*This article contains Succession spoilers*
As is the way with fiction, time doesn't always follow its usual path. We sign an imaginary contract when we start watching something promising to suspend our disbelief, but sometimes things don't quite add up. The fourth and final season of HBO's comedy drama Succession seems to be unfolding at an unusually fast pace, and it turns out that's no accident.
Some people have come up with the theory that the entire show from season one to season four takes place over the course of a year. But others say the entire show takes place over the course of two years. Whichever it is (probably the latter), the timeline is tighter than you may have realised given that it's been five years for viewers.
What's more, cast members Brian Cox (Logan Roy) and Arian Moayed (Stewy Hosseini) have confirmed that season four takes place over the course of ten days. In other words, every episode is a single day but whether those days are consecutive is unclear. Either way, people are getting their calculators out.
At the start of the final season, we find the cast in the midst of a divide over the fate of Waystar Royco – Logan and his posse vs the Roy siblings. The siblings are honing their pitch to launch a new media disruptor and are trying to buy left-leaning competitor Pierce, and their Dad is trying to secure a deal with tech mogul Matsson to sell the company. In the days that follow, a lot happens... We discover that Shiv is pregnant, Logan dies, Roman has a breakdown, Kendall trips on his power again, the whole board flies to Norway and back, Connor gets married, and now they're planning the funeral, awaiting the election results, trying to kill the deal and everyone's turned on each other. Still with me?
The fact all of this takes place in an incredibly short period of time is not up for debate, but how short that period is seems to be. Fans are divided over exactly how the days are split and whether it all makes chronological sense. One Twitter user has gone back and rewatched the show to prove their theory that the whole plot unfolds over the course of a single year, while another has drawn up their own timeline trying to prove that the final season takes place one day after the next. It's safe to say this is a matter close to people's hearts – particularly as we await the final three episodes.
If the rest of the season is set across three consecutive days, the Roys don't have much time to sort their lives out before the show ends for good. It would also mean the final three episodes cover the election results and Logan's funeral with one final day remaining. What we do know is that the crammed pacing has simultaneously slowed the world down after Logan's death and created greater tension and chaos than any of the previous seasons. They certainly know how to go out with a bang.