After The Chair Company Episode 7's Ending Made My Skin Crawl, I Have Predictions For The Season 1 Finale

Spoilers below for anyone who hasn't yet watched The Chair Company's penultimate Season 1 episode on HBO or via HBO Max subscription, so be warned!

Every time I try to fool myself into thinking The Chair Company reached its biggest non sequitur or most absurd interaction, Tim Robinson & Co. point at me and laugh until they're no longer able to create sounds. (Figuratively speaking.) The weirdest show on the 2025 TV schedule delivered yet another head-scratching installment that followed up on Ron pushing Jeff, took us back into Mike’s truly nightmarish living situation, and seemed to actually vindicate Ron’s wild goose chose for a goose named Tecca.

Of course, any amount of progress achieved by the Trosper family’s patriarch was immediately undone, as trying to bring the culprit to justice would also implode Barb’s company, as Ron’s target was revealed to be the big investor that Barb first set a meeting with back in Episode 4. Meanwhile, Ron realized just how much his actions have sent son Seth further down his alcoholic rabbit hole, and it’s entirely unclear whether or not he’ll ever work at Fisher Robay again.

The early Season 2 renewal likely means we won’t get answers to everything laid out so far, but I have some predictions about what we’ll see in the finale, with the expectation that my conjecture will be rendered as wrong as everything about the porn store that Ron went to. And away we go!

Ron Will Stay Quiet, But Natalie Will Be The One To Blow The Whistle On Alice Quintana

While one of Ron's father-child relationships is on the fritz, Natalie has been surprisingly receptive to his often batty accusations and semblances of evidence. She knows just how important this is to him, and knows what's happened in the past when one of his larks went haywire.

I think Ron's mind is already made up to keep his mouth shut for good when he starts dancing with Barb. at Episode 7's end, and that he's practicing being able to smile for her and her accomplishments, knowing that every day will be another pin prick to his psyche. But since we haven't seen Natalie showing the same kind of heartfelt approval for Barb's passion project, I think she'll make the decision to make Alice Quintana's Tecca connections public, regardless of what it means for Barb's company.

The Family's Former Dog Larby Will Factor Into Ron's Mental Struggles

I think it's meant to say a lot about Ron that he went out and (presumably) bought a big ol' new family dog before even admitting that he may have lost his job. Barb and Seth think it's weird, but they don't necessarily act as if it's the weirdest thing he's ever done on impulse. And his canine connection was addressed again near the end of the episode, when Ron and Barb are dancing. She says:

I'm assuming that it's Larby viewers saw Ron interacting with during Episode 4's flashback sequences, and that it's Larby who Ron was expressing his inner thoughts to when Natalie overheard him. But considering the dog was already in the house when Ron told Barb about the haunting Jeep Tours drive that possibly concussed or killed a man, I don't think he acquired that pet due to job-related panic.

Still, Larby may indeed play a larger role in Ron's past traumas, self-inflicted or otherwise. Otherwise, why even give him a name and point out Ron missing him so close to the end of the season?

Ron Will End Up In The Mayor's Hot Tub

The Chair Company is perhaps the strangest example of the "Chekov's gun" narrative device, in that a surprising number of seemingly throwaway details from earlier episodes have come back around, from the Temblay's members club group chat to the pornographic pictures Ron took photos of to the Hungarian bugs found in the Trospers' home.

Following those non-rules, it only makes sense for the conversation Mayor Greg Braccan that Mike is quasi-eavesdropping on to get explained in some way in the finale. If they were in fact talking about going back to his house and getting in a hot tub, which seems way too straightforward to be real, then I can only assume that Ron will be the one to accidentally end up in it.

Ron And Seth Will Do The Pee-Wee Dance Together

Now that he's possibly reached an end point in his conspiratorial investigating, Ron seriously needs to make up for lost time with his son Seth, whose only character development has been his downward spiral caused by Ron's neglect. Given how harsh the latter sounded in Episode 6 when denying Seth's request to do "the Pee-Wee dance" as a callback to a classic family memory, Ron's only shot at redemption will be to voluntarily go into the dance himself without Seth's prodding. The more public the better, probably.

I feel like there should be something else done with Seth's drinking problem, since that's a majorly dramatic issue for a younger character, and the show is kind of treating it as something that doesn't need to be addressed with parental speediness. But if any show can kind of sweep that hazard under the rug with a goofy dance, it's The Chair Company.

Now for a little palate cleanser, since I can't really foresee how the show will wrap up its sexual harassment B plot, especially if Ron isn't working at the same company anymore.

My Five Favorite Lines From The Chair Company Episode 7

• RON: "Baby bit the rat box."
• BUG GUY: "Do you like turkey? Oh, God, they stack the turkey! It's so good."
• TERESA BONAVENTURA: "And they still let me take my picture every year. Mm. And this year, I wore a blue blazer and green pants, and I did a little bang which swooped around and made a little circle around my eye, and I looked like Daisy Duck."
• NATALIE: "No, it's like a new, nicer Wendy's called Carvers, and it has ham."
• DISGRUNTLED TAMBLAY CUSTOMER: "They made me think I could wish things into the world!"

Someone should make a fancy coffee table book with 99% of this show's dialogue filling up the pages. What I wouldn't give to have that book right now, and also that table. So long as Tecca didn't make it.

The Chair Company's Season 1 finale is set to air on HBO on Sunday, November 30, at 10:00 p.m. ET.