First, let me admit that I watched the HBO show Succession, all four seasons (though I started late). Originally I wasn’t interested, but there were so many glowing reviews. And I liked it, though I am ashamed I did not question it and why it was so populate. Then after the last show there are articles about it as there always are. But there were soooo many articles in the NYT, front page stuff. Something I had never seen before, not with the Sopranos, not with Breaking Bad, definitely not with Better Call Saul (in my opinion by far the best and most challenging of all the anti-hero shows). I began to think why. What was different about Succession.
1) I can’t remember seeing a Black or LatinX or Asian character on the show. I know there must have been some but not much. Kendall’s daughter was mixed race? But she had at most a couple of minutes over five seasons. Was this ever explained. The show was in many ways a white supremacist fantasy about rich, powerful white people controlling the world (if you are offended, remember I also liked the show — until now). Again, these were horrible people, but a lot of white supremacists are proud of that. Stuey may have been Middle Eastern but it was never mentioned.
2) The show had no real world consequences. It had consequences for individual characters and the way they related to each other. But the plots of the show floated above the real world. Masters of the universe controlled the world below them. I am embarrassed that I felt bad for Kendall when the final vote for the company did not go his way. This was a person who was ushering in fascism completely for his own benefit. Yet I felt sorry for him. How many people felt sorry for Elizabeth Holmes going to jail. A lot I bet. This is how our society is set up. Powerful white people are not supposed to face consequences, even consequences that they completely deserve and are good for the world. But we also never see the real world consequences of ATN. There could have been a story about how ATN promoted a coup in a place like Haiti. And then Kendall’s plan we forced to land there and he was forced, even for one show, to face the consequences of the actions in real human terms. But Nope.
3) The show was about the horse race. I still have no idea why the characters did what they did. It was all about maneuvering and putting yourself in place to win. Who was going to succeed and who was not. Who these people were was never questioned, There was minimal character development. The idea that it was about Rupert Murdoch could only go so far and you had to keep reminding yourself of this. But the show was basically about who was ahead and who was behind, for five seasons. Mirroring NYT political coverage.
There is more. I think Succession was a horrible show about miserable people. It was completely amoral. The Sopranos still talked about family. Breaking Bad portrayed the horrors of health insurance, our perverted notions of innovation, the cruelties of a society that just does not care. Walt walked among the people he hurt and was sometimes even an avenger Better Call Saul like I said was one of the great morality plays of our time and how our legal system naturally leads our supposed guardians to corruption. None of that with Succession. There is nothing to be taken from it. Just the horse race.
That why the New York Times loved it. Why it was front page news.