It plays like a version of Arrested Development where, instead of being wacky comedic caricatures, the Bluths are all complex, three-dimensional human beings that you actually care about. Before Jesse Armstrong came up with Succession, I wouldn’t have thought it was possible to make such a series — certainly not with the humor still intact — but Succession nailed it.
Across Succession’s four seasons, we went from laughing at the absurd excesses of the Roy family to caring about them. Kendall Roy is introduced to us as an entitled, self-important nepo baby with daddy issues. But as you get to know him, and see the emotional void filled with trauma and substance abuse, you can’t help but empathize with him.
Succession Both Satirizes & Sympathizes With The One Percent
As the divide between the haves and the have-nots is getting bigger and bigger, and daily out-in-the-open corruption proves that the uber-wealthy are above the law, Succession is only getting more and more relevant. The horrifying details of the Epstein files make the Roy family’s cruise ship scandal look tame by comparison.
But, as much as Succession mocks the one percent (and does so with incisive wit), it also presents its out-of-touch one-percenter characters as real human beings with real feelings. They’re all a bunch of rich people who have personal chauffeurs to take them around town and have never set foot in a grocery store, but they have inherently human qualities that make them relatable in spite of that.
A lot of it comes down to the inherent lovability of the actors. Succession has a stacked cast, and everyone in the ensemble has an innate charm that makes them impossible to hate. Logan Roy is an abusive brute, but Brian Cox is dryly hilarious. Tom Wambsgans is a slimy, elitist, opportunistic sleazeball, but Matthew Macfadyen is irresistibly charismatic, and brings genuine vulnerability and insecurity to the character.
In essence, Succession gets to have its cake and eat it, too. It’s down in the muck with the peasants, pointing up at the ruling class and laughing at them. But it’s also up there in their ivory tower, showing that, despite how much money they have, their lives aren’t all that rosy either.
How Succession Makes You Empathize With Terrible People
Much like Mad Men and The Sopranos, Succession pulls off the magic trick of making its audience empathize with terrible people. If you knew the Roys in real life, you’d hate them. In fact, their real-life analogues — the real billionaires destroying the world — are among the most hated people on the planet. But Succession allows us to see these characters behind closed doors, where they reveal a more human side.
It becomes clear early on that everyone in Succession is a broken person underneath their wealthy facade. Kendall is struggling with addiction, Roman has a mental block around intimacy, and the scars on Logan’s back indicate a truly horrific childhood. No one in Succession has a healthy relationship with another human being; all the relationships are either transactional or toxic.
For all their opulence, the Roy kids are all just desperately pining for Logan’s approval, which they’ll never get. Tom’s “the sad I’d be without you” monologue to Shiv encapsulates what makes Succession’s characters sympathetic despite their many glaring flaws. No amount of money can buy these people happiness.