Succession Season 3 Ending Explained: A Tragic Twist Befitting The Bard

"Succession," at its core, is a show about cycles of abuse. There are four Roy children: firstborn but oft-ignored Connor (Alan Ruck); prodigal son Kendall (Jeremy Strong); Lady Macbeth in Marc Jacobs' latest, Shiv (Sarah Snook); and idiot youngest child Roman (Kieran Culkin). Each has their own hang-ups with their father, who has berated them from the moment of their birth for not living up to his impossible standards. Over the past three seasons, they've each tried to find their own way to impress their father and either gain his love or his respect, whichever they can manage. Connor wants to make a run for President of the United States. Kendall tried to best his dad at his own game time and time again. Shiv tried to use secrets and backstabbing to get ahead. Roman mostly self-imploded every time he was given a chance, ending with the penultimate episode's horrifying accidental dick-pic to Logan during a board meeting. 

It looks like Logan is going to give Roman another chance as they go to visit with tech giant Lukas Mattson (Alexander Skarsgård), but on the way he questions Roman about his sexual hang-ups. He accuses him of a variety of things before telling him to "get it straightened out." Instead of offering love or support, or even listening to what Roman has to say, Logan only gives him the option to do things his way. Logan always gets his way, and if he doesn't, it can be dangerous for those around him. This is a man who hit a child across the face with a can of cranberry sauce, remember? We've seen him manipulate and belittle each of his children repeatedly as adults, so there's no telling what kind of childhood they had. (We know Roman was locked in a dog crate sometimes, but apparently he liked it? There aren't enough therapists in the world to unpack that one.)

Connor, Kendall, and Shiv have all cut ties emotionally from their father in some way, but Roman was the remaining loyalist. When people discuss Logan's eventual death, the idea shocks Roman to his core. Mind you, Roman makes jokes at everyone else's expense regularly and he has a pitch-black sense of humor, but thinking about Daddy dying is just too much. After that last little jab about "getting it together," however, even Roman might be done with Logan's abuse. 

Speaking of being done with it all, Connor finally had enough of his half-siblings treating him like the odd man out. He decides to leave the wedding festivities for Kendall, Shiv, and Roman's mother, telling girlfriend Willa (Justine Lupe) that his whole family hates him. After his painfully awkward attempt at a proposal in last week's episode, he's convinced that Willa is destined to leave him too. Instead, she decides to throw caution to the wind. "F*** it," she tells Connor, and the two begin repeating the phrase back and forth to one another semi-joyously. They get into their car and Willa's face shows her immediate regret, but she's already in too deep. Their entire relationship has been built upon Connor's delusions of grandeur and Willa's desire to live comfortably, so it makes sense for them to join together in solidarity of sorts. Maybe they'll even put "f*** it" on the wedding invitations. 

Season 3 has been a long, torturous breakdown for Kendall, who accidentally killed a young man in a car accident at Shiv's wedding and has been plagued by guilt ever since. Now that he might actually face repercussions for his irresponsible actions, he needs to share that burden of guilt with someone else. Logan knows, but has used the incident as leverage against his son at every turn. Finally, Kendall breaks down and reveals the truth to his siblings, confessing his horrible deed in blubbering bursts. Shiv is obviously shaken, while Roman uses his trademark gallows humor to try to alleviate some of Kendall's pain. There have been moments throughout the series where the siblings unite and show that they do have love for one another, despite all of their bickering and backstabbing. They are united not only by blood, but by their shared trauma growing up as the children of Logan Roy and Lady Caroline Collingwood. 

Remember the poem from the episode title? It tells the story of a man so haunted by his past that his days are filled with bleak despair. Sound familiar? Kendall has hit rock bottom, telling his siblings that he's "come all apart." The next line in the poem, following "too late," reads: "This is not for tears; thinking." The time now isn't for Kendall to mourn his mortal soul with tears, but instead to find a way forward in the face of his titan of a father. 

For once, the siblings come together in a shared goal: take down Logan before he can sell the company. They need their family in charge of Waystar Royco to continue the comfortable lives they've gotten used to, and they're not going to give it up without a fight.  

The three musketeers of mutiny make their way to where Logan's meeting with his business partners, ready to shock their pop with a united front against him. Instead, he's ready and waiting. He tries each of his typical tricks to try and split the kids or play them against one another, but even Roman has had enough of his father's bullying. Shiv explains that the three of them will vote against anything their father does, and that a legal clause requires a majority shareholder vote. Logan, backed into a corner, lashes out with everything he's got, telling them that they're just playing with toy soldiers. He's right, too, as he's outwitted them at their own game already. 

Logan gets Caroline on the phone, and mommy dearest drops a bombshell: she and Logan have renegotiated their divorce agreements, and the protections for the kids have been removed. After Shiv's appalling wedding speech, it's no wonder that she's fine throwing her kids to the wolves. She's not exactly mother of the year and they haven't been loving, doting children, so there's not much love lost between them. The real shock is that Kendall, Shiv, and Roman might be left without any money or any power, and that's their ultimate nightmare. 

This is where our "Lear" comparisons come full circle: in "Lear," the king separates his kingdom among his three daughters, but the youngest daughter Cordelia refuses to play his games of flattery and tells him she will give him nothing but her love. Likewise, Logan asks Roman what he brings to the table and Roman meekly replies "love?" Roman has always been the series' Cordelia, seeing their father as an unsinkable titan, his love for the man blinding him to the realities of his cruelty. Logan laughs in his face, mirroring Lear's response to his youngest: "Nothing can come of nothing, speak again." Lear later bemoans his ungrateful children, saying, "how sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child!" Logan sees his children as grasping, greedy, and ultimately thankless. He sees their loss of power and money as an opportunity for growth, while also being befitting punishment. 

Perpetual sad boy Tom Wambsgans finally got his moment. After offering to throw himself at the mercy of the Department of Justice for Logan, helping the old man out in the bathroom during his spells of delirium, and nearly going to prison, Tom has proven himself loyal to Logan Roy. So when it's revealed that he's the one that tipped Logan off about Shiv and co.'s plans, it's a perfect bit of justice. "Terminal Tom" came out on top because he finally decided to play the game just as dirty as it's been played around him. Wambsgans wins, for the first time ever, and boy howdy is it satisfying.

Tom has slowly been ingratiating himself towards Logan, whether it's his season 2 "thanks for the chicken" show of ferocity or his moments of tenderness when Logan was ailing. Logan told Tom that he would remember, and it looks like the time for remembering has finally come. Tom has finally cashed in completely and sold his soul to Logan, even at his wife's expense.

There's something that Logan tells his children before leaving them to wallow in their own self-made destruction: "I always win." Though he has stumbled and struggled with his health, Logan Roy does indeed always win. The secret to his success is that he doesn't give a damn who he hurts along the way, and he's not bothered by such pesky concerns as truth or consequences. He's on a first-name basis with the President, can lie through his teeth about anything, and always manages to come out on top. His children betting against him again was the final straw, and he had to prove to them just how inadequate they all are once and for all. 

Season 4 of "Succession" will see the power dynamics completely shaken. Where will Kendall, Shiv, and Roman land if their positions at Waystar Royco disappear with the buyout? How will Tom and Shiv's marriage continue now that she doesn't hold all of the power? Can Logan Roy retire, or would that force him to wither up and die because he doesn't have anyone to yell at? 

We'll have to wait until this brilliantly cruel series comes back, but one thing's for certain: Logan always wins.