Every ‘Succession’ Episode Ranked From Worst to Best
This past week, HBO’s latest addition to the pantheon of prestige television came to an unforgettable conclusion, with all of our favorite narcissists and “business psychos” wrapping up their respective arcs in the bleakest possible ways.
Succession consistently enthralled us with masterful performances and incredible writing, while striking a wonderful balance between profanity and the profound. But it’s also so much more than that, with its dark introspection on cycles of abuse, its analysis on how we deal with grief, and holding up a mirror to its audience asking why we want to root for these sociopaths. It will go down as one of the defining shows of the 21st century. From the Season One finale “Celebration” all the way through to series closer “With Open Eyes,” it was “all bangers, all the time.”
Here is Rolling Stone’s ranking of every Succession episode from worst to best.
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Season 3, Episode 4: “Lion in the Meadow”
It remains incredible how a show can just drop Adrien Brody in for one episode as the god of outerwear, while he basically causes Logan Roy to collapse from exposure and exhaustion. I don’t even really remember what happened in this episode, and I don’t care. All hail the god of outerwear.
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Season 1, Episode 3: “Lifeboats”
“So I just wanted to get the gang together early in my tenure to say, uh, … yo” is maybe the funniest thing Kendall Roy ever said, and it’s a long, long list. Having said that, “Lifeboats” is Succession still in its brief gestation period before going on to become something truly transcendent. It does offer some “good memeage” as Cousin Greg might say though, with Roman’s iconic despair looking at the emails flood in now that he’s COO.
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Season 1, Episode 5: “I Went to Market”
I think everyone has experienced a family dinner, whether it’s Thanksgiving, Christmas or any other celebration, and it’s been less than fun. Well, be glad you’re not a fucking Roy, because this looks rough. We get our introduction to Ewan (played excellently throughout the series by James Cromwell), and he’s absolutely not a fan of Waystar Royco. Kendall begins to plan his vote of no confidence. And Logan kind of hits one of his grandchildren. Honestly, I feel better about my family dinners now.
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Season 3, Episode 1: “Secession”
“Secession” struggled a lot due to the overwhelming expectations that came with Season Three opening after the phenomenal “This Is Not For Tears” Season Two finale. It’s an OK episode (which by Succession standards means it’s better than almost anything on television), but it falls a shade flat. There’s a lot of milling around airports on the Logan side, while Kendall attempts to curry public favor via his Twitter, which he wants to be “off the hook.”
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Season 1, Episode 2: “Shit Show at the Fuck Factory”
It’s not hard to understand people when they say they couldn’t get into Succession because the characters were just so deeply unlikeable. As their father lies in a near-death state following his stroke, the Roy siblings swarm to his bedside with something approaching care, while also jockeying for the best position should Logan die. And if that isn’t enough, Tom proposes to Shiv while her father lays dying. Such a hopeless romantic.
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Season 2, Episode 9: “DC”
Predominantly set against the backdrop of a Senate hearing into the Waystar cruise scandal, we get the hall of fame Tom and Greg performances (“You can’t make a Tomlette without breaking some Gregs” and “If it is to be said, so it is” being the main highlights), and also Kendall and Shiv (in different ways) helping to pull the company out of the mire it found itself in. “DC” had the potential to be a special episode, and while it has some great moments, I’m not sure it quite got it right.
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Season 1, Episode 1: “Celebration”
“Celebration” is an odd episode within the canon of Succession, as so many of the plot threads just fall by the wayside. Roman looking like he has a family, Marcia wishing to have seats on the board, and of course the main one: What happened to Connor’s sourdough starter?!
However, it does lay out pretty much everything you need to know about the spine of the show. These people are objectively terrible, dangling a million bucks in front of a family before snatching it away just for fun. Tom’s toadying attitude toward Logan is on full display, which will continue to play a significant part moving forward as our favorite narcissistic Midwesterner does anything to grasp onto power.
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Season 2, Episode 7: “Return”
The key throughline in Season Two is Logan’s stranglehold over Kendall, regardless of what takes place in the background with the company or the other siblings. “Return” is a great example of this, as Tom and Greg burn some documents pertaining to the cruise scandal (although Greg betrays his fellow Disgusting Brother and rescues some), Shiv tries to maneuver herself back into the CEO picture after being left out in the cold, and so on.
