The Succession Series Finale Brought Kendall's Enduring Motif Full Circle
This post contains spoilers for the series finale of "Succession."
It was always going to end with water. The story of Kendall Roy (Jeremy Strong) began as a tragedy five years ago, and ended as a tragedy tonight. Kendall has been the raw nerve of "Succession" practically since its beginning, but his true woes began in the show's season 1 finale, when, on a drug-and-drink fueled bender, he and a waiter crashed a car into a lake during Shiv's wedding. Kendall walked away, but the waiter didn't, and it feels like that water left a dark stain on Kendall's soul that never really went away. If the poison drips through, the water does, too.
Water has come up again and again in Kendall's storylines, and it's often felt dangerous. The motif has recurred enough that when he finally took a triumphant swim earlier this season after nailing the Living+ presentation, a snippet of the scene in the show's trailer left fans worried it would mark his demise. There's plenty of historical and literary precedent for water as a bad omen, especially when it comes to the works of William Shakespeare. From the story of Ophelia dying by suicide by drowning after the death of her father in "Hamlet," to the water that won't wash murderous hands clean in "Macbeth," the author whose works "Succession" regularly calls to mind has a knack for using water as a symbol — and often a grim one.
Kendall takes a swim
The use of water in Kendall's plotline has never felt incidental. In the episode after the waiter's death, we see him submerged in water at the rehab center where his stay is cruelly cut short at his dad's insistence. Water can be, after all, a symbol of rebirth, but in this case, it's a baptism that doesn't have time to take. By season's end, he's swimming on the yacht where his father decides to pin the company's failings on him; in one shot we see him floating in a crucifiction pose in a pool a few feet from the ocean — on the verge of drowning, symbolically, twice over. Then, of course, there's his suicide attempt from season 3, when we see him half-submerged on a pool floatie during one of the lowest points of his life.
Dark poeticism aside, "Succession" has brought this theme up enough times that even casual fans know the deal: if we see Kendall near water, we should be nervous. That made the series finale's detour to Barbados ominous, especially when the Roy siblings — in the midst of a day-long fight about what to do with the company — head down to the ocean's edge. The water is dark and roiling, so much so that Roman (Kieran Culkin) looks like a cat being forced into a bath as he stalks along the beach. Kendall, though, has no reservations: he jumps in, and while Roman and Shiv (Sarah Snook) debate on shore, we lose sight of him for a while.
A tension-soaked finale
If this were the first or second time we'd seen Kendall in water, it would feel like a typical scene in which three siblings go swimming. Yet after two near-death experiences, the scene feels like one last tension-filled fake-out. When Shiv and Roman speak, I found myself begging for the camera to return to Kendall, to show us that he's okay and hasn't been swept away by an undercurrent — or by the sudden urge to drown himself. When we see him emerge on a floating dock and lay there, relaxed, the tension breaks. When Shiv and Roman joke about murdering him, then float over to share their proclamation ("We anoint you!"), it's suddenly clear: this time, water isn't death, but rebirth.
Any other show would've stopped there, but "Succession" is among the most nimbly written, expertly crafted highwire acts on television, and to keep its symbolism simple at this point would go against the unrelenting narrative complexity it's built up for four seasons. The rollicking waves, then, make one last appearance, after the Gojo deal goes through. Again, we lose sight of Kendall, but this time his absence feels more dire. We see him push a button in an elevator, and when he doesn't reappear, the darkest part of me half-expected to see his body falling in the background of all those full-wall boardroom windows.
Of course, it ends with water
Kendall isn't dead, it turns out, but he's still drawn to death. During that last, family-breaking fight with his siblings, he says that the death of the waiter didn't really happen. No Real Person Involved, as Logan would say. He also reveals the truth we've always understood thanks to Strong's phenomenal performance — that if Kendall doesn't get the CEO job, he might actually die. The series finale's quietly painful last scene bears that out, as Kendall finds himself wandering towards the water once more — and looking at the waves of the Hudson River with something like longing in his eyes. This time, though, he has a security guard in tow, and as he sits on a bench, he's the spitting image of his father.
This scene is awash in death. There's the death of the waiter, a moment that no denial can take away, and one that surely bubbles up in Kendall's mind as he sits with the fact that he has nothing left to lose. There's the death of Kendall himself, the foreshadowed yet never-realized truth of the motif that's followed him for years. The death of Logan has loomed large over much of the final season, but the last nail in his coffin seems to settle in this scene, as Kendall comes to grips with the fact that the company his dad built is about to be scrapped for parts. Waystar Royco is dead now too, and its king with it — in spirit if not reality.
Kendall sits quietly as the end credits roll. The water rages on, but by now, it feels like something more than death. It's powerful, all-consuming, and dangerously indifferent, just like the Roys at their worst.
If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by dialing 988 or by calling 1-800-273-TALK (8255).