Succession: Succession
August 3, 2018 11:15 AM - Season 1 (Full Season) - Subscribe
With machiavellian characters and sharp dialogue, this show from The Thick of It writer Jesse Armstrong has everything you hope to see in a mega-rich family
Yeah, this show is so good. At the beginning, I was worried that they would eventually insist that we root for one of these monsters.* I was also a little worried that, as with literary fiction, slogging through all the unlikable characters** might be off-putting. Neither of these things happened!*** These people are so, so awful and their suffering is so funny.
Matthew MacFadyen is incredible here. I feel like the only real ending for his character is suicide in the most embarrassing fashion possible, but I hope that doesn't happen until the series finale because he's too good to lose yet.
*I'm rooting for Greg, a little.
**And I kind of like Geri.
***Actually, much like with Wendi Deng Murdoch, I'm reluctantly impressed with the mercenary she-devils that Logan marries.
posted by grandiloquiet at 1:14 PM on August 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
Matthew MacFadyen is incredible here. I feel like the only real ending for his character is suicide in the most embarrassing fashion possible, but I hope that doesn't happen until the series finale because he's too good to lose yet.
*I'm rooting for Greg, a little.
**And I kind of like Geri.
***Actually, much like with Wendi Deng Murdoch, I'm reluctantly impressed with the mercenary she-devils that Logan marries.
posted by grandiloquiet at 1:14 PM on August 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
I should also say -- though she's far less funny than some other characters -- I've been blow away by how good Sarah Snook is as Shiv. Kieren Culkin is less compelling, though his character might be to blame for that. It's probably impressive that they managed to make Roman and Connor so thoroughly awful. I think the actors could've played up the charm a little for these roles, and the show would've been worse for it.
posted by grandiloquiet at 1:17 PM on August 4, 2018
posted by grandiloquiet at 1:17 PM on August 4, 2018
I actually really like the depth Jeremy Strong manages to bring to bring to Kendall. He makes you actually care about him at least a little (also the bit with him doing drugs in Arizona was awesome).
posted by biscotti at 1:58 PM on August 4, 2018
posted by biscotti at 1:58 PM on August 4, 2018
The Arizona episode was also the only episode where Roman was remotely decent or surprising (surprising because he was decent).
It took me a long time to notice the Ken-Doll framing of Kendall's name, but it can't be coincidence.
posted by grandiloquiet at 3:59 PM on August 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
It took me a long time to notice the Ken-Doll framing of Kendall's name, but it can't be coincidence.
posted by grandiloquiet at 3:59 PM on August 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
I clicked on it because I thought it would be a one season modern King Lear, but I knew I was going to love it when I saw that ridiculous headline in the opening credits. Why are so many of our older celebrities dying? It's perfect.
posted by betweenthebars at 7:31 PM on August 5, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by betweenthebars at 7:31 PM on August 5, 2018 [8 favorites]
The finale was awesome. Seeing Logan put the smackdown on Kendall so exquisitely, and seeing Kendall know exactly what his dad was doing, seeing he was completely outmaneuvered thanks to his own selfishness and stupidity (and his dad's experience and opportunism)...damn.
And Shiv and Tom.
Perfect.
posted by biscotti at 11:33 AM on August 8, 2018 [4 favorites]
And Shiv and Tom.
Perfect.
posted by biscotti at 11:33 AM on August 8, 2018 [4 favorites]
I remember when I started this I had a hard time sticking with it - questioning why I was watching something with such loathsome people. And is this a drama? A comedy? Am I suppose to laugh at that? Questions I kept asking myself, that I think eventually kept me watching.
And then once I was hooked in, wow was I ever. THAT MUSIC. Loved the piano and the grace notes that sounded like the player's finger slipped for a split second before hitting hard onto the correct key. So stressful and amped up. Perfect for this family who just manufactures pain and anguish with all they do and still manage to land hard on their own feet every time. They're wounded maybe, but will continue the same paths despite all. Absolutely loved that!
There were brief, brief moments with all of the characters too that I would begin to feel a slight empathy for - that there was some salvageable quality about them, that I could find hope in them, then NOPE. They would each do something so completely unforgivable and awful.
posted by dog food sugar at 8:04 AM on January 3, 2019 [6 favorites]
And then once I was hooked in, wow was I ever. THAT MUSIC. Loved the piano and the grace notes that sounded like the player's finger slipped for a split second before hitting hard onto the correct key. So stressful and amped up. Perfect for this family who just manufactures pain and anguish with all they do and still manage to land hard on their own feet every time. They're wounded maybe, but will continue the same paths despite all. Absolutely loved that!
