𝘚𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 is a miraculous show. There are so many ways that this story could have felt hampered, or obvious, or just kind of embarrassingly tryhard in its attempt to be prescient. It doesn't feel possible that this story could succeed as a family tragedy, a workplace comedy, and a skewering of late capitalism & the decline of American empire. But it's blisteringly good at all of those things, and the commitment to this story as an important & worthwhile piece of art, probably the most important thing in the medium since the end of 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘪𝘳𝘦, is on full display. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘪𝘳𝘦 is actually a really interesting point of comparison with 𝘚𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘪𝘳𝘦 is in tension with its own relationship to narrative as a work of social critique, and constructs its story as a modern morality myth: Characters are dwarfed by the gods of their setting, completely at the mercy of the systems that govern their lives, and reduced to impermeable archetypes by the flow of history. 𝘚𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 is very different. Both works are critiques of American capitalism, but in addition to their genre differences- satire versus deconstructive crime drama, Succession has no qualms about being a work of narrative, and subordinates the huge, life-shifting systems of the world to the whims of the impossibly rich, mean & small & stupid. There is a titanic, mythic, aspect to the story of Kendall's attempts to kill his father, and every ghastly lurch in the story of this afflicted family. Storytelling this evocative & lush is only enabled by 𝘚𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯's rich characters, that manage to feel somehow archetypal & novel at once. Kendall, Siobhan, and Roman are all gorgeously layered characters, written with an incredibly deft hand. All are sympathetic, deeply unscrupulous, gifted, stunted, and all containing a different fragment of their father. They feel at once like flesh and blood, and like Greek Heroes, totally doomed by a huge, blistering flaw in their person. This gallery of characters is an embarrassment of wealth, powered by a ridiculously strong cast- Probably overtaking Breaking Bad as the best acted live action show for me. [SPOILERS] 𝗞𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗔𝗟𝗟 "𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳." The easiest point of comparison between 𝘚𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 & classic literature is King Lear, but I have not read King Lear & Kendall Roy is Hamlet. Kendall is the perfect tragic protagonist, static in spite of his huge swings in temperament & circumstance. Desperately insecure, jitteringly manic-depressive, and terminally flighty, he's an unmitigated disaster. His fate is sealed so early, and yet he keeps pushing his stone up the hill, and being toppled by circumstance. Jeremy Strong is shattering in the role, portraying Kendall as an open wound of a man. It's impossible not to feel for him as he's broken, remade, and broken again. Kendall's character is a really beautiful breaking point with the usually lighter satirical tone of the show. Dream Song 29, the poem alluded to by each of the season finales, explores a man haunted by a great, unforgivable sin, and speaks to the crime that hangs on Kendall's conscience like a leech. It's so sickening and so gorgeous. Kendall is arresting in part because of the genre-bending guilt that clouds over him, but also because, despite how much he fucks up, and how he's really much less like his father than Roman or Siobhan are, he never really feels out of the race. 𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗕𝗛𝗔𝗡 "𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘬 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘥. 𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥." Siobhan is the most capable & (probably) the smartest sibling, which makes her the easiest to hate for her moral cowardice, self-interest, and hatefulness. Siobhán enters the story from a more remote position than Kendall & Roman, as an outsider to Waystar Royco, but once she's roped into the rat race by Logan at the start of Season 2, her story is just electric. She most clearly emulates what Logan wants in a successor- She's the only one that really stands out as a killer, never clouded by sentiment. With Kendall & Roman as competitors, her central flaw is very understandable: She presumes too much. Whereas Roman is a deeply ashamed person, and Kendall's self perception is constantly on the verge of capsizing, Siobhan has an inflated sense of self, letting her forget her position in relation to the other players around her. Tom's betrayal is probably the most formally tragic part of the show, in that it's a reckoning wrought entirely by Shiv's actions up to that point. 