Between the least thought chosen and a betrayal? last second

In a kind of norm that is governed by the logic of common sense, the higher a series usually reaches, the more difficult it is to leave the public satisfied with its closure.

It happened with historical cases like The sopranos and his flight with a sudden fade to black; or with Lost who became entangled in his own labyrinth, just to cite bombastic cases.

The same cannot be said of Successionwhich this Sunday concluded its last and fourth season with a master class in tensions, selfishness, betrayals and surprises.

From here, spoilers no filter on the final episode.

Honestly, did anyone see the easygoing, upstart, at times useless but above all ambitious Tom Wambsgans (standing applause for British actor Matthew Macfadyen) coming as the one?

In a completely unexpected move, Shiv Roy’s husband (the huge Sarah Snook) ended up taking the CEO position of Waystar Royco that was vacated after Logan Roy’s death a few chapters ago.

He paid dearly for it: with a humiliating talk at a bar next to the psychopath Lukas Mattson (Alexander Skarsgard), the unpredictable Swedish billionaire, the new owner of everything.

Mattson is portrayed as so often appearing to be certain gurus tech: a mix between genies who live two decades ahead of time and capricious and unscrupulous children, with an inexhaustible wallet (telephone, Elon Musk).

The truth is that the Roy brothers, sunk in their grudges and personal miseries, had the chance and could not take it.

Treachery? Shiv’s

With Roman (Kieran Culkin) devastated after revealing at his father’s funeral that he wasn’t cut out for it, and Shiv seething with anger to find out Mattson was using her and wasn’t going to give him the job, Kendall (again, cheers) for Jeremy Strong) sees the loophole to throw everything down and keep the throne.

Who allows him to get excited about that was another great character in the series: the ineffable Greg (Nicholas Braun), who seemed to have linked a master move by using the translator on his phone to discover that naming Shiv as CEO was a lie.

As always, with that endearing clumsiness and the panic of ceasing to belong, he wanted to sell his find for something big.

It’s just that until the last moment everyone did the impossible to try to save their skin and not stay out of the feast of tickets and power, in comings and goings with alliances that seemed to have no end.

And it wasn’t until the last 100 meters that that race was defined, more by hatred and grudges than by its own merits or benefits.

Shiv voted against Ken’s proposal and the company ceased to belong to the Roy family, as the three brothers had agreed.

Was it because he couldn’t with his temper and he enjoyed watching the fall more than a hypothetical victory for his brother? Or because when Tom was in control of her, in a way she kept her share of power?

The feeling is that, except for Mattson, everyone lost. The sad way Shiv and Tom can’t even hold hands in the car (while expecting a child) is a postcard of failure, even in opulence.

Tom, as much as he “made it to the top”, knows that he is entirely dependent on someone unpredictable like his new Swedish owner.

Roman consoles himself by smiling into a martini, and Ken looks like a zombie, a living dead looking at the Hudson River wanting to sink into it forever.

The grand finale of Succession

Even though this season had major ups and downs, Succession crowned a masterful closing without pyrotechnic resources or great fanfare. Its fuel was the resentment of three brothers raised in the most obscene of riches and power (in the previous chapter they “anointed” as president of the United States a fascist who betrays them at the first opportunity).

That is also paradoxical: for all these characters accustomed to moving around in private jets as if nothing had happened, it is no longer about money, something they have left over.

His problems were always recognition and approval, especially from a despotic and cruel father figure, wild but who also at times had flashes of something that could be similar to affection, without going so far.

Although it is fiction, the world that shows Succession and how it reflects downright distressing spheres of power. If they push themselves into the abyss every chance they get, what can they be expected to do with the rest of us?