There were brief, brief moments with all of the characters too that I would begin to feel a slight empathy for - that there was some salvageable quality about them, that I could find hope in them, then NOPE. They would each do something so completely unforgivable and awful.
posted by dog food sugar at 8:04 AM on January 3, 2019 [6 favorites]
Surprising intelligent discussion about the series on r/succession
posted by growabrain at 12:55 AM on January 6, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by growabrain at 12:55 AM on January 6, 2019 [2 favorites]
Just finished episode 10. Wow. WOW. The thing I’m most struck by: every single one of the Roy children is at their best, morally and ethically, when they’re under extreme stress. When Roman picks Kendall up from the wolf den in Santa Fe, that’s the closest he is to a human being. After Kendall drives into the river, he dives back down to try and rescue the waiter several times, then hauls himself to the river bank, then goes back in. Shiv (and how appropriate that her nickname is taken from a bladed weapon improvised from desperation) is at her most human when she sees the monster her father is, and then when she confesses her infidelity to Tom.
I feel for Tom, too. He really is fathoms beneath her, though he’s not actually an objective dummy. And he’s clearly decided, as so many spouses of the rich and powerful do, that 80% of Shiv is better than 100% of anyone else. But still. Man.
posted by KathrynT at 1:25 AM on August 18, 2019 [3 favorites]
I feel for Tom, too. He really is fathoms beneath her, though he’s not actually an objective dummy. And he’s clearly decided, as so many spouses of the rich and powerful do, that 80% of Shiv is better than 100% of anyone else. But still. Man.
posted by KathrynT at 1:25 AM on August 18, 2019 [3 favorites]
It’s called a snowball, Tom.
posted by rue72 at 6:57 PM on August 20, 2019 [8 favorites]
posted by rue72 at 6:57 PM on August 20, 2019 [8 favorites]
Ah, the good ol' Chappaquiddick. Strong ending for the season, even if a little deus ex machina.
I just started watching this show because of the buzz for season 2 and I loved it. I think what surprised me most is how sympathetic I started feeling for all the characters. I mean they're all awful, that's the shtick, but they're also all understandable and relatable and have their good moments.
I'm on Team Roman myself. He's the court jester who understands that his whole world is a joke. Also the one who winks at the camera.
I love how this whole season supports an alternate reading that Marcia is 100% blameless. She's got a steel backbone, sure, but she's done nothing but support her ailing husband and his wishes. She knows how venomous the family is. Oh sure the PI turned up some unnamed dirt in her background, but whatever. I fully hope in season 2 they unleash whatever horror is in her psyche too.
posted by Nelson at 9:42 AM on September 10, 2019 [7 favorites]
I just started watching this show because of the buzz for season 2 and I loved it. I think what surprised me most is how sympathetic I started feeling for all the characters. I mean they're all awful, that's the shtick, but they're also all understandable and relatable and have their good moments.
I'm on Team Roman myself. He's the court jester who understands that his whole world is a joke. Also the one who winks at the camera.
I love how this whole season supports an alternate reading that Marcia is 100% blameless. She's got a steel backbone, sure, but she's done nothing but support her ailing husband and his wishes. She knows how venomous the family is. Oh sure the PI turned up some unnamed dirt in her background, but whatever. I fully hope in season 2 they unleash whatever horror is in her psyche too.
posted by Nelson at 9:42 AM on September 10, 2019 [7 favorites]
usury and onanism. Connor is the best worst one.
posted by logicpunk at 12:50 PM on April 25, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by logicpunk at 12:50 PM on April 25, 2020 [4 favorites]
I feel like the "Connor wants to run for president" thing came way out of left field. Everything Kendall, Roman, Shiv and Greg did seemed to flow out of what we learned about them early on, but that plot twist felt forced.
(Yes, I'm very late to the party. Just watched s1 this past week.)
posted by jzb at 11:08 AM on May 3, 2021
(Yes, I'm very late to the party. Just watched s1 this past week.)
posted by jzb at 11:08 AM on May 3, 2021
But everything Connor does comes out of left field.
posted by Pendragon at 11:22 AM on October 2, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Pendragon at 11:22 AM on October 2, 2021 [1 favorite]
I’m rewatching both seasons in prep for S3, and I’m able to revel in their awfulness better than the initial viewing. Poor Tom.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 7:48 PM on October 8, 2021
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 7:48 PM on October 8, 2021
I didn't know this was going to be so much like Veep -- a bunch of the hugest assholes and idiots nominally on the same team, who hate and insult each other constantly, and all getting pies in the face over and over. It's great!
posted by fleacircus at 10:02 PM on April 13, 2023
posted by fleacircus at 10:02 PM on April 13, 2023
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The bachelor party episode was probably my favorite. Although the "family therapy" episode in Arizona is a close second.
Also I will watch anything with Matthew Macfadyen in it.
posted by biscotti at 3:49 PM on August 3, 2018 [3 favorites]