The fourth season of HBO’s “Succession” will premiere on March 26th, 2023. A trailer has also been released.
Has there been a better, more thoroughly entertaining TV show these last five years? I went through a slew of worthy titles (“Barry,” “Better Call Saul,” “The Leftovers,” “Atlanta”) and the concluding answer seems to be NO. “Succession” is the current best show on TV, a comedic and dramatic amalgam of 21st-century truth serum.
The last season was an immaculate display of Shakespearean chutzpah on the part of its creators. It’s not as if the previous season of episodes wasn’t also brilliant drama, but the 10 hours we witnessed during season four played out like a game of masterful chess.
An air of deception loomed vast and wide during the second season, as the Roy family, a clan of clandestine one-percenters, had to maneuver around issues that managed to feel both relatable and completely distanced from a country slowly losing its grip on reality.
The series delivered individualized episodes, heavily relying on confined spaces, each building upon the show’s myth-making of greed and deceit. And yet, like the very best of The Bard’s genius, every character was given his and her time to shine.
As offended as we seem to be about the 1% in this country, what “Succession” proved, once again, was our unadorned obsession with the wealthy. The inevitable Shakespearean duel between father and son, family, associates, bigwigs gathered as they point the finger at each other’s weaknesses and make the case for betrayal.