It’s finally time to put Logan Roy (Brian Cox) to rest. In the penultimate episode of heir, The young Roys band together attended Logan’s funeral—a very emotional event for all involved. In a funeral befitting a king (or a tyrant), Kendall (Jeremy Manh), Shiv (Sarah Snook) and Roman (Kieran Culkin) each tried to eulogize their late father, with varying degrees of success. In this week’s episode of Still watching, co-host Chris Murphy And Vanity Fair reporter journalistic joy unpack Logan’s epic funeral and the weight of his loss to the Roy children and the world.
Before the Roy children could talk about their dear deceased father, Logan’s older brother, Ewan (James Cromwell), delivers a scam eulogy that’s not on the show. His brother, Ewan said, “decide not to try anymore,” and is actively making the world a worse and worse place for his media empire. Logan “stop trying to be a good person. He stopped trying to care,” Press said. “Ewan is not a very popular character in the series. He’s an eccentric guy. However, the fact that he said, ‘I tried,’ what you see is very human.
After Ewan denigrates Logan, Kendall steps onto the plate and delivers his impromptu eulogy out of the park, providing a counterpoint to Ewan’s skeptical view of Logan. “Kendall said, ‘We have to give back to the other side,’ and Kendall delivered an equally grand eulogy, but it sounded like a tribute to capitalism,” Press said. “Ayn Rand may have written her speech.” Murphy notes that the beauty of the series is that it is difficult to puncture Ewan or Kendall’s reviews of Logan, even though one looks down on him and the other condemns him.
While Kendall and Ewan give their duel eulogy, Shiv’s tribute to her father highlights his difficulty with women, bringing this season back to focus on the undercurrents of misogyny in this universe. Shiv’s pregnancy most likely prevents her from becoming Waystar Royco’s American CEO, as Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård) and President-elect Jeryd Mencken (Justin Kirk) state clearly what they believe the position of women should be. “[Mencken] tell Shiv, ‘Kinder, Kuche, Kirche,‘” Murphy said. “It’s a German slogan, and it translates as ‘children, kitchen, church.'”
Despite his grief first, Roman was ultimately unable to convey his inner feelings to Logan Roy. He collapsed in front of the altar, forcing Kendall to take action. Murphy said: “Beneath Proud Boy was a sad boy crying. The episode’s finale featured a scene of Rome going up against the protesters who were prompted to act by the ATN’s decision to call an election for Mencken.
While the Press didn’t make any major predictions for the series’ finale, Murphy predicted that heir would end in the boardroom with a protracted, knockout battle for control of Waystar Royco—with Kendall and Roman on one side, Shiv and Matsson on the other. But in the end, none of them were able to win: “I would imagine that the outside world increasingly intruded and burst the Roys bubble in some profound way,” Murphy said.
Elsewhere on podcasts, Alan Ruck drop by to discuss everything about Connor Roy, from his relationship with Willa to his failed presidential campaign and the state of the top guys. “I think a lot of them are in the bar and will probably be there for a while,” quipped Ruck. “It was just a bunch of disillusioned people, but it was something like the 1%. That’s kind of like a million people.
With one episode left in heir, It’s still a guess who will take control of Waystar Royco. Listen to the latest episode of Still watching below—and email [email protected] with your own questions, comments, and thoughts ahead of the series finale.