But the episode hinges on Kendall’s return to the U.K. and a visit to the cater waiter’s parents. A broken Kendall later delivers cash in secret to the family, and tries to open up to his mother, only to be abandoned… again. It’s not particularly hard to see why Kendall is the way he is.
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Season 1, Episode 4: “Sad Sack Wasp Trap”
Planting the seeds for future plotlines, namely the Waystar cruise scandal that Tom now finds himself buried within, “Sad Sack Wasp Trap” doesn’t move us forward a huge amount, and we’re a couple of episodes shy of the show truly finding the sweet spot. It sits pretty low on the list, but we can bump it up a couple of places just for Conner’s rant about the butter being too cold.
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Season 2, Episode 8: “Dundee”
Look, I can talk about the key points of the episode. The scheming. The performances. The nuanced way Succession depicts Logan Roy’s abuse of his children. But who gives a shit when this is the episode where we get the greatest rap ever put to television. L to the OG. Kendall was spitting bars, and I’ll hear no other opinions.
Obviously, it’s depressing that Kendall feels the need to do something as mad as this to earn the tiniest bit of appreciation from his father, but still, with rhymes like, “Bro, don’t get it twisted, I’ve been through hell… But since I stan Dad, I’m alive and well,” who needs love anyway?
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Season 4, Episode 5: “Kill List”
“Kill List” is an outstanding episode, but it’s so jam-packed full of plot threads that it’s hard to break it down into a single caption. It’s a great episode for Lukas Matsson though, and the clear takeaway is just how much better at this he is compared to the Roy siblings – despite his very obvious (and gross) flaws – namely sending blood to coworkers/lovers and wearing headphones so he can listen to podcasts while he bangs.
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Season 3, Episode 3: “The Disruption”
The episode in which Kendall interrupts Shiv with a recording of Nirvana’s “Rape Me,” to which she responds by publishing an open letter about Kendall’s many, many faults. It’s quite a heavy-handed episode for a show renowned for its subtlety, but the image of Kendall cowering in the server room after cancelling his appearance on the titular talk show is one of the countless moments where we sit in awe at how Jeremy Strong conveys so much by doing something as simple as sitting.
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Season 2, Episode 1: “The Summer Palace”
There’s something grotesquely symbolic about the rotting raccoons stuffed up the chimney at the Roy’s palatial Hamptons summer home, as they’re no more rotten than the Roy family themselves. A towering episode for Logan Roy has him manipulating his family into positions a contortionist would be proud of. Kendall is now well and truly his father’s puppet, and Shiv fully believes Logan wants her to succeed him, despite every sign possible that he does not.
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Season 2, Episode 6: “Argestes”
“Argestes” is a tough episode to take in, mostly because of the way Logan hits Roman, with this easy, casual cruelty that makes you think it isn’t the first time. But it’s also kind of beautiful in how swiftly Kendall reacts with the iconic, “Hey! Hey! No! Don’t fucking touch him!,” giving us at least a glimpse of the tiny ray of goodness in one of these Roy siblings.
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Season 4, Episode 6: “Living+”
There’s something brilliant about Kendall’s Living+ presentation, taking place at the first investor day since Logan’s passing. Kendall massages the numbers on everything he possibly can, over-promising on anything in sight – from the number of houses they can build to literally how much longer he can keep people alive.
And somehow, people believe him. Capitalism is honestly so absurd sometimes.
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Season 2, Episode 3: “Hunting”
It’s tough to pin down where Logan Roy is at his most despicable. When he hits Iverson, or Roman? When he tears Kendall apart in “Chiantishire?” Or when he forces Tom, Greg and Karl to scurry along the floor chasing sausages in a memorable performance of Boar on the Floor in “Hunting?” It’s incredible cruelty and humiliation, and a perfect encapsulation of the malevolent power the Roy patriarch commands.
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Season 4, Episode 1: “The Munsters”
I’m just going to say it: The Hundred sounds fucking dope. “Substack meets Masterclass meets The Economist meets The New Yorker” is about as mad a media franchise as you could imagine, like the bastard lovechild of old legacy media and the new content generation. Obviously, it’s dumped fairly quickly as the children once more focus their attention on controlling Waystar, because in reality, it’s all they know. No matter how many billions sit in their accounts, they are ultimately obsessed with chasing what they see as their inheritance, and they’re nothing without that.
