Anybody watching "Succession"?

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Highly recommended btw.

[Ferguson97]

Yes, one of the best shows on television right now.

[Sol]

Watched the first episode last night, would be interested to hear y'all's thoughts. My main takeaway was "I would very much like for these people to drown in a lake," but I'm sure I'll have more thoughtful conclusions as I think about it.

[President Johnson]

Does that get available on Netflix?

[President of the great nation of 🏳️‍⚧️]

Does that get available on Netflix?

It's an HBO show, I think.

[diptheriadan]

I've watched the first five-ish minutes of it three times, or however long it is until Failson comes on screen. At that point I'm just overcome with an overwhelming sense of cringe and I have to stop.

[President of the great nation of 🏳️‍⚧️]

That said, I watched the first episode and was impressed, but not enough to get HBO Max for it.

[beaver2.0]

No but I watched the family guy episode that references it.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Watched the first episode last night, would be interested to hear y'all's thoughts. My main takeaway was "I would very much like for these people to drown in a lake," but I'm sure I'll have more thoughtful conclusions as I think about it.

An understandable thought. Basically season 1 is kendall being so consistently out of his depth and thrown in the ringer you both get the schadenfreude of his fail and, in your own way, feel very sorry for him. I desperately want to make a spoiler here for the season finale here, but I'll let you get to it if you want.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Back this Sunday, getting on hype train

Watched the first episode last night, would be interested to hear y'all's thoughts. My main takeaway was "I would very much like for these people to drown in a lake," but I'm sure I'll have more thoughtful conclusions as I think about it.

Did you end up finishing it?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

It does amuse me that the critical final episodes of the first season were filmed and set in Herefordshire. Jesse Armstrong is, of course, from the Marches himself, specifically Oswestry.

[Sol]

Back this Sunday, getting on hype train

Watched the first episode last night, would be interested to hear y'all's thoughts. My main takeaway was "I would very much like for these people to drown in a lake," but I'm sure I'll have more thoughtful conclusions as I think about it.

Did you end up finishing it?

I didn't, though I should.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Drowning in a lake, you say? Interesting.

[Zinneke]

It's a series that only really gets going when that boardroom scene happens, so understandable if people watched the pilot and E2 and thought "interesting but meh".

[T'Chenka]

Going to be starting in April or May. Not going to read posts in here, as I'm trying to go in as blind as possible.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Thoughts on the season premiere?

Spoiler alert! Click Show to show the content.

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There is a lot to say, and little of it will be original at this point, but these are my standout thoughts:
 - Everyone looks older. This is of course the result of biological processes, but it reminds me of the wind-down of the Sopranos (I actually told my mom that Succession is "Sopranos for Protestants"), where Tony's deteriorating physical state is reflective of his deteriorated moral state.
 - Sad boi Logan    While we all know that these are bad people whose poor character and lack of ability to connect with others will leave them lonely and broken, it still is quite a punch to the gut to see it play out. Logan telling his paid bodyguard he is his "pal" after having fled what would ordinarily be a family function with almost no family (or real friends) in attendance says about as much as it needs to.
 - While we are supposed to always caveat what we say about the characters with "They're terrible people," etc., we all have our favorites. During the pow-wows with the siblings, Roman was the only one that seemed remotely likeable, and it links to his disinterest in buying PGN, which is clearly just to be petty.
 - A consistent thing that pops up to me in this series is that people this high up on the money chain almost never discuss actual business specifics. The entire pitch for "The Hundred" was a string of buzzwords. This is presumably by design but you have to start asking yourself at some point who is actually turning gears to make things profitable here.
 - Tom didn't wear his wedding ring at dinner, but did in his own apartment.
 - Siobh's unwillingness to even discuss what went wrong in their marriage would be deeply concerning. She clearly is afraid of dredging up bad memories, actual emotions or, God forbid, her own mistakes (can relate), but at their age (late thirties/early forties) wanting to just bury your marital screw-ups, of all things, in a memory hole seems to say that one does not value how their time is spent. I wanted to shout at her "It's your life!"

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Also did Nicholas Braun get a nosejob?

