Two of television’s biggest series are coming to a fast-approaching end, and while that idea undeniably leaves a hole in the fan bases they serve, steps leading up to their conclusion are also leaving quite an impact on the characters we’ve grown to love. Yellowstone and Succession are two of the most talked about moments in recent pop culture history, and their leading men have been heavily talked about in recent weeks, especially concerning matters of life and death.
There’s something special about powerful television patriarchs like John Dutton and Logan Roy — they’re as stubborn as they are tenacious and take criticism about as well as they’d fit in at a punk rock concert. They’re impactful, sometimes vengeful, and always thinking ten steps ahead, even if it’s not exactly in the right direction. With the wrap of Succession and the upcoming (and too soon) end of Yellowstone, the runs of these powerhouse men are coming to an end.
For Succession, fans have already had a month to grapple with Logan’s loss, and while his end certainly left some more emotional than others, it set a precedent and left fans looking in the direction of his children and asking an important question.
What do losses of television characters like Dutton and Roy mean for those they’ll leave behind?
Most obviously is a changing family dynamic, but the true impact of their absence goes far deeper than that; it’s felt in every moment, every holiday, every Tuesday afternoon when you just want to hear them say something…anything again. Yes, even kids born with a silver spoon in their hands and who have tumultuous relationships with their fathers will miss them in ways they couldn’t have first anticipated.
When it comes to the Dutton and Roy families, it’s a more profound character dive than most to see what becomes of them once their fathers leave — or die. You could easily say that the kids’ relationships with their fathers helped shape them into the people they are today — for better or worse. So what happens when that bond breaks? What comes next for those left to pick up the pieces? More importantly, what will they do when those broken pieces are nothing but shards of glass, ready to cut them again when they take the next step in their journey?
As we said before, Succession has already bid farewell to their leading man, but Yellowstone still has John Dutton’s future hanging in the balance. In both circumstances, one thing rings true — their children’s lives will never be the same. Having to say goodbye to a constant (albeit sometimes less than admirable) force in their lives is going to impact them in a significant way; they’re going to have to pull from deep within themselves to find out how to move forward, and they’re also going to be without fathers to blame when things go wrong.
So what do the Dutton and Roy families look like sans the men who helped make them, in good times and in bad? Let’s get down to it.
Logan Roy
Logan’s biggest issue with his kids was that he thought he’d been too soft on them, which, given some of the anecdotes we’ve heard about their childhoods (especially the boys), isn’t exactly a fair assessment. What is fair to say is that the three main characters in line to take over at Waystar Royco have imbibed all of the patriarch’s worst elements without any of his terrifying magnetism, and that has led to an intriguing few episodes.
Succession is, of course, loosely based on the Murdochs, and there’s no doubt that Rupert – the head of Fox News and multiple other newspapers across the globe and the person Logan is based on – is a figure that strikes fear into the heart of everyone he meets, from heads of state to business leaders. This is a reputation that can only be built from years of hardnosed work and by amassing plenty of power – something that is made all the more impressive by Logan’s humble beginnings (unlike Murdoch, who was born into media power). As shown repeatedly in the show, his kids simply don’t command that same level of respect. People see them as ridiculous nepo babies and are often correct in that assessment.
With that said, in the post-Logan episodes, the deep psychological issues inflicted on the kids by Logan are really bearing fruit. At the beginning of the season, the three kids were trying to bring him down, but now, beset by grief, they’re all doing their best impressions of him. Much like another famous child of a bigoted billionaire, it appears they’re all searching for the attention daddy never gave them. Kendall is trying to make the same kinds of aggressive commercial moves Logan was famous for, whereas Roman had a couple of episodes where he seemed intent on firing everyone in sight because he was having a bad day, just to show off his power. In fact, the only child who seems to be able to play the game of gossip and power to the same extent as their dad is Shiv, who was also the only child to work outside of the family business for an extended period – but her fathers influence on her shows by refusing to be open with her husband and instead punishing him in an attempt to “win” their relationship.
While it may be simple to say that Waystar Royco will fall apart without Logan at the helm, especially given the erratic way his kids are acting in his absence, the fact is that Succession follows a truism of the world: money talks. And, whether we like it or not, the Roys have tremendous amounts of wealth, even if Waystar doesn’t end up being taken over by a tech billionaire. Additionally, while Kendall doesn’t exactly command Logan’s level of respect, it seems those under him are happy to let him try and live up to the label while also serving him in the same way they did his father. There have been plenty of visual clues and throwbacks to the idea that Kendall is finally primed to take up the mantle. From making him appear taller than other characters in the episode after Logan died to having him floating happily in the sea when he was announced as co-CEO with Roman, which was a contrast to him nearly drowning in a pool in an earlier episode while at his lowest). So, maybe the kid who was supposed to take over in episode one of season one will finally get his wish – especially as Shiv deals with her personal issues and Roman goes off the deep end.
