Succession - best drama of 2018
SUCCESSION SKY ON DEMAND
WHEN the first previews appeared for HBO/Sky Atlantic’s big budget drama Succession, it looked like it might be a timely pop at either the Trump or Murdoch family.
Brian Cox is peerless in his role as ageing, ruthless media magnet Roy Logan, a man from humble beginnings who has gone on to create one of the most toxic media companies in America as his three children squabble over his affections and, more importantly, control of the company.
But as you watch the first few episodes of this compelling, bitingly funny drama, it becomes clear that if anything, they’re more like the Lannisters from Game Of Thrones, with a touch of the Bluths of Arrested Development thrown in for occasional light relief.
What marks Succession out from its rivals for drama-of-the-year is the fact that none of the characters appear to have any redeeming features.
The father is, by any stretch of the imagination, a monster. Still bearing the scars on his back which hint at an abusive childhood, he toys with his children, exults in destroying opponents rather than just winning a negotiation and has all the regal psychosis of a man whose wealth has long evolved past something as simple as mere money.
The kids are, by turns, stupid, depraved, idealistic and recovering addicts.
The smartest of them, Siobhan ‘Shiv’ Roy, decides to run a political campaign for her father’s political nemesis – Eric Bogosian channelling his inner Bernie Sanders as the idealistic presidential wannabe Gil Eavis, while son and heir-in-waiting Kendall is a recovering coke head.
What makes Succession work so seamlessly is that just when you think you understand one of the characters, they veer off in a different tangent. Normally, this is a sign of sloppiness but here it just looks like the natural evolution of people, rather than an artificial story arc.
Kieran Culkin starts proceedings as the devilmay-care, hedonistic youngest son who seems embarrassed by his family’s wealth – until he makes a point of cruelly taunting a poor Latino kid by offering him a cheque for a million dollars, before ripping it into four pieces and offering ‘a quarter of a million dollars’ and laughing like Joffrey from GoT.
Rich people are seldom likeable and while few of us have ever engaged in family feuds because one of our siblings tried to organise a multi-billion dollar hostile takeover of our father’s business, the rivalry and childish bickering will be familiar to many.
Succession is stunning TV, and the best thing this year...
All 10 episodes are up on Sky On Demand – binge immediately.