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Season 1, Episode 9: “Pre-Nuptial”
While much is often made of season finales, the penultimate episodes are often just as impactful and impressive. “Pre-Nuptial” is a fine example of that. So much happens in this hour of television, setting the pieces on the board for the Season One finale. We’re approaching Shiv and Tom’s wedding (which will 100% go off without a hitch), Kendall is sinking further into his vices, and the impending takeover of Waystar Royco by Sandy and Stewy gets moved up to the wedding day itself.
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Season 4, Episode 4: “Honeymoon States”
Following “Connor’s Wedding” is an unenviable task for an episode, and yet “Honeymoon States” masterfully keeps the ball rolling and continues to show the siblings dealing with their loss in their own way, while other characters reappear to take their slice of grief pie and see what crumbs might be left over for them (I’m looking at you here, Marcia).
From Frank’s tender moment with Kendall, through to the reveal of the disputed will (crossed out or underlined, or it just doesn’t matter?), “Honeymoon States” deals with Logan Roy’s death about as well as you could have imagined.
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Season 4, Episode 2: “Rehearsal”
An immense episode for Logan Roy culminating in the outstanding line, “I love you, but you are not serious people” — the last real words he’ll say to his assembled children. But while his karaoke appearance and his ATN pep talk are standout moments, Alan Ruck’s Connor Roy deserves every ounce of adulation for his remarkable performance throughout “Rehearsal.”
The oft-overlooked sibling fully understands his place in the family (if not society itself): he’s the odd one out, and he always will be. And as he tells his gathered siblings that “the good thing about having a family that doesn’t love you is you learn to live without it.” it truly sinks in what an incredible character Connor has been. Perhaps even better is the line, “I’m a plant that grows on rocks and lives off insects that die inside of me.”
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Season 3, Episode 2: “Mass in Time of War”
An episode that eloquently encapsulates the poison that drips through this family, as the siblings connect in Kendall’s post-press conference war room (Rava’s home). They are being “open” with each other, for lack of a better word, but all of them have their own schemes that remind you each and every one of them wants nothing more than the power that they believe is inherently theirs.
Kendall is playing for the throne of Waystar, as he always will. Shiv is keeping all of her options open to get the best position for herself, as she always will. And Roman is quietly keeping his father in the loop, looking for that one shred of appreciation that he remains hopelessly desperate for, as he always will.
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Season 3, Episode 5: “Retired Janitors of Idaho”
Logan goes “piss mad” and the episode is delightfully prophetic for what is to come in Season Four. It’s a hilarious episode, but also an excellent reminder that none of these people have a clue what to do when Logan Roy is no longer around.
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Season 1, Episode 8: “Prague”
“Prague” is up there with the funniest episodes of Succession as Roman organizes Tom’s bachelor party, taking them to an underground party full of debauchery. It’s just a lighthearted hour of television as Greg does a shitload of cocaine and Tom swallows his own cum, insisting that it was “so hot.”
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Season 4, Episode 7: “Tailgate Party”
Yeah, yeah, yeah – it’s a pivotal episode before the election and in ramping up the stakes for the impending Waystar takeover. But the only thing to focus on is the lengthy exchange between Shiv and Tom on their balcony to close the episode, as every buried resentment, every unhealed wound resurfaces in a verbal battle between two of TV’s titans. It’s both mesmerizing and deeply painful, as the best of Succession always is.
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Season 2, Episode 5: “Tern Haven”
“Tern Haven” is incredible while also being so uncomfortable that you’re squirming on your sofa. The Waystar acquisition of Pierce Global Media was never a wise move, and this is illustrated perfectly with the dinner sequence in this episode. It’s just a horrible clash of cultures, as the ruthlessness of Logan Roy and his enterprises grinds up against the floaty liberalism of PGM. And if that wasn’t enough discomfort for you, we get the start of Roman and Gerri’s… not really a relationship, but, you know… thing.
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Season 1, Episode 7: “Austerlitz”
The episode that takes us to Connor’s ranch in New Mexico (sweet set-up for the first pancake of the siblings), as Logan gathers the family for a therapy session/photoshoot to ensure the company stock stops tanking. It sees Succession deliver the dark comedy mixed with desperate poignancy that would define the show for seasons to come. The therapist diving head-first into the shallow end of the pool, only to lose most of his teeth, marks the comedic highpoint, while Logan’s bare torso reveal at episode’s end, showing the countless scars received from the abuse he suffered marks that emotional high (or low) point. Cycles of abuse are as pivotal to Succession as capitalist greed. It’s an astonishing example of “show don’t tell,” which is the mark of a truly exceptional show.
