How Succession‘s Game of Monopoly Revealed Everything About the Season Finale
Photo Courtesy of HBO
By the end of Succession’s Season 3 finale “All the Bells Say,” the central siblings will have rebonded, suffered immense loss in the battle against their father, and underdog Tom Wambsgans will be on top. The tension never lets up, there isn’t a dull moment in the episode, and by the time the credits roll most viewers were looking at the screen in shock.
But it’s worth going back to the very beginning of the episode, when most of the family sat around a gorgeous Tuscan villa and played a friendly game of Monopoly. The scene is a gentle and fun start to a high drama episode, softening any fears about Kendall being dead, and allowing us to be with the cast for what should be a normal occasion. But that four minute scene is also ripe with so many layers, and reveals more about each of them than it may seem at first glance.
Succession has always been a show about playing the game. It never shies away from associating that with childish imagery; the family mocks and bullys each other in immature ways and plays with running a billion dollar company like a toy no one wants to share. The Monopoly scene invokes this theme, but also the secret games each character is playing underneath the game in front of them.
Willa, for example, plays the game innocently, visible to everyone. She ponders her moves out loud and points out that Shiv is cheating. She’s invested enough that she rejects Connor’s offer to leave the game, but doesn’t seem like she’s trying that hard to win. She’s learning the game, and wants to stay at the table, but doesn’t try to seem like she has a strategy.
We never see Connor make a move, and he seems like he doesn’t want to play. He’s far more interested in the world outside the game—trying to take Willa out and keeping his personal life away from the board. But he also seems like he knows the game better than everyone, acknowledging that cheating is a part of it. Connor wants a seat at the table, but he seems to understand the division between this and what matters outside it.
The dark horse is Kerry, who isn’t playing the game at all. Roman treats her like a non-actor, but while her pieces aren’t on the board she is still involved. By bringing up her relationship with Logan and his visible frustration, Roman is inviting her into the world of the game without her even having to put a piece down. She is an influencing player who has the power to change the outcome, even if no one thinks of her in that way.