Sunday Night Blues

Succession is my new obsession.

I know I'm late to this party but the truth is Succession could have been my old obsession. You see I watched the first episode of the first season. And maybe part of the second. I picked up on the storyline. The dysfunctional characters. And the shifting family dynamics. 

I got all that but with such a wealth of good tv dramas out there, I decided not to invest my time in this one. Truth be told I haven't allowed myself to get sucked into the vortices of so many shows, on so many different channels and streaming services. I just don't have the real estate in my brain.

Also, because when the show was introduced I was captivated (and still am) with the drama taking place in Washington DC and the slow moving Trumpian coup that is still holding a dagger to the neck of democracy.

But, perhaps because of the constant promos and the social media chatter, I decided to watch episode 1 of Season Three. Fearing that I might not know what was going on and that I would be obliged to "binge-watch" (I hate that phrase) the first two seasons. Thankfully that was not necessary.

For better or for worse, we are right back where we started from. With the older son Kendall trying to oust, and pulling all the stops to do so, the old man Logan, from the Deathstar.

SPOILER ALERT: I'm not going to give away any spoilers. 

The plot of this show is kind inconsequential. At least to me. I'm much more interested by the family dysfunction, of which I am intimately familiar, the skullduggery and the duplicitous nature of all these greedy, narcissistic fuckers who populate Succession. And resemble many of the characters I've run into in advertising and entertainment.

What I find most fascinating is the backstabbing and the manipulation. 

Each of these scheming characters has an innate ability to play the angles. To say one thing with a completely earnest, straight face and a minute later, act in a manner that is diametrically opposed to their previous statement.

This, perhaps more than anything else explains their tremendous wealth. As well as my own lack of tremendous wealth. This was never a game I was good at. I come from the School of Say What You Mean and Mean What You Say. And stupidly, or naively, I assumed others would act that way as well.

Take this as a fair warning from a grizzled 44 year old, they do not.

Integrity has no currency in the Waystar world. Or it seems, in any other world.

It makes for good TV. But little else.