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Season 2, Episode 2: “Vaulter”
“Vaulter” is perhaps one of the least important episodes of Succession and simultaneously one of the most prescient. There’s a good chunk of the episode revolving around Roman and Shiv on a double date with their respective partners, but “Vaulter” should only be looked at through the titular plotline. It’s a cutting analysis of online media companies and how they’re treated by legacy media when they’re inevitably gobbled up. As an up-and-coming digital journalist, “Vaulter” is a deeply uncomfortable watch.
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Season 3, Episode 7: “Too Much Birthday”
Sitting high in the pantheon of Jeremy Strong performances, “Too Much Birthday” is the Icarus moment for our Number One Boy. Throughout Season Three, he’s thrown off the shackles of his Season Two catatonia (seemingly), and his birthday party is full messiah complex. But the disdain his siblings possess for him – only there to glad–hand with Lukas Matsson – ultimately drives Kendall back into utter misery and despair, as the episode closes with his head resting on the lap of Naomi Pierce.
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Season 4, Episode 8: “America Decides”
Throughout the entirety of Succession’s run, Roman became the majority of viewers’ favorite sibling, if such a thing is possible. We all sort of knew that the throne would never be his, and Kieran Culkin’s snappy wit and dark sarcasm endeared us to the character in a perverse kind of way. Then “America Decides” happened, and we were all confronted with the reminder that these people are monsters, doing whatever it takes to stay in their spotlights and grasp for power over the bones of others – in this case, over the bones of the U.S.A. Who cares if a fascist firebrand is president if it means you get to sit in the inner circle? “America Decides” is the darkest episode of Succession, and one of its toughest watches. But damn, what a show.
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Season 3, Episode 8: “Chiantishire”
While the skyscrapers of New York City are an incredible backdrop for the majority of Succession, it’s always special when it stretches its legs out to the wider world. Filmed in Tuscany, “Chiantishire” is an affective episode for almost every character. Roman delivers his iconic dick pic blunder, before slinking into his chair and looking more child-like than ever. Kendall and Logan share a phenomenal scene over a candlelit dinner in which the son is once more destroyed by the father. Even Greg, often the butt of the joke around the Roy family circle, is starting to flex his muscles and look for greater conquests to match his growing ambition and power.
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Season 3, Episode 6: “What It Takes”
“What It Takes” is Succession running at peak, triumphant performance. Not quite as triumphant as Greg being held aloft by Proud Boys chanting “Fuck Greenpeace,” but still, picking the next president is pretty impressive. Our introduction to Jeryd Mencken (Justin Kirk, take a bow) and his overwhelming thoughts on “purity” is perhaps the most consequential moment of the episode, but there are few better scenes in Succession than Kendall and Tom’s diner summit. It’s like a high society, capitalist version of Vincent Hanna and Neil McCauley in Heat. Kendall is seeking allies in his bid to oust Daddy Logan, while Tom, now facing jail, feels free for maybe the first time since joining the Roy circle. “I’ve seen you get fucked a lot, and I’ve never seen Logan get fucked once” would prove to ultimately be an accurate assessment of Kendall given where we finished.
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Season 1, Episode 6: “Which Side Are You On?”
“Which Side Are You On?” was the real turning point for Succession, taking a show with intriguing ideas that had not yet found their fullest potential before unleashing a tense hour of television centered around the vote of no confidence to oust Logan Roy from Waystar. His menacing presence, however, is enough to dominate the proceedings his way, and a late-arriving Kendall delivers one of the very best “Kendall Roy looking defeated and broken faces,” standing in the boardroom doorway like he’s seen a ghost.
The episode has also aged wonderfully given how significant its themes are to the series finale “With Open Eyes” – a board vote, a sibling changing their mind, Kendall looking devastated.
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Season 2, Episode 4: “Safe Room”
So much is happening in “Safe Room,” from Holly Hunter’s arrival as Rhea Jarrell to the whole scene with Tom and *checks notes* literal Nazi, Mark Ravenhead – ATN’s motormouth host akin to certain real-life media figures. But the real triumph of this episode is Kendall, and namely, Jeremy Strong’s performance. His mental health crumbles throughout Season Two, and the repeating trip to the Waystar rooftop is a shattering symbol of this, as he lingers close to the edge under the watchful eyes of security cameras. The final trip at episode’s end, with Kendall at his lowest point, sees that glass barriers have been fitted all around the perimeter – a haunting portrait of how trapped Kendall has become in both the prison of his mind, and in his relationship with Logan.
