Succession season 4(spoilers galore)

[Cappy]

So, is anyone here staying caught up on the new season of Succession? Last night’s episode was kind of amazing. I haven’t had an opportunity to re-watch it yet, but my initial gut reaction is that the show, in depicting Logan Roy’s death entirely through a prolonged cellphone conversation about it, really captures the feeling of how death can suck the oxygen out of everyone effected by it.

I’m still sorting out my feelings about this episode (and this season), but I did want to open the floor for discussion on this. Succession is well worth all of its hype in my opinion, possibly the best show on (imo) now that Better Call Saul is finished.

 

[Ickles]

Spoiler

I watched it last night (good thing cause the internet is spoiling the hell out of it today) and it was by far the best episode of the series so far, for me. Despite the characters being terrible people who I generally despise I found myself crying my eyes out at their pain. Performances were absolutely stunning. Jeremy Strong continues to crush it. The tracking shot of him walking over to tell Shiv was heartbreaking.

 

[Cappy]

My personal favorite bit of the episode was Shiv, after some time had passed, reflecting back on her utterance of “Mom?” from just before Kendall could break the news. Just that casual awareness of how people react unexpectedly when confronted with tragedy felt so real. I wonder if the “Mom?” line was scripted or if Sarah Snook flubbed the line and they just rolled with it — either way the end result was beautiful and soul crushing.

 

[Ickles]

Cappy, there's an interesting interview with Mark Mylod, the director of last night's episode. He has some fascinating production tibdits, especially the part about how they had to figure out how to shoot 30 minutes of an unbroken take on 35mm film cameras that only have 10 minutes of footage per magazine.

Spoiler: Article URL has spoilers in it

‘Succession’ Director Mark Mylod on How Long That Death Was in the Works and How Episode 3 Almost Ended

'Succession' executive producer and director Mark Mylod breaks down the show's shocking third episode of the season.

variety.com

 

[Cappy]

Thanks for the link! What an interesting episode — director Mylod also had some interesting stuff to say on the behind the scenes feature following the episode on HBO Max.

 

[Agent Earle]

This will be my next viewing after I finish Better Call Saul (only one episode to go).

 

[Ickles]

This will be my next viewing after I finish Better Call Saul (only one episode to go).

Fair warning, it does take a little bit to get into it. The first season is not the best, in my opinion, as they were still trying their footing and balance between being a biting satirical comedy and legit family drama. The show works best to me as a drama with some jokes peppered in vs. the other way around and it took a season or 2 for the show to find the right balance. In fact, I hated the show after the first couple episodes and almost gave up on it, but grew to like it and now it's probably my favorite show currently on TV (besides Perry Mason)

 

[Cappy]

Honestly I was on the fence about the show until about halfway through season 1, and then I got to the episode with the board vote. The tragicomedy of Kendall being late for his own coup combined with the straight comedy of Greg and Tom palling around and eating that endangered bird is what convinced me that this show had something special.

 

[Agent Earle]

Fair warning, it does take a little bit to get into it. The first season is not the best, in my opinion, as they were still trying their footing and balance between being a biting satirical comedy and legit family drama. The show works best to me as a drama with some jokes peppered in vs. the other way around and it took a season or 2 for the show to find the right balance. In fact, I hated the show after the first couple episodes and almost gave up on it, but grew to like it and now it's probably my favorite show currently on TV (besides Perry Mason)

Thanks, I'll keep it in mind. I'm pretty strong in the perseverance department so I think I'll be good; truth be told, there weren't many shows in the last ten years or so - when I'm enjoying my post-Sopranos TV shows watching odyssey - that didn't appeal to me one way or the other; on the contrary, most were at least near-masterpieces that I swallowed hook, line, and sinker, so that says something about the quality of TV stuff nowadays I think. Going from how many positive reviews of Succession I came across over the last few years (carefully avoiding the spoilers, of course), I think it's virtually impossible for it not being able to suck me in completely (then again, I did end up hating Hannibal and abandoned it midway through S1, so sustaining a bit of methodic doubt is probably wise).