Big life changes can come at the most inopportune times. Everyone has a story about something in their life that changed drastically when they least expected it. A friend of mine went into labor once while stuck in traffic in a blizzard. She almost delivered twins in her car. Another time I was driving to a 4th of July party across town when I got the call. It was canceled at the last minute as the couple hosting had decided to divorce that morning. My grandfather passed away suddenly on Christmas morning, a few years before I was born. Even billionaire families aren’t safe from life’s unexpected hiccups sometimes. And so it’s no surprise that Connor Roy’s wedding day delivered what is sure to be one of the biggest shockers ever to grace HBO. SUCCESSION, indeed.
I have a love/hate relationship with SUCCESSION. Most, if not all, of the characters, are terrible people. Anytime a TV is made up of primarily immoral characters, I find it laborious to get through. Many of the most popular & critically acclaimed TV shows of the 21st Century fall into this. THE SHIELD, DEXTER, MAD MEN, BREAKING BAD, and even THE WALKING DEAD, to an extent. Everyone is awful, and I don’t have anyone to root for. When I start a new show like this, I think, “Why am I doing this to myself again?” Because so many of these shows, especially SUCCESSION and the rest I listed here, feature some of the absolute best writing, directing, and acting out there across both TV & film.
Last week’s SUCCESSION is a great example of an episode that caused me to check in with myself again on this. How much more do we need to see of the Roy family backstabbing, insulting, and abusing each other? And then the scene at the karaoke spot started and all of my doubts melted away. No one does dialogue on television right now, better than SUCCESSION. Just four characters sitting in chairs barking back & forth at each other was absolutely enthralling, riveting, and heart-pounding. That’s why I keep coming back.
If you’ve made it this far into my review, I hope you’ve made it without having CONNOR’S WEDDING spoiled for you. After seeing Willa get cold feet last week, I walked into the wedding wondering if it would even really happen. While sipping cocktails on the dock in NYC, I noticed my invitation was a different color than others. Billionaires sure are weird. Even a luxurious wedding full of elites has dropped us into various social echelons. Of course, Kendall, Shiv, and Roman had their own VIP room on the yacht. And that’s when the REALLY big rumors really started.
SUCCESSION airs Sunday nights on HBO and streams on HBO Max the same night.
