WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON? (SUCCESSION, SEASON THREE)

 

Few TV series have had that instant connection that 'The Sopranos' managed to have with its audience.

From the very first moment we saw James Gandolfini's Tony Soprano in the waiting room of his psychiatrist Lorraine Bracco's Dr Jennifer Melfi, you knew this was going to be a game changing piece of television drama.

Since then, only two other shows have given me that feeling and they have both come from HBO.

The first was David Simon's 'The Wire' which began with Dominic West's Detective Jimmy McNulty at the scene of a murder in Baltimore, discussing with a local resident the victim, who is memorably called Snot Boogie.

The other was 'Succession' which began with Brian Cox's Logan Roy getting out of bed in a state of confusion and fumbling about in the dark, before urinating on a carpet.

'The Wire' was one of the finest series to ever grace our screens but it was slightly let down by a rather preposterous plot development in its final season.

'Succession,' however, in its first two seasons didn't put a foot wrong.

And now that the third season is finally over, it's a relief to say Jesse Armstrong's show is even better and remains on course to at least match 'The Sopranos' as the greatest TV drama of all time.

That's no mean feat but during the months of October, November and December 'Succession's' weekly episodes have become essential viewing.

(SPOILER ALERT)

Expectations of the show have been sky high ever since Jeremy Strong's Kendall Roy refused to take a bullet for the family firm at the end of the previous season.

At a Manhattan press conference, Kendall publicly laid the blame for their corruption on his father's shoulders.

In the build-up to that moment, Waystar Royco, a media and entertainment conglomerate like Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, had been mired in a scandal about sex abuse and murder on its cruise liners.

Having survived a Congressional grilling in Season Two, Logan and his family were eager to fend off a possible Department of Justice investigation into whether they covered up misdeeds.

At the same time, they were also trying to fend off a hostile takeover by Logan's big rival Larry Pine's Sandy Furness and Arian Moayed's private equity investor Stewy Hosseini.

Kendall's press conference ramps up tenfold the existential threat to the Roys in Season Three. 

In a brilliantly executed, frantic opening episode, the prodigal son's distancing of himself from the family and his allegations of corporate corruption leave Logan and his siblings shellshocked.

Returning from the Italian pow wow in Season 2 where Logan decided Kendall would be the family's sacrificial lamb, the clearly rattled patriarch decides to go to Sarajevo with Matthew Macfadyean's Tom and his senior executives David Rasche's Karl Muller, Peter Friedman's Frank Vernon and Fisher Stevens' Hugo Baker to gather his thoughts and work out how to avoid a fatal firestorm.

Kieran Culkin's Roman Roy, Sarah Snook's Shiv and J Smith-Cameron's Gerri Kellman are dispatched to New York to allay investor concerns.

On an unbearably tense flight home, it becomes clear one of the three will become the CEO as Logan decides to publicly announce his attention to temporarily stand down.

There's initial disappointment for the favourite to succeed Logan, Shiv when Gerri is chosen.

Roman kind of revels in his sister's disappointment because he also has a thing for the new CEO.

Kendall, meanwhile, is initially drunk on the media storm surrounding his airing of the family's dirty laundry.

He surrounds himself with an army of PR hacks to win the publicity battle and monitor reactions on Twitter.

Fuelled by adrenaline and possibly more, he sets up camp in his plush apartment and communicates in buzz words as if he is a motivational speaker.

His cousin Nicolas Braun's Greg fields calls from other members of the family asking which side of the feud is he on?

Greg, who is at pains to stress that he happened to be at Kendall's press conference but it was not an endorsement, is all over the place - not sure which way to go.

As the season unfolds, Kendall's war with Logan and his siblings intensifies with him becoming increasingly ostracised from the family. 

The feud threatens to wrestle Waystar Royco from the family's control, with Logan and Kendall reluctantly going to see Adrien Brody's Josh Aaronson at his house in the Hamptons in a bid by him to get them to put their mutual hatred and distrust aside.

Logan's inability to forgive and his ruthlessness puts paid to that.

With episodes fashioned around a tense shareholder meeting, a lavish Manhattan 40th birthday party thrown by Kendall for himself, a Republican Party think in in Virginia and the Italian wedding of Logan's first wife Harriet Walter's Caroline Collingwood, 'Succession' is really at the top of its game.

In fact, it is so on top, its superb team of writers and directors somehow manage to create at least one memorable moment in every episode for their fans to savour.

From the hijacking of a speech by Shiv to Waystar Royco staff with a PA blasting Nirvana's 'Rape Me' to Logan getting his grandson to eat mozzarella in case Kendall is trying to poison him to Roman being bawled out by his father for inappropriate behaviour in the boardroom, there are so many jaw dropping moments that it may take a while to list them all.

