If you asked me to pinpoint one show currently airing that I think everyone needs to watch, it would be Succession, not just a scorching hot take on the evils of late stage capitalism but an endlessly entertaining drama that follows the worst family in the world as they scramble for some semblance of power. Satire like this can be tricky to get right, and it takes Succession a few episodes to really nail that tightrope walk of acidic black comedy and ripped-from-the-headlines rage, but once it finds its mojo, there's few shows that can match Jesse Armstrong's roaring takedown of bickering billionaires. And look, maybe the placement of this one is slightly affected by the fact that it's still ongoing, only two seasons have aired in full and the third isn't even halfway finished at time of writing, but this is a show that I can only see getting better as it goes on. It doesn't even feel like it's hit its peak yet and no doubt it might slide into the top ten in years to come, but as it stands, the seasons we've gotten have been some of the most consistently exciting and densely written television to come out of HBO yet
Succession is a show that takes on a Herculean task: to convince an audience to invest in such an utterly detestable batch of privileged assholes, but it's to the show's great credit that the Roy family are consistently fascinating, deeply flawed and even occasionally empathetic characters that make for endlessly watchable subjects. At the head of this nest of snakes and morons is patriarch Logan, played by the indelible Brian Cox. His mortality hangs above every character, a would-be tragedy that spells golden opportunity for each of his potential successors. There's his kids of course (hapless wannabe politician Connor, troubled addict and Logan's presumed next-in-line Kendall, morally flexible fixer Shiv and wayward dandy Roman), but there's also a rogue's gallery of hangers-on hoping to benefit from Logan's downfall. These include Shiv's husband Tom, who excels in finding new lows to stoop to, as well as our lord and saviour Cousin Greg, who starts off as a meek outsider before proving he's more Roy than we'd been led to believe
What makes this show so compelling is how it plays out as a sort of modern tragedy. Even though these people are awful, there's something so inherently sad about how much humanity they're willing to throw out in the pursuit of power. It's tragic because we're consistently confronted with how far the human spirit can descend into evil out of sheer self-preservation. But there's another tragedy too. The Roys are terrible, out-of-touch people, but they're also products of an unhealthy system. Armstrong and co. pull no punches when it comes to exposing the ills of capitalism, fully milking the catharsis that comes from the 1% being confronted with the consequences of their casual sins. And yet, every single character is so human, and there's something so strangely upsetting about how far each of Logan's kids will go to impress him, especially when he plays them against each other with such relish
Watching every character dispense of every single moral virtue they have just to adapt to the cutthroat world of Waystar Royco is at the cold, dead heart of Succession, and nowhere is that clearer than with Tom and Greg. They're both of the show's best characters, partly because of the thundering homoerotic tension between them, but mainly because of how the show uses them as examples of how outsiders are treated in Logan's empire. Tom is introduced as a spineless parasite who delights in mistreating underlings because he himself is such a lightning rod for the Roy family's abuse, and while that's definitely true, Matthew MacFadyen does such a good job at playing a man who is so clearly out of his depth and realising how awful everything around him is in real time that it's hard not to warm to him after a while. As for Greg, his status as an almost-Roy is crucial to the show's moral compass. He's clearly a decent person who's just as hopelessly lost as Tom is, but because every episode sees him wander further into the woods until he's fully corrupted, it's hard not to see him as a sort of warped everyman who fully embodies the poisonous lure that capitalism presents to (mostly) honest people
It's a show where words are weapons, and hoo boy are there some ace insults flying every which way in Succession. Few characters can muster a "fuck-off" quite like Logan, but there's acid dripping from the script of every episode. This makes for gleeful, joyously nasty television, as these horrible, horrible people hold nothing back in how viciously they roast each other. But the brutality isn't only present in Succession's dialogue; the whole show is set in a world that just does not care about principle at all and is all the better for it. When characters fail here, it hurts, and it rings with an irony that comes from people being burned by a system they directly contributed to building. Kendall's ongoing struggles are heartbreaking, but as long as he's operating in the world of Waystar, things can only really get worse for him. And if the blistering coldness seems extreme, it's only because of Armstrong's devotion to capturing the callousness of big business. Obviously it's all fictional, but only just
I think my favourite thing about Succession is how much of an event each episode feels. I mean this is a dialogue heavy drama that's 99% boardroom meetings, but every week, social media explodes with the same passion netted by a Game of Thrones or a Breaking Bad. And you know, that's just great to see, because for all of the genius writing, thematic depth and genuine tragedy, the real achievement of this show is putting it all together as one miraculously entertaining package. The comedy and the big dramatic scrapes aren't used to cut the hefty commentary, but to accentuate it, and ultimately that entertainment factor becomes the lifeblood of the show. It's an enjoyable show to watch and a hell of a lot of fun to talk about, and it's these factors that mean that it can really connect with people. The discourse and discussion around Succession feels organic, which is a breath of fresh air in the blur of content and social media. It's far from the only good show on the air, but it is one of the few true watercooler shows we have left. And honestly, if a show can be so directly take on how fucked we are as a society and still be giddily entertaining, then something has gone very, very right indeed
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