‘Succession’ season 3 has no time for non-billionaires
I admire HBO’s “Succession” enormously, let’s get that out of the way. The show, whose third season debuts at 9 p.m. today, is exceedingly well-made, visually specific and brilliantly cast with an incredible musical score. And if you are powerless to resist the vicarious thrill of being inside these exclusive spaces that the show occu- pies — the private planes and penthouse apartments and luxury suites — well, there’s nothing wrong with that.
But shouldn’t we want more from this portrait of a modern day robber baron, grasping at the dying light of his reign as his blundering offspring clamber for position and a pat on the head? “Succession” isn’t glamorizing the brutal elitists of the world — there’s no mistaking showrunner Jesse Armstrong’s jabs; these are deeply unhappy people! — and of course they would be oblivious to the harm their petty, ego-driven actions have on anyone lower on the food chain. But the show mirrors that disinterest as well, and that’s what leaves me feeling so empty episode after episode.
Led by billionaire media oligarch Logan Roy, the members of this family — collectively and individually — are forever toggling between defensive and offensive postures. The space between offers only apathy and boredom. This is how they connect with the world, but also with one another. There is no letting your guard down, ever, and you’re a sucker if you do. That truism continues in Season 3, with family wild-card Kendall attempting once again to take down the big man himself, while his three siblings — Connor,
Shiv and Roman — scramble to figure out their play: Stick with the devil they know, or do the unthinkable and align with their brother to defang dear old dad and put an end his power games once and for all?
The joke of “Succession” is that the great man can’t actually organize a plan of succession without doubting himself, or somehow taking it personally that this hunk of dirt we call Earth will keep spinning once he’s dead and gone. Who wants some therapy!
The stooges in their orbit are just that, hangerson who are bit players in the Roy Family Drama, and this isn’t a complaint about the actors, who are terrific — Matthew Macfadyen plays the sweaty married-in status of Shiv’s husband with an otherworldly level of scary comedy — but an observation about whose stories the show is even curious to explore. Sanaa Lathan joins the ensemble this season as an attorney working to advance one family member’s agenda, but the show treats her presence as little more than a blip.
A truly disturbing scandal threatens to take the company down — there are human victims here — and not only is this of no interest to the Roys
(duh), it’s of no interest to the show, which omits any complex depiction of the fallout on the non-billionaire side of things.
The performances are what make “Succession” sing, and also what distract you from its shortcomings. Brian Cox roots Logan Roy in a roiling bombast, but also finds all kinds of wonderful subtleties in this overbearing archetype. Kendall’s awkward intensity in the hands of a singular actor like Jeremy Strong makes him a riveting figure.
But I often wonder about the subconscious effect of fiction that centers the point of view of the Roys of the world; even as they’re being satirized, they’re being elevated and treated with exquisite care by the writers.
“There’s something about betraying our father that just doesn’t sit well with me,” Roman says semi-sarcastically at one point, and this is where the show always loses me. These people — every last one of them — are heatseeking missiles with “BETRAYAL” spelled out on the side. Betrayal is their raison d’etre. But the show let’s a line like that go unchallenged. So around and around we go, like the melody of the show’s iconic music.