‘Succession’ is back and yes, it’s that good. Here’s why

SPOILER ALERT: There are spoilers ahead for “Succession.”

If you don’t like the TV show “Succession” I have bad news for you. It’s going to be kind of unavoidable over the next 10 weeks while the final season plays out, and then for some time after that, especially once the Emmy nominations are announced in July.

If you are a “Succession” fan, though, you likely spent a chunk of your week reading every recap and analysis you could find after Season 4 premiered Sunday. (It had a record first night audience of 2.3 million viewers in the U.S., according to Nielsen, although that will grow with PVR and streaming views.)

New York Magazine is even offering a subscription-only “Succession Club” newsletter — yes, I signed up immediately — that provides such ephemera as a look at the diner where Logan Roy (Brian Cox) and his bodyguard and “best pal” Colin (Scott Nicholson) grabbed a bite; photos of the actual Manhattan penthouse apartment where Tom (Matthew Macfadyen) and Shiv (Sarah Snook) decided to end their marriage; and, speaking of Tom, a “Wambsgans Watch,” assessing the soon to be ex-son-in-law’s relationships with the characters.

Is it worth all this hype? In my view, yes.

The series has been consistently excellent over its first three seasons: smartly written, excellently acted, a show that, like the best thrillers, keeps you on the edge of your seat wondering what will happen next. It culminated in a gobsmackingly great season finale in December 2021 that set the stage for this fourth and final instalment.

No one knows yet how it will all end in late May, but I have faith it will hold up.

How good is “Succession”? Let me count the ways.

Anti-heroes for days

The show is about a ridiculously dysfunctional rich family in the vein of the Rupert Murdoch clan. Like Murdoch, Logan Roy is the head of a media conglomerate, including a Fox News-like TV channel. The premise baked into the title was that one of Logan’s younger kids — Shiv, Kendall (Jeremy Strong) or Roman (Kieran Culkin) — would succeed him as head of Waystar Royco (a fourth child, son Connor, played by Alan Ruck, is currently pursuing a doomed presidential run). But that seemed to go out the window when Logan decided to sell the empire to a Scandinavian tech CEO and the kids’ attempt to block the sale was thwarted when Shiv was betrayed by husband Tom. Don’t feel bad for the children though: everyone in this clan has engaged in backstabbing, trash talking and selling out other members of the family. Fan favourite Cousin Greg (Nicholas Braun) initially seemed like the innocent in the bunch, but he guzzled the Kool-Aid when he agreed to be part of Tom’s deal with the devil, a.k.a. Logan.

Twists for days

Part of what makes the show so much fun is never really knowing what comes next. Think of Kendall, at the end of Season 2, naming Logan as complicit in Waystar’s cruise ship sex abuse scandal instead of falling on his sword as he was meant to do (not that it did any actual damage to Logan). Who could have foreseen Tom betraying Shiv at the end of Season 3, the admittedly neglectful wife to whom he seemed beholden for his tenuous position within the company? Or the kids banding together to try to stick it to their father? Just the fact that Shiv, Kendall and Roman are still working together at the start of Season 4 is kind of shocking. It won’t last, but who will pull the plug on the alliance and how? Will the Waystar-GoJo sale go through? Will Logan have Tom’s back or put a blade in it? Whatever happens, it’s sure to be fascinating.

They talk the talk, sort of

Words are a big part of the way these characters do battle, whether it’s Roman’s quippy, crude insults or Logan’s blunt profanity (fans have been known to ask actor Cox to tell them to “F–k off”). These characters bob and weave verbally, using language to calculate, negotiate, obfuscate and wound. The dialogue is often razor sharp and funny as hell, and some of the best of it belongs to Tom and Greg. (Google “Succession quotes” for a reminder of laugh-out-loud lines you might have forgotten.) When Greg brings an unwelcome date to Logan’s birthday party, Tom mocks her “ludicrously capacious bag”: “It’s monstrous, it’s gargantuan, you could take it camping, slide it across the floor after a bank job.”

Rich people behaving badly

From golden oldies like “Dynasty” and “Dallas,” to more recent entries like “The White Lotus” and “Billions,” shows about how the other half lives clearly appeal to audiences. The Roys are not flashy about their wealth — see last week’s Toronto Star piece about Shiv’s boring wardrobe — but you’re not going to see them shopping at T.J. Maxx and hailing Ubers, not when they’ve got chauffeur-driven cars, helicopters and private jets at their disposal. And the kids think nothing of bidding $10 billion for a media company their father also wants to buy. Much of the action of “Succession” takes place in boardrooms and offices, but we do catch glimpses of their expensive homes, like Tom and Shiv’s aforementioned two-storey penthouse; the 279-foot megayacht; the 42-acre summer palace in the Hamptons.

They’re human after all

The Roys might be some of the most miserable wealthy people ever to grace a screen. Even at weddings and parties they can’t stop jockeying for position long enough to have a good time. Well, Greg at least tries to have a good time — see: having “a bit of a rummage” with his date in one of Uncle Logan’s spare bedrooms at the birthday party — until Tom or somebody else shuts him down. Self-important to the point of absurdity and severely lacking in self-awareness, these characters are also deeply unhappy people. And when that sadness and hurt is allowed to peek through it can be devastating. You could feel the unacknowledged heartbreak when Tom and Shiv agreed to end their marriage with the tragically underwhelming statement “We gave it a go.”

Debra Yeo is a deputy editor and a contributor to the Star’s Entertainment section. She is based in Toronto. Follow her on Twitter: @realityeo

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