On the surface Succession is decent enough. We've got a fairly high production value, acting ranging from good to outstanding, passable writing, and initially the dialogue feels tangible. The characters start off as interesting, if for nothing else because they live and move in circumstances that most of us will never experience. The show dazzles us with a look into a world that is extremely opulent and outrageoulsy decadent.
As we progress, however, the show does become somewhat repetitive. It's the same power struggle, for the same stakes, with the same players back-stabbing each other again and again. In the fourth season stakes are raised as we veer into a US presidential election, but it is still framed from the perspective of the Roy family and their corporate schemes.
For me, the show stumbles primarily on two fronts. Firstly, the main characters are irredeemably awful people. They're vapid, immature, greedy, self-centered, unpleasant and at times outright evil. We can't in good conscience root for any of them to come through, and whenever they do succeed we're left wishing they hadn't.
Secondly, Succession drops the ball on showing the real world consequences of how these terrible characters act. People who are laid off by the hundreds over a Zoom call? Never heard from again. Victims of abuse? A few minutes of screentime in a single episode and then gone forever. Political protestors? Merely faceless sign-holding crowds with no discernable agenda of their own.
It is a major flaw that the story is told exclusively from the point of view of the Roy family and their minions. We only ever learn about their motivations, and everyone else exist simply as pawns or obstacles in the Roy family plots and schemes. This one-two punch of irredeemable main characters, and no external view or opposition that we can empathize with leaves the viewer nowhere to go and no-one to relate to.
It's a shame, because there was potential here to tell a compelling story about power, influence and corruption. We could have had the perspective of DOJ prosecutors, SEC watch-dogs, a corporate whistleblower, laid off employees strugling after being sacked, or any number of servants traumatized by working for the Roys. What we get instead is really just a four seasons long showcase of how awful and decadent rich people can be.
As we progress, however, the show does become somewhat repetitive. It's the same power struggle, for the same stakes, with the same players back-stabbing each other again and again. In the fourth season stakes are raised as we veer into a US presidential election, but it is still framed from the perspective of the Roy family and their corporate schemes.
For me, the show stumbles primarily on two fronts. Firstly, the main characters are irredeemably awful people. They're vapid, immature, greedy, self-centered, unpleasant and at times outright evil. We can't in good conscience root for any of them to come through, and whenever they do succeed we're left wishing they hadn't.
Secondly, Succession drops the ball on showing the real world consequences of how these terrible characters act. People who are laid off by the hundreds over a Zoom call? Never heard from again. Victims of abuse? A few minutes of screentime in a single episode and then gone forever. Political protestors? Merely faceless sign-holding crowds with no discernable agenda of their own.
It is a major flaw that the story is told exclusively from the point of view of the Roy family and their minions. We only ever learn about their motivations, and everyone else exist simply as pawns or obstacles in the Roy family plots and schemes. This one-two punch of irredeemable main characters, and no external view or opposition that we can empathize with leaves the viewer nowhere to go and no-one to relate to.
It's a shame, because there was potential here to tell a compelling story about power, influence and corruption. We could have had the perspective of DOJ prosecutors, SEC watch-dogs, a corporate whistleblower, laid off employees strugling after being sacked, or any number of servants traumatized by working for the Roys. What we get instead is really just a four seasons long showcase of how awful and decadent rich people can be.