Even though it’s a new year, all the shows I watch are still on a break, so that means my stingy-ass got a free week trial of HBO Now to watch the first season of Succession (season 2 is already on my DVR from another free trial period). I will say, binging the ten episodes in under a week was intense, but ultimately SO worth it! The awards and recognition it receives totally makes sense!
Alrighty, so Succession is about the mega-rich Roy family, led by the most vile patriarch that has ever walked this (TV) earth, Logan. He’s got four children, starting with the oldest and most aloof, Conner, followed by workaholic, Kendall, and then there is the youngest and immature son, Roman, topped off with headstrong daughter, Siobhan (“Shiv”). Conner and Shiv stay out of the family business for the most part, with Conner just living a rich-guy life not working, while Shiv is a political strategist. Kendall and Roman both try and work their way to the top of family owned, Waystar-Royco, but clearly Kendall is the most business-saavy of the bunch.
That is, until he tries to overthrow the clearly ill, Logan. But he’s a power-hungry maniac who’s been in corporate world for a long time and he’s ruthless, so he is pretty easily able to thwart both of Kendall’s attempts to take over. What doesn’t help Kendall? He doesn’t actually know what he wants to do with all that power…that, and he’s a coke-head. Roman, surprisingly still COO by the end of the season, manages to botch a rocket-launch in Japan that miraculously doesn’t kill anyone. I can’t wait to see what season 2 brings for him. And I would love it if they would explore the trauma behind his intimacy issues, too.
Shiv gets married to Tom by the end of the season, and I hope her affair with fellow political strategist, Nate is over and done with. She’s better than that…sort of. She’s still backing a presidential candidate that’s trying to destroy her father and his company with everything he’s got (I assume it will never be enough). Tom is also maybe one of my favorite characters besides Roman. I would say seventy percent of his dialogue is hilarious. He’s also got his own battles to fight, as he was given the “death-pit” sector of the business in Cruises, so he tries to cover up a bunch of murders and rapes with the help of hopelessly awkward cousin Greg.
Ah, cousin Greg. While I feel most of the first season was focused on Kendall’s failed attempts to take over the family business, I think Greg is in it for the long game and I get the feeling he will win. Overall, he seems like a very nice, extremely awkward individual, but he’s got the brains to hold onto incriminating evidence, and the rest of the family, Tom especially, will turn him into a cold-blooded business man eventually. I think he will be the ultimate corporate-overlord by the end of the series.
The ensemble cast is pretty massive, and there is not one good egg in this basket. Everyone wants what’s best for them, and they’re always looking to save their own skin. Some of the dialogue is truly ruthless (and sometimes hilarious), and I imagine it only gets better in season 2. While there are moments of love and concern throughout the season, it is always shadowed in self-preservation and manipulation. This is a vile family I love to hate, and I guarantee you will, too.