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Season 4, Episode 9: “Church and State”
“Church and State” manages to tackle both the grandiose and the minutiae of Succession with masterful class. From Ewan’s cutting eulogy to the dark heart within his brother, to Roman’s coffin-side breakdown, to Kendall’s immediate maneuvering at the mausoleum with Hugo – it provided powerful character moments that would stick with you, and reminded you how deeply damaged this family truly is.
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Season 4, Episode 10: “With Open Eyes”
So many questions swirled before the Succession finale about whether the show would stick the landing (of course it would), and about who would win (you haven’t been watching), yet “With Open Eyes” still managed to hit those expectations out of the ballpark with a home run series finale. Much like Season One’s “Whose Side Are You On?,” “With Open Eyes” all hinges on a tightly contested board vote that looks to be in Kendall’s favor once he has secured Shiv’s vote. But in the end, Shiv (as her name would suggest), metaphorically stabs her brother in the back and votes the way which sees her gain the most: a loveless marriage, but a position in the inner circle.
Kendall’s devastation and return to the water at episode’s end remains a haunting reminder of the motif that has followed him since the Season One finale, and it drives home the ultimate lesson about these broken children. They have just made billions, and yet their lives are as empty as ever.
Roman’s ending is perhaps the most eloquent, however, in that he finally feels like a free man, recognizing that he can still find some solace, even if it’s at the bottom of a martini glass alone while reminiscing over Gerri. His wry smile acts as a beautiful but disheartening reminder of the stark disparities between himself and Kendall.
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Season 3, Episode 9: “All the Bells Say”
A masterful episode in itself, and a masterful episode in the wider context of where Succession finished. All along, Tom was the character who would “make his own fucking pile,” keeping Logan in the loop about the siblings’ plan so that he can block them through some indirect means. The siblings themselves, after finally uniting in a scene that has all the aesthetics of a renaissance painting, aim to block a GoJo takeover and snatch the company from under the nose of their father, but ultimately fall short – something of a recurring theme. The Godfather-esque ending of the door closing and the understanding dawning on Shiv’s face about who her husband really is stands out as one of the most powerful scenes within the entirety of Succession.
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Season 4, Episode 3: “Connor’s Wedding”
It’s a great flex that the most seismic episode in Succession history has the blandest title. “Connor’s Wedding” is, of course, the episode in which Logan Roy dies on the plane, and the children scramble around in their anguish. It’s a stark reminder of mortality: we all die the same. But it’s also a stark reminder of grief: we can’t always be there to say goodbye.
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Season 1, Episode 10: “Nobody Is Ever Missing”
If “Whose Side Are You On?” is the episode that established Succession as must-see TV, “Nobody Is Ever Missing” is the episode that catapulted it into the prestige-TV stratosphere. It brought the show from high-stakes capitalist drama full of backstabbing and narcissism to tragedy of the highest caliber.
While plenty takes place, such as Shiv telling Tom she wants an open relationship on their wedding night (tough beat, my guy), the episode will solely be remembered for Kendall’s car crash, the death of the cater waiter, the beginning of the recurring water motif that surrounds Kendall in his deepest moments, and his devastating submission to his father at the end as Logan declares, “You’re my boy. You’re my number one boy.”
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Season 2, Episode 10: “This Is Not for Tears”
For the sake of brevity, we can’t dive into everything that makes this the very best episode of Succession, and indeed, one of the very best episodes of television ever. Every frame, every line of dialogue, every sequence, every Nicholas Britell piano key and cello string – it works seamlessly to create an episode of despair for every character.
From the blood sacrifice discussion between Logan and Kendall (“You’re not a killer. You have to be a killer.”) to Tom and Shiv’s conversation sat on the sand (“I wonder if the sad I’d be without you, would be less than the sad I get from being with you.”) to the closing moments of Kendall kissing his father on the cheek before heading to his press conference where he will try and prove to his father that he is, indeed, a killer. The closing shot of the Roy family patriarch flashing the ghost of a smirk remains one of the most skillful and enigmatic season closers to date.