‘Succession’ Season 4 Episode 9 Review: The Roy siblings unleash the ultimate political dystopia over America
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: “Don’t pity the dead Harry. Pity the living. And pity those, who live without love.” Albus Dumbledore’s quote from Harry Potter fits perfectly in the world of ‘Succession'. Logan Roy, the patriarch of the Roy family is dead. His legacy is dwindling as his four children do not seem to inherently care about carrying their father’s name with love. Instead, Kendall, Roman, Shiv, and to an extent Connor want the biggest piece of the pie, and they do not care what or who they have to use or demolish to accomplish that. Unfortunately, Roman and Kendall sacrificed the peace and prosperity of America for their profitable future by helping Jeryd Mencken win the Presidential election and give America a leader who defies the tenets of democracy at every turn.
In the penultimate episode of ‘Succession,’ Logan Roy's funeral is the talk of the Roy town which also includes kings, queens, presidents, prime ministers, diplomats, and bankers, all of who formed the inner coterie of Logan’s corporate circus. But in the backdrop, New York City stands at the brink of collapse as violent protesters take the streets to make their disagreements about Mencken’s controversial and illegal win as the US President. However, little do they know that their fate was decided by two brothers trying to put their sister down for backstabbing them. Logan’s funeral is a place to grieve for the corporate elites while the everyday folks are left to grieve and pray for the price that their country will pay for appointing a fascist leader.
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A ‘Eulogy' not accepted
Roman Roy, Logan’s middle child, is all prepped up to deliver the eulogy at his father’s funeral. He has just landed a victory at the expense of his country by helping Mencken win and is charged up to become the face of Waystar Royco. He plans to impress the board, Mencken, and maybe Lukas Matsson with his eulogy at the funeral to let them know that he’s the man for the job but Uncle Ewan, Logan’s brother moves up to the podium and delivers the eulogy before anyone can. Ewan’s blunt speech about his brother sets the tone straight, as he praises the brute force of his brother. Ewan’s eulogy stirs a defeated emotion in Roman who thinks that he can’t stand up and say the words that he has rehearsed. In an unprecedented moment, Roman breaks down completely, his repressed emotions boil up, shedding tears and sobbing like an unprotected child, eventually comforted by his siblings.
Kendall stands up and does his bit to save the day with his impeccable flow of collected emotions to describe his father. Shiv follows but leaves no impression. All of it happens when the streets of New York are burning as the protesters run loose because of the unresolvable feud between the Roy siblings. Shiv wants Matsson to buy Waystar while Kendall and Roman want to stop it with the help of Mencken, the Darth Vader of liberal democracy.
Politics doesn’t stop at Logan’s funeral
Kendall is furious after Rava takes the children away from the city and Jess decides to leave him. He now only wants to focus on keeping Matsson away from Waystar at all costs. At the funeral, Shiv proposes to be the American CEO for when Lukas acquires Waystar as this will help Mencken support them and not her brothers, Kendall and Roman. The agenda is clear. Keep Mencken, the new President on your team, and take it all away. But Roman is in a mess.
He’s lost all objectivity and even runs into a barrage of protesters on the streets that he helped assemble in a way. He’s knocked out in the process. The politics of Roys continue as Kendall scrambles to keep his people close while Shiv introduces Matsson to Mencken, hoping that she can have the biggest piece of the Waystar pie. And in the end, Mencken who hated her guts, is slowly starting to see eye to eye with her. America’s political nightmare is only speeding up.