Review | ‘Succession’ returns for one last family feud
On March 26, season four of “Succession” premiered, bringing the Roy family back for their final battle over the family company. Photo collage by SIMRAH AHMAD, staff photographer
“I love you… but you are not serious people.” Mull this line over for a moment, consider how you would feel if it was said to you. Would you be offended?
Most people might brush such an insult off. But for the Roy children, when their father, Logan Roy (Brian Cox), tosses this insult on the table, they are silent. A faint drop of pain leaks into their eyes. Logan gets up and exits immediately. As always, he’s had the last word.
This interaction takes place in the second episode of the fourth and final season of HBO's “Succession” and perfectly encapsulates where we find the Roy children, Shiv (Sarah Snook), Roman (Kieran Culkin) and Kendall (Jeremy Strong), after the events of season three’s shocking finale.
The show, which for so long focused on the three children’s attempts to claim the role of CEO, now finds them cast out from the company and on Logan’s hit list.
The Roy children attempted to thwart their father’s plan to sell the family business, Waystar Royco, to Lukas Mattson (Alexander Skarsgård), and, at the start of season four, are no longer a part of the business they were trying so hard to hold onto.
Season four of “Succession,” which premiered on March 26 to 2.3 million viewers, will attempt an enormous feat: end a fantastic show with an equally, if not more, fantastic ending. Will creator Jesse Armstrong be able to pull this off? Only time — and the next eight episodes — will tell.
But if we’re judging solely based on the two episodes that have aired so far, he’s off to a great start.
The first two episodes of season four demonstrate just how much the characters we know and love, or hate to love, have changed. Kendall, once Logan’s lapdog, is committed to seeing the war he started with his father through. Shiv, once eager to climb the ladder and prove herself to her father, is looking for any chance to screw him over. And Roman, typically cowering under his father’s boot, is for once making a stand, despite how visibly uncomfortable this makes him.
For the first time in the show’s history, the Roy siblings are on the same side. An appetizing change for this viewer’s palette, considering I no longer have to lament over picking which Roy offspring should sit on the CEO throne — a difficult task considering they’re all equally unlikeable.
Watching the first two episodes, it feels like the characters are fighting a war — if war only included talking. But in the business world of “Succession,” money and business is life, and when that life is threatened, they will fight tooth and nail.
Armstrong has managed to take the elusive business world and turn it into the same dynamic power struggle that made “Game of Thrones” so interesting. The constant use of Shakespearean metaphors and military-like talk creates an atmosphere akin to that of a war room. Such unique writing, and acting to match, has resulted in 48 Emmy nominations so far.
Even in the midst of battle, season four taps into human emotion more than any season before. After Tom (Matthew Macfadyen), betrayed Shiv in the season three finale by alerting Logan to the plan her siblings were hatching, the couple finds themselves separated and coming to the realization that their relationship may be dead in the water.
Snook, who has been playing Shiv for six years now, adapts to her character’s evolution masterfully, portraying a level of hurt that has heretofore been absent in Shiv’s interactions with, and regarding, her father.
Kendall and Roman’s emotional turmoil is also present in the first two episodes, though Kendall’s seems to be taking a backseat — a strange turn of events considering Kendall once seemed like the protagonist amongst the large ensemble of "Succession." I can only assume Kendall will take center stage as the season progresses, though he will likely come out on top or self-destruct, there’s really no inbetween.
The standout from the first two episodes is the fourth and forgotten Roy child Connor (Alan Ruck). Though he is eldest sibling, Connor is often the family’s laughingstock. He may be the man running for president with no qualifications but in the final moments of episode two, Ruck delivers one of the most impressive and heart breaking performances of the show.
“And I’m a plant that grows on rocks and lives off insects that die inside me,” he says to his three siblings. He points out exactly what the audience has understood since season one. Kendall, Shiv and Roman just want to be loved by their father who has none to give, and because of this fatal flaw, they will fail time and time again. Ruck is the only main character of the cast yet to receive an Emmy nomination, an oversight that will hopefully be rectified after this season.
As “Succession” comes to a close, it is easy to theorize how the show might end. If it continues to mirror Shakespeare, most notably King Lear and Hamlet, the show could end with several character deaths and a level of tragedy unheard of in a boardroom. Or it could continue mirroring its real life counterpart, the Murdoch family, meaning Logan would likely succeed in selling Waystar, similar to how Rupert Murdoch sold several Fox Entertainment holdings to Disney.
Viewers should brace themselves for a season filled with constantly changing tides and Julius-Caesar-level betrayals.
But there is one thing I know for sure. When the final episode airs, someone will be the victor and someone will be the loser. Now, we just get to sit back and watch the Roy family fight to the death.
