Succession: the acclaimed series where everyone is hard to like

Let me say up front that Succession I find it an interesting series, well conceived and even better executed. I understand the ratings it has had and why so many people consider it one of the great recent series. It has ambition, good actors, sharp dialogue and a very clear idea of what it wants to tell.

And yet, to me it did not feel like that big a deal. Or, rather, I did not enjoy it that much.

Reasons?

Mainly one: I find it incredibly hard to empathize with any of its characters. And that constantly pulls me out of its universe.

But let’s talk a little more about the series in general before digging into that point.

What Succession is about

Succession is about a rich and despicable family. And one thing is independent of the other, let’s be clear. You can be rich without being despicable, and you can be despicable without having a media empire.

In this case, the series follows the Roy family, owners of Waystar RoyCo, a huge media and entertainment company.

The father, Logan Roy, is the great patriarch: harsh, manipulative, feared by everyone and with a tremendous ability to dominate any setting or room he walks into.

Around him are his children, moving between the need for approval, ambition, insecurity and the desire for power. They all want something and believe they deserve more.

They are also willing to stab relatives and non-relatives in the back if that gets them a little closer to the center of the decision-making table.

That is the foundation of the series: a constant family fight inside a giant company, where business decisions mix with personal trauma, old humiliations and egos the size of a building.

Black comedy and criticism of capitalism

Where Succession works best is as a black comedy about a rich family. The fights between siblings, partners, advisers and hangers-on have some very good moments. There are conversations in which nobody says exactly what they think, but everyone is trying to size up the other person, to know who wins, who loses and who gets discarded, or simply ends up looking ridiculous.

The series also works as a critique of the most ruthless capitalism. Not so much because it gives you a speech, but because it shows a world where decisions that affect thousands of people — the rocket bit is great — are made amid tantrums, revenge, egos and badly aimed family strategies.

I especially liked that part about a family business that is going too well. Maybe because, on another level, I have lived it personally. When a company works, problems do not disappear: quite the opposite, they become more complex. And each member’s views and goals are different.  

The Roys are not worried about making ends meet, obviously. Their problems are miles away from those of ordinary people. Precisely because of that, they often look absurd from the outside.

And it is at that point that the series shows us the seams of the system. When you see that such a characteristic symbol of capitalism as a giant company faces the same problems as any other — fights over money, power, family — it becomes clear that the American dream maybe is not such a dream after all.

By the way, this criticism is something we have been seeing quite a lot lately.

Is there a trend for this kind of series?

Well, it does seem there is a certain trend for series about rich people, power, huge companies and morally dubious characters. To put it mildly. Succession, Billions and Industry are notable examples, each in their own way, of that space.

To distinguish them a little and see if you feel like trying one, I will tell you that, of the three, Billions seems more entertaining to me. 

It also has despicable characters, of course, but they usually all have a part that lets you understand them or even empathize with them a bit. Not justify them, but understand why they do what they do. Also, since it is a longer series, the journey has more room to breathe.

Industry, on the other hand, feels quite a bit below it to me.  

I see it as a kind of copy that swaps the media company for an investment bank, but less sharp and less incisive. Besides, it takes itself more seriously and that works against it.

Because, honestly, none of the three is very realistic, although for different reasons. The difference is that Succession seems fairly aware of its own exaggeration. Sometimes, in fact, even too aware.

The best of Succession

Despite everything mentioned, it is a good series. And it is for the following reasons.

The cast

The cast is generally good. Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook, Kieran Culkin, Matthew Macfadyen and company understand the tone of the series perfectly. They all know how to move in that space between family drama, satire and black comedy.

But Brian Cox is on another level.

Logan Roy is the strongest character in the series, and Cox uses that to brutal effect. 

He does not need big speeches to impose himself. Very often, a look, a pause or a way of staying silent is enough for you to understand perfectly what is happening. 

Every time he appears on screen, just by being there he already improves the whole thing.

The script and the black comedy

The dialogue is good. The scheming too. The series is very skilled at showing how everyone tries to look very smart and strategic. And then they always fall.

In fact, while watching it, I kept thinking of Mike Tyson’s legendary line: “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”

The series makes that clear.

Still, the most curious thing is the absurdity of many ambitions and actions. If you analyze them coldly, most of them make no sense at all. For many people, that is part of the fun: seeing how a family that has everything can be so emotionally and psychologically dysfunctional.

The critique of power

Succession portrays very well the impunity of the rich and, at the same time, their miseries. Those people can do things that would ruin a normal person’s life.  

At the same time, they live trapped in a permanent competition for a promotion — or paternal approval — that never comes.

They are very rich, but you never envy them.

The worst of Succession

Right, now we get into the real meat of the review. The part that separates my opinion from the majority view.

Characters who are hard to empathize with

I have already mentioned this. 

I understand that many people like watching despicable people doing despicable things — in fact, that is where the success of many reality shows comes from — but it is not something that really works for me.

In Succession I find it hard to see myself reflected in any character, even partially. I would not act like any of them in any situation. And that constantly pulled me out of the series while I was watching it.  

Let me explain: to enjoy a work — in any format, series, film or comic — I do not need the protagonists to be good people, or even to like them in the simplest sense. But I do need some point of connection. Something that makes me understand their actions. Because I do not understand them, any of them.

They are so absurd and the solution seems so obvious in most cases that I constantly lost my suspension of disbelief.

That is why, with Succession I would watch it, appreciate its virtues, but not enjoy it.  

Unlike what happens to me with series such as The Expanse, Game of Thrones, Person of Interest and so many others, where I was waiting for the next episode to come out, here in the final season I was almost wishing it would end so I could mark it as completed.

Situations that feel too forced

In line with that loss of suspension of disbelief, there are also situations that feel too forced to me:

• Absurd personal decisions. Honestly, nobody with half a brain would do what Logan Roy’s children — especially the sons — do. Bad decisions again and again.
• Huge business decisions that are all ego and zero strategy. It is hard to believe that a company run like that has become the empire the series shows you.
• Similar to the previous point, in many of the meetings the important thing is not to decide anything, but to humiliate. It is fiction, yes, but it is not very believable.
• Finally, any event — weddings, birthdays or family gatherings — always ends up turning into a war. Do they always have to be like that? Really?

The series clearly embraces exaggeration; it is part of its tone, but in my case I could not stop thinking are you going to screw it up again?.

A series more admired than enjoyable

It is an ambitious series and I appreciate that. It has good points, it is very well made and you can tell there is a clear intention behind it. That is why I watched it.

But I never came to rate it as highly as the critics. For me it has been more a series I admire than a series I truly enjoy. The nuance matters.

Verdict

Succession is a good series. I do not dispute that.  

It is ambitious, well written, well acted and has very good black comedy moments. It also shows quite well how certain dynamics of power, family and business work.

But it is clear it was not a series for me.

I found it too hard not to step out of a story where everyone seemed so unpleasant to me, their decisions so absurd, and where many situations felt so forced that they stopped interesting me. 

That is why I understand the phenomenon, but I do not share it: good series, yes; masterpiece, not so much for me.

Technical details

Field	Data
Title	Succession
Years	2018-2023
Seasons	4
Episodes	39
Creator	Jesse Armstrong
Main cast	Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook, Kieran Culkin, Alan Ruck, Matthew Macfadyen, Nicholas Braun, J. Smith-Cameron
Genre	Satirical drama, black comedy, family drama
Country	United States
Available on	Max