Succession’s brutal Logan Roy funeral hints at bloodbath finale

There were protests and riots across New York as ATN called the presidential election for far-right candidate Mencken (Justin Kirk), with Kendall’s ex-wife Rava (Natalie Gold) and children fleeing the carnage.

Despite Kendall desperately begging her to stay, and appearing to have a genuine moment of remorse, it was soon back to business as usual – at his father’s own wake.

On that note, Logan’s funeral was less relieving the fun times and more an onslaught of brutal jabs, starting with his brother Ewan (James Cromwell), who basically launched into a treatise about how evil he was.

Roman (Kieran Culkin), meanwhile, was so overcome with emotion he broke down in tears, earning him the moniker the Grim Weaper from Mencken, with a stoic Kendall stepping in.

To not much fanfare, bar some very lewd and incestual comments from Roman, Shiv revealed her pregnancy to her siblings and carried on – that carrying on being plotting with Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgard) to disrupt the Wayster Royco empire.

First of all Tom Wambsgans’ (Matthew Macfayden) absence is telling, deciding to skip the event to focus on his efforts on setting out ATN fires everywhere.

While fans have previously theorised Tom could be the end-game villain, given that he previously stabbed the Roy siblings in the back and thwarted their plans to usurp Logan, the fact he is literally out of the picture says it all.

Tom has clearly found his stride at ATN and also no longer seems interested in going for full Waystar Royco glory, given he’s not been involved in any of the double-crossing.

Meanwhile, Roman appeared to be in his stride when he got the top job at the family firm, alongside Kendall, and made some serious power moves with Mencken.

But the fact he crumbled at Logan’s funeral – with the episode ending on him literally being trodden on by protestors – suggests he’s not got the strength to carry the mantle.

It could also indicate that Kendall is going to trample all over him, given that he spent the vast majority of the funeral secretly plotting and conspiring with Hugo (Fisher Stevens) to derail the GoJo merger.

But Kendall wasn’t the only Roy sibling with tricks up their sleeve as Shiv strengthened her allegiance with Lukas – which looks like it’s starting to pay off.

Lukas gave Shiv the nod he had successfully convinced Mencken to reverse his deal with Kendall and Roman to block the merger, setting the scene for an epic bloodbath in the finale.

But who will ultimately side with who? As we know, Succession posters have teased major plot points with some canny positioning – so let’s apply this logic to the taxi scene.

As the Roy siblings head to the funeral, Shiv and Roman are in the front of the cab, while Kendall sits alone at the back. Could this be foreshadowing Roman and Shiv joining forces with Kendall once again striking out on his own?

Succession continues on Monday on Now in the UK and on HBO in the US.

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