“Is she solid">“Succession” with a messy bang.
It has been two years since that finale aired, and as the third season of HBO’s dysfunctional-family drama kicks off Sunday, the answer to Logan’s question is, of course, no. It has always been no.
No one in Logan’s orbit is ever solid. All of the players — his frantically scheming children, his perpetually rattled underlings, assorted freaked-out lesser relations — are like Siri in human form. Always lurking and forever recalibrating in an effort to either serve the master of their universe or survive the fallout if they don’t.
This is the white-knuckle view from inside the Roy empire, as Season Three picks up right where the finale left off.
Logan (the commanding Brian Cox) is flying to a safe location and Kendall (Jeremy Strong) is hyperventilating in a bathroom, both perfectly in-character responses to the press conference that ended Season Two. The one where Kendall was supposed to take the fall for Waystar Royco’s long history of sexual and human-rights abuse, but decided to point the finger at his corrupt and culpable father instead.
So is Kendall fighting the righteous fight now, or was it a genius act of patricide? Will any of his battling siblings — shape-shifting Shiv (Sarah Snook), squirrely Roman (Kieran Culkin) and clueless Connor (Alan Ruck) — have the nerve to him?
Then there is the matter of Shiv’s flailing husband, Tom, and the perpetually spooked Cousin Greg (Matthew Macfadyen and Nicholas Braun, both priceless). Are they sacrificial-lambs-in-waiting, or what?
These are just a few of the questions that will come barreling your way during the first few high-intensity episodes, as Logan and Kendall try to pick their teams for the game of chicken to follow, and everyone else tries to figure out how not to become roadkill.
As always, self-preservation is the name of the game. With the FBI circling, investors panicking and the board demanding answers, the Waystar cash machine is also a ticking time bomb. So while Team Logan goes in search of a country where the kingpin can fume and avoid extradition, and Team Kendall swings wildly between fist-bumping triumph and holy-moly terror, both sides are living in equal fear of the near future.
This is not great news for Team Waystar Royco , but it’s great news for the voyeurs at home. I have seen the first three of the seven episodes HBO made available to critics, and I am happy to say that the Roys are even more messed up than usual, and “Succession” is as compulsively watchable as ever.
The Roys’ blood battle brings out the worst in pretty much everyone, which means you will be treated to many sharply written moments of rich-people delusion, sibling warfare, corporate bottom feeding and flop-sweat maneuvering. Also some of the most creative and enthusiastically deployed profanity since “The Sopranos.”
Because the stress-level is always high and most of the characters are mostly awful, it’s easy to forget that this show is very, very funny.
From Cousin Greg’s occasional moments of fall-guy clarity (“I’m kinda too young to be in Congress so much.”) to Roman’s potty-mouthed poetry, “Succession” is a black-humored hoot. Keep an eye out for the always-welcome appearance of James Cromwell as Greg’s disapproving grandfather. There will be “Babe” jokes.
Creator Jesse Armstrong has a way with insults, the lower and more wounding the better. If the scatological slings and arrows the Roys hurl at each other don’t draw actual blood, it isn’t for a lack of effort.
But Armstrong also knows that the deepest wounds are inflicted at close range, and some of the early episodes’ best moments come when the depth of pain reveals the strength of the bond.
The Roy siblings may not like or trust each other, but they share a weird life that no one else can understand. Their father is a bad man, but he is their father. And if you have any doubts about the power that role holds, just watch the kids vie for his approval while also keeping one eye on the emergency exit they desperately hope they won’t have to use.
Strong is a feverish marvel as the mood-swinging Kendall, who could be a hero but is definitely a train wreck. Snook does a great job of showing us the many shadows of doubt beneath Shiv’s bravado, and Culkin tosses off Roman’s bratty one-liners with the perfect undercurrent of survivor’s trauma.
The characters are all just self-aware enough to know they are probably doomed, but they might not have the fortitude to do anything about it. The beauty of “Succession” is that the writing is so smart and surprising and the acting it so full of nervy life, you will find yourself caring about these people, even when the show reminds us that they might not be worth it.
“Succession” premieres Sunday on HBO.
