Susan Granger’s review of “Succession: Season 3” (HBO)
The third season finale of HBO’s “Succession” drew 1.7 million viewers, a series high for the drama and up 47% from the second season finale.
At the conclusion of season 2, manipulative billionaire Logan Roy (Brian Cox), the volatile patriarch, was on his yacht watching a live-stream of his son Kendall (Jeremy Strong) at a New York press conference, where he’d been sent to publicly take responsibility for a scandal in the cruise-ship division of Waystar Royco, the family’s Fox-like conglomerate. Instead, Kendall viciously shifts the blame to his father.
Decamping to Europe, highlighting Tuscany, season 3 revolves around how Rupert Murdoch-like Logan, his perverse son Roman (Kieran Culkin), politically-ambitious son Connor (Alan Ruck), insecure daughter Siobhan (Sarah Snook) and her sycophantic husband Tom Wamsgans (Matthew Macfadyen) react to Kendall’s betrayal. Plus, there’s gawky, ingenuous Cousin Greg (Nicholas Braun) and Logan’s consiglieres.
With perilous chaos swirling around them, the Roys now rely on a PR crisis consultant (podcaster-turned-writer/director Dasha Nekrasova) as they cope with various threats, including a major shareholder (Adrien Brody) and a powerful tech mogul (Alexander Skarsgard).
Creator/showrunner Jesse Armstrong makes these nine episodes incredibly addictive. They’re not only thrilling and dramatic but often laugh-out-loud funny – delivering scabrous, cringe-worthy comedy as the scheming Roys, spewing a lurid barrage of profanity, are propelled by insatiable egos, hurt feelings and whatever illegal drugs they’ve imbibed.
Focusing on sharply observed family dynamics, all evident as the callous siblings play a game of Monopoly, the basic theme is how tremendous status, wealth and power can’t erase the deep childhood scars of humiliation and abuse which, in turn, erode a person’s sense of humanity.
FYI: After filming in and around Siena, Pienza and Cortona, a pivotal, incredibly opulent family wedding was staged at the 13-bedroom 17th century Tuscan estate a known as Villa Cetinale in Sovicille, a tiny town south of Florence.
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Succession: Season 3” is a satirical, suspenseful 9 – streaming on HBO Max and already renewed for a 4th season.
