Succession Series Premiere Plot Summary:
Logan Roy (Brian Cox) is a media mogul on the verge of retirement…that is until he sees the photo of his eldest son Kendall (Jeremy Strong) on the cover of a business magazine. At his birthday party he announces he’s staying on as head of the company — crushing Kendall’s dreams as his father’s successor. Logan also tries to position his children — the non-businessman Connor (Alan Ruck), the political mover and shaker Siobhan (Sarah Snook), and the live wire Roman (Kieran Culkin) — into giving his new wife Marcia (Hiam Abbass) more power on the board, as well as taking roles he wants in the company.
Succession is a brilliantly acted drama about some really, really shitty people.
There’s no two ways of slicing it. The members of the Roy Family are absolute garbage — soulless, money and power obsessed human beings that are just out for themselves. They are easily some of the most unlikeable characters on television today.
So, it should come as no surprise that the show was written by Jesse Armstrong, the man behind one of the best political satires of all-time, In the Loop. Armstrong is a master at writing characters that are so over the top, unlikeable, and foul-mouthed, but yet seem like completely realistic people and not caricatures. Much like In the Loop, Succession feels like a documentary. Yes, the hyperactive and sometimes stylized dialogue might not seem that believable, but Armstrong has also had/has the luxury of attracting brilliant actors to his work, who run as hard and as fast as they can with his dialogue. They bring such realism to their performances that the series feels like you’ve stumbled on found footage of rich people being assholes to each other.
The premiere of Succession works because of the performances. Brian Cox, as you’d expect, is gold as the Rupert Murdoch-esque media baron. It wouldn’t be shocking if Succession is based on the Murdoch family since Armstrong did write a hotly sought after screenplay dubbed Murdoch, which has gone unproduced for eight years. According to reports, the plot of that film, and Succession sound eerily alike.
Outside of Cox, the supporting/starring cast is tremendous. Jeremy Strong is out of this world brilliant as the success-obsessed, but still pretty naive golden boy Kendall. The small moments we get from Alan Ruck, and Ripper Street alum Matthew MacFayden are great. Sarah Snook wasn’t given enough to sink her teeth into at the time, neither was Hiam Abbass, but footage from later episodes suggest that problem will be rectified.
The one problem with the cast is Kieran Culkin’s Roman. The performance by Culkin is what you’d expect — excellent. When is this guy not on the money? However, the character itself is a little too cliche. He’s that wildcard son, the rebel in the family who tells it like it is. His knee jerk reaction of telling everyone to “fuck off” got old quick. It seemed like they tried to make Roman too obnoxious. When the dramatic tension swelled, Roman’s reactions just made scenes feel painful and weird. It felt unnatural.
While the cast was impeccable, and the conceit of the story is fine — Succession isn’t an easy show to get behind. These characters are really terrible, unlikeable people. Even Kendall, who we’re supposed to feel sorry for, is really just a power-obsessed jerk who never sees or cares about his kids. And frankly, do we need a show right now about rich people being assholes? Aren’t we constantly bombarded by media like on the regular? Why do we need another reminder, especially in a television series.
Most will point to this series as a satire on the modern corporate world/rich American dynasties. Many will say this is a black comedy. However, if this is a comedy — don’t we need to laugh? Sure, the obvious character geared for humor is Greg (Nicholas Braun), Logan’s inept nephew. However, he’s written in such a cringingly awkward way that there’s really nothing funny about him. It’s just grating. And that’s the “humor” of this show — like nails grating against a chalkboard.
Americans have an obsession with families like The Roys. They hate them for everything they stand for, but they love to watch everything about them, and are probably going to love their eventual fall from grace. The same goes for this series — you’re going to literally hate these characters, but love watching them.
That’s why it makes it extremely difficult to rate this series. From a critical standpoint this show is extremely well-done from the acting to the writing to the way it’s shot. It’s destined for Emmys. In fact I can actually tell you what clips will be aired for both Cox and Strong for their nominations. However, as a consumer of television, I probably never want to watch another episode of the series. It’s a morbidly dark portrait of shitty people being shitty … and where’s the fun in that?
Critical Rating: 7 out of 10/Consumer Rating: 4 out of 10
