14 times Succession broke our hearts
As horrible as Succession's characters were, in their lowest moments we couldn't help but feel sorry for them
TV Features Succession
The best trick Succession pulled on its audience was making us legitimately care about a bunch of loathsome rich people. You wouldn’t want to spend a minute in real life with any of these characters, yet somehow we became invested in what happened to them. We celebrated their victories, enjoyed their rare moments of camaraderie, and mourned their losses. Each time Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Siobhan (Sarah Snook), or Roman (Kieran Culkin) came close to learning something or moving past the damage and trauma inflicted upon them by their brute of a father (Brian Cox), we felt a little bit of hope. And even after that hope was inevitably dashed, we fell right back into the trap again the next time around.
Now that the series is over, here’s a look back at the most heartbreaking moments in the show’s history. Thank you to Jesse Armstrong, and the entire creative team behind Succession, including the talented cast, for making us realize that we’re actually going to miss hanging out with these genuinely horrible people every week.
33 Comments
lol no, fuck ‘em. 14 times I took glee in watching horrible people eat shit.
“I wonder if the sad I’d be without you would be less than the sad I get from being with you.” is such a beautifully inelegant way of summing up a feeling almost anyone in a bad relationship has felt, and it works even better when delivered by Tom, who up until that point spends most of the series eating shit with a polite smile on his face.
“Beautifully inelegant” is such a fantastic way to describe it and is one of the many reasons this show felt so much more human than most, even when dealing with people so far outside our own world
I think the real question is when are the final power rankings coming out? I figure Matsson is #1 and Tom #2, but curious how the rest shake out.
Logan is still number one, even from the grave. He got what he wanted and still controls the situation in memory. Matsson may be #2, but he’s a ticking time bomb with a number of his controversies. Tom will definitely be affected by these controversies downstream, but he won’t really be professionally affected (even if he leaves the company, he’s still set-up well for an executive position elsewhere).
I agree with Matsson as 1 but I wonder where Tom would actually fall. His position is interesting because it’s something they all wanted and technically at the top, but in-name-only and with no real individual power. I mean, really, didn’t he only end up with a CEO salary and an empty title? The power is still with Matsson, and even when it comes to money, CEO millionaire salary is nothing compared to the billions the Roy kids still have. They no longer really have direct media sway, and that’s a loss in power, but billions in wealth is its own level of mega-power. Tom still kinda feels like he’s at the bottom of the group to be honest, only above Greg.
For me it was the finale scene in their mother’s kitchen, behaving like actually happy siblings (meal fit for a king!), while you knew this familial closeness had no hope of lasting. Maybe it was dread more than heartbreak.
…until you found out that Strong actually drank that concoction, then that pity turned to being horrified.
Three times, no less!
Maybe he actually liked it, which is even more troublesome.
…and then back to pity. “Try acting, man!”
All Jesse Armstrong knows how to write are unlikable characters who never experience personal growth, but are so pathetic that the audience cannot help but root for them in their weakest moments (re: Peep Show).
I think what’s interesting with Succession is that ALL of them seem like they’re growing by the end of Season 3. Ken starts to come to terms with what he’s done and who he is, Roman starts to appear more capable of being a leader in the company, Shiv starts to be more forward in her communication and place in the company, and Tom is more communicative in his relationship with Shiv. Then, in Season 4 ALL of them backtrack. It’s a pretty good fake-out.
Fresh Meat dabbled in redemptive arcs.
and brilliant dialogue. We should all be so cursed.
It wasn’t a criticism at the man.
“Maybe the poison drips through”
For me it was just Ken dancing with his family after the crash. seemingly happy but not really inside
I took a few counseling/social work courses (before bouncing on that idea) and that program really tried to anchor the idea that everyone’s “good” is “good” and everyone’s “bad” is “bad” and that comparing traumas or successes or whatever was a fraught way to approach the world yada yada yada. but man, Succession’s “bad” is so GOOD.
I like how casually the ultimate fate of the side characters is mentioned, like Karolina losing her job to Hugo and Tom mentioning how quick Frank and Karl will be ousted. Cruel world…
Kendall breaking down in “All the Bells Say” and the other two not knowing how to comfort him is it for me.
I will miss the writing and turn-of-phrase on this show presented realistically and well plotted between episodes and seasons. As an ICU nurse having witnessed more deaths over the years than the average person, I recognize many times how well loved ones/inner circle members react to end of life scenarios, during the event and/or the aftermath. Often those who are overly emotional, dramatic, or are not able handle the event, are carrying a load of unfinished business of various types and subsequently faced with being denied closure or resolution. The death of Logan had a lot of true elements in the presentation. I have to give Tom credit for having the sibs speak to their father whether or not he was able to hear (though hearing is usually the last sense to go, we’ve been taught) as a way of reaching out and being able to connect for their own last gasp at a moment. I don’t think any of the others present would have thought to allow this small but important gesture..
Yeah Tom is a piece of shit in general, but in the context of the show he’s the only one who actually thought about other people, and the phone call stuff when Logan was dying is part of that. Everyone else is so focused on themselves that it becomes this huge personal reckoning when they’re forced to consider another person lol
He’s the least intermittently vicious member in that clan of badgers. Now that he is sitting at the t0p who knows which way he will lean, but not being raised like the rest of them maybe he has a chance out of shitbird territory?
I hope so but idk, he *wants* to be a ruthless killer like Logan ya know? He isn’t like the rest, but he really wants to be like the rest. I imagine in the real world of Fox and Big Tech etc there are a lot of Tom’s, people who envy terrible leaders and try to be like them even when it’s not in their nature. Greed trumps all
The moment where Kendall tries to tell his mother about the killing the waiter and she just rebuffs him because she can’t deal with one of her children being emotional is pretty high on the gut-punch scale.
I can tell you truthfully I never felt sorry for any of them. None of these people had any clue what it means to truly struggle in life. I don’t give a single flying fuck about any of them, I just liked laughing at their incompetence and misery. I would have happily had the last episode guillotine all of them, starting with Greg.
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Can’t have your heart broken if you’re a plant growing on rocks living off little insects that crawl on you and die \_O_/
Heartbreakingly brilliant! Succession never fails to captivate and leave us yearning for more. Can’t wait for the next season! I’m professional software and application developer, I
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