Succession Season 4 ending explained! Succession ended with a much blow out between the kids...and this explosive ended has been foreshadowed since the show's very first scene. We explain all of the hidden symbolism buried in the subtext and answer the question: Why did Shiv do that?
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Written and Hosted by Ryan Arey ( / ryanarey )
Edited by Colton Ogburn and Brianna McLarty
#Succession #EndingsExplained #Finale
This episode opened just like the first episode of the series, with Kendall walking into Wayster, certain that he is going to imminently take his father’s place as CEO-only to learn that his life’s ambition is about to be thwarted. Episode 5 this season gave us a similar nod. That episode-just like the pilot-began with kendall on his way to work and listening to hip-hop. Now in season 1, it was the Beastie boys, a kind of salute to the city as it recovered from 9-11.
But in season 4, Kendall was listening to the song takeover by Jay-Z. And it seems appropriate, he is ready to take over. Now this is one of the most famous diss tracks ever in hip hop, when Jay-Z was attracting Nas. And Nas responded with a brutal takedown track called Ether. Ether was so sharp and pointed that it’s become a verb in hip-hop, to “ether” someone. So apply that to succession, when kendall begins by listening to takeover, thinking he’s on top, but by the end of the series his dreams have disappeared into the ether.
You may have also noticed that there is a hidden meaning in the title of this episode, With Open eyes.This is taken from a poem by John Berryman, called Dream 29. And actually every season finale of the show is named for a line from this poem. The work is about a man named Henry who vividly dreams that he has murdered a woman-he wakes up to find out that he hasn;t-but he is haunted by the idea that he has that kind of evil within him.
Now in season 1 that meaning was obvious, with Kendall being complicit in the death of the waiter. But the series is filled with people who tell themselves that they are good, that they are doing things for the right reasons-while actually, they’re all kind of evil idiots-Kendall especially. This episode shows him becoming his father in the worst way possible-but we’ll talk about that a bit later on. The point is, each of the Roy siblings has the potential to cause careless destruction.
Kendall killed a man, Roman burned down democracy, and shiv-well, we’ll get to shiv.
So in the poem, Henry is haunted by the evil lurking inside of him. And the titular line goes “Ghastly, with open eyes, he attends, blind. All the bells say: too late.” In the context of the poem, this is about Henry kind of watching himself be evil and not being able to help himself.
Before the period even aired, a lot of people online were speculating about the title. What’s the meaning of eyes? There are a couple of violent eye references in this episode [clip].
So the references to eyes, and blinding, is obviously indicating how kendall is blind to the truth-that he can never be his father. But the more overt reference is to everyone’s favorite ocular destructionist-oedipus. Oedipus was a Greek tragedy where a man inadvertently kills his father and begins having sex with his mother-and when this shame is revealed to him, he blinds himself. Freud famously talked about the oedipus complex, where every boy wants to grow up to replace his father and poses his mother.
And speaking of oedipus complexes, let’s talk about roman.
Roman does his best to hit for the Oedipus cycle in this series. He has a thing for older women-well, Gerri, more specifically. And he spends this season trying to become his dad. He wears his dad’s sweater. And when he does his cringey speech rehearsal, he even says [does he remind you of Logan Roy].
Roman and Gerri don;t get much time this episode, but these two were Succession real tragic love stories. She’s the only person who seems to unlock something vulnerable in him. Even in this episode when she shows up at Logan's, Roman sits on the floor, like a child, to watch the video of his dad. Just like in Connor's wedding, Roman naturally reverts to a childlike state when he’s feeling vulnerable-it’s his instinct to make himself smaller, in a world where everyone expects you to be big.