If I was ever held at gunpoint and asked to recite the script of an episode of any TV series, I would pick season 3 episode 1 of ‘Succession.’ Not only because I’ve watched it a disturbing number of times since its release last October, but because I constantly recite the poetry that is Jesse Armstrong’s writing in my mind and have made many unsuccessful attempts to get across the genius that it is by recounting the episode to others. But it’s not just this singular episode that is a masterpiece. ‘Succession’ is a pearl amongst the flotsam that is modern television. 

If I were to give a tagline-esque description of ‘Succession’ and say nothing else there is a reasonably large chance, you’ll never bother to watch it. It’s impossible to condense the goings-on of the Roy family into a brief description, but I shall try. Logan Roy (Brian Cox), a King Lear meets Rupert Murdoch figure, has built an empire, of news, entertainment, cruises, and any other industry he can generate profit from. However, he’s grown old, and it’s time for one of his 4 children (but also his lackadaisical nephew, social-climbing son-in-law, and a few other business elites) to fight for the throne. That is the most dramatic and suspenseful blurb I can conjure up, usually I would tell people it's 'about an immoral family who own a media conglomerate’, which as you can imagine, is not very compelling to my 16-year-old friends. People’s confusion tends to grow when I tell them there’s not a single likeable character in the show, and they’re all as Machiavellian as each other in their own way.

You may ask, and rightly so, but what’s so superb about a bunch of detestable, wealthy nepotism kids in a perpetual battle of one-upmanship? Firstly, from a technical lens, the show is awe-inspiring. Shots of company helicopters descending over the Manhattan skyline, regal apartments and English castles; and the ability to make even Tuscany appear cold and desolate due to the presence of these characters show that the cinematography and set design alone are a masterpiece. This meticulousness of shots and subtle brilliance hasn’t been seen on television since ‘The Sopranos’ 20 years ago. 

The cast too, is particular and perfect. It’s somewhat of a motley crew of actors all from different backgrounds, yet none could be considered superstars. Brian Cox, a long-time thespian, plays Logan. Two actors most known for their earlier roles, Kieran Culkin and Alan Ruck, play two of Logan’s hedonistic, incompetent sons, along with Jeremy Strong as the Michael Corleone of the family, Kendall, and Sarah Snook as Logan's only daughter, but just as conniving as the rest, Siobhan or ‘Shiv’. The two other most important characters, and possibly most fascinating and hilarious, Nicholas Braun as Greg or ‘Cousin Greg’, Logan's gauche nephew who shows up one day begging for employment despite possessing very little business prowess, and Tom played by Matthew MacFayden, Shiv's fiance/husband, who I physically cannot condense into a singular snappy sentence. Despite the lack of household names amongst the cast, their talent is unmatched, which extends to the crew, especially the show's creator and writer Jesse Armstrong, and the composer of the show's theme song and score, Nicholas Britell.

Kendall, who is initially seen as the clear successor of the throne or his fathers ‘number one boy’ as Logan likes to call him, starts to crack from the very beginning, and unveils a damaged, drug addicted narcissist who you can’t help but sympathise with due to the vulnerability Strong brings to the character. A large part of the show follows Kendall’s highs and lows, and it feels impossible to not become deeply invested in his character every time he crashes especially when it’s at the hands of his own blood relatives. Greg, whilst initially appearing as the voice of reason or the representative of regular people amongst the characters, is just as immoral as the rest, and arguably even more so by bringing a more youthful form of laziness, carelessness and entitlement to the table. His strange and toxic psychosexual relationship with Tom is just as unsettling as it is hysterical.  Although all the characters deliver cutthroat and quippy lines every episode, Roman stands out for his extreme vulgarity, bravado, and outright perversion, which rarely gives him the upper hand in his juvenile sibling rivalry with his intelligent and more capable sister.  

Once you’ve dug through the cautionary tales about capitalism and greed, you get to the core of the show, and what makes so many connect to it, and that is family, and how our toxic relationships with our families penetrate every part of our being. In every character, no matter how out of touch or far from your reality they seem to be, you can identify pieces of you and your loved ones in them, which is what grounds the characters, and part of what brings the shows audience back every season, hungry for more. 

Succession’s 4th and (most likely) final season airs in 2023. Check out the trailer for season 1 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzYxJV_rmE8