Succession's Season 2 finale exceeded expectations while avoiding the Game of Thrones trap

Slate

"For a prestige TV season finale, there’s nothing harder to clear than high expectations," says Willa Paskin. "But Succession finished up its sterling second season as the best and buzziest show on television—maybe there’s some juice left in the whole, Paleolithic air-one-episode-a-week method— with an ending that was as satisfying as it was unexpected." Paskin adds: "There’s always been the dangerous possibility that Succession could fall into a kind of Game of Thrones trap, where the audience becomes fixated on who will 'win' the throne. But creator Jesse Armstrong and his staff have made assiduously clear that the Waystar-Royco 'throne' is a porcelain crapper. Every single person on the show would be better off if they walked away, and their inability to do so is a moral indictment of them and the crusty pull of obscene wealth and power."

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