Review: Succession, “Church And State” | Season 4, Episode 9

The final season finds the perfect place to catch its breath: At a funeral, of course.

Macall Polay/HBO

Dearly beloved, we gather tonight to remember, inter, and move past Logan Roy. The man who was the center of Succession’s universe has been gone for a month-and-a-half in our world, but for his children and colleagues and the various high-powered attendees of his funeral, it’s been less than a week—the time to process the loss is still unfurling before them. But now, mere hours after Kendall and Roman Roy channeled their grief into swinging the presidential race for a smug white nationalist, the people closest—or “closest,” I suppose—must finally face the prospect of life after Logan.

“Church And State” is a comedown from the dizzying highs and nauseating election season dramatizations of Succession’s recent past. The funeral mass¹ at its center is full of fiery excoriations, emotional breakdowns, and Roy family maneuvering, but it’s also the first chance to breathe that the show has afforded us since “Connor’s Wedding.” For a solid 20 minutes, Jesse Armstrong’s script a…