Opinion | The ‘Succession’ Finale Is Almost Here. Will They Get It Right?

The ending of “Succession” is upon us. So how you can finish this bitter masterpiece?

Do they shoot ahead in time, stealing a web page from the legendary finale of “Six Toes Below”? Possibly provide a glimpse of the long run with that good-looking sociopath and potential president they’ve put in energy? Or simply lower to black earlier than somebody assassinates Kendall? (I’m somebody who truly appreciated the ending of “The Sopranos.”)

Attainable however not possible. None of these choices really feel fairly proper.

That’s the factor a couple of good ending: It must be each ineffable and natural. And sadly, a wrong-footed ending can nearly smash an in any other case good piece of artwork. The greatness of the astonishing “Sport of Thrones” was severely undercut by too many missteps in its remaining episodes. Jaime goes again to Cersei and a home falls on them? The elegant and beloved Daenerys goes bonkers and burns down King’s Touchdown? Bran will get the throne? What we would like from an ending is a grand “amen,” akin to we received from “Breaking Dangerous.” However “Sport of Thrones” was extra of a “huh?”

I’ve considered endings quite a bit as a result of I’ve to jot down them. Whereas I often have a obscure concept of an ending after I begin writing a play, I don’t need every little thing set in stone. When you don’t map the story out too ruthlessly, it’s going to reveal itself to you within the writing — and there may be usually a secret topic, one thing each shocking and inevitable that your thoughts was holding on to, that finally presents itself. One thing good, like an angel crashing by way of the ceiling. Or “I’ve all the time relied on the kindness of strangers.” Or the truth that there actually is a cabal of satan worshipers residing within the Dakota on the Higher West Aspect. These are nice endings.

The ending ought to develop out of every little thing that got here earlier than, but in addition be completely different from every little thing that got here earlier than. A fantastic ending could be about transformation, by which our central character escapes, or finds real love, or discovers a profound fact and achieves internal knowledge (as in “Mad Males,” besides the profound fact was about Coca-Cola). Or it may be about justice, which rains down on those that deserve it and ruins those that don’t. (See each superhero film.) Or its reverse, the concept justice has deserted everybody. (See “The Godfather.”) A very good ending can contain a delicate, mournful lack of hope. (See Chekhov.) It could actually have a good time the restored and renewed order {that a} marriage can present to a disordered world. (See Shakespeare.) Or it could actually resolve with the notion that marriage is definitely not going to resolve something. (Once more, see Shakespeare.)

At its greatest, a sublimely written ending will elevate every little thing that got here earlier than into the realm of timeless knowledge: “So we beat on, boats in opposition to the present, borne again ceaselessly into the previous,” because the narrator of “The Nice Gatsby” concludes.

Tv gives completely different challenges — and never simply because the viewers will sit and stew for every week (or extra) obsessing about the way it all would possibly finish. Tv is constructed in another way from different kinds of drama, so naturally it ends in another way, too.

You begin with a pilot episode, which can or could not make it to air, and then you definitely inchworm your self by way of a primary season. At that time the ending is to date off it’s laborious to take the thought of it critically. In spite of everything, if nobody watches, you’ll simply be canceled anyway. So that you’re not making an attempt to think about the ending — you’re making an attempt to keep away from it.

That’s why really nice endings are particularly laborious to return by in tv. TV reveals will not be about the ending; they’re concerning the center. They’re about how lengthy you possibly can preserve that present on the air. When you might have a success, usually nobody is in a giant hurry to get to the ending, which is why phrases like “bounce the shark” have entered the lexicon. The center is the place tv thrives.

For me, the ending of Season 2 of “Succession,” when Kendall betrayed his father, Logan, to the world and threatened to convey the entire home of playing cards down on everybody’s head, was maybe the collection’s most spectacular second. That whisper of a smile from Logan as he watched the disaster was mysterious, superb and human. Did he secretly need Kendall to seize the reins? Maybe so. It was undeniably nice tv. Then Logan went forward and destroyed Kendall over again in Season 3. And the present went again to the beginning gate. There’s a type of circularity in TV that’s inherent within the kind. Because of this so many reveals finish in what can solely be known as “the group hug.” “Mary Tyler Moore” did it; “The Workplace” did it; “Seinfeld” did an incarcerated model of it.

I believe that we aren’t getting a bunch hug out of “Succession.”

As endings go, “Succession” is a particular case, and never simply because the creator Jesse Armstrong selected not solely how you can finish the present, but in addition when. (He’s said it has “been type of current” in his thoughts from the very starting.) With “Succession,” the ending has all the time been constructed proper into the title.

My daring prediction? I can let you know what gained’t occur: Logan gained’t come again to life. The kids gained’t promote the corporate to somebody who reveals up all of the sudden from China with a greater provide. It gained’t activate a deus ex machina that reveals up as a result of no one knew how you can land the rattling airplane so they simply introduced in one thing from nowhere and that’s the top.

As for what will occur, I really feel assured in promising this: The ending of “Succession” will fulfill the story and never betray the spirit of what has come earlier than. Its creators have proved over 4 seasons that they’re higher than that.

That’s why I’ll be tuning in. I can’t wait to see the way it ends.

Theresa Rebeck is a playwright, tv author and novelist. Her most up-to-date play on Broadway was “Bernhardt/Hamlet,” and she or he is the creator of the TV present “Smash.”