At this point in the show’s third season, however, the title is its chief joke because succession is the one thing that never happens. You expect you’re sitting down for The Forsyte Saga. The title suggests epic continuance, an ever-changing handoff from one generation to the next. Succession is a show that looks like it’s running a marathon.
Lili Loofbourow’s writing about this season pokes at this idea (“ Is Succession Stuck in a Rut?”), and Naomi Fry’s question about whether Succession is best thought of as a sitcom points to the same general premise. It is one of Succession’s many repeating circles, a kind of looping stasis that gives the appearance of metastability but is really just status quo.
He has just enough self-awareness to decide against the most cringeworthy pinnacle of the performance, enough to realize how empty he actually feels, but he doesn’t have enough self-love, courage, or sheer self-preservation to exit the cycle that puts him in that terrible emotional place. He doesn’t know what actual emotional support would look like, so he confuses spectacle and value signifiers for the experience of being valued. Kendall longs for approval, especially from his family. (And the saddest thing of all is how sad he is that they don’t even know what kind of fancy watch he’d actually want.) Although they play out on a new, upsetting scale in “Too Much Birthday,” the basic contours of the Kendall Conundrum don’t change all that much. He wants people to see him, and all they can see is someone who might want a fancy watch. Last night’s episode of Succession was chiefly, crushingly, mortifyingly, and gruesomely about Kendall Roy. Note: Spoilers ahead for Succession season three, episode seven, “Too Much Birthday.” Now that Tom’s back in the game, he can’t pretend the game is fun again.
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