“Succession” mixes drama and satirical black comedy, but has always been interested in the journey of Logan Roy’s son, Kendall, whose attempts to challenge his father’s authority and erase his past sins have defined his character for three seasons. However, the character has been consistently associated with water in the HBO seriesbecoming a recurring motif for the character that has led to many fan theories.
In the sixth episode of the last season some of these hypotheses have been confirmed when the water has reappeared as a particularly significant image in the context of the suggested meanings. Kendall’s story is very Shakespearean in nature, battling her personal demons, her drug abuse problem, and her relationship with her father. The symbolism of water seemingly combines those aspects to highlight Kendall’s status.
SPOILERS of Succession episode 4×06
from the first season
In the series, the motif first appears shortly after Kendall is in a car accident in the season 1 finale, in the episode titled ‘Nobody Is Ever Missing’, in whiche Logan Roy’s son survived by getting out of the water and leaving a drowned waiter at the bottom of a lake. During the four seasons of the show, there are many more samples.
On the road of ups and downs of Kendall he is shown fully or partially drowning in water, metaphorically representing his state of mind. In the “Western literary canon”, very often, water is a symbol of rebirth. A character being submerged in water (or sometimes even drenched in the rain) is a metaphorical baptism. It’s a symbolic way to erase past sins and start anew and Kendall is always looking to be reborn.
Kendall seeks to reinvent herself to be better, represent her idea of good and free herself from her father’s oppressive influence, but she cannot do so due to the weight of her addictions, baggage and the sins of her past, so her attempts fail miserably. and he always ends up back in his submerged state, as seen after his birthday party in season 3. The water seems to be the weight of Logan’s expectations of his son.
Kendall’s rebirth
Other theories complement the idea of water as showing Kendall’s desire to reinvent himself out of his father’s shadow or flow freely like water. The sixth episode of the final season, titled ‘Living+’, seems to support the latter interpretation. In it, Kendall champions a new housing project called Living+ and creates a creative pitch to present at the launch event. Since the project was Logan’s last before his untimely deathis of great importance to Kendall and the company.
In a surprise twist, with viewers and the company itself expecting Kendall to break down under the pressure, he manages to create a positive outcome about the project, leading to the end of the episode seeing Kendall swimming in the sea freely, floating on instead of sinking, which it could mean he’s finally free of Logan’s hold on him and the weight of his father’s expectations. Kendall eventually succeeded in reviving him. Although his past sins are still there, the achievement could reflect that he finally finds himself worthy despite everything.
Kendall + 💦🌊💧= Succession symbolism at its finest #successionHBO #Succession pic.twitter.com/H2oKWTZjVf
— Bethany Bules (@bejukr) May 1, 2023
Although in the character arc of Kendall the Shakespearean tragedy remains and there are 4 chapters left, that atonement at the end could just be a perception of the character himself, who is shown with references to Jesus repeatedly. He does the Judas kiss before sacrificing himself for the company and wanted to sing Billy Joel’s ‘Honesty’ while he was crucified on a cross on his birthday. Water returns to that Christian idea of rebirth, but each and every one of its rebirths was a failure, so it doesn’t seem like that arc has closed. In the series the dreams of its protagonists always prove to be impossible.
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