Succession - Seasons 1-2

“Succession deftly critiques white feminism as anything but radical.”

Title: Succession
Episodes Reviewed: Seasons 1-2
Creator: Jesse Armstrong 👨🏼🇬🇧
Writers: Jesse Armstrong 👨🏼🇬🇧 (20 eps), Susan Soon He Stanton 👩🏻🇺🇸 (10 eps), Alice Birch 👩🏼🇬🇧 (10 eps), and various (4 ♀ and 4 ♂)

Reviewed by Mimi 👩🏻🇺🇸

Technical: 5/5

I’ll just go ahead and say it: Succession is my favorite TV show about white people.

The beauty of the much-lauded HBO series lies in the simplicity of its central question: Who will Logan Roy (Brian Cox) name as successor to his empire (aka “win a kiss from daddy”)? The Roys have drawn comparisons to the Trumps, and their fictional business Waystar Royco to real-life entities such as Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and Sinclair Broadcast Group. As a result, Succession invites timely discussions about capitalism, politics, and economic inequity. What may be off-putting for some viewers is certainly the same reason so many of us tuned in for the first two seasons: The displays of obscene wealth offer a voyeuristic glimpse into the everyday life of the 1% that include private helicopter rides to the Hamptons, plates of uneaten lobster being unceremoniously dumped, and lavish yacht vacations. From the Roys’ tastefully subtle apparel to the “cold, sterile interiors” of their many homes, the attention to detail makes the interpretation of this rarefied world appear wholly believable and depressingly real.

For all their money, the Roys are a dysfunctional, unhappy lot. The script’s frequent nods to Shakespeare—Logan a modern-day King Lear ranting in the literal and proverbial storm, his son Kendall (Jeremy Strong) part wayward Prince Hal and part revenge-seeking Hamlet—never let us forget that they are deeply flawed, tragic figures. Creator Jesse Armstrong, a veteran of Armando Iannucci’s political comedies The Thick of It and Veep, demonstrates a keen understanding that the rich and powerful are often no more than a collection of inflated egos prone to petty infighting, enabled by their hangers-on. The actors in this phenomenal ensemble cast fully embody each character’s internal struggle, but no one more so than Strong.

Succession is not simply a good show about bad people. It succeeds because it fulfills Aristotle’s definitions of a tragedy, depicting the moral and ethical failings of characters who hail from power and high status. The writing sets us up for the expectations of their failure from the very first episode when Kendall learns that he will not be succeeding his father as CEO. It is in its most essential form a drama based on human suffering, and the catharsis and pleasure that follow derive from watching the family fall in spectacular fashion.

Gender: 4.5/5
Does it pass the Bechdel Test? YES

Season 1 follows Kendall’s implosion, while Season 2 shifts focus to his sister Shiv (Sarah Snook). Logan quietly offers to begin grooming his oft-overlooked daughter for the job. But the move is far from a feminist win. Shiv goes from working for a Bernie Sanders-type presidential campaign to wanting to head up a corporation that owns what is essentially the equivalent of Fox News, which her husband Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen) is promoted to oversee. We’ve seen such about-faces from the left to the far-right happen in reality. The parallels between Shiv to someone like Ivanka Trump are reflected in more than just their shared haircut.

Shiv’s “liberal” credentials are repeatedly touted when her father attempts to acquire a prestigious, legacy media outlet owned by the Pierces, partially inspired by the family that runs the New York Times. But as the episode “Tern Haven” (Season 2, Episode 5) set at the Pierce compound reveals, the progressive leanings of matriarch Nan (Cherry Jones) have little impact on her life of privilege and oblivious treatment of the help. In fact, plenty of smart, strong, and likely feminist-identifying women help lead the Roys’ company, from the general counsel Gerri Kellman (J. Smith-Cameron) to CEO candidate Rhea Jarrell (Holly Hunter). But their personal politics hardly matter if what they’re really after is personal gain, which often means preserving the status quo and protecting white men in power like Logan Roy.

