Succession Review: Kendall Roy, The Prodigal Son

Picture the scene. A man in his late 30s, wearing a Tom Ford suit, sits in the back of a chauffeur-driven town car listening to the Beastie Boys with his headphones on.

From the chauffeur’s perspective, the man’s headphones emanate little to no sound at all. Oblivious to the chauffeur's bemusement, the 30 something raps along to the Beastie Boys' song - "An Open Letter To NYC". A song that captures the 90s generational rebellion and frat-boy angst, depicted by its creators.

From the rearview mirror, the chauffeur glances fleetingly and somewhat disapprovingly at the spectacle of this grown man rapping along to the lyrics of a song aimed at a much younger disenfranchised and lost generation.

However, at nearly 40 years old, this man, dressed in Tom Ford teamed with Italian handmade shoes, is neither a frat boy nor a disenfranchised youth, nor does he stem from a lost generation.

This man is in fact an eternal manchild. A manchild weened from the silver spoon, listening to the Beastie Boys on his way to close a multi-billion-dollar deal. And this manchild - is Kendall Roy.

Meet Kendall Roy.

In the real world, while the general public may offer little to no sympathy for a person raised in a family whose wealth sits comfortably in the one percent, the fictional creation of Kendall Roy opens the door to an elitist world, that few of its viewers will ever enter.

While the Machiavellian behavior of Kendall’s family is rumored to mirror the sibling rivalry that exists in Rupert Murdoch’s clan, you can’t help but feel for the inner turmoil that Kendall Roy suffers in his attempt to win respect and favor from his father.

And therein lies the rub...

Kendall’s father, Logan Roy is a tough, straight-talking, multi-billionaire media mogul and the ultimate alpha male.

While Succession delved into Logan’s backstory in season 1, little is known as to when and why he relocated from Scotland to New York. Instead, the viewer is expected to assume that like many UK-born success stories, they eventually leave their hometown for the bright lights of the Big Apple or the City of Angels.

Logan Roy

What we do know about Kendall’s father Logan, is that he was raised impoverished in a small Scottish town. While Logan and his older brother Ewan Roy, built wealthy empires and left Scotland for good, their sister Rose succumbed to her environment and passed away under tragic circumstances. Circumstances, that the writers of Succession conceal. As a result, you - the viewer, are left to guess what may have led to her tragic death.

While Logan’s four children have always lived a life of unparalleled privilege, you get the sense that Logan is envious of the opportunities that his children take for granted. Opportunities that come to his offspring simply through the family's connections. And it's Kendall, the most introspective and the most sensitive among his siblings, who understands this conflict of paternal success.

Kendall understands his father’s envy. Kendall knows he’s never had to suffer, never had to worry where his next meal was coming from, never had any door slammed in his face. Every boardroom he enters, he is greeted with respect, not based on his achievements, but based on the reputation that his father has built.

And while Kendall’s siblings also understand that they owe everything they have to the legacy their father, Logan has built, you get the sense that they feel no guilt towards the elitist privilege they enjoy.

Privilege Guilt

For Kendall however, his “privilege guilt” is akin to the guilt a sole survivor of a plane crash experiences. His angst around it is demonstrated in the way, that throughout the seasons of Succession, Kendall tries (and ultimately fails) to show his father that he is his own man.

From our perspective, we know that Kendall’s independence will never ring true until his father dies. It’s this inner struggle that explains why Kendall is so destructive.

On the one hand, compared to his siblings, he’s the most business-savvy and therefore, should be the de facto successor to his father’s empire. However, on the other hand, Kendall realizes that no matter how much he tries, he cannot be independent of his father.

While Logan frequently manipulates his children with promises of succession after he is gone, his handling of Kendall - his favorite child, is particularly cruel. Kendall’s coping mechanism is to seek approval and respect elsewhere.

Kendall's Need For Acceptance

Take his business meeting in season 1 with hipster art curation startup “Dust”, led by two 20-something female co-founders.

Kendall arrives at the meeting in Lanvin sneakers - hoping to gain acceptance from New York’s hipster in-crowd, a crowd his family has never been a part of.

Nevertheless, as the episode unfolds, Kendall’s attempt to invest in the hipster startup and gain the founders’ respect, rapidly disintegrates.

The founders reject his offer and in a show of reverse snobbery, make no secret of their distaste for Kendall’s privilege, wealth, and the Roy empire. In their eyes, his investment is purely a vanity project.

Their disdain is further highlighted when one of the founders runs into Kendall at an underground party that Kendall attends, while on a stag night with his future brother-in-law, Tom.

As a result of this rejection, Kendall is humiliated and thus consoles himself with copious amounts of cocaine. While this reaction may seem insignificant, a month prior, Kendall had relapsed - seeking solace in a crack den in New Mexico.

Thus, his reaction, in the face of rejection, be it from his father or from a stranger, typically revolves around one impulsive reaction.

This impulsive reaction is Kendall’s incessant need to lick his wounds by numbing his feelings… Numbing the feelings brought on by cruelly dashed hopes of acceptance. In Kendall’s mind, his only coping mechanism is indulging in drug-fuelled benders.

The Prodigal Son

Throughout each season, you’ll witness Kendall striving to win his father’s affection. When his attempts to win affection are rebuffed, he falls into a depressive cycle of despair. However, like the biblical prodigal son, time-and-time-again Logan forgives his son for his poor judgment.

While the power to forgive is a commendable quality, Logan’s forgiveness always comes with strings attached. Rather perversely, we witness Logan only display fatherly affection when Kendall is emotionally broken and in deep despair.

Take the fatherly love Logan displays when he realizes Kendall was involved in a fatal car accident, an accident caused when Kendall drives his car into a lake while high on Ketamine.

As the car sinks to the bottom of the lake, Kendall fails to rescue the equally intoxicated young man who was sitting in the passenger seat.

As they reconcile, Logan tells Kendall he will erase all evidence of him being involved, provided Kendall drops all ideas to take over his father’s empire. Scared and distraught, Kendall weeps into his father’s arms and complies.

In contrast, Kendall’s siblings - Connor, Shiv, and Roman collectively acknowledge that they are not the favored child, and resort to undermining Logan’s inner circle to win their father’s favor.

Unfortunately for the siblings, it’s Kendall whom Logan grooms to succession. And no matter how many times his favorite son tries to expose or overthrow him - Kendall remains the personification of the prodigal son; always forgiven, but forgiven under the worse possible terms.