It’s finally time to lay Logan Roy (Brian Cox) to rest. On the penultimate episode of Succession, the Roy children band together for Logan’s funeral—a profoundly emotional affair for all involved. In a funeral befitting a king (or a tyrant), Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Shiv (Sarah Snook), and Roman (Kieran Culkin) each attempt to eulogize their late father, with varying degrees of success. On this week’s episode of Still Watching, cohost Chris Murphy and Vanity Fair correspondent Joy Press unpack Logan’s epic funeral, and the weight of his loss on the Roy children and the world.
Before the Roy children can speak about their dearly departed dad, Logan’s brother, Ewan (James Cromwell), delivers a rogue eulogy that was not on the program. His brother, Ewan says, “decided not to try anymore,” and actively made the world a worse and meaner place with his media empire. Logan “stopped trying to be a good person. He stopped trying to care,” says Press. “Ewan is not a very likable character in the series. He’s a crank. And yet the fact that he says, ‘I tried,’ what you see is very human.”
After Ewan’s denigration of Logan, Kendall steps up to the plate and knocks his impromptu eulogy out of the park, providing a counterpoint to Ewan’s cynical view of Logan. “Kendall says, ‘We gotta give the other side,’ and Kendall gives an equally epic eulogy, but it’s like an ode to capitalism,” says Press. “Ayn Rand could have written his speech.” The beauty of the series, Murphy notes, is that it’s difficult to poke holes in either Ewan’s or Kendall’s estimations of Logan, even though one lionizes him and the other condemns him.
While Kendall and Ewan deliver dueling eulogies, Shiv’s remembrance of her father highlights his difficulty with women, bringing back this season’s focus on the undercurrent of misogyny in this universe. Shiv’s pregnancy may very well prevent her from becoming the American CEO of Waystar Royco, as Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård) and president-elect Jeryd Mencken (Justin Kirk) make quite clear what they believe a woman’s place should be. “[Mencken] says to Shiv, ‘Kinder, Küche, Kirche,’” Murphy says. “It’s a German slogan, and it’s translated as ‘children, kitchen, church.’”
Despite pre-grieving, Roman is ultimately unable to channel his inner Logan Roy. He breaks down at the altar, forcing Kendall to pinch-hit. “Beneath the Proud Boy is a blubbering little sad boy,” says Murphy. The end of the episode features Roman swimming upstream against protesters who have been spurred to action by ATN’s decision to call the election for Mencken.
While Press refrains from making any big predictions for the series finale, Murphy predicts that Succession will end back in the boardroom with a knock-down, drag-out fight for control of Waystar Royco—with Kendall and Roman on one side, and Shiv and Matsson on the other. But in the end, none of them may emerge victorious: “I would imagine that the outside world increasingly comes in and bursts the Roys’ bubble in some profound way,” says Murphy.
Elsewhere on the podcast, Alan Ruck drops by to discuss all things Connor Roy, from his relationship with Willa to his failed presidential campaign and the state of the Con-heads. “I think a lot of them are in the bar and will stay there probably for a while,” quips Ruck. “It’s just a bunch of disillusioned people, but it’s something like 1%. That’s kind of like a million people.”
With one episode left in Succession, it’s still anyone’s guess who may wind up in control of Waystar Royco. Listen to the latest episode of Still Watching below—and email [email protected] with your own questions, comments, and thoughts ahead of the series finale.
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