I am writing this post a bit early on March 26, mere hours before the Season 4 premiere of Succession, the hit HBO drama. I am not going to lie a bit, I absolutely love this show. I love it so much that I actual wrote my rhetorical analysis essay about the show last semester in 137H. In preparation of this final season, I rewatched the last 3 over the past couple of weeks. If you don’t know, here is a little synopsis of this revolutionary show:

Imagine a family owns the largest media conglomerate in the world, known as Waystar Royco. Logan Roy, the patriarch of the family, is the CEO and founder. He has four children; Connor, a goofy political pendant; Kendall, a drug addict businessman; Shioban (Shiv), a democratic campaign organizer; and Roman, a disrespectful and disgusting man with some business knowledge. When Logan suddenly falls ill, there becomes a question as to who will be his successor (hence Succession). With many other characters in play, it must be decided who will take control of the company. As Logan gains back his strength and others lose their own, this situation becomes much more complicated.

I think the thing that I love most about the show is that none of the characters are really likable. Through the past few seasons, characters have switched “teams” depending on the state of personal relationships, but this new season really moves the chess pieces. For the first time, the 3 main children: Kendall, Roman, and Shiv are united against their father.

Figuratively and literally, this series is rich and vulgar with wealthy people fighting to death for their own personal position. The writing has genuine depth, with each line connecting to events in the future. This series is written and ran by Jesse Armstrong, who actually decided last-minute to make Season 4 the last for this wonderful series. He has spoken in many interviews with the argument that shows should not overstay their welcome, which I greatly respect. This decision was so last minute that many actors, including Sarah Snook (Shiv) did not realize it would be the end until the season finale script read-through. I personally am very distraught over this news, but that will be dealt with when it finally ends in May.

Nonetheless, I am still very stoked for this final season. I am trying not to spoil anything, but season 3 ended with a large sense of betrayal and perhaps opens up the need for revenge. Many relationships were completely broken in the final episodes of the last season that it will be so interesting to see how everything shakes out as this new one begins. One thing I am particularly interested in is the episode titles, which are unique and intentional. All of the season finale titles come from the poem “Dream Song 29” by John Berryman. I.e.: “Nobody is Ever Missing” in season one, “This is not for Tears” in season 2, and “All the Bells Say” in season 3. I won’t spoil, but these titles very much correspond with the events of each episode. There are many guesses that the series will end with the title “If He Had a Hundred Years”, a pivotal line in the poem which alludes to the legacy of Logan.

No matter the outcome of this final season, I am absolutely ecstatic for these next 10 weeks as new episodes come out. If you have not watched this show, I highly recommend to start watching. It’s like watching your least favorite people fight, what could be better?

References:

• https://poets.org/poem/dream-song-29