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Succession Season 4 Review

The fourth season of Succession is mostly incredible with a finale that will be remembered for decades to come. It was a superb way to end this iconic HBO show.

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“I am the eldest son!“

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After the last season ended with a true banger, I’d had my fears for this final season whether it was ever going to recapture that sense of momentum and brilliance as that season finale. It did eventually, though it started off in a much less spectacular manner, meaning that it’s overall pretty much on par with the third season in terms of strengths and weaknesses. But because those strengths far outweigh those weaknesses, both seasons are the highlights of this show.

Let’s first start with the flaws. The season started off slowly. The first two episodes were just a lot build-up and even some repetition when it comes to character dynamics and relationships. When all is said and done, there are definite soapy elements present on Succession throughout all seasons in all its twists and turns that ultimately don’t amount to that much change, but it’s all so incredibly well executed in all aspects that the show transcended that issue effortlessly.

This final season progressively became better and better until it culminated with that absolutely astonishing finale. I was shocked and I couldn’t believe my eyes at what I was seeing, but somehow when you think about it afterward, it all made perfect sense. It was always bound to end in such a dark, almost nihilistic fashion, but we couldn’t ever predict it as it’s still in essence a very bold, painful finale that treats almost everybody in a very brutal way. The show is all about the horrifically abusive, trashy and inhuman nature of the business world, so it was only natural to end it on such a powerfully destructive note.

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The dialogue continued to be truly brilliant, wholly believable and gripping and the same goes for the acting performances. Everybody delivered tremendous acting work with the standouts being Matthew Macfadyen, Sarah Snook, Jeremy Strong and Kieran Culkin. Let’s talk about the characters. What they did with the trio of siblings was painful, but necessary. They truly lost everything here, but they still had their wonderful shared moments of laughter and intimacy, especially in the finale, and those were a crucial breather between all the dark shit that went within their individual arcs.

Roman was a truly broken soul this season. The writers deftly explored just how insecure and sensitive he is on the inside, which he overcompensates with his fake tough guy attitude and a lot of cursing. Culkin was incredible at depicting the character’s vulnerability and cluelessness. As for Shiv, she was on the constant up and down course throughout this season, eventually losing everything. Her toxic, very complicated relationship with Tom was powerfully explored and it was one of the catalysts for the eventual twist ending. Sarah Snook was superb at portraying Shiv’s more emotional scenes.

But Jeremy Strong was once again the highlight of the season and he deserves all the praise that he got for this role. Kendall’s story was brilliant and he many speeches here that were quite resonant and believable for the character. Him striving so hard to be the successor to his father, but losing everything in the end made for a complex, tragic arc. The siblings were quite unlikable as always, but all three were also humanized quite a bit, which was essential in making those emotional scenes even more resonant.

Tom ending up as this weaselly snake that tricked everybody and made the most of new situations and tides actually made sense for a guy who was always in Shiv’s shadow. He was truly one of the highlights of this season and the end to his story was unexpected, but very believable nonetheless.

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Logan’s death was handled incredibly poignantly, but also in a deservedly complicated fashion with the feelings of the children being powerfully explored in all their facets. Greg was quite funny once again and the humor on this show continued to be a great respite from all the horrible stuff going on at all times. How he factored into the story dramatically was a terrific touch too. Alexander Skarsgard was also phenomenal and he was so well cast as the ultimate villain of the season. How this season tackled politics and how horribly intertwined with business it is was important. Watching this show, we are all reminded why capitalism is horrendous and just how broken and evil the US media conglomerates are.