In the end, it seems like the most surprising thing about Succession, and Logan’s death, is that we’re going to get what we were always promised: Kendall Roy in charge and acting just like his dad.
John Dutton
How does one start describing the Dutton family patriarch, played by Kevin Costner? If you didn’t know much about Yellowstone, it might be easy to write him off as power-hungry and enigmatic. While the latter might be more on board with who Costner breathes life into — John Dutton is a multifaceted character. He’s not just an angry man hell-bent on holding onto his land; he’s many things at once, one of them a father who made a promise to his own dad — a commitment he’s willing to risk it all for.
As we said before, John Dutton’s end is still unwritten, and while a piece of us hopes he’ll live even beyond the end of Yellowstone, signs point to a fast-approaching end for Costner’s character. News broke that season five of Yellowstone would be his last before it was announced that the series would conclude with season five, but it doesn’t really make sense for a spinoff to pick up a story where John Dutton merely steps away from the ranch. It’s not in his character.
So some fans hope that his character meets an early demise, not because we don’t love the polarizing man he is, but because we don’t want a quick-written or undeserving write-off for a significant piece of the heart of the Yellowverse. Be it via death or some other write-off; he’ll leave his children in some capacity, which means something different for each of them.
For Beth, a significant piece of her story will fundamentally change without her father. Despite their differences, Beth lives and breathes to make her father happy; and though she’d never say it out loud— it’s interwoven deeply into her being to make him proud. Beth wants nothing more than for him to think highly of her, to believe that the daughter he raised has made something of herself. His absence creates a new realm for Beth, putting her directly on a path she’s never had to walk. It throws her into unnatural territory, and her husband Rip Wheeler will be important in putting her back together once she falls apart. It’ll likely happen in stages, moments of anger and rage and glimpses of heartache and pain. She’ll lash out, become fearful and rattled, and hold even tighter to a growing hatred of her brother, Jamie. That is if he makes it to see his father’s final goodbye.
Speaking of Jamie, things change differently for him. He’s grown utterly detached from the family who helped raise him, and as he and Beth put hits out for one another in the midseason finale, it’s clearer than ever that he doesn’t think of his family any longer. Jamie sees the Dutton family name as something that houses liars, phonies, and people who will never be entirely human to him. We’re not saying John’s leaving doesn’t rock him, it absolutely will, but it’ll likely happen in a different way. Jamie will first see it as one more obstacle out of his way, but John’s absence will be felt in slow moments, on Wednesday afternoons when he needs sound advice or a Sunday when his son asks about his grandfather. Jamie would have to choose, share about the one he killed or talk about the man he holds deep resentment towards.
For Kayce, it goes without saying that he’ll feel the most unnerved by the prospect of saying farewell to his father. They’ve spent much of their lives together and some seasons of it apart. There have been times when they’ve exchanged words that cut deeper than a knife ever could, and they existed in an unstable territory for so long. They’ve only just begun truly preparing their relationship for a more comfortable realm of being, and it’s being ripped away from him somehow. Kayce will long for mornings on the ranch with John, hoping desperately to get a glimpse of him in a dream or to hear his voice when he has a tough decision to make. In terms of a relationship you may be able to relate to, Kayce accepting whatever loss of his father comes his way will be the most “normal” of the three.
You see, no matter what side of the Team Jamie or Team Beth fight you’re on — they’re both privileged kids who will be left reeling after the loss of their father, without the man to blame when they face a problem they can’t easily tackle. We love Beth Dutton; in fact, I wish I could channel pieces of her from time to time, but she’s as polarizing a character as John himself. Jamie is someone we love to hate or hate to love, and he will be a mess at best without his dad. They’re lost without a guide on where to go next, facing a world they were only prepared for in specific ways.
While spoon-fed at the table with Gator, a table Beth herself hates sitting at, they were given a privilege in this life that came with several downfalls, and how they’ll navigate this next chapter is a show of each of their personalities and how John impacted them for better and for worse. Be it terribly ill-equipped or going from heartbroken to angry, they’ll soon have to face a world without their dad, and it’s going to sting.
As two leading men say goodbye, their children are left to navigate a realm without them — and it’s undoubtedly going to be a wild ride.
Published: May 23, 2023 10:48 pm