It has been more than a month since Jesse Armstrong’s Succession, a highly addictive Shakespearian family comedy-drama, came to an end. Though I watched it week-by-week as it aired and even though I could’ve reviewed it right after the season finale was released, it never felt right to me to talk about this season of the show without actually diving in and talking about how the details of the season, how the ending of the show, and how its showstopping third episode all made this season what it actually ended up being. That meant that I had to give it some room to breathe so as to not spoil the conclusion to what I think is honestly one of the best shows of its era. One might have feared that, as the show moved into its final season, perhaps they didn’t know how to end it, that they didn’t how to do something new with it, or that what had once been so compelling and energetic about it would dim as the curtain call had been announced. Not so. In fact, I think Armstrong’s series wisely went out on a high (and presumably on its own terms) with a final season that understood that it was time to keep the promise inherent in the show’s title. It was an inevitable move, but it was also a move that ended up being risky exactly because of how early in the season it happened. Succession‘s fourth and final season is an example of a showrunner and a writer’s room understanding fully the ins and outs of a show so as to deliver a tragic but inevitable conclusion that will stick with its viewers for quite some time.