Why 'Succession' Left Me Feeling Unfulfilled

First, let me admit that I don't ordinarily watch series TV drama -- or even many sitcoms or other regularly scheduled TV programs other than news and news/commentary programs. 

And, I mostly access streaming for movies and documentaries. Sometimes, if I want to watch a drama series, I'll latch onto a BBC mystery series like Father Brown and rent DVDs from the local library to watch those. I also got hooked on Curb Your Enthusiasm during the Covid lockdown and wound up thoroughly enjoying it. Again, that was a DVD rental.

So how and why did I get into Succession -- albeit, late? Well, I got a multi-month trial subscription to MAX to watch the last season of Curb, happed onto Succession, watched the first episode and I was hooked. It wasn't long before I was engrossed in the lives of the principal characters of the Roy family: Logan, Conner, Ken, Rome and Sig. Not since Falcon Crest (and that was a long time ago!) have I been so taken in by a TV dynasty. 

Of course, this show's narrative has more twists and turns than San Francisco's famed Lombard Street and that alone seems enough to keep a viewer spellbound and often on the edge of his or her seat. But the characters are also so vivid and so three-dimensional that their flaws, their psychological motivations, their schemes, their machinations and their shifting loves, hates and alliances kept me enthralled.

I suppose everyone who has watched the show has wound up having a favorite among this cast of hopelessly flawed denizens of the Roy clan. For me it was Kendall (Ken). I'd be empathizing with him one moment and exasperated with him the next. But no matter what, I still found myself rooting for him. Why? Because I thought that even with all his struggles and shortcomings he was probably still tough enough to be the successor -- smart enough and nimble enough and focused enough and resilient enough to run a global corporate behemoth. 

In the end, it was not to be. But it's not just that my guy didn't get the Big Prize, it's that the person who did simply seems woefully inadequate. Throughout the series he showed himself to be not cool enough, not stable enough, not strong enough and not clever enough -- or so it seemed. He played on the sidelines and was a cowardly suck-up. Maybe that should have been the tipoff that he would triumph in the end. Sort of like in a murder mystery when the culprit often turns out to be a hapless bit player who's never pass for a contender.

Bottom line: the show left me feeling manipulated and finally, unfulfilled.

A postscript: Though a bit histrionic at times, the acting in Succession is uniformly excellent. Kieran Culkin (Roman) and Jeremy Strong (Ken) are particular standouts. But for me it's the aptly-named Strong who makes Succession consistently compelling. Jeremy Strong is, quite simply, one of the finest American actors working today. The sky's the limit for this guy!