‘Succession’ Drops the Dick Pic That Could Change Everything
Succession has told us just enough about Logan Roy’s history to know that however he’s abused his kids, it’s no worse than what he endured as a child. We know that he and his brother, Ewan, grew up in the care of their uncle, Noah. Logan still blames himself for the death of their sister, Rose—and whatever happened to him and Ewan afterward, it seared a lot of angry, red scars into his back.
Logan’s scars appear in Season 1’s “Austerlitz,” which finds the Roys reunited at oldest son and certified black sheep Connor’s ranch. (The reason for the gathering? An interview-slash-photo opp designed to boost Waystar’s stock with a little publicized family therapy.) After a less than productive discussion with three rightfully frustrated children and a freshly relapsed Kendall, we observe Logan swimming laps in the pool. Marcia wraps him in a towel as he emerges—covering the keloids that cut across his back like lashes from a whip.
I thought of that moment at the end of this week’s episode, “Chiantishire,” as Kendall floated face-down in an infinity pool. Surrounded by his children, beer in hand, his back shimmers in the sun as he lounges on a pool float, lost to the world. When the kids go inside, the bottle falls from Kendall’s hand and bubbles emerge from his nose. Given the conversation he and Logan previously shared about the catering crew member whom Kendall left to drown, the moment feels ominous.