𝗥𝗢𝗠𝗔𝗡 "𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘰𝘨𝘴, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘱𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘰𝘯𝘦." Roman is more of a wildcard than either of his full siblings, which makes him a little less substantive as a fully-rounded character. That said, he's also maybe the most sympathetic character, peacocking his defects & (comparatively) wearing his heart on his sleeve. Roman is an orbital player, probably the most insecure & needy of all the kids, and the least driven contender for the chair. Roman rises when either of his siblings falter, and while all of them are displacing their desire to be CEO for their desire for paternal love, in Roman's case it's very pronounced. By the finale, Roman has emerged as someone who could never really want to be on top. He flails around, waiting to be put in his place, and in the end he needs Kendall to violently assert his position in order to feel comfortable. Roman is completely ruled by sentiment, turning on a dime when Logan appeals to his need for approval. His jester act is a much flimsier shield against sincerity than the corporate jargon that Kendall & Shiv favour. He may not have the same narrative verve as the crushing conflicts that Kendall & Siobhan have with Logan & Tom, but he is the greatest source of unabashed pathos in the show. No-one else could earnestly ask Logan for mercy, admitting that he has nothing but love in his back pocket. 𝗟𝗢𝗚𝗔𝗡 "𝘓𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘢 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘳. 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘢 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘬𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘥." Logan is the most archetypal character of the show, fitting pretty neatly into the box of "hard-hearted, businessman father". That's not a criticism, because that archetype is executed with so much lyricism, power, and grit, that he becomes the greatest antagonist in this medium. The mystique of Logan's "business voodoo" is never punctured by the narrative, even when the story very rarely troubles to back up it up. He's actually really often on the back foot, outflanked by his kids & reliant on luck or human error to bail him out. But his ability to project an aura of confidence is just so bulletproof. You can't help but be taken in. Logan has a beautifully sick relationship with all of his children, severe, and fleetingly loving, and always bitingly disappointed in what he's made. Logan is the force around which everyone orbits, and his exit is the greatest shift in circumstance that this story can make. Everyone flails at the finish line. 𝗧𝗢𝗠 "𝘜𝘩, 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘴. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘨" Tom is an amazing character piece, shunted to the side of the narrative, and delicately striding Succession's razor-thin comedy/tragedy line. He's such a fucking buffoon, so nakedly grasping, and ill-at-ease, and cloistered. He dances on eggshells around everyone but Greg, and it's so engaging to watch these two sides of Tom at work: A servile lackey & a schoolyard bully. Both sides are hilarious. But Tom also has these huge moments of sweeping pathos in his relationship with Siobhan. Her confession that she would be unfaithful, his speech about how unhappy he was in their marriage, and the balcony argument are some of the best pieces of character work in the show, period. And the evolution of that relationship, culminating in a reversal of fortune between them, with Siobhán throwing in with Tom for an arid, bitter relationship, just based on Tom's new proximity to power, is insane drama. Tom walks in with no delusions of grandeur about what he is or what he does, and it allows him to outflank the kids who think that the business is a game built for them. 𝗚𝗥𝗘𝗚 "𝘐𝘧 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥, 𝘴𝘰 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘦- 𝘚𝘰 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴." I fucking love Greg the Egg. Every line that he says is fucking priceless, and Braun's faltering delivery style fucking kills it. Everything he says feel like he's improvising against a cast of impossibly glib business ghouls. And his double act with Tom is just superb. Every scene they share is a delight. But I do think that Greg is a bit of a failure on a dramatic level. It's arguable that he doesn't need to have a lush narrative arc, but I feel like the show is sort of half-committing to that kind of story. Greg visibly declines into an amoral company man over the course of the show, leveraging his bumbling image to skate past scrutiny & buy leverage over bigger players. That works in theory, but in practice Greg is sort of a static character, and winds up feeling like a bit of narrative grease to let the