From the first minute, Succession has been a cynical, absurd tragicomedy commentating
on many things - the top-heavy nature of modern capitalist America, the sheer
nonsensical scale of inordinate wealth, greed, entitlement, politics on a micro and macro scale,
and somehow a hell of a lot more. The extremely Shakespearean approach to the plot, themes and
defining moments merges beautifully with the comedic style to form a full package that is
so rich with ideas and entertainment value at any given moment - and yet, because of that,
it’s easy at times for some of the substance to get lost for the viewer - and that can be okay,
because at the end of the day, art is about enjoyment of some form,
and what each viewer takes away from it, not about taking away the exact same thing as someone else.
But I digress - the TLDR of this is that Succession is about so many things that
it can feel overwhelming at times. But for me the most primary among them is the nature
of family. How people, and specifically in this case, the Roys, hurt and manipulate one another
for their own selfish gain having grown up from under the tutelage of their cruel,
meritocratic and yet somehow still loving father. How generations of embedded trauma are not easy
to shake as those roots ingrain themselves in every victim. The story of the three kids
taking the reigns from Logan has been a factor from Season 1 - with Kendall always seeming to
get closest to usurping his father and making him proud through going through the motions and
having moments of being a killer, but ultimately continuously regressing. With Shiv being the most
savvy candidate, but ultimately never properly being given a fair chance at the throne. And
with Roman being the child most starved of love and most interested in emulating the
spirit of his father out of respect, despite being consistently abused by him. The family
dynamics here are so rich both between the kids and each of them and their father,
and we could talk for ages about each individual one. Logan, his three kids and what it means
to be who each of them are are front and center as the focus for this story. And yet,
we are still missing a very important, yet sadly not as important, element of this equation.
Connor Roy is Logan’s first son from a previous marriage, and half brother to Kendall, Roman and
Shiv. And while he is similar to them through being a result of his familial experiences and
embedded with this heavy fixation on Logan, he is also incredibly different. He is not even thought
of as a contender to take the throne by all involved, and he is treated as something of an
afterthought by those in the business, his family, and devilishly, even the show at large sometimes.
He is decidedly not as central a character as the main four, and while that is an organic
bi-product of the story structure, something about that also feels deliberate and a little meta. If
you take a look at YouTube, the platform has been littered with video essays about Logan, Kendall,
Shiv, Roman, Tom and Greg in recent years, and especially as the final season has heated up.
But I have yet to find a single video focused on Connor, who always seems to be mentioned as
a less important addition. He is a forgotten man. By his family, by the corporate world he inhabits,
by the audience, and even intentionally by the show at times. And yet, through contrast,
his characterization and role help inform us about so much of what this story is saying.
In terms of personality, Connor is definitely cut from a different cloth from his siblings,
mostly bereft of the cutting cynicism and harshness that characterizes a lot of their words
and behaviour - although it is very important to mention that this does not make him “good”
in any sense. He is still permeated by privilege and indolence, and some of the behaviours he
displays between the lines towards Willa early on are extremely concerning. But I say this to
illustrate that he is detached and different from his siblings. And a big part of that is
his less intimate relationship with his father, having stated a few times throughout the story
that he went long periods without seeing Logan. This is summed up beautifully and sadly through
Connor’s gift to Logan on his 80th birthday - a batch of traditional sourdough starter,
reminiscent of how it is made back in Logan’s home country of Scotland. Now, this isn’t the best
execution of an 80th birthday gift, and it won’t win any awards - but there was thought behind it,
to try to give his father a little piece of home, and it was obviously unappreciated. Just like his
efforts to be loved in general. Connor is a defeatist who despises the cutthroat world of
corporate politics and prefers not to engage when things get tough - likely something he
picked up from Logan being too domineering for his comfort as a kid. And Logan does not want that in
his children - he wants them to be fighters, to progress through the cruel adversity he sets for
