A TV series big time underrated? Succession, a taste of the power behind the Power
I'm really sorry, but if you haven't seen HBO's ‘Succession’ yet, I clearly have a suggestion to offer you. And no, what you are reading is not part of a commercial or advertisement, it is my honest opinion about an impressive audiovisual work such as this series. Adam McKay, (director of The Big Short) and Jesse Armstrong (writer, screenwriter and director in multiple episodes) are some of the minds that have made possible this beauty of four solid, impressive and, at times, sublime seasons.
Succession is the title that immediately makes sense of the plot of this series. It's not too complicated or pretentious to understand what all the ‘threads’ within the plot are about. An owner of media, hospitality and entertainment companies; a tycoon in the style of Warren Buffet or Carlos Slim, is in his ‘retirement’ years (close to 80 years old) and in the ‘line of succession to the throne’ are his 4 sons. Each one of them, with a vision of the world, of the business model they must manage and above all, with an atrocious hunger for power and absolute control.
This TV Show does handle the dark comedy device well and masterfully. With camera moves in the style of ‘The Office’, it is not at all a sitcom-style family laugh-out-loud show. In fact, it's a balance between family drama, thriller and Stanley Kubrick-esque comedy... The likes of Brian Cox and Kieran Culky dazzle with their characters. They're not exactly digestible or easily absorbed. Not to mention the tone of the series... In the age of family friendly and mainstream Hollywood, Succession dares to be original and crude at times.
However, the plots to achieve power, the manipulation of Logan Roy (head of the Weystarr Reyco empire) and boss and founder of the whole monopoly, makes what we witness on screen, at times, unpleasant, abominable at times and generates a lot of indignation. I personally praise the naturalness with which Armstrong (its creator and main ideologist) has documented the world where billionaires live. If we are repulsed by celebrities when they are out of step with all of us, in Succession you will feel things much sharper than that.
Politics, entertainment, controversy, corporate domination, lust for power at any cost and a rotten family history, without values, or rather, with a lot of anti-values, are some of the characteristics that we can observe in this series. There is absolutely nothing I can criticise it for. With Breaking Bad, its creators made characters like Skyler White and Tuco Salamanca epic and famous, with Succession you will never forget the following names if you have seen the series: Logan, Roman, and Kendall Roy; as well as Shiv and Greg Roy. The opprobrium, the momentary indolence and cynicism we have to tolerate when witnessing how the ‘threads’ that rule the world are ‘connected’ is truly shocking. Oops, I almost forgot, if you've made it this far, and even though asking for more time is too much, watch Succession, you'll thank me.
I loved this series and each of its characters. I didn't like the ending at the time, then a few days later I thought a lot about that.
And I think the ending is right, none of them claimed to be the CEO of the company, all the brothers were weak and had many anti-values as you mentioned.
It is definitely in my top favorite series.