writers move pieces on the board, without worrying too much about the consequences. Greg's loyalties are incredibly fickle, which is par for the course in this world, but his reasonings for betrayals start to feel really flimsy- The help that he gives to Kendall in 2x10, facilitates a great moment, but Season 3 struggles to navigate the reasons that led to that decision, or the fallout that it should have in Greg. He acts as a mole for Kendall in the finale solely on the promise of "being in the quad". I love Greg dearly, and he's instrumental in making this show as fun as it is, but he's also the biggest culprit for moments that feel like a narrative convenience for the writers' room. 𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗧𝗜𝗔𝗥𝗬 𝗖𝗔𝗦𝗧 Succession's principal cast is one of the most impressive that I've ever seen, both in terms of writing & performance. But the supporting cast also refuse to miss. Alan Ruck is really superb as Connor, another character that strikes a beautiful balance between comedy & tragedy. Connor is so consciously ridiculous, posturing as a Renaissance Man maverick while his dad bankrolls his rancher LARP & engagement/sugar baby arrangement. But he's also clearly more cognizant of how maladjusted his familial life is, and able to cope better, in a stunted way. Karl & Frank spend so much of the show as these put-upon sidekick characters, and they work excellently like that (Karl's panic attack is the funniest shit of all time). But they also really seamlessly transition into serious, backboned players once Logan is off the board, more than capable of manoeuvring against his unserious children. Gerri is a perfectly good straight-woman to highlight her ridiculous scene partners. Ewan is a brilliantly clear source of moral focus in his scant appearances, acting like a blistering herald & holding a mirror to how bankrupt the whole cast are. Caroline's appearances are just as rare, but she cuts so deeply with her transparently self-pitying derisiveness towards her children. Even really minor roles like Willa & Jess round out the world in a really satisfying way, conveying whole people in fragments of the Roy's lives. The only blunder is probably Marcia- Hiam Abbass is superb in the role, and every moment of her screentime conveys a formidable person to rival her husband, but after the schism forms between her & Logan in S2, she feels like such a loose end in the story; And she's not the only part of the story that feels that way. 𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗨𝗖𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗘 Loose ends are the biggest flaw in 𝘚𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯. The show has made an extremely effective trade off in prioritising dynamism for the characters & story over having a bulletproof, clean, plot. Succession is built around creating moments of shining catharsis that cut through the insincere double-speak of bulk of the bulk of the show. Logan & Kendall's dinner in 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘦, Tom & Shiv's balcony argument in 𝘛𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘺, & Ewan's eulogy in 𝘊𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘩 & 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦, are the stuff that this show is for. The trade-off for these moments is that conflicts crop up unevenly ahead of the characters, and disappear just as abruptly. Moment to moment, the stakes are impossibly high, but then the shareholder meeting goes off without a hitch, or the DOJ investigation peters out, or Mattson's fake India numbers don't amount to anything. It's an unfortunate pattern that can start to undermine your investment in the (already somewhat opaque) plot. I really like the ending. As a Kenhead, it's torturous to watch him come within inches of the big chair, only to have it pettily snatched away, but it's also how it had to be. There's no use in letting Tantalus slake his thirst. Tom taking the crown, and really being the empty suit for a bigger web of capitalist agglomerization, is a brilliantly unsatisfying way to wrap up the story. There's always a bigger fish. 𝘚𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 is a great idea, executed with roaring success on every level of production. A masterstroke of television. 𝗕𝗘𝗦𝗧 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗦 10) Karl Muller 9) Caroline Collingwood 8) Ewan Roy 7) Connor Roy 6) Greg Hirsh 5) Tom Wambsgans 4) Roman Roy 🥉Logan Roy 🥈Siobhan Roy 🥇Kendall Roy 𝗕𝗘𝗦𝗧 𝗦𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗦 🥉3 🥈4 🥇2 𝗕𝗘𝗦𝗧 𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗗𝗘𝗦 10) America Decides |    4x08 9) Dundee |   2x08 8) Tern Haven |   2x05 7) Safe Room |  2x04 6) Nobody is Ever Missing |  1x10 5) Tailgate Party |   4x07 4) This Is Not For Tears |  2x10 🥉Church & State   |  4x09 🥈Connor's Wedding   |  4x03 🥇Chiantishire   |  3x08