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

I, personally, am a big fan of this TV show because it combines my three favorite past-times:
1. saying horrible, offensive things when engaging in gossip about others
2. satirizing various kinds of awful rich people (notice that any cameos of proles show them in a positive light!)
3. studying narcissism personality disorder

[Pres Mike]

I watched the first season on HBO Max. Its just too boring for me.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

This week's ep had some earth-shattering performances.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The previous week's episode contained an extended and very obvious reference to Dennis Potter's Karaoke. If you know that TV drama well, then you won't be surprised as to what happened on this week's episode.

[Ferguson97]

This week's ep had some earth-shattering performances.

Give Sarah Snook her Emmy!!!

[Zinneke]

This week's episode was exceptional TV, I was more stunned than emotional - it didn't leave a pit in my stomach. But it did leave me with a certain darkness. One is the fact that it is a realistic portrayal of something many of us will likely have to one day go through or at least fear. The other aspect was the Connor plotline throughout it including that end scene - from the reason he's stressing about the cake, to the reaction to the main even of the episode, to that final scene, it added a layer of sadness about him that's understated given he's often been used as comic relief.

This week's ep had some earth-shattering performances.

Give Sarah Snook her Emmy!!!

I find her to be the more overrated one actually. Jeremy Strong was the best for me in this episode. I rewatched the last scene of Season 1 too and he and Cox were on a different class. For all their clash of styles they are genuine pros.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

Not gonna lie, it has surprised me that people evaluate the characters in Succession as they would in other tv shows. I think they are plainly portrayed as psychological basket cases and the way in which they are broken isn't sympathetic, as they lack empathy, are purely self-interested etc. They leave a trail of destruction behind them. The children of Logan are sympathetic in one way: they did not choose to be reared by sickos or to inherit pathological genes.  But they are responsible for their deplorable behavior. My own evaluation of the characters is below, which is more detailed.

1. Overall impression - due to their upbringing, where they were raised by maximal narcissist mother (terrifying actually) and an abusive narcissistic father, they are unable to form real relationships with anyone, to 'bond'. Three out of the four have severe attachment problems, though they vary.
2. Connor - Many people mistakenly feel sorry for Connor because it is sad that his father neglected him. This was a tremendous blessing for him and it is why he is the only sibling who resembles a remotely normal person. Is he an embarrassment? Sure but he explicitly desires companionship, love, bonding etc. He is the only sibling who is disinterested in the family business and who sticks around because he wants to be included. Last thing I'll say is that it's my theory that his relative normal behavior is evidence that the mother of the other three siblings is the main antagonist of the show in practice (horrifying c-word!!).
3. Kendall - I think he's plainly the most sympathetic child. Is he a walking catastrophe who is a danger to everyone around him? Sure but he is portrayed as the one who is capable of empathy in fleeting moments, he seems like a person, albeit a remarkably self-absorbed one who is also an idiot. He comes off as having "Borderline" personality disorder.
4. Roman - if it wasn't for his total inability to be nice to other people, Roman might be the most sympathetic character. Why? All of his pathologies are clearly the product of extreme toxic abuse and his pathologies are particularly devastating to his life. Namely, he cannot have anything resembling a normal romantic relationship, it is not feasible. One senses he cannot have friends, cannot swap emotions. However, because he has extreme attachment problems, he behaves very, very badly - how can you sympathize with this imp who flings crap?
5. Shiv - Easily the worst sibling, a depraved monster. She has inherited her father's traits. I think it's interesting that her nickname is also used as a verb that means "to stab", which suits her perfectly. I suspect she was coached to act like a narcissist in the extreme - that's what she is. Her other two siblings are much more ambiguous and come off as the damaged children of narcissists.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Jeremy Strong was the best for me in this episode. I rewatched the last scene of Season 1 too and he and Cox were on a different class. For all their clash of styles they are genuine pros.

There's a tendency to think of their contrasting styles in terms of nationality, but that's an error: Strong is a (quite literal) disciple of Daniel Day-Lewis and his particular form of Method Acting has more in common with Day-Lewis's (or that of the late Pete Postlethwaite) than the well-known American Method Actors, even if they were obviously an early inspiration. Cox is interesting as while his range as an actor isn't anything like what it was when he was younger, but when he is in his now reduced range he remains very, very good.