‘Succession’ Season Finale Recap: Do Not Pass Go

The final episode of Season 3 brought new alliances, new betrayals and new reminders that when Logan doesn’t like how the game is going, he just changes the rules.

I’ve been thinking a lot this week about the differences between “Succession” Season 2 — one of the most thrilling and funny TV seasons of recent years — and Season 3, which has been just as intensely dramatic and absorbing but overall not as much of an out-and-out pleasure. The biggest change between the two? In Season 2, the Roy kids were all together most weeks, zipping around the world with Logan and nipping hilariously at each other. This season they have been scattered and embittered, lobbing bombs at a distance.

But in the best Season 3 episodes — “Mass in Time of War,” “Too Much Birthday” and now this week’s finale, “All the Bells Say” — Kendall, Shiv, Roman and even Connor have spent time in the same space, talking out their problems in person. The energy crackles among these actors, as their characters swing between being playfully mean and unforgivably cruel.

Anyway, judging by what happens in this episode, they will all be face-to-face much more in Season 4 … whether they like it or not. And that’s an exciting prospect.