Warning: this story contains spoilers for the season three finale of Succession.
If we’ve learned anything in three seasons of Succession, it’s that nothing happens by mistake. Every lingering pan, every breath of dialogue is by design; such is the masterful execution of this modern Machiavellian family drama.
So, we should’ve known that something big was brewing when the finale began with GoJo’s brash CE-bro Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgard) spitballing on the dangers of a slave uprising.
Brian Cox as Logan Roy in the season finale of Succession. Credit:HBO/Foxtel
“In ancient Rome, they wanted to make the slaves wear something so they could identify them, like a cloak,” explains Matsson to an unimpressed Logan (Brian Cox).
“Then they decided not to do it because they realised if all slaves dressed the same, they would see how many of them there were, and they’d rise up and kill the masters.”
To kill your master is the ultimate act of liberation for a slave; if you want your freedom, you must pay for it in blood. And for much of the finale, it appeared the uprising would come in the form of three unlikely allies: Roman, Shiv and Kendall.
Oh yes, Kendall (Jeremy Strong) is well and truly alive, his death-by-floatie prevented by a quick-thinking Comfry (Dasha Nekrasova).
The uniting of the siblings comes after Matsson finally throws down the gauntlet that’s been coming all season: the Waystar-GoJo merger is dead; he wants a takeover.
Logan shuts the idea down, busting out one of his trademark “f--- off!” barks, but when he sends Roman (Kieran Culkin) back to the wedding, it’s clear he intends to negotiate. For once, his bark lacks bite.
Word filters back to the siblings that Logan is considering the deal, and there’s something of an ugly beauty in the way it galvanises them. After the bitter divisions of this season, the risk that their legacy could be sold off to the highest bidder brings the siblings together.
Roman (Kieran Culkin) and Shiv (Sarah Snook) find themselves on the same team, for once.Credit:HBO/Foxtel
Scenes of great tenderness - of any tenderness, really - have been hard to come by this season. But watching rock-bottom Kendall open up to Roman and Shiv (Sarah Snook) about his failed coup is genuinely heartbreaking. Gone is the ego and spin. Only the truth remains.
“I thought I could take us all out of it; I’m a bad person,” offers Kendall. But he’s not done sharing, proceeding to come clean about his role in the fatal car crash that killed a waiter following Shiv and Tom’s wedding in the season one finale.
“This sounds like the story of a hero; I would’ve been out of there,” says Roman after learning Kendall tried to save the waiter. He’s spent much of the season tormenting his older brother, but Roman’s attempts to alleviate Kendall’s guilt basically constitute a declaration of love.
The deep and meaningful is interrupted when Shiv gets a phone call confirming the GoJo deal and, instantly, the three siblings are in the back of an SUV plotting their own takeover. Shiv and Kendall know that any change of control requires their approval due to their shares in the holding company - a sly addition to the divorce contract added by their mother.
After brief consideration, the decision is made to push Logan out. “How do we feel about killing Dad?” asks Shiv. “Pass me the shotgun,” deadpans Kendall.
At this point, Shiv brings Tom in on the plan and demands her husband use his power at ATN to paint their father as “ailing”. And therein lies the great mistake, the slip up no one saw coming.
Life as a slave is a matter of perspective; we all have different masters. Rather than ask ‘how high’ when Shiv says jump, Tom (Matthew Macfadyen) decides to sit this time. More specifically, he sits with the one man he can trust, the only quasi-Roy that won’t burn him: Greg (Nicholas Braun).
“Do you want a deal with the devil?” Tom asks Greg, and that’s all we need to understand what’s about to happen. Tom is Shiv-ing his wife (and his brothers-in-law) and taking Greg with him to “the bottom of the top”.
Has the time come for Tom (Matthew Macfayden) to make his move?Credit:HBO/Foxtel
Kendall, Shiv and Roman storm in on Logan’s dealmaking and play their holding company trump card. But it’s immediately apparent that, once again, Logan is two steps ahead.
“I have you beat, you morons,” he roars before getting their mother on a call to confirm the bad news: the divorce deal has been renegotiated, the kids no longer get a vote.
“We just walked in on Mom and Dad f--king us,” says Shiv, but her clarity doesn’t extend to who may have tipped Logan off. And then we see it: Logan’s warm pat on Tom’s shoulder, the knowing smile. This is the slave uprising we were warned about.
For those keeping track, you’ll remember Tom foreshadowed his rise in sharing the story of Roman emperor Nero and his slave Sporus with Greg in episode four. In the tale, Nero murders his wife (he pushes her down the stairs) and has Sporus castrated and turned into a eunuch before marrying him.
And that is where season three leaves us: the emperor and his eunuch together at last, atop a pile of bodies.
Most Viewed in Culture
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMijwFodHRwczovL3d3dy5zbWguY29tLmF1L2N1bHR1cmUvdHYtYW5kLXJhZGlvL2Jld2FyZS10aGUtcmViZWxsaW9uLXN1Y2Nlc3Npb24tZ29lcy1vdXQtb24tdG9wLXdpdGgtc29tZS1oZWxwLWZyb20tdGhlLWJvdHRvbS0yMDIxMTIxMC1wNTlnbmouaHRtbNIBAA?oc=5
2021-12-13 07:42:49Z
1194145809
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar