On Day 2 of losing the GoJo deal, the initial adrenaline and shock from the chaotic boardroom vote will have completely evaporated, leaving Kendall Roy in a deeply hollow, dangerous psychological space. As series creator Jesse Armstrong noted in the post-finale wrap-up, losing the company is the central, defining tragedy of Kendall's entire life.

The Post-Shock Catatonia

On Day 1, we left Kendall staring blankly at the Hudson River with Colin keeping watch. By Day 2, the physical exhaustion of the breakdown sets in. The reality of Roman's words—"We are bullshit. It's all nothing"—fully cements itself. For the first time since he was seven years old, Kendall does not have a corporate schedule, a board meeting to prep for, or a father to defeat. His apartment is dead silent. The army of PR handlers, assistants, and lawyers are gone because there is no longer a corporate entity for them to protect.

The Billion-Dollar Existential Crisis

Kendall didn't lose his money; he lost his purpose. The GoJo acquisition means his shares are being bought out at a massive premium. On Day 2, he receives formal, sterile emails from wealth management advisors regarding the liquidation and transfer of billions of dollars. To Kendall, this cash isn't a victory. It is a mockery of his existence. Every dollar represents the official price tag of his ultimate failure and expulsion from his father's kingdom.

Colin Stays to Guard the Shadow

Colin stands on the boardwalk on Day 2, and he isn't going anywhere. Kendall is going to take a long, necessary break to heal, and he absolutely needs Colin to navigate the wilderness. More importantly, Colin knows he has a duty that goes beyond a standard paycheck. He understands that his final mandate is to protect Logan’s shadow over Kendall, keeping the last remnant of the old man’s legacy safe from the vultures. Colin remains the silent, unbreakable anchor by Kendall's side, managing his security and keeping the outside world at bay while Kendall processes the grief.

The Stewy Intervention

If anyone breaks through the isolation on Day 2, it is Stewy Hosseini. Stewy is a vulture, but he is the only person in Kendall's orbit who possesses a genuine, deep-rooted affection for him that exists outside of Waystar politics. Stewy will call. When Kendall doesn't answer, Stewy will show up at his penthouse. He won't bring drugs or offer empty corporate platitudes. Instead, Stewy will show up with raw, unfiltered honesty. He will sit across from Kendall, pour a drink, and force him to look at the math. Stewy will remind him that he is still young, incredibly wealthy, and free from the toxic cage of Logan's approval. It is a grounding, fraternal reality check meant to pull his oldest friend back from the edge of the cliff.

The Permanent Estrangement

Kendall is estranged forever after that sick betrayal in the glass conference room. The weaponization of his past and Roman's comments about his children's bloodlines are completely unforgivable.

It will take six to nine months before any family contact is even attempted. Connor is getting ready to pack up and officially move across the world for his post as the American Ambassador to Slovenia. Wanting one last, completely harmless family moment before he leaves, Connor calls for a casual, no-stakes get-together. He hosts it at Logan’s old townhouse, which he bought earlier in the season, simply wanting to say goodbye to his siblings over drinks, completely banning any talk of company stuff or assets.

Kendall will flatly refuse to show up. He cannot bear the thought of sitting in a room with the people who executed his life's purpose, even for a harmless goodbye. Shiv and Roman will show up at the townhouse, expecting a tense reunion but hoping to see their brother. Instead, they find only Connor and Willa. Kendall doesn't even send a text. The message to Shiv and Roman is definitive and absolute: the sibling relationship is dead, and Kendall has cut them off permanently.

The Ultimate Revenge: Success

If Kendall can survive the initial danger zone of this loss, a fascinating shift happens. He is the only Roy sibling who could actually make something out of his money and become the most successful in the long run.

Shiv is now trapped in the orbit of Tom and Matsson, reduced to the role of a corporate wife and a backseat advisor, forever resentful (became what she hated the most-her mother). Roman is a broken, wealthy nomad, drinking away his trauma with no ambition left to build anything.

Kendall, however, has Logan's obsessive DNA. Once the grief clears, the billions of dollars in his account become an unmatched war chest. Free from the toxic burden of his father’s approval and the constant sabotage of his siblings, Kendall can finally execute his own vision. Whether he builds a massive new media empire or disrupts the tech space, his ultimate revenge will be achieving a level of independent success that proves he was always the rightful heir—even if he had to lose his father's kingdom to build his own.

I wish Jesse Armstrong would whore out Succession into a constantly rebooting, money-hungry forever property like the MCU. I know this will enrage the masses, but I'm literally on my fifth time through the series and it doesn’t feel like it’s slowing down.

My first inclination would be to say no obviously, because these people are all reptiles but due to the fact that so many people headcanon that Kendall either od’s or kills himself after the sale, do you think Shiv would ever feel any guilt if that were to transpire? Would Roman?

I’ve worked for large corps and small startups. The C-Suite is never this boots on the ground at either size company.

Gerri for example would have a team of attorneys beneath her preparing all the legal work and maybe reporting up to her the high level details every other week. Karolina would have a team of marketing and comms people beneath her monitoring social media, press, drafting responses for review/approval etc.

In the one scene S2 E9 when the cruises story breaks, it almost looks like Karolina has her Twitter feed pulled up on her laptop while taking notes.

Probably over analyzing but how realistic do you think it is that any of these folks are doing any of the day-to-day work aside from high level strategy which they then assign out?

In season 3 roman says the "$85bn elephant in the room." Josh also says he lost $350m on his 4% which makes the market cap of Waystar $87.5bn. So we know that is around the market cap of the company.

But then why is $3b of debt such a big deal at the beginning of season 1? And why did they insinuate Pierce was bigger than Waystar when they said it was like "a snake eating a crocodile". Then logan bid $25b for it. By season 4, Pierce was down to $10bn so the kids could buy it?

Also, throughout the show, they kept focusing on the "declining empire" theme and how the kids wanted to revolutionize the news. But if Pierce dropped by 60% wouldn't ATN or the whole operation have declined too? ATN seemed to be the heart of the business but at an $85bn market cap, with $10-$25bn pierce as an equivalent, it seems most of the money was coming from outside news?

Last plot hole that will forever bug me... how was the board vote in the final episode so close? Kendall never even mentioned the India fake numbers, maybe that was his cocksure mentality, but why would stewie vote to keep his idiotic friend in charge? He bought in at $140 a share and would have been compensated at $192 per share? To me, that was the biggest problem. If Kendall raised the issue of the numbers to the board then I can see the knife's edge, but as it was, Gojo versus the children? No shot.

More plot holes that bothered me but are not as significant:

- S3 finale - they drove for an hour or more int he car to a villa that was supposed to be next to the wedding? How did Tom get there and why ?
- Logan's board seats, what happened to them when he died. The will ?

Sure, he’s better than the Roy siblings and we as the audience are conditioned to root for him because he’s an underdog and the Roy’s are terrible, but he’s still atrocious in his own right. The only reason he “behaves himself“ a lot of the time so to speak is because for 90% of the show he’s at the bottom of the food chain. He deserves better than Shiv but not by much honestly. Iirc the guy who killed himself in season 2 was the one who Tom used as a foot stool. People also tend to romanticize Tom and Greg’s relationship, even though Tom is very abusive and again the only reason people tend to overlook that is because the Roys are worse. I’ve also heard it said that Tom’s parents seem “sweet” but realistically anyone willing to get involved with the Roys like that is terrible imo. Also people say he’d be a good dad, which, no, I cant understand why anyone would think that. The only reason he wanted a kid in the first place was originally to secure his place in the family and then to possibly get a lighter sentence during the whole cruises debacle. He’s never shown an ounce of concern for anyone other than somewhat Greg, and again that relationship is very weird and fucked up in its own right. I can’t wrap my head around people who disagree. The whole show is about how bad capitalism is, every character is supposed to be terrible.

Hey, Buddha, nice Tom Fords.

The GRINDR's won.

Logan fucked all his kids and made them so jealous and literal rivals of each other, that Shiv would rather get her family's company get fucked along with her brother than see Kendall win.

Roman just gave up at the end and wanted out of this bullshit, which makes sense.

What would Shivs role be at the new Empire? Or is she just gonna fuck off him her billions like her brothers? It was so funny to see her demand the top position at day -1 at the job, how everyone points out she's inexperienced, closest thing she would be a second Karolina. Watching her gload over Kendall at their mom's was so painfully cringe to watch, like did she really think Mattsson was gonna give her the CEO postion? Might be, it not, the dumbest person on the show.

The score playing as Tom walks in like a champ was just pure goosebumps, I'm glad him and Greg worked out. The thing about him is that he ain't a pushover or a dumb person, he knows he's getting raw dogged, but he still chooses to get through it as long as he's climbing.

The fact is Kendall deserved it, out of the 3, he was the most experienced. His siblings are just too flaw mindedly structured by Logan than they would rather let the entire family die than see him win.

