The Roy family is known for controlling the biggest media and entertainment company in the world. However, their world changes when their father steps down from the company.
Brian Cox breaks away from elegantly voicing McDonald’s Egg McMuffin commercials to play patriarch Logan Roy, who runs Waystar Royco, a media conglomerate apparently modeled after the Fox Broadcasting Company. This unconventional family drama chronicles life in the rarefied air within which the super-rich reside, taking on Shakespearean proportions that might even make the Bard blush. As the title implies, Logan reluctantly must face the prospect of whom to groom for running his company – even if, by his own admission, it may take him ten years to step down finally. Logan is a roguish, loveable manipulator, a benefactor that lavishes fine food, libations, and other opulent diversions on his guests but never for a moment lets them forget that he founded the feast and is willing to inflict all manner of insult as a form of payment. He is a bully, which may explain his success in business at the uppermost levels, but his acolytes are all too willing participants in the abuse all the same. In effect, money talks – or more accurately – it curses in exchange for sufficient remuneration.
The extensive cast of characters includes Jeremy Strong as Kendall Roy, the early ostensible successor to the media empire, but who struggles with the love-hate relationship he has with his father while also trying to fight off a recurring cocaine addiction. In the process, he looks and behaves a little like a psychopath, sociopath, or simply an amoral hustler – or maybe a combination of all three.
In fact, none of the grown children in the family do much to commend themselves, and that’s obviously the point. Annoying at first, the apparent limitless list of personality defects starts to endear, albeit peculiarly. Kieran Culkin as Roman Roy, the clever youngest son, has many angles but generally finds himself at one extreme or the other – either smack in the middle of the game, calling plays, or warming the bench indefinitely. When Roman is urged to explore the plight of the working man – the other 99 percent of people in America – he adapts his sketchy ethics to the street sensibilities.
Alan Ruck, as Connor Roy, plays the oldest son, reeking of incompetence, which explains his place on the periphery of the inner circle. Instead of playing Logan’s cruel game, he plans to win the presidency with his family and political connections. His significant other is Willa Ferreyra (Justine Lupe), who seems to serve mainly as window-dressing for Connor, often finding herself on the butt-end of jokes at one of many social gatherings. Ruck’s political aspirations demonstrate his best opportunity to break away from the family and make his own rules.
Sarah Snook, as Logan’s daughter Shiv, has more of a clue than most, and happily, there’s a lot for her to do. She schemes with the best of them and tosses out zinging bon mots. A typical line of banter includes, “Are you flirting with me? Because your flirt got all over my pants.” Her fiancé and eventual husband, Tom Wambsgans (Matthew McFadyen), demonstrates a smarmy obsequiousness that is breathtaking as he kisses up to Logan shamelessly and for all to see. Idiot cousin Greg Hirsch (Nicholas Braun) stumbles across many early encounters, ingratiating his way into a role at any of his uncle’s businesses he can wedge into.
It’s interesting to see the children flail about, trying to find the ace-in-the-hole, the magic bullet, the secret sauce. They all have an uber appreciation for the politics – clearly because of the environment in which they were raised. At the same time, however, they have been given too much too soon, and their ineptitude shows.
The degree to which Logan alternately enables and insults his adult children makes one wonder why they would hang around. Of course, the answer is always as apparent as the elephant in the room – the money, maybe as much as $10 billion or more, will be shared if things go as planned. Or perhaps it could be the power. Very probably both.
The early episodes find Logan Roy almost immediately and unexpectedly incapacitated with a cerebral hemorrhage and bedridden as a result. During that time, Logan’s children and his current wife Marcia (Hiam Abbass) spend that time jockeying for a position with the company that seems ripe to restructure or go on the auction block. Soon enough, predators circle in Season 2, leaving the recovered Logan to navigate the stick-or-sell decision that will also bring the shareholders in line.
A fine supporting cast of names and faces populates scene after scene. Danny Huston makes some welcome, though brief, appearances as Roy’s attorney, Jamie Laird, who, when pressed, seems capable of dispensing uncomfortably insightful strategic advice. Holly Hunter, as Rhea Jarrell, arrives as a no-nonsense CEO and advocate of the Waystar Royco acquisition target. James Cromwell, as Ewan Roy, Logan’s brother, pops in periodically to mix things up a smidge as well.
The dishy drama is not without a few stumbles. For example, the introductory credits borrow shamelessly from “The Game” with Michael Douglas as Nicolas Van Orton, a character forced to assume control of his father’s empire at an early age. It’s a flattering homage but still highly derivative. In addition, the regular and unnecessary shaky camera technique attempts to infuse a sense of cinéma verité into the narrative but mainly succeeds in reminding viewers that someone is over on the other side of the actors trying to impose their personal artistic stamp on the production.
Quibbles aside, “Succession” is consistently profane, irreverent, and full of unvarnished criticism of the ultra-wealthy, serving up caustic wit that is usually funny but not always. While modeled on the Murdoch clan, other monied families, such as the Trumps, would easily fit the mold. It’s the flip side of the lifestyles of the rich and famous – in this case, or maybe in real life, it’s the dark side of the one percent that live in another dimension altogether, people who can literally get away with murder if no one finds out. Though we are all considered equal under the law, the rules are, and have always been, different from the obscenely affluent. Simply put, there’s a lot of plot going on here, with all the machinations simmering, even bubbling – continually and deliciously – just below the surface. Needless to say, It all ends in tears – or at least with an unexpected victor – but then that’s precisely what a tragedy is supposed to do.
Now available on DVD
