‘Succession’ Season 4: Does Kendall Have What It Takes to Step Into Logan’s Shoes Permanently?

In fact, half of the episodes see Kendall trying to get away from her father and his very large and dark shadow. The season 2 finale, “It’s Not for Tears,” was his watershed moment when he finally confronts his father and denounces all the wrongdoing that has been going on at Waystar Royco for decades. From an outside perspective, we know that Kendall didn’t do this because he’s different from Logan, or because he’s an idealist, or anything like that. He did this because Logan had previously said that he didn’t have what it took to run the family business because he was “not a killer.” After hearing this, who better to kill than the person who says it? Logan himself smirks at Kendall’s betrayal as the child finally learns from his father. Unsurprisingly, it was at this point that Logan even underlined Kendall’s name in his will.

Kendall continues to put on a virtuous air as if he were Luke Skywalker standing up to his evil Darth Vader father, and in the end, he even manages to enlist the support of his siblings in the Season 3 finale “The Bells All Ring” and the three of them begin sailing into the sunset away from their father, but for none of them it was ever a real possibility. Kendall was still looking at his father, Shiv immediately spoke to Tom (Matthew Macfadyen) again, and then with Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgard) and Roman (Kieran Culkin) never knew exactly what he wanted.

All Kendall ever wanted was to be his father’s successor, though that’s a tragedy in itself. The first impulse of every child in relation to their future is the desire to be like their parents, because this is the first guideline that we have in life. But growing up, seeing the world, starting your own family, and not being able to put your upbringing in perspective is truly a tragedy, because it forever ties a person’s future to his past. It makes it impossible for them to ever be themselves, and that’s exactly what happened to Kendall. He has always been attached to Logan, and deep down he always wanted it. That’s what his eulogy was about.

Kendall has always looked like Logan

But it took a long time for Kendall to truly become who he wanted and always had to be. In fact, it took Logan’s death to do so. We were all shocked at how things played out in the third episode of the current season, “Connor’s Wedding,” but as early as the next episode, “Honeymoon States,” Roy’s kids immediately began their respective intrigues to support their only claim to the throne. Waystar, and that’s when their true nature finally began to blossom.

The entire business context forced Kendall and Roman to share the position of CEO, given that the former received his father’s support in a will and the latter was next in the company’s line of succession. But while Roman was infatuated with the power he now wielded, Kendall immediately began taking steps to secure it for himself. His Hugo blackmail scenes (Fisher Stevens) have always been about it and he feels comfortable doing it, he just couldn’t bring himself to do it when his father was still around. But he’s Logan’s son through and through.

In Church and State, Kendall’s eulogy is terrible because it reveals to the world that there is a Logan child who understands how evil his father was but doesn’t care. In fact, Kendall openly wants to be like him: “This magnificent, terrible power is in him, but, my God, I hope it’s in me.” It’s a way to claim Logan’s legacy. Even before that, in previous episodes, he began to show a ruthlessness he never had, clearly aware of the fact that he would have to fight his sister for control of the family heritage. His eulogy at the funeral was terrifyingly impressive, and his relationship with Hugo is something that Logan himself has probably done in the past. He did both in the presence of Logan’s body and had no problems. In fact, it seemed to push him forward.

Now as we get closer to the last full length episode succession, hand is finally clear. On the one hand, there is Kendall, the Shakespearean tragedy of a man who only dreams of being his father. On the other hand, Shiv, who may have many of Logan’s traits, ends up changing the way things are done in business. The battle is not only about Logan’s legacy, but also about how the world will change after his death. However, there is only one way to keep Logan in power - to put Kendall on the throne.

series finale about succession premieres this Sunday on HBO and Max.