Nothing in the world predicted everything about subrogation. In the weeks leading up to its summer 2018 release, this sharp satire about a fictional Murdoch-like dynasty drew only cautious expectations. The biggest credit seemed to belong to the director and producer, not a central star in front of the camera in the way HBO had often relied on in the past. The team involved, including a recent Oscar-winning screenwriter for The Big Short and a filmmaker with recent work The Vice of Power, sparked curiosity but not a wave of enthusiasm.
The reviews arrived in a spectrum of tones, and while the favorable opinions outweighed the rest, consensus still felt like a distant ideal. Even fans of screenwriter Jesse Armstrong, known for Peep Show and Fresh Meat, acknowledged that the early episodes did not immediately land as a masterpiece. Yet this is a common rhythm in comedies and tragedies alike: the first episodes test the waters, then the show finds its friction, steadies its pulse, and learns how to pace the chaos.
“The tone is specific and shifts as the series evolves,” noted Holly Hunter, who played a former rival of Logan Roy when she joined the cast.
To shape the arc, the creators needed to bring every character into the same room and unleash their impulses to see what would stick. This approach is echoed in Austerlitz, a memorable seventh episode that doesn’t imitate the author’s melancholic pages but rather uses family dynamics as a clever instrument to raise the stakes. In the climactic finale, Never Missing Anyone, human turbulence remains a central thread; it nods to historical upheavals like Ted Kennedy’s era in Chappaquiddick while keeping the focus on the family at the center of the story.
Yet the second and especially the third seasons solidified its place among the era’s most acclaimed dramas. When Succession entered the pantheon of television’s late golden age, it stood alongside legends like The Sopranos, The Wire, and Breaking Bad in terms of cultural impact and craft.
reasons to love him
There isn’t a single hidden trick that makes Succession a universal obsession; it’s the whole that elevates the show beyond the sum of its parts. Schadenfreude—our amusement at others’ misfortunes, especially the ultra-wealthy—certainly plays a role, but the series rejects glossy fantasies. The ultra-rich in Succession rarely find satisfaction; even when they secure their desires, happiness remains elusive. That irony invites a wry smile, a reminder that wealth is not a cure for loneliness. The tone avoids glossy wealth porn like Gossip Girl or Emily in Paris, presenting a chilly, almost spectral world where power moves through fragile, ever-shifting lines.
And yet the emotional pull runs deeper. Roy family members may be vile at moments, but none are one-note caricatures. Spending a whole season with them would be exhausting if their traits were unvaried; the drama is built on the complexity that siblings share, an urge to be validated by a father who struggles with his own limits. Brian Cox has spoken of this weakness as a real hinge in the character’s psychology. When the cast shot the second season in Scotland, Jeremy Strong described the siblings’ upbringing as a blend of privilege and pressure: “They grew up with every luxury, taught to value status and protection. Even now, when they defend themselves, their father’s influence still shapes them.”
Armstrong, who collaborates with satirist Armando Iannucci, brings a sharp wit to the dialogue that makes even the harshest lines sting with precision. Logan’s blunt brutality stands beside moments of brutal honesty, creating dialogue that sticks with the viewer long after the scene ends. A line like, “Tell him I’ll bread his bloody bones,” or another, more biting, about the complicity of those who pretend their hands are clean, captures the show’s darkly comic edge.
A haunting theme song
Discussing Succession’s magnetism isn’t complete without mentioning its music. The grand main theme by Nicholas Britell blends a hint of eighteenth-century tone with contemporary rhythm, while the track gains an extra layer when Pusha T contributes a remix, intensifying the sense of addiction and tragedy that unfolds weekly. The score accompanies each Monday episode, amplifying the sense that the show is moving toward an inevitable, somber peak.