Summary
“Connor’s Wedding” is as fine an episode of television as you’re ever going to see.
This recap of Succession Season 4, Episode 3, “Connor’s Wedding”, contains spoilers.
I’m not especially prone to hyperbole, so when I say that this week’s episode of Succession, “Connor’s Wedding”, isn’t just one of the best in the show’s run but will ultimately come to be regarded as one of the best hours of television ever, I mean it.
The sneaky genius of it, I think, is that it doesn’t do anything surprising. Succession has, since its inception, been about the inevitability of Logan Roy’s death. He almost died in the premiere! The show’s title and core conflicts all stemmed from the idea that the cranky dinosaur would be replaced. It wasn’t a question of “if”. It was a question of “by whom”.
The answer to that question is no clearer. But Logan is, finally, dead. He went out how we knew him – on a private plane, tormenting his children, and terrifying everyone else.
Succession Season 4 Episode 3 Recap
Is Logan Roy really dead?
Let’s start with the obvious. In short: “Yes”.
I can understand why it might not seem that way. Thus far Logan’s sheer spite has kept him alive despite being 200 years old and having innumerable potentially fatal ailments. It’s hard to imagine a man like that unceremoniously collapsing and expiring on the floor. We didn’t even see him fall over.
But he’s dead. We see his prostrate body being futilely compressed and eventually defibrillated by plane attendants with first aid training and a legal responsibility to keep the compressions going until there’s no longer any ambiguity.
Eventually, we see him being carried off the plane in a body bag.
So, he’s gone, and the Roy clan will no longer orbit around the black hole gravity of his disdain. He has barked his last “F*ck off!” But he has left plenty of chaos in his wake. Waystar is on the cusp of an acquisition by GoJo that may be off the table now – Logan was on his way to Sweden to meet with Lukas Matsson to ensure he hadn’t been scared off by the board’s attempts to wring more money out of him. He had plans to replace Syd with Roman and reinvent ATN, and he had already instructed Rome to give Gerri her marching papers.
With Logan gone, every relationship and subplot in the entire show is in more flux than ever.
How do Kendall, Roman, and Shiv get the news?
This is all a neat subversion of our expectations, a first-class effort in making the inevitable truly surprising. But none of it is what truly elevates “Connor’s Wedding” to prestige GOAT status. That comes when the kids find out.
Jesse Armstrong has said openly that Logan’s death is intended to evoke that crushing feeling of powerlessness that comes from receiving news of bereavement over the phone. It’s a very film and TV thing to be there at the end. Most people aren’t. Kendall, Roman, and Shiv have to receive a call from Tom while they’re aboard a luxury yacht about to set sail for Connor’s titular maritime wedding.
And they don’t believe him. They ask questions. They panic. They pass the phone back and forth, make demands, cry, swear, and say their goodbyes to a man who can’t hear them. They convince themselves he can, but he can’t. He’s gone and, for the first time in their lives, they’re without him.
This is shot in one take or at least the illusion of one, and it goes on for so long that it seems almost impossible there won’t be a surprise outcome. But there isn’t. I have little hesitation in saying this is the finest-acted sequence of television I’ve personally ever seen, and it might be the best ever put to film. If it’s not, it’s certainly close.
What happens after Logan’s death?
While “Connor’s Wedding” rightly lingers on the reaction of the Roy siblings to the news of their father’s passing, it also acknowledges that they and everyone else have a responsibility to the public and to the company shareholders. There will be chaos in the wake of Logan’s passing, and that chaos has to be managed for the good of the markets.
So, on the plane, Karl, Karolina, and Tom float around in as respectful a way as possible that they should probably start working on a statement. The world needs to know Logan’s dead, but they also need to know that Waystar is under control. The board needs to give assurances. The kids need to say something. The sale needs to go through, especially since Kendall, Shiv, and Roman have already promised an eye-watering sum of money to Nan Pierce.
Tom, who is the primary point of contact between the plane and the kids, calls Greg and tells him to delete certain sensitive files from his work computer. True to form, even in the midst of losing his only tether to success and protection, he’s thinking about himself.
Do Connor and Willa get married?
It’s easy to forget that all this takes place during Connor’s wedding. And while he doesn’t take the news of his father’s passing especially well – “He never even liked me” is his initial response – he’s the only character in the show who gets something of a happy ending here.
With the initial plans completely derailed, and the entire family in disarray, Connor and Willa exchange their vows anyway. She might not have been able to completely deny the fact she’s with him for his money and security, but when she said she was happy, she seemed to mean it.
Succession Season 4 Episode 3 Ending Explained
Sincerity between the Roy siblings has never been at a premium in Succession, but this episode ends with Kendall, Roman, and Shiv hugging, and for once they seem to need it.
Waystar’s stock price has plummeted. Logan’s death is public. And while Shiv has just delivered a teary speech to the press that the kids will be very present during Waystar’s post-Logan transition, she didn’t seem sure.
You can stream Succession Season 4, Episode 3, “Connor’s Wedding” exclusively on HBO and HBO Max.