The show deftly critiques white feminism as anything but radical. No episode drives this point home better than “DC” (Season 2, Episode 9) when Shiv decides to silence a sexual assault survivor scheduled to testify against the family-owned cruise line in front of Congress. As the two sit in the car, preparing to confront the witness, Rhea tells her, “Siobhan, you don’t have to do this.” But Shiv doesn’t see a difference between what’s best for business and what’s best for herself. And by going through with it, she does real harm to the many women who were victimized by her father’s company.

Race: 3/5

Outside of the biological family, people of color fill supporting roles. There’s Logan’s third wife Marcia (played by Palestinian actress Hiam Abbass), Kendall’s friend Stewy (played by Iranian American actor Arian Moayed), and Lawrence (played by Korean American actor Rob Yang), founder of a Buzzfeed-meets-VICE media company that Waystar Royco buys and later guts. Despite less time on screen, they are multi-dimensional characters who don’t feel tokenized. In fact, the casting seems to implicitly understand how people of color can still be complicit in propping up whiteness. To that end, I don’t know that the show would actually benefit from more inclusive representation of race. Ultimately, the show is about how whiteness benefits from capitalism, and vice versa.

In the finale of the second season, Logan’s youngest son Roman (Kieran Culkin) advises his father against brokering a deal with an exorbitantly wealthy, and likely corrupt, Turkish family. Later, Shiv teases her brother, joking that he didn’t trust them because he’s “a bit racist.” He seems to speak earnestly when he replies: “I didn’t think so. There’s always that possibility.” It’s one of the only instances I can recall in which the show explicitly addresses race. Roman’s response perfectly underscores what’s true about all the characters: It doesn’t matter if they’re conscious of their own biases, if they think of themselves as being racist or not. Their actions are racist in the most consequential ways. The company has a shorthand for deaths or other violent incidents that harm marginalized people, as brought to light by the “cruises” scandal: No Real Person Involved. It exposes how a company like Waystar Royco, under Logan’s direction, can strip people of their humanity.

LGBTQ: 2.5/5

It’s slightly surprising that there aren’t more queer characters in the series, especially given that it’s set primarily in New York City. Lawrence, who has a male partner (Jake Choi), is probably the most visible. The bisexuality of Roman and his girlfriend Tabitha (Caitlin FitzGerald) is briefly alluded to at different instances but never shown on screen. One interpretation may be that even if a character were to identify as gay or bisexual, it would not pose an issue for them, so long as they’re shielded by their white privilege.

Bonus for Age: +0.25

As noted by writer Samantha Leach, many women over the age of 60 hold positions of power in Succession, whether they serve as Logan’s nemesis as Nan Pierce does, or as trusted business (and possible romantic) partners like Rhea Jarrell. They even indulge in sexual role-playing games, in which they are firmly in control, as Gerri does to Roman’s great delight.

Mediaversity Grade: B 3.81/5

Unlike others shows about class, Succession doesn’t try to narratively balance the upstairs-downstairs dynamic. Instead, clever visual storytelling reminds us that when Logan accidentally urinates on the carpet or Kendall shits the bed, someone else is responsible for cleaning up the mess. So even though they remain invisible to the Roys, the viewer sees the labor performed by the family’s many domestic workers. The one interloper is cousin Greg (Nicholas Braun), who goofily stumbles into the Roys’ Fifth Avenue townhouse and into our hearts. But he, too, finds himself seduced by Logan and just as quickly spat out (as "Greg sprinkles"), presented as a potential scapegoat for the company’s wrongdoings.

It does beg the question: Why do we care about these people? Or perhaps, why should we care? Despite the realization that the family is a “nest of vipers,” as Uncle Ewan (James Cromwell) puts it, we can’t help but become entranced by the constant jockeying for power. But it’s not so much a political game as it is a very human story. We feel for Kendall, and at times Shiv and Roman, not because they are heroic, or people worthy of rooting for, but because they are so clearly the products of Logan’s cruelty.

Given everything that’s happening in the world right now, it’s easy to become cynical. But it’s important that we do feel something, that it’s never lost on us that this level of wealth—how much it costs this family to maintain it, how much it costs us as a society—is not normal. I want to believe these empires and their hoarding of wealth can be dismantled and destroyed, whether from the inside out or external forces. And that’s why I keep watching, to see what happens next.

Like Succession? Try these other titles featuring family dysfunction.

Grade: BLiSeptember 20, 2020Great for: Technical