What are they each gonna do with their bills? Shiv shouldn't have left her political in the first place, she could get back there? Roman idk spend it all on therapy? Kendall could actually make something of his own, but he's too mentally fucked at this point, would he overdose in a year or two?

Anyways, what a journey watching this masterpiece, idk what to watch any more after this.

​

Abuse, toxicity and even infidelity would be allowed/endured and justified as long as it was paired with access to Top dog , money, protection and honey dipped sweet moments of love.

​

Tom when Shiv wanted an open marriage and Tom when Lukas wanted Shiv.

I think both situations threatened his position. Shiv could want to be with someone else, not want to have kids which wouldn't solidify his position.

Lukas could not give 2 fucks about him.

His only true "loyalty " was to whatever could take.him close to the top dog

Sooo I just started season 1 a few days ago…
Greg’s not gonna get any less annoying right ? Hes gonna be even worse ?
Every word out of his incompetent whiny mouth is pissing me offf soooo much already 😭😃

Caroline is pretty awful though.

When Logan and the gang are in Virginia picking the new president, Shiv remarks that Mencken will start a trade war with China. It's hard not to connect that comment to current reality. Are trade wars something far-right politicians (understatement) typically advocate for, or is it just a coincidence that Trump and Mencken both feel strongly about tariffs?

One of the more fascinating aspects of this show is how the creators dress and style the characters. Roman is perpetually in ill-fitting, overly tight or even childish clothes. He has a penchant for slim-fit button downs, which are indeed a modern and fashionable cut, but either he or his tailor over-exaggerate the slim part.

I picture Roman seeing models/mannequins, with bulky pecs and a very cut figure, and thinking that he wants to look like that, so he opts for that tailoring. Only he's built like a pubescent teenager, not a regular weightlifter (despite having a personal trainer), so he slims the sizing even further to get the "tight" look. But on him, it looks dull and dorky, and even suggests a shirt he's growing out of. He'd actually look better if he went for a properly sized shirt, maybe regular fit with a touch of tailoring.

The suits aren't much better. Roman again opts for slim cuts and probably a higher hemline, to give the impression that he's taller, and more sculpted shoulders (a feature in more Italian suits) to suggest that he's more broad. But a good tailor would know that the net effect of combining all those details on Roman's frame would be cartoonish and excessive.

In the last season, particularly towards and in America Decides, Roman picks up generally more mature tailoring as he likewise amasses more power in his attempts to mimic Logan. It's off and on throughout the show but the strongest in S4. Naturally this comes crashing down with the failed eulogy and he's shown in that T-shirt in the finale.

Other characters definitely demonstrate storytelling through fashion but it's the most overt in Roman's case.

The general consensus for Shiv is that given the circumstances she will end up hating her child, but what about Tom? I get he is CEO and may likely inherit some of the same attributes as Logan later down the line, but I don't think it's that crazy to say that he would do a better job at raising his kid than Logan did with his children. But then again since he has the top job I feel that he would be absent for a lot of the kid's life.

Gerri

Jess

Shiv

Willa

Marcia

Rava

Karolina

NaaN Pierce

Comfrey

Tabitha

Ebba

I would even say Kerry.

Hunting is eliminated! Shame this, in my opinion, because I think it sets the tone for who Logan is and what he’s made Waystar into more than any other episode.

How this works:

You select the episode you like the least

The episode with the most upvoted comment is eliminated from the list

Please either refrain from downvoting or upvote more episodes than you downvote

If there’s a tie, both episodes are eliminated

Only the best episode will win!

Episodes Eliminated:

The Summer Palace (46%)
Vaulter (86%)
Return (57%)
Argestes (78%)
Dundee (89%)
Hunting (92%)

"So because we had so much chicken when we were kids, I have to like the fascist?”

I never would have believed that watching the inner lives of 4-5 of the most narcissistic insufferable assholes ever conceived would have me this invested.

Spoiler alert

I was shocked by Shiv’s betrayal at the last possible moment. I feel it was implied that she did it, in some measure, for Tom, but maybe I just cannot fathom that she would renege on her promise after such an emotional “reunion”. What a performance by Sarah Snook.

I hate that the ass-kissing, boot-licker won in the end, even if it makes perfect sense and was so well written. I hate because maybe its just too accurate of a reflection of real life.

I would have liked to see more of Romans relationship problems, and Shivs personality outside of the company, but only because I want to see more of the series in general.

Amazing overall, will be recomending to anyone who will listen.

I don't think he added to the show and in fact he seemed like the one character that was just not... believable or well constructed.