Succession, HBOâs heir apparent to Game of Thrones and the current best show on TV, has returned for a third season. âSecessionâ picks up right where the season 2 finale left off, with Kendall Roy (Emmy winner Jeremy Strong) having outed his father Logan Roy (Brian Cox) as having been complicit in a series of scandals that rocked his mega-powerful media company, Waystar Royco.
So itâs Kendall vs everyone else, at least for now; who knows what twists and turns the narrative will take before we reach the end? Itâs possible that Shiv Roy (Sarah Snook) has already seceded (title alert) and gone over to Team Kendall. Whatâs already clear is that the journey is going to be worth watching, because she show is as sharp and incisive in its third season as it was in its first two.
Why Succession is the best show on TV
Up top I said that Succession was the best show on TV. What makes it worthy of that praise? Itâs not like the show does anything particularly new; itâs just that everything it does do it does really really well, starting with the story.
Have you ever heard of a theater company mounting some Shakespeare play but setting it in modern times, and then you roll your eyes? Like Hamlet but set in modern-day New York City or something? Succession is kind of the palatable version of that. Its cast of ultra-wealthy power players is up to the minute â Waystar Royco is a pretty blatant stand-in for Fox News, and the Roys a mirror of the Murdoch family â but theyâre dealing with some very classic themes: ambition, greed, rivalry and instability.
Kendall is the poster child for that last one. Can this drug addicted manslaughter dodger really take down his father and take control of Waystar? On paper the answer is no. Shiv is right when she says heâs not âon the level,â but maybe parting ways with his family has straightened him out. Cousin Greg (Nicholas Braun) is in his corner, but that doesnât count for much; heâs too busy trying (and failing) to summarize the entire internet to be of much use.
Then again, he does manage to get the Gloria Allred-like celebrity attorney Lisa Arthur (Sanaa Lathan) on his side, much to Shivâs chagrin. And Kendall is more wily than he looks; heâs unpredictable, which means he could end up on top just as easily as he could crash and burn.
Meanwhile, the rivalries within Team Logan are almost as interesting as the one between Teams Logan and Kendall. With public pressure on him mounting, Logan decides to step back from the company a bit and appoint someone else interim CEO, with him behind the scenes pulling the strings. Watching the various parties scramble for the position is classic Succession. With help from her eternally-between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place husband Tom (Matthew Macfadyen), the ambitious Shiv makes a beeline for it, but is passed over when she fails to secure Lisa Arthurâs services for the company. The smarmy Roman Roy (an eternally smirking Kieran Culkin) also wants it, and increasingly looks like heâs smart enough to actually handle it. But even though Roman is growing, he may not be ready to captain his own ship yet, hence why he pushes for Waystar general counsel Gerri (J. Smith-Cameron) to get the job.
And she gets it, mostly by keeping her head down, doing her job, and âavoiding mess,â as she tells Roman. Gerri may be the smartest character on the show, and I wouldnât be surprised to see her walk away in control of the company when all is said and done.
Succession is HBOâs true successor to Game of Thrones
That circles back to something else I said about Succession up top: that itâs HBOâs heir apparent to Game of Thrones. Yes, the network has House of the Dragon on the way, and Iâm excited for that, but just read back through this episode summary: does the story of powerful people jockeying against each other for position and power sound familiar? Itâs Game of Thrones minus the dragons and zombies, and thatâs something I can get behind.
Succession also has the added layer of being a commentary on our specific age of untouchable billionaires playing their games while the rest of us work to carve out what happiness we can. Itâs notable that although Waystar Royco is a conservative media company, the show isnât concerned with any of the political rhetoric itâs espousing; the series keeps its eyes on what matters: the money and the people vying to control it. On Succession, thatâs all that really matters, which is a more trenchant comment on our current politics than any polemic against this or that side could be.
Itâs war. F**k off.
To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.
Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels
