Irish Examiner View: Dark heart in last rites of 'Succession'

The popular and critically-acclaimed drama has become the narrative arc for the Trump era.

Jeremy Strong as Kendall, Sarah Snook as Shiv and Kieran Culkin as Roman in hit HBO drama Succession. Picture : PA Photo/HBO

It’s commonly held that the golden days of appointment television — those programmes which produced “water-cooler moments” when everyone was in the office together — have long since departed. 

As the novelist and playwright Conal Creedon pointed out yesterday in the Irish Examiner, viewing is no longer a communal activity.

But there are still some shows which demand and command our collective attention, and one of the very best of recent years — up there on the gold standard with The Sopranos, The Wire, and Game of Thrones — reaches its enthralling climax this weekend (2am Monday for those who like an early start).

When HBO commissioned Succession, the company may not have fully realised what a prescient piece of business it was creating. The series about a dynastic power struggle in an American media company, part Rupert Murdoch part Elon Musk, has become the narrative arc for the Trump era.

The first time the full cast read through the script was on November 8, 2016, the day that Hillary Clinton was beaten to the White House by her Republican opponent in what remains one of the biggest shocks in the political history of the United States. 

Last week, while principal character Roman Roy was submerged on screen in riots in Manhattan in the penultimate episode, back in real life, the leader of the Oath Keepers militia was sentenced to 18 years after conviction for sedition and conspiracy in the attack on the Capitol in January two years ago.

The final three episodes in a fulminating series hang off a US election between a liberal candidate and right-wing populist Jeryd Mencken, and the influence of the Fox Media-inspired broadcaster ATN. This week Mr Trump lampooned the glitchy launch of the campaign of his rival Ron DeSantis of Florida with his team describing it as #DeSaster. The wheel is coming full circle.

The appeal of Succession, written and directed predominantly by British satirical playwrights, is well charted in Ireland, despite the unlikely scenario of no Irish leading figure in a North American political drama. 

Analysts credit it with 53% “travelability” (the ugly research word meaning its audience reach beyond its domestic setting) and we are fourth behind the UK, Canada, and Australia in the list of countries where demand is high. Research shows it is nearly 27 times more popular than the average TV series in Ireland.

Whatever the finale (no plot spoilers from us — we don’t know), the cast of unpleasant characters has been memorable and modern: the tyrannical patriarch Logan Roy; the sleazy tragi-comic Roman; the empathy-bypassed but ambitious Kendal; the oleaginous network head Tom Wambsgans and his “disgusting brother” Greg; failed politician Connor Roy; and multi-media billionaire, GoJo’s Lukas Matsson, the “Odin of Coding”. 

Then there is a terrifying cabal of women headed by the duplicitous Siobhán 'Shiv' Roy, looking for leverage at every opportunity.

Succession’s creators have sensibly decided to end now, before the 2024 US electoral campaign provides another example of life imitating art. 

A previous hugely successful political drama, The West Wing, had a certain morality at its epicentre. But Succession has a heart of darkness. Readers can draw their own conclusions as to which portrayal most closely reflects the conditions of modern democracy.