‘Succession’: the beginning of the end of the best HBO Max series

It’s official, with the premiere of the first chapter of the fourth season of ‘Succession’ begins the beginning of the end of the best HBO Max series. Or at least the best in broadcast.

Jesse Armstrong, also creator of the cult series ‘Peep Show’ (2033), hardened himself in sharp scripts of verbiage and amoral speed working with Armando Iannucci in that jewel called ‘The Thick of It’, one of the best series of politics, and in his brilliant assault on the big screen, ‘In the Loop’ (2009). In 2016, supported by then inseparables Adam McKay and Will Ferrell as executive producers, convinced HBO of the need to carry out an idea about a ruthless family that owns a gigantic audiovisual conglomerate.

‘Succession’: impossible replica

‘Succession’ came to HBO in June 2018 to introduce us to Logan Roy (Brian Cox), iron-fisted patriarch and president of Waystar RoyCo, a company that one of the four children hopes to inherit: the ambitious Kendall (Jeremy Strong), the cunning Shiv (Sarah Snook), the unbridled Roman (Kieran Culkin) and the bewildered Connor (Alan Ruck). They, along with the delightfully flawed Tom (Matthew Macfadyen), the naïve Greg (Nicholas Braun) and the omnipresent Gerri (J. Smith-Cameron, who is looking for her own spin-off) form the heart of a series with an unwavering cast, capable of defending tooth and nail a powerful script with intricate plots of deceit and poignant dialogues. One of those rare examples that is inevitably imitable but impossible to replicate..

Its first two seasons, released in 2018 and 2019, demonstrated Armstrong’s ability to create a powerful plot chapter by chapter, forcing us to feel attraction to despicable characters who, every time they get beaten up, they manage to come back an even nastier version.

The third season, released in 2020, raised the stakes to inexplicable limits, turning each of the ten episodes into what in the dazzling previous seasons would have been one of its event chapters. The series ended with a bang, with the family in the midst of its deepest rift yet and with two warring camps expecting any kind of retaliation, could Armstrong exceed expectations?

‘Succession’ 4×01: Summary

The first episode of the fourth season of ‘Succession’ begins as a simple episode, recalling with just two scenarios the teams that we will see facing an all-out war.

On the one hand we have the boys, a battered Kendall, Shiv and Roman who seek to rise from their ashes after the umpteenth blow of their father. United by recent events, and with a healthy portfolio thanks to the sale of GoJo, they plan to create their own audiovisual monster when they discover that Logan is finalizing preparations to take over PGM, his rival company, for good.

Kendall, desperate to hit back at his father, and Shiv, also fueled by a desire to get even with her husband after the tip-off in Tuscany, convince an insecure but easily influenced Roman and, forgetting their initial plan, bid for the purchase of PGM.

Meanwhile, Roy despairs at a birthday party where, with his children eliminated (Connor only counts as 1%), he doesn’t know who to make life miserable for.. It is then that, among the outrages of the “Disgusting Brothers”, Logan loses the price battle for PGM and he receives the shot of life and hate that will make him reach the end of this season with force.

As if all this were not enough, the writers give us a scene about the end of the marriage between Shiv and Tom deliciously performed by Sarah Snook and Matthew Macfadyenso convinced of their roles that, for a moment, they fool us all into believing that there is still hope for love, making us forget that these two hyenas have idealized the idea of ​​loving each other, but are physically incapable of loving each other in any way .

In a short epilogue, we see a Trumpist Logan checking his channels in the wee hours of the morning, picking up the phone to, like Rupert Murdoch, start moving some pawns before a final game that can only end in checkmate.

‘Succession’: The beginning of the end

Magnificently presented in this first chapter, it seems that A whole clash between Logan Roy’s Waystar RoyCo and the new PGM directed by the boys is coming our way.an epic final battle that has already claimed the fall of Shiv and Tom’s marriage.

We still don’t know how involved Greg and Tom will be on their side, will they end up becoming turncoats? And Gerry? Will he be faithful to Logan until the end?

Everything is shaking and This is only the beginning of the end of a series that, among other things, has dared to end in style in its long-awaited fourth season, the closing of a series title that we just want to see end so that it can be definitively placed at the top of the best series in history.