[imagesource: HBO]

It’s tough to summarise a review without dropping one or two semi-spoilers.

If you want to be sure you can watch the first episode of the third season of Succession without an inkling of what may happen, then maybe exit accordingly at this point.

Fear not, if you’re sticking around – we really won’t give too much away, because there’s plenty from The Telegraph‘s review of the first episode of season three that doesn’t deal with specifics.

For one, when a series has been away for a while, there’s the need to catch up:

Series three of Succession begins directly where series two left off – that is, after Kendall Roy (Jeremy Strong) sent things nuclear by giving a press conference in which he implicated his father, Logan (Brian Cox), in a series of company scandals, and bid to depose him.

Logan gathers his other children and his team around him for a council of war, which mostly takes place aboard a private jet.

It’s fitting that private jets make an almost immediate appearance, given how the world’s super-wealthy have helped the industry flourish during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Telegraph’s gushing five-star review says that “every line of dialogue is a gem” and heaps praise on Strong’s portrayal of Kendall, for which he won last year’s best lead actor Emmy.

The bad news is that we only get one episode per week. If you can manage to stay away from spoilers (I think we’ve done well so far), here’s something to consider:

The series will run in weekly instalments, which is quite unfashionable these days. I think it lends itself to box set viewing and would recommend waiting a few weeks so you can binge it, because an hour of this isn’t enough.

Wait, wait, wait, and binge.

At this stage, let’s revisit that season three trailer:

Effusive praise is coming from all corners of the internet, with IndieWire saying that season three “enters full-on beast mode”:

…creator/showrunner Jesse Armstrong and his elite team have honed their characters, dynamics, and timing to a breathtaking pace. Season 2 promised a war between father and son, and Season 3 delivers by maintaining an incredible intensity throughout..

Beyond the scripts and character work (major props to Brian Cox and Sarah Snook this year, among an across-the-board excellent cast), directors including Mark Mylod, Cathy Yan, and Andrj Parekh bring exquisite style to each episode…

The good news is “Succession” remains the same show it was two years ago. The great news is it made the most of that time away to amplify all its strengths.

Alright, I dunno if I can wait for that binge down the line.

We’ll throw a snippet of a third glowing review your way, this time from UK-based The Times, which awarded Succession five stars and says it “succeeds on every level”.

That’s enough for me.

Season three is made up of nine episodes, with the first airing last night in the US.

[sources:telegraph&indiewire&times]