However what really sets 'Succession' apart from other shows is the way its major characters' fortunes rise and plummet like shares on the stock exchange.

Just when you assume Shiv is the favoured child, the rug is pulled from under her by Logan.

As Roman's stock rises, his cockiness soon gets the better of him.

Just when Gerri assumes the CEO role, you get the feeling she is being used.

The writing by Jesse Armstrong, Ted Cohen, Georgia Pritchett, Jon Brown, Tony Roche, Susan Soon He Stanton, Will Tracy and Jamie Carragher is head and shoulders above any other series, reaching 'The Thick of It' levels of comedy spitefulness while still making us care about these monsters.

Directors Mark Mylod, Cathy Yan, Robert Pulcini, Shari Springer Berman, Kevin Bray, Andrij Parekh and Lorene Scafaria steer the ship brilliantly - never missing a beat throughout, from the rampant paranoia of the first episode to the stunning climax of the final episode.

They are hugely assisted by Patrick Capone and Christopher Norr's magnificent cinematography and Ken Eluto, Jane Rizzo, Brian A Kates and Ellen Tam's pacy editing which ensures each episode is an unbearably tense affair.

It's so tense, the viewer feels like he or she is tiptoeing through a field of landmines.

The cast are simply superb, justifying all the hoopla that surrounded this season which included the show getting a special showcase on CBS's 'Late Show with Stephen Colbert'.

Of all the characters who have really grown, it is Matthew Macfadyean's Tom who most impresses, as he frets about potentially going to prison and whether Shiv really loves him.

Macfadyean keeps the audience guessing whether he will ever summon up the courage to leave Shiv and side against the Roys.

But Snook is equally terrific as his wife whose favoured status with Logan starts to crumble and whose confidence is rocked.

Nakedly ambitious, Shiv cannot handle her father's occasional dismissal of her ideas and there's a rather disturbing pattern of her also ignoring or downplaying Tom's needs.

As the snarkiest character in the room, Culkin gets to deliver some of the show's best lines.

But as Roman's stock rises with his father, there's a vitriol in his behaviour towards his siblings and an overconfidence.

Alan Ruck's would-be Presidential candidate Connor Roy remains a delight, with his ego often undermining his ability to grasp the reality that the rest of the family regard him as a bit of a buffoon.

Smith-Cameron, Rasche, Friedman and Stevens amuse as Waystar Royco's loyal lieutenants, really shining in a fantastically written episode during the shareholders meeting as Logan starts to act out of character.

Moayed, Furness, Justine Lupe as Connor's actress girlfriend Willa, Walter, Hiam Abbass as Logan's estranged wife Marcia and Zoe Winters as his increasingly influential personal assistant Kerry all make important contributions to the show.

Braun's Greg remains an endearingly naive, if pretty spineless character as we quickly realise he is not as cunning as the climax of season two might have implied.

James Cromwell also delights as Logan's disapproving brother.

Of the new additions to the cast, Brody is everything you hope for when he turns up as the activist investor Josh Aaronson.

Alexander Skarsgard is in good form as the Swedish tech entrepreneur Lukas Matsson who is seen as the perfect partner for reinventing Waystar Royco's business model for the digital age.

Hope Davis shines as Sandy Furness's daughter Sandi who Shiv courts at the shareholder meeting.

Justin Kirk is also on great form as the arrogant, populist politician Jeryd Mencken who charms Roman at a Republican Party think-in in Virginia where Logan gets to play kingmaker.

Ultimately, though, season three boils down to one thing - Kendall versus Logan.

Almost Shakespearean in the way their relationship has unfolded, Logan has often acted like a cross between Richard III, Titus Andronicus and King Lear.

That remains the case, as Cox revels in the petty vindictiveness of his character towards each of his children but especially Kendall.

Season three finds Kendall increasingly acting like an even more unhinged Hamlet, hoping to catch the conscience of the king but oblivious to the implications of his trail of destruction.

As with most of the principal cast, Strong is very good at engaging our sympathies while making us cringe at his character's worst excesses.

However there are times in season three when you are convinced Kendall has strayed past the point of no return as far as his sanity and the family business are concerned.

And yet.. he still craves the begrudging admiration of his monstrous father.

One of the joys of 'Succession' - particularly this season - is just when you think you have got a handle on things, the show upends everything you think you know.

As a result, the audience goes into the show not quite knowing what to expect in each episode which is a real treat.

It's hard to see how Armstrong and his writers can top a season as sublime as this.

But even if they do fall short of this gold standard in future seasons, 'Succession' will be there or thereabouts in challenging 'The Sopranos' for the title of the greatest TV drama.

Indeed, it might well prove to be the show that knocks 'The Sopranos' off its perch.

(Season three of 'Succession' was broadcast on Sky Atlantic from October 18-December 13, 2021)

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