In 2016, HBO held the planet in suspense over the fate of
Game of Thrones'
Jon Snow
bleeding in the snow.
Really dead or awaiting resurrection?
Who would have bet that the channel would repeat its coup five years later by plunging us into the technocratic mysteries of a media conglomerate, between boards of directors and OPA?
Yet such is the magic of
Succession
, the jubilant satire on the mistakes of capitalism and the richest 1% of the planet, concentrated egocentrism and madness of grandeur.
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This third season, from this Monday on OCS, begins after the sensational press conference of Kendall Roy (Jeremy Strong,
The Seven of Chicago
). The prodigal son, turned whistleblower, revealed on television that his father mogul, Logan (Brian Cox), covered the family firm's wrongdoing, including a spate of sexual assaults that took place aboard the cruises of the group.
“Kendall went into the heart of darkness and had a moment of lucidity, deciding to be the savior of society. But such messianic aims can only end badly
,
”
says Jeremy Strong of his character who seeks media coverage and overestimates his bravery.
His siblings are faced with a binary choice: whether to side with Logan or that of Kendall.
The indolent and unloved elder, Connor (Alan Ruck), the spoiled child Roman (Kieran Culkin) and the ambitious Shiv (Sarah Snook) know how to tack and make doubt of their intentions.
Forgotten the internal rivalries of the first seasons to know who will take over the reins of the multinational, the rivalry at the center of
Succession is
asserting itself, more Oedipal than ever.
As if the soap opera had now entered the heart of its subject.
Vicious circle of violence
Presented at Séries Mania in 2018,
Succession
first fascinated and put off by its financial jargon, its protagonists imbued with themselves punctuating their sentences with swear words.
Inspired by the trajectories of Murdoch or Redstone
,
the Briton Jesse Armstrong explores the privileges, the venality and the interpersonal skills of billionaires.
Experts from the happy people of the world have advised him to the smallest detail.
So the Roys never wear a coat: they only travel by car or private jet.
The butt clamps, numerous this year, are deliciously hushed and dangerous innuendo.
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: the first images of season 3 unveiled
The series has since split armor to draw ravaged and lost Shakespearean heroes. These nine unpublished episodes, with even more accomplished writing and dramaturgy, sublimate this intimate turn and these psychoanalytic settling of scores.
“
Succession
portrays the excesses of globalization and how our greed has made us turn our backs on our civilization. But this first level of reading is also an illusion, ”
analyzes Jeremy Strong, questioned on the success of the saga.
“It's a universal story of a traumatized family. Jesse Armstrong often quoted us from the Danish film
Festen.
The Roy heirs reproduce the suffering their father caused them by his absence, by his rage.
In a normal household, the bargaining chip is compassion and feelings.
With them, it is power.
This violence, they have inherited it and they inflict it on themselves and others in a vicious cycle.
Their poison is distilled to all strata of society. "
You only have to see the destructive pair between cousin Greg and Tom, Shiv's mocked husband.
Knowing how to inhabit our world
To these heartbreaks is added the presence of vultures.
As successful industrialists, Adrien Brody
(Le Pianiste)
and Alexander Skarsgard
(Big Little Lies)
revolve around a diminished empire.
Aging Logan can't keep the FBI at bay for long.
The other success of
Succession
is knowing how to inhabit our world: the episode around the American presidential election is virtuoso, like the one where Shiv stumbles on the family machismo.
In the game of realism and cruelty, this series establishes its monopoly.