Succession is a study in the corrosive nature of extreme wealth

The New Republic

"This is a show about rich people. There’s no way around it," says Rachel Syme. "While Succession does not glorify wealth, it also makes no apologies for it. The Roys are not like you and me. They have SoHo lofts and trust funds and cashmere everything, and they own theme parks and movie studios and shady cruise lines. They attend free-for-all sex parties in secret warehouses in deep Brooklyn where millionaire men paw at women while taking very pure amphetamines. They have everything anyone could want, but they are all empty and lonesome, neglectful and neglected. The point of the show is not to garner sympathy for the affluent. What it does is highlight the complete absurdity of wealth, the moral vacuum it creates. It is a drawing room drama about a family who has lost all touch with not just working people but anyone outside of its own inner sanctum. The Roys made their millions by broadcasting a news channel that foments hatred and fear, and yet all the children insist that they don’t watch ATN and consider its far-right propaganda beneath them. But the rhetoric of paranoia has crept into the house either way. Like the Murdochs or the Trumps, the Roys are a family built on controlling the media and also one another, a game that is perilous and often combustible. This is how power works behind closed doors; it’s ugly and divisive, and no one feels safe."

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