This is my first post about Succession and there are so many things I want to talk about that aren’t directly relevant to this episode. I’ll do my best to keep it relatively on-topic until I can do a big write-up for the series finale. No promises though.
Succession is the best show on television. I’m not the first person to say that and I’ll probably be among many voices continuing to say it as the series wraps up in the next few weeks. But it still deserves to be said. “Living+” hits in a place so real to those of us in corporate America that it hurt at times to watch.
The fabled ~product launch~.
The episode opens with a director diplomatically giving Logan Roy notes on his delivery for a video pitching Waystar’s newest product, Living+. Living+ is “cruise ships on land” and offers a premium assisted living facility with company entertainment IP and exclusive health partnerships to help elevate the experience. It’s the perfect example of the nightmarish, overwrought landscape of products that over-promise and don’t deliver.
In 2023, marketing for every product or service or experience is a constant barrage of vapid, vaporous hype delivered with soulless Fyre Festival-like commitment. Every aspect of everything has been commodified and subjected to the vampiric algorithmic harvest of big data. An assisted living facility force-feeding branded content and slurping up personal health data? Perfect.
Living+ follows in the well-tread footsteps of centuries of grifters peddling snake oil and literal fountains of youth. Naming it Living+ is almost too much given how much everything else about the concept is nudging and winking at the audience but Kendall’s performance really tied it all together for me. Kendall failing upwards in this episode captures the current cultural realization that billionaires and big business executives aren’t these titans amongst mere men. They are just fortunate fools with enough money and connections to shield themselves from any real consequences of their actions.
The top laugh of the episode for me was the cloud effect Kendall demands as a part of his grand vision for this over-the-top, theatrical presentation. Seeing the clouds pathetically sputter and form and seeing the realization on Kendall’s face that maybe he’s gone a little too far was perfect; a throwback to the well-intentioned but overzealous ambitions of high school theater.
Early in the series as we’re still getting to know these characters, I always thought that Kendall would finally grow to be the ruthless but effective heir that Logan Roy always wanted. Siobhan constantly plays angles and keeps her options open which is the practical but risk-averse way to play the game of thrones and thus suffers from a lack of commitment which Kendall does not. Roman has emerged as a true rival to Kendall but early in the series, he was easy to dismiss from his antics and immaturity. Kendall has had brief moments where you think that this is it, he’s finally going to do it, but he always fails to emerge from under the shadow of his dad.
This episode really cemented for me that Kendall is who he is and that he isn’t a serious person or competent leader. Kendall imitates what he sees as successful, modern leaders. He talks in this unbearable buzzword soup that really stood out in this past episode. He’s manic and delusional and demanding. He represents the worst kind of manager. He has no idea what he’s doing and thus manages with excruciating bluster and bravado. Huge credit to Jeremy Strong’s performance who manages to bring great depth and emotion to a character that would, in any other show, be incapable of garnering any sympathy or connection with the audience.
I love how Roman has developed over the past season. Though garish, rude, and vulgar, Kiernan Culkin has managed to humanize Roman through loss. Logan’s death marked a turning point for Roman and seeing the character process (or fail to process) this grief has added a vibrant layer of emotion and sincerity to the most fun Roy. Roman can’t help but feel the difference in the respect given to his dad compared to himself now that he holds the top job. Reeling from loss, Roman is letting lose these feelings and lashing out, first by firing the head of Waystar’s studio and then by firing former CEO, Gerri.
I’m not sure where Siobhan is going to end up when all of the dominoes fall. She’s slowly being boxed out by her brothers at the company and dealing with a fractured personal life with the loss of her father and messy separation from Tom. Maybe her budding interest in Lukas Mattson will pay off and she’ll land a role at an acquired Waystar. Maybe she’ll go back to politics. Maybe running Peterson with her brothers will actually work out. I don’t see any of these as likely but I can’t wait to see how Siobhan’s story resolves.
To touch on Tom, it was great seeing his personal growth and pushing back against the dynamic with Siobhan. I suspect the end to his story on the show will be more bitter than sweet but I’ll be rooting for him the whole way. No Logan and no Siob leaves Tom exposed as the outsider and he’ll probably end up on the outs at the end of it all. I hope he moves back to Wisconsin and lives happily ever after with his Sporus.
Speaking of Sporus, I have no idea what’s going on with Greg right now. I hope to see more from his perspective in the next few episodes but the show probably has enough to cover with the more central characters. Nicholas Braun is wonderful and delivers all of Greg’s weird, awkward dialogue with perfection. Watching Greg try to weasel and work an angle with the Roy siblings had me wincing in every scene.
The show post-Logan is in a fascinating place. While not getting to experience Brian Cox each week is tragic, Logan’s death has propelled the show and its characters to new heights. The universal experience of loss, especially that of a parent, has humanized a parody of the ultra-rich and is able to draw brief moments of sympathy for these unsympathetic people. I want to believe that the show will end as a tragedy for these characters and let them experience consequences for the terrible things they’ve done but that’s not how life works. Regardless, I’m confident that the show will stick its landing and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for the Roys over these next four weeks.
Channel Drifting 
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