“Succession” creator Jesse Armstrong recently announced that the fourth season of HBO’s zeitgeist drama will be its last. It’s fitting, then, that the new season — which begins airing Sunday, March 26 — focuses on the title subject as never before: Brian Cox’s demonic patriarch Logan Roy as the head of the Waystar/Royco media empire. Who will replace
In the first quartet of episodes provided to critics, a tone of serious business emerges over the ever-morphing equations of goofiness, loyalty, favoritism and backstabbing that’s been gripping since the drama series’ 2018 premiere. While that formula didn’t let off moral steam, one had to wonder how many more combinations could be made before the template became tiresome.
A more serious sense of finality is in the works. With, perhaps, some signs of complacency on Roy’s part. That’s not to say that Logan has given up his “f— everything, all the time” attitude or speech patterns. Or that their kids, especially the rebellious Kendall (Jeremy Strong) and the provocative pervert Roman (Kieran Culkin), still aren’t getting over the toilet mouths they inherited in hilarious detail. Now much more of a pop culture figure in his own right than Murdoch-lites as he was initially envisioned, the Roys all seem a bit more contemplative than we thought they might be, perhaps a byproduct of all the chatter. as they have placed themselves and each other. By.
Of course, any newfound sincerity can be faked, as it has been many times in the past. But anything that stars Strong’s extreme way of portraying Kane’s delusional affair for three seasons is welcome, settling into a compelling naturalness, whether the character is sincere or not. Cox may still find Strong’s acting style “annoying”, but Kendall is not as irritable as before.
Though she’s still closest to the heart of this icy show, Siobhan (SAARA SNOOKE) hurls verbal darts at her brothers as well. Especially on her husband Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen) — when, that is, he’s not in obvious despair over the corporate climbing weasel’s latest betrayal. With his unstoppable immediacy, Snook remains the series’ most versatile actor.
At the end of last season, Tom warned Logan about his children’s plan to stop Alexander Skarsgård’s sale of Waystar to Swedish tech mogul Lucas Matsson. True to his nature, Logan made the move, cutting the siblings out of the company entirely. Season 4 begins with Kendall, Roman and Shiv meeting investors for a rival media startup called The Hundred, which Ken describes with typical faux grandeur as “Substack meets Masterclass meets The Economist meets The New Yorker”. .
Despite such silliness, with ongoing internal bickering and mistrust, the threesome act with renewed purpose and even Roy’s version of respect for each other. Waystar’s sale to Matsson’s GoJo is 48 hours away and the kids (or as Logan now calls them, the rats) have signed their resignation forms. While the kids wait to get their share of the Gozo money, the kids’ efforts to get back at their dad is a business austerity, if not a great financial decision.
A risky gambit puts the sheer mastery of both the acting ensemble and the team behind the lens on full, extended display. In the opening episode, Strong, Snook, and Culkin give their darkest, most empathetic performances in the entire series. Complex, often conflicting emotions lead to grace notes and behaviors we never believed these characters were capable of displaying, while each staying true to their fundamental nature.
There are also insightful but still human portrayals of Waystar’s executive players: Peter Friedman (Vice President Frank Vernon), Jay Smith-Cameron (General Counsel Gerry Kelman, who has by now no time for Roman’s special needs), David Rasche. (CFO Karl Müller) Dagmara Dominczyk and Fischer Stevens (PR pros Karolina Novotny and Hugo Becker).
It all settles into a spectacular array of the show’s signature strengths: Machiavellian plotting, comic rationalizing, and put-down eliminations. With a survivalist urgency to business and emotional stakes at hand, the whole gang is making their best calculations.
The weather could continue in several directions. If somehow Logan has created his greatest power play yet, can Armstrong and company pull it off without making the show’s entire audience feel bad? That’s at least one guess Roy would make, but now that the young children have manifested some softness and maturity, would it be more satisfying to make those qualities the source of someone’s ultimate triumph or downfall? Will Mattson Be Like Elon Musk or Peter Thiel?
As always, one of the few things that’s certain about “Succession” is that we’ll be watching anxiously until the bitter end.
“Succession” Season 4 premieres Sunday, March 26 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT on HBO Max.