You can’t run away from who you really are and the conclusion of Succession was exactly what I expected: Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen) surprises the Roy siblings and is chosen to be the CEO of Waystar Royco. It doesn’t come as a surprise to us, as Tom always wanted the position and Lukas Mattsson (Alexander Skarsgard) never seemed to consider Shiv (Sarah Snook), even though he detests Tom. Gradually, Lucas knew he couldn’t have Roy and his toxicity around, but neither could he have a stranger in the group.

Logan’s mental destruction over the children made it impossible for them to be able to, even if they tried, to unite. That’s because, as Kendall commented, “the poison drips” inside them and it proved accurate. Putting together the image that Tom left us at the beginning of the season with the gift for Shiv – a framed scorpion – we knew the conclusion. “I love you, but you kill me and I’ll kill you”, Tom tried to say as a ‘joke’.

The rising tension of Succession‘s final episode destroyed us because it was exactly consistent with what it showed us: there are no heroes. In a world of rarefied ambition, one final stab always changes the game. In the case here, with each victory, I looked at how much was still missing to imagine who would lose. Shiv was the one to be defeated right away, for her arrogance and even innocence that she had already won the battle. Reluctantly, she feels humiliated because Kendall would win. The siblings have – for the first time – a 100% frank conversation and understand each other, giving us a moment in which they are just brothers, children, aligned, and happy. But the scorpion cannot stop its nature.

The choice of Shiv, who prefers to place her father’s legacy in the hands of strangers and a man she despises, shows how emotionally unprepared she is for any job or relationship. She prefers all of this to see her brother “win”. Between Kendall and Tom, it’s just pettiness that defines her ultimate choice. And also her pathology of transferring her emotional dependence from her father figure onto her husband. Humiliated in every way, but victorious in defeating Kendall.

Succession closed its trajectory well. The final surprise was predictable and yet shocking, fitting in with reality. I never liked Shiv, it saddened me to see that she preferred to do “dracarys” than to see her “enemy” in her father’s chair, even if that opponent was her brother. I hope that, in a fictional future, Kendall breaks up with Roman and Shiv. This is because the image of its desolation was striking. And it gave dignity to a tragic story.

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