them and come out the other side better for it, like he did in life. Now with regards to this,
I think we can safely conclude that Logan realized that Connor is not the type of child he wanted,
and so as a result, Logan simply didn’t care for him all that much and restricted most of
his interactions with him as playing the part of the bare minimum a father must do - a pale shadow,
full of disappointment and realizing that this relationship is not one he values. Out of his
kids, He is the most genial and nice to Connor, but that in itself is key proof that he likes him
the least. Because he digs into those he loves. I could understand some thinking of this evaluation
as harsh, but I really don’t think he cares for him. Logan treats Connor with kid gloves the
entire series and didn’t spare a second thought for his wedding due to his business dealings,
and I think that about sums up his thoughts on his eldest son. We also learn throughout
the story that Connor’s mother experienced severe psychological issues and extreme bouts of mental
illness - and we don’t need to read too much between the lines to see could easily be due
partly to Logan. This was so traumatizing to Connor that after his mother being taken in
to an institution, all he did was eat cake for a week straight - which his own family mocked
and derided him for. All in all, Connor’s family life is deeply sad, with the only
person who could have possibly genuinely loved him driven to mental illness and taken away,
and his only remaining family thinking of him as an afterthought and embarrassment.
As a result of this, he is filled will a deeply rooted anxiety and feelings
of inadequacy and insecurity with regards to his reputation and being worthy of his name,
and acts outwards to compensate for that.
He places a disproportionate importance on menial tasks like the temperature of butter
during dinners simply because those are under HIS perview, and HE must always be at his best
to impress Logan and make him proud. He comes up with the absolutely bizarre idea to run for
president in a futile attempt to make something of himself, while only making himself look like a bit
of a joke to those whose opinions matter most to him. Without excusing any of his misdeeds,
he’s a sad character and a lot of his actions are what he has learned as a response to the
specifics of his horrible upbringing, like most characters in the show. He is
ultimately hollow and pointless as a member of the family, only in meetings out of obligation,
given mundane tasks that he overcompensates for in order to impress while sitting on his cash
from the comforts of his ranch. Even the episode titled after him is ironic, being memorable for
something completely removed from him. He’s a brushed-aside character of futility. While
Logan is consistently disappointed with and manipulates the main three siblings, he at
least engages with them. But with Connor, all it’s ever been almost his entire life is standing on
ceremony because it’s what he is obligated to do as a father - which is far from enough, obviously.
And Connor’s first words upon hearing of Logan’s death tell a story of their own. They come
in two parts, both very hard-hitting for different reasons. Firstly - “he
never even liked me.” And secondly - “I never got a chance to make him proud.”
While the former hits slightly harder for me due to it being his initial gut reaction to
not being able to see him again, both of these are true, speaking of Connor’s deepest and most
genuine feelings and the honest resonance of his character. Logan Roy abused all of his children,
and he was a horrible father, but the truth is that he loved Kendall,
Shiv and Roman. I don’t think he ever loved Connor. Because there was only ever one way
that any of his children could ever have made him proud. And while the other three failed,
they at least showed occasional signs of potential. But Connor was never close at all.
However, while this is nowhere close to an adequate way to live in terms of emotional
nourishment, there is a chance that all of this may actually stand Connor in
relatively good stead for the rest of his life. He is insecure, validation seeking,
overcompensatory and filled with disappointment and sadness, but season 4 shows a slight shift.
He voices these things in the strongest way he has done so thus far, and he makes clear strides
towards acceptance of this and who he is. And this is where the contrast of his character follows
through in reverse. I mentioned that Connor has never been involved in the business, but what’s
interesting and key is that that is out of choice. Just as he avoids tension and confrontation,
so too does he avoid family politics. He simply prefers to live out his days separate, on his own,
chasing impossibilities on his ranch with his betrothed. This life isn’t for him,
and this is where we get to the main idea here - it takes some time, but eventually, Connor sees
reality for what it is. It’s hard to take, but he ultimately accepts that he is the forgotten son.
