So Logan turns to Kendall to be a conduit to Stewy Hosseini, for one last shot at brokering peace in the proxy war. Stewy, though, serves up only hard truths, in what may be this season’s most quietly pivotal scene. Logan keeps thinking of himself as the only truly essential component of Waystar’s leadership team because as far as he’s concerned, it’s his instincts, his taste and his opinions that give the brand its value. But Stewy tells him otherwise, noting that most shareholders aren’t that concerned with the missions of the institutions in which they invest. They care only about the returns. By trying to win their hearts and minds, Logan may be fighting on the wrong battlefield altogether.

This season finale is titled “This Is Not For Tears,” which appears to be a quote from John Berryman’s poem “Dream Song 29,” which reads: “Ghastly, with open eyes, he attends, blind. All the bells say: too late. This is not for tears; thinking.” These lines describe, in a roundabout, lyrical way, what has become of Logan Roy, who finally wears out Kendall’s patience with his unwillingness to acknowledge the obvious.

Early in the episode, one of Waystar’s most powerful shareholders tells Logan privately that he needs to step down. But the old man ignores the advice, defaulting as always to a self-serving sentimentality, insisting that unlike some venerable businesses — the Ford Motor Company, for example — Waystar Royco still means something “because we are a family.” And yet at one point in the episode, in a rare moment of earnestness for Roman, he asks his siblings, “Is there a thing where we, like, talk to each other about stuff … normally?,” and they respond by mocking him. That’s because the family ties Logan always boasts about tend to be pretty loose, so far as his kids are concerned. His children are tied to him — so tightly they can sometimes barely move or breathe. But they’re not always as bound to each other.

There are several more minor betrayals scattered throughout this week’s episode. Connor, who is losing a fortune on Willa’s critically reviled play, asks Logan to coax the Waystar media machine into pumping out some better reviews. Instead, his father agrees to cover his losses to the tune of $100 million, so long as Connor abandons the only project he really cares about: his presidential campaign. Tom, meanwhile, is hurt by Siobhan’s unwillingness to stand up for him against the Waystar mob — as well as by her plan to spice up their marriage by inviting another woman into their bed. “I wonder if the sad I’d be without you is less than the sad I get from being with you,” he says, resignedly.