a circular tragedy. The characters, in a sad way, return to how they had begun — this time, Kendall steps into the gaping hole that was left by the presence of their father. They refute any sense of unity, continuing to betray each other until the very end. Kendall sits on the park bench overlooking the Hudson River under security guard Colin's (Scott Nicholson) watchful eye, his life's purpose ripped away from him once again. Shiv solemnly meets her CEO husband Tom (Matthew Macfadyen) in the car, hand in hand but not seeing eye to eye. And Roman sits at a bar with a martini in hand, alone.
All episodes of Succession are now streaming on Max.
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