'Succession' Season 3: Logan Roy Wasn't Wrong for Making Kendall's Son Taste Food for Poison, Creator Jesse Armstrong Explains

Logan Roy (Brian Cox) joins Walter White and Tony Soprano among TV’s legendary antiheroes. The head of the family in Succession is as cutthroat a patriarch as he is a businessman. He’s been known to make people play “Boar on the Floor” and dish out hearty profanities. But, did he finally cross the line in Succession season 3? Creator Jesse Armstrong doesn’t think so.

[Warning: This article contains spoilers for Succession Season 3.]

Armstrong appeared on The Hollywood Reporter’s TV’s Top Five podcast on Dec. 17 after the Succession Season 3 finale aired. When host Dan Feinnberg asked Armstrong about Logan making his grandson taste test his food for poison, Armstrong defended Logan. 

Logan Roy was suspicious of his own son in ‘Succession’ Season 3

Succession Season 3 began in the aftermath of Kendall (Jeremy Strong)’s bombshell press conference. In the season 2 finale, Kendall confessed that Logan knew about the sexual misconduct at the Waystar cruise line and covered it up. Kendall spent season 2 going to battle against his father and siblings.

By the penultimate episode of Succession Season 3, Kendall was ready to make peace. He invited Logan for a sit down dinner to work out their differences. Logan was already reluctant to attend, let alone eat the food Kendall had prepared for him. Just to make sure Kendall wasn’t planning to poison him, Logan invited Kendall’s son over and offered him a taste of the mozzarella appetizer. For the record, it was clean.

Jesse Armstrong defends Logan Roy

Armstrong must not have intended that to be a dealbreaker for Logan. Some viewers may have thought he was willing to poison his grandson to protect himself, but Armstrong says it’s more complicated on Succession.

“I defend Logan a little bit on that point,” Armstrong told TV’s Top Five. “Isn’t he doing a Judgment of Solomon?”

The story of King Solomon goes that Solomon had to judge two mothers who both claimed a child was theirs. Solomon suggested they split the baby in half. One woman said not to kill the baby, let the other woman have the child. Of course, Solomon knew the real mother would not let any harm come to her child and that’s how he figured out who the real mother was, in the ancient days before DNA testing. 

The ‘Succession’ Season 3 version of the Judgment of Solomon

In Armstrong’s comparison, Logan becomes Solomon at the end of Succession Season 3. Although he’s not an impartial party, Logan is betting on Kendall keeping his son from danger. If Kendall was planning to poison his father, Logan bets that he would not want his son anywhere near the poisoned cheese. And if Kendall didn’t have ulterior motives, then he’s just sharing dinner with his grandson.

“It’s like if it’s poisoned, it’s kind of up to Kendall to say something,” Armstrong continued. “I think Logan’s just encouraging his son to discover the delights of some buffalo mozzarella. It’s up to Kendall to say anything if God forbid there were to be anything wrong with that mozzarella, then it’s up to him.”

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