Just as he accepted early on that the succession business wasn’t for him, he acknowledges that he
was never suited to being the son he wanted to be. It’s painful, but this acceptance is key
to moving on. This cuts deep, and it sucks for Connor. But it is reality. Deep down he knows
his place and isn’t clouded by any illusions of his importance, role, standing or who he is,
and this is something akin to closure. Whereas his siblings are unable to know for sure just where
they stand due to the cruel game Logan played with them, and this continues to be a factor after his
death - leading to heartbreak, confusion and pain both now and in the future too, you’d imagine.
So maybe, given his context.. Connor is better off like this? Showrunner Jesse Armstrong has
said that core to the philosophy of Succession is that people don’t really significantly
change over time at their core, but rather reveal more about themselves as layers are
peeled back and their situations show us more dimensions. And I think there’s
a chance that Logan’s death may have helped Connor come to terms with exactly who he is,
despite his obvious grief, sadness and regret. Why stick your nose in this dog eat dog,
cyclical torment? This has never been fulfilling for anyone involved, and even with the old man
dead it continues to take Connor’s siblings on a ride of pain. So maybe it’s better to lean into
his lifestyle with pride, sit on his wealth, buy his dads old place and live it up. And
maybe it was better for him to be unloved by Logan than otherwise. It sounds crazy,
but who knows? It’s no doubt hard for him to think of it this way, but maybe he’ll come to understand
that he was better off getting out before being put through the wringer, better off being unloved
and pitied rather than suffering long term deep abuse and manipulation. Now of course,
neglect is its own type of abuse and I’m not at all handwaving that, but the trajectory of
Connor’s character really does make me genuinely feel this way. Indifference is in many ways
the opposite of love, and maybe the former is more beneficial than the latter in this case.
Perhaps the one most removed from the Succession War will end up the
happiest in matters business, psychological, and.. personal.
Because while it is definitely quite ugly how his and Willa’s relationship started,
it has evolved into something.. quite nice. The two are straight up with the fact that this isn’t
true, mutual fairytale love, and Willa herself admits that there is an element of her marrying
him partly for his means, and she’s honest about that. But true to the key theme here, Connor
accepts that. He understands, and in spite of this lack of a deep love the two do still care for one
another and have a functional, happy relationship that both enjoy. It doesn’t have to be overly
flowery or fantastical. That’s life. It’s mundane, but believable and organic, just like the bizarre,
absurd anticlimax of Logan’s actual death. Having grown off of no love, Connor is able to take the
moderate amount of affection Willa displays for him and truly value and cherish it as
life-defining. And despite it not being perfect, there’s something oddly beautiful about that.
And if we take this stance as a genuine possibility of an interpretation,
it says a lot that the character left most satisfied and fulfilled
could be the one most removed from this entire succession business.
There is a cynicality to this as Connor inherited this wealth and gains happiness pretty much
through no outward grift of his own, but his journey was learning to accept that he was always
going to be forgotten simply due to the nature of who he was. It’s a critique on obscene wealth,
but also on the brutal politics of these sorts of mega-corporations and how it tears those involved
apart and leaves them with gaping holes in their lives. Sometimes, people can’t move
past these hangups. In rare times, they can. Even with those most successful - the greed,
the chase for power, the victory.. the happiness associated with those things
is elusive through the exhaustion. At this point in time I wouldn’t call Shiv,
Roman or Kendall anything close to happy, nor would I say that they’ve had any significant
period of happiness throughout their lives. And Connor hasn’t either,
but I think he now has the means for the sun to peak through the clouds just a little bit.
I would not be surprised at all if Connor ends up being the happiest Roy by the end, and it would
make extreme thematic sense. He is the forgotten son, but that doesn’t mean he can’t live a life
of value, and maybe being forgotten by horrible people isn’t so bad. Many thanks for watching.