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Succession Season 4 Episode 1 Review: There is no saving the Roys

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Ayaan Paul
Ayaan PaulMar 29, 2023 | 13:35

Succession Season 4 Episode 1 Review: There is no saving the Roys

The beginning of the end. HBO’s acclaimed drama series is back with its final season and the Roys are more unhinged than ever before.

Created by Jesse Armstrong, the series revolves around the Roy family, the owners of global media conglomerate - Waystar Royco, with its narrative centred on the family patriarch, Logan Roy, and his four (adult?) children: Kendall, Roman, Siobhan and Connor. 

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Still reeling from last season’s crucifying betrayal at the hands of the dark horse that is Matthew Macfadyen’s Tom Wambsgangs, the power trio - Kendall, Shiv and Rome - are looking to finalise a game-changing deal to get themselves back in the business. 

Before you read ahead, be warned: SPOILERS AHEAD

For a show all about power, money and a whole lot of “rummaging to fruition”; naturally, Succession is filled with more backstabbing than the Red Wedding, though the Roys make the Lannisters look like a bunch of choirboys. Which is why no matter how fruitful the prospects of an “indispensable, bespoke media hub with high calorie info-snacks” may seem for the Roy siblings, the opportunity to screw over their villainous father is just too delectable to pass up on.

In its concluding season, a key theme that Succession sets up for its characters is the lengths to which each one of these power-grubbing sociopaths will go to reclaim any semblance of that lost power and maintain it. The episode highlights how intrinsically toxic this process can be and how it has eaten away at each of these characters from the outside in. 

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If Jeremy Strong’s doltish smile doesn’t give away the fact that Kendall had “smoked horse”, Shiv’s restless assertions that she is in fact okay in the face of her crumbling marriage were indicative enough to suggest that neither of them were indeed fine. With the oldest, Connor, also desperately clinging on to the 1% of his fragile masculinity, the previously imbecilic Roman seems to be the only of the Roy siblings that has his sh*t in order. Or so it seems.

In true Succession fashion, we see the Roy family engage in vicious power struggles as they jockey for position within the family and the company. Each family member has their own motivations and desires, and they're willing to do whatever it takes to satiate their egos. But the very same idea extends to extensions of the Roy family as well, with new players to the game - Tom Wambsgangs and Cousin Greg - just as thirsty to come out on top.

It seems the jester and the dark horse have developed a newfound sense of confidence, shedding their meek shells in the shadows of the Roys, and now asserting themselves in interesting ways. The self-dubbed (but heavily ironised) Disgusting Brothers are finally enjoying their time in the limelight and though they well and truly live up to their moniker through their actions, we can’t help but root for these underdogs and their amusing antics.

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The series has always prided itself on its unique narrative style, unlike anything else on television. It's like watching Shakespeare on steroids - with more F-bombs and fewer tights. But just when it feels like there couldn’t possibly be more room to elevate its writing, Armstrong’s fresh sets of dialogue are rapid-fire, witty, and ripe with outrageous double entendres enough for us to visualise Logan’s “omelette nipples”. 

While the episode employs its unique visual language - with shots that are often composed like paintings, emphasising the opulence and grandeur of the world the Roys inhabit - the final season seems to be taking a trip down memory lane, with a heightened emphasis on its shaky-cam footage and erratic zoom-ins that are reminiscent of the familiar Adam McKay school of satire from its first season.

The Roys live in a world where money is no object and consequences are for poor people. Their lives are a never-ending carousel of yachts, private jets, and mansions, but the cost of their wealth is a sense of detachment from the real world and a lack of genuine human connection.

It is in the very same world of privilege and excess, where their problems are often superficial and self-created that the absurd bidding war for control over the Pierce’s company takes place. Following a war between factions that involves the most hilarious atonement for Greg’s philandering and a brief lesson in arithmetic from Roman, the siblings propose Nan Pierce with a preposterous "what comes after 9" offer, as they collectively walk into the room with the facetious pride of 10-year-olds who've soiled themselves.

As if to add insult to injury, the previously eschewed Logan finally graces the trio with a phone call to mark his frustration, only for the three to burst out into a maniacal cackle of self-fulfillment. It’s a moment that may seem sardonically comical at first, only for the realisation to set in that the Roy siblings have finally moved past the point of no return.

As the freshly divorced Shiv and Tom reconcile over their marital bed in a devastating sequence (and the finest performances from Snook and MacFadyen), and a forlorn Logan Roy takes a walk through the park to the local diner in the forced company of his bodyguard - abandoned by the very kids he loved to torment - the series takes a depressing turn. 

While the Roys may be a dysfunctional family, they're still a family nonetheless, and their relationships with each other are a constant source of drama, tension and a whole lot of dry humour. Watching the Roys interact with each other is like watching a car crash in slow motion - it's horrifying, but you just can't look away. 

But it is the very same remnants of familial bonds, the strings of humanity that each of them were so desperately clinging to, that now seem to have given way, at long last. The Roys are unsalvageable - a multi-billion dollar yacht destined to capsize.

In a year where it was starting to feel like nothing could possibly top HBO’s The Last Of Us, Succession seemed to pull one out of the bag with an outstanding start to its final season. Should it maintain a similar trajectory for the rest of it, it feels well on its path towards its status as an all-time great.

New episodes of Succession don’t stream every Monday on Disney+Hotstar (not yet, that is). Indian viewers know how to find a way.

ALSO SEE: Succession Season 4 Gets A Dazzling Premiere

ALSO READ: The Last Of Us Finale Review: It can’t all be for nothing?

Last updated: March 29, 2023 | 13:35
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