By Paula Noor Fakhri Ciaurri, Year 11
Spoiler Warning.
“I love you, but you are not serious people.”
Logan Roy tells his children in Season 4, Episode 2 of Succession, cutting to the core of this series. It’s not truly about taking over the media empire, but rather about how inheriting affluence does not mean inheriting power, as well as the tragic life due to their money. The importance of a certain topic is clear: both in what it appears to be about on the surface and when getting to the core, the series revolves around wealth. It is everyone’s ultimate goal, the core of everyone’s ambition and drive. On the other hand, it is equally the reason the Roys are broken and the cause of all their suffering.
Succession’s dialogue is everything. The strength of the writing has shocked me in a way no other show has ever before. Every insult, every vulgar and hilarious comment has an impact. What is most impressive is how, language-wise, every character marks me. You might assume it’s due to the same writers. And yet, every character’s dialogue is so incredibly powerful and so different, from Roman’s widespread references and masked comments to Logan’s bluntness. All the riddles, metaphors, and euphemisms in this series all have a lasting impact. I have watched Succession once, and I could name countless lines that have made an impression on my mind, and I could not name a single one out of any other movie praised for its dialogue. Every character is so incredibly different, whether in their mannerisms or their speech. You could read a single line on the script and know which character it belongs to. Siobhan’s calculated smirk to appear unfazed no matter the situation, and Roman’s slouching and bouncing created an air of casual indifference.
The end of Succession makes the core theme of this show unmistakable: a family built on valuing fortune above all else is fated for tragedy. Although the ending may seem as though one or two people came out victorious, it is untrue. Siobhan did not win. It was never about her taking over the empire; it was never about coming out on top. It was about wanting her father’s approval. For the three monstrous children, it was always about their father. Logan Roy created this race for them before they had even been born, and they had no choice but to start running. He loved them, but by always making it about the empire, by always making it seem as though they could only be loved if they prevailed, it became solely about the empire.
“In its five-year run, Succession has won a total of 81 awards, including nineteen Primetime Emmy Awards, eight Critics’ Choice Awards, nine Golden Globe Awards, two Producers Guild of America Awards, four Writers Guild of America Awards, and one Peabody Award. It was nominated for 223 awards in total, including a Grammy Award. Its third season received the most nominations at the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards with 25 nominations, and its fourth season received the most at the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards with 27 nominations (including a record-setting three nominations in the Best Lead Actor category). It was also the most nominated television series at the 81st Golden Globe Awards with 9 nominations”(Succession Fandom). All this to show that the praise I am giving it has quite a lot of legitimacy.
In its final shots, the quiet, devastating truth is that in this family, no one really wins, leaving us, the audience, with many questions left unanswered. Can this family ever be rebuilt without the shadow of a throne that the members have spent their entire lives crawling towards?
Sources.
https://succession.fandom.com/wiki/Awards_and_nominations
https://www.theringer.com/2021/10/11/succession/succession-season-3-preview-profane-poetry
https://time.com/6283267/succession-series-finale-analysis/
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/jun/02/was-i-alone-in-finding-succession-overrated
