Succession season is approaching. The HBO drama’s fourth will be its final season, capping what will feel like a real end-of-an-era for the Home Box office (HBO’s Barry has also announced its upcoming fifth season will be its last). The Roy family’s struggle for power and wealth is almost over, and soon there will be no more new insults and burns, no more vying for the affection and respect of the Roy patriarch, and no more Tom and Greg.
There is little time left to binge the first three seasons, and if you still need to, you are in luck because this is a curated guide featuring the essential episodes to watch before March 26. The list features three episodes from each of the three seasons that both hit significant story beats and episodes that will get you reacquainted with the vibes and cadences of Succession. If you, like many, waited too long to start your rewatch (raises hand), and don’t have time to watch 30 hours of the show in a few days, then this list will help you cram and catch up.
Season 1 Episode 6 “Which Side Are You On?”
“Which Side Are You On” is the culmination of Kendall’s (Jeremy Strong) plan to oust his father, Logan (Brian Cox), from Waystar ROYCO with a vote of No Confidence, which has been gaining steam all season. Through his health battles and outbursts, Logan has displayed a weakness that has rallied his children and most of the board against him. Everything goes to plan on the day of the board meeting…until it doesn’t, resulting in a major turning point in the season and one of the most thrilling board meetings you’ve ever witnessed.
Season 1 Episode 7 “Prague”
The first of the “Field Trip” episodes, “Prague,” is undoubtedly one of the more iconic episodes of the series. A bottle episode of sorts, sure there are still some machinations and revelations regarding the private equity push to buy the company, it’s essentially a bachelors party featuring Roman (Kieran Culkin), Kendall, Tom (Matthew Macfadyen), Greg (Nicholas Braun) and Conner (Alan Ruck). Like the characters, the audience is also faked-out with the promise of going to Prague for Tom’s bachelor’s party. Instead, we go into the depths of an exclusive anything-goes party in an abandoned railway station where the elites get up to some debauchery. The episode is also known as “The Closed Loop System.”
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Season 1 Episode 10, “Nobody Is Ever Missing”
The Season 1 finale is undoubtedly a must-watch. So much happens in this episode, from Kendall’s new takeover bid being revealed to his siblings, Shiv (Sarah Snook) and Tom’s wedding and the admission of her infidelity on their wedding night, and of course, Roman blowing up a satellite, all of which have severe repercussions into the next season and beyond. What takes the cake is the shocking conclusion where Kendall has involved the death of one of the waiters at the wedding after enlisting the server to help him get more drugs. Logan, in his omniscience, finds out and offers his son an ultimatum in the form of a hug. Kendall’s plan, ambitions, and self-worth are destroyed.
Season 2 Episode 4 “Safe Room”
“Safe Room” is a significant episode. It features Tom investigating one of the company’s news anchors for being an alleged Nazi-sympathizer with some of the funniest lines of dialogue of the season. It’s a big episode for Shiv, who is trying to be the number one child in line for the throne and, at this particular moment, is succeeding. Roman gets some development, learning that if he puts in the work, he could be less of an outsider and be taken seriously (It is also the start of Gerri and Roman’s “relationship”). Kendall, now a husk of his former self and now the Darth Vader to his father’s Emperor, is at his lowest. Shiv and Kendall share one of the most emotional scenes between siblings who are rarely vulnerable with one another.
Season 2 Episode 8 “Dundee”
“Dundee” is important to the plot and the Rhea Jarrell arc of the season, Shiv’s development, some Logan backstory, Greg and his inheritance, etc. But everything is just a planet in the orbit of the sun that is Kendall’s performance at his father’s 50th-anniversary celebration in his hometown of Dundee, Scotland. Kendall is at his peak delusion in his role as his father’s attack dog/emotional prisoner. The guilt from his crime and the cover-up his father made possible has created a sad facade that results in him performing an original rap song, “L to the OG,” in his father’s honor, produced, of course, by Squiggle. The song makes a great episode, iconic.
Season 2 Episode 10, “This Is Not For Tears”
One of the best finales of any show, the end of Season 2, is Succession at its sharpest and most Shakespearean. The show is good at creating scenarios that get the family together. Where else would this ultra-rich family meet to decide the fate of their company than a luxury yacht in the Mediterranean? They must determine who will be the patsy and take the fall for the company for its crimes in its cruise division.
The scene where everyone in the inner circle is gathered around the dining table, and the darts just start flying with every making their case is just phenomenal, plus the other small things that happen in the episode make it all the more incredible. Kendall is ultimately the scapegoat, but instead of lying down and dying, he surprises everyone and fights back against his father, getting the old man to crack a smile out of respect. It’s a perfect finale and a must-watch.
Season 3 Episode 6 “What It Takes”
Succession is unafraid to make analogs to its real-world political inspirations in its critique of American Politics and capitalism. “What It Takes” is a much watch in regard to the themes of the show as the episode takes us behind the curtain of the elite in what is basically a meet and greet for the prospective new conservative nominee for president, the individual who Waystar Royco will throw its weight behind in the coming election. Among the candidates are the different conservative archetypes, from the “noble Republican” to the “Alt-Right openly fascist free thinker.” Shiv pushes for the patented traditional conservative while her father and Roman decide on backing the dangerous Jeryd Mencken, who leans fascist. There is also a secret meeting between Kendall and Tom, where Kendall attempts to get Tom to become a turncoat, which is one of the best scenes of the season, and continues the Mathew MacFadyen is one of our great actors train.
Season 3 Episode 7 “Too Much Birthday”
It’s another Kendall masterpiece. This time it’s the number one boy’s birthday party. What could go wrong? Again there are important plot developments, including Tom avoiding jail time, and Roman tasked with making sure the deal between Lukas Matsson and Logan progresses. All of that is secondary to the train wreck that is Kendall Roy and his sad and extravagant birthday party. As the deals develop and Kendall spirals deeper into his depression, realizing how hollow and pointless the party is, he breaks down while searching for the gifts his children gave him. Roman is also feeling himself as the new clear number one contender in his father’s eyes, showing in his cruelty that he might be the most like the old man.
Season 3 Episode 9 “All The Bells Say”
Another all-time finale. We finally get Kendall admitting to his siblings what happened in Season 1 with the waiter at Shiv’s wedding. The three of them finally united and are ready to confront their dad with an ultimatum, but that’s not how things go for the Roy kids. Tom and Greg side with Logan in a massive power move. The two characters that could never be true insiders because they aren’t blood (Greg is a cousin, but he’s still not a sibling) take their own futures into their own hands.
In one of my favorite scenes from the show, Tom and Greg decide whose side they are on, and Mathew MacFayden delivers the dagger himself in only one way he can. It sets up a new status quo heading into the fourth and final season. There is so much detail in this episode, and on rewatch, things that flew over everyone’s heads because of the insanity of the twists that swept up the audience are much more apparent.
Now Season 4 is set up to be a bare-knuckled brawl between the Roy children and their father and his loyal lap dogs, Tom and Greg, but history has shown us that they are not ready or willing to do what it takes (They are unserious people as Logan states in the Season 4 trailer). There are places they won’t go, but Logan will, and that’s been the flow of the show, and it will be thrilling to see how that trend is broken in its final season, if it’s broken at all.
Succession Season 4 Premieres March 26 On HBO and HBO Max
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
