The second season of Adam McKay’ HBO series “Succession” was an immaculate display of Shakespearean chutzpah on the part of McKay. It’s not as if the previous season of episodes wasn’t also batshit-crazy-brilliant, but the 10 hours we witnessed this last season played out like a game of chess-playing Gamesmanship (eat your heart out “Game of Thrones.”)
An air of deception loomed vast and wide this season, as the Roy family, a clan of clandestine one-percenters, had to maneuver through issues that managed to feel both relatable and completely distanced from a country slowly losing its grip on reality via media propaganda.
McKay delivered individualized episodes, which heavily relied on confined spaces, each building upon the myth-making in this story of greed and deceit. And yet, like the very best of The Bard’s genius, every character was given his and her time to evolve in fully-fleshed ways, to the point where sympathy came calling for the viewer. As offended as we seem to be about the 1% in this country, what “Succession” proved, once again, was our unadorned obsession with the wealthy.
The inevitable Shakespearean duel, between father and son, has been preceded by a perfectly-written dinner table showdown where family, associates, bigwigs gather as they fingerprint each other’s weaknesses and make the case for who should be the “blood sacrifice.” It was the kind of scene that perfectly exemplified why “Succession” became the best show on TV this year, a comedic amalgam of 21st-century truth serum.
This brilliant final chess move which concluded the show’s second season was due to many creative elements coming together: Main writer Jesse Armstrong’s witty, acerbic and infectious writing, director Mark Mylod’s original work, which blended marvellously with Strong, Kendall as the deep-rooted core of the show, and an incredible cast of supporting performers, especially Culkin, MacFadyen, Braun, Snook, Smith-Cameron, Hunter and, above all else, Cox — the 73-year-old actor has found the role of his career in Logan Roy.
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