By Maia Venuti
Staff Writer
This past Sunday, I excitedly sat down with my friend to watch “Connor’s Wedding,” the third episode of the final season of HBO Max original series, “Succession.” As a big “Conhead,” I was so excited to see an episode focused on Connor for once. My friend, on the other hand, told me immediately she was skeptical that the episode was about Connor’s wedding. I should have listened to her, since HBO originals and weddings are rarely a good mix. Little did we know how quickly things would derail, and little did we know that we were about to watch one of the best episodes of television ever.
One of the hallmarks of a great TV series is having one perfect episode in the last season to show the end is near. “Connor’s Wedding” is a flawless episode of television. There are absolutely no outstanding negative reviews, with the episode rightfully earning a perfect 10/10 on IMDb. This is groundbreaking, as the only other episode to earn a perfect score on IMDb is “Ozymandias” from “Breaking Bad.”
“Connor’s Wedding” has been out for less than a week and it has already skyrocketed to the number one spot on the IMDb top 1,000 TV Episodes list, surpassing the near decade-old Breaking Bad episode, “Ozymandias.” It is in “Connor’s Wedding” that the inevitable but unthinkable happens. The one thing that this whole Shakesperean familial war has been going on over: Logan Roy, the King Lear of this story, dies at 84 years old.
We all knew from the start that Logan’s death was highly anticipated by those closest to him. That’s the whole point of “Succession.” It is to determine who will rise to the position of CEO after Logan’s passing. From the start of the series, Logan’s eventual death has cast a looming shadow constantly present in the lives of everyone he interacts with. His poor health and age are not in his favor, rather they place a time constraint on his decision-making process of choosing a successor.
What we didn’t know or expect was that Logan’s death was going to come so early and leave so much unanswered. Most fans expected Logan to be in it ‘til the end to spite his kids, and by the time he was on his deathbed, he would have definitively chosen and named a successor. However, Logan wasn’t given the luxury of more time, and although he could buy everything in the entire world, no amount of money could ever buy him more time.
The reactions of the kids to their father’s passing was absolutely heart wrenching. Alan Ruck, Jeremy Strong, Kieran Culkin and Sarah Snook all deserve Emmy nominations for their performances in this episode alone. The relationships between Logan and his kids are all very different but equally complicated and strained. In the few years of their lives we see in the series, Logan does absolutely unforgivable things to his children, ranging from constantly pitting his kids against one another to causing his son to relapse after years of sobriety.
In the wake of Logan’s death, there are many questions left unanswered. Most importantly, who will become the next CEO of the Waystar-Royco empire? Logan did not officially name anyone to take over after his passing, and now it is up to the kids and executives to decide what to do.
All in all, this week’s episode of “Succession” has officially cemented its status as one of the greatest shows of all time. The acting, writing, costumes, cinematography and overall planning that went into perfectly executing this episode is no small feat. I love this show so much more than I already did. After this week, I have absolutely no idea what direction they are going to go in, but what I do know is that there are still seven episodes left in the series. The next episodes will most definitely be a bloodbath, and I am just as much excited as I am terrified.
