Succession – The Complete Series (Blu-ray Review)
HBO tends to continue its lead on compelling series. There is no doubt that we’ve loved shows as varied as The Sopranos, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Veep, or Six Feet Under before Succession dropped in on us. A modern series that mimics the Fox Media empire in a fictional way, the bitingly funny black satire was an instant success critically and with audiences. Now, Warner Brothers has lovingly released the series to Blu-ray and fans of the show have a great new addition to their physical media collections! Read more on Succession in the review and click the cover art at the end to get your copy!
Series: 
Power, politics, money…it’s all in the family in this provocative, satirical series about a highly dysfunctional dynasty. When the aging patriarch of one of the world’s largest media conglomerates considers retirement, his family members position themselves for a takeover. But tensions rise as corporate battles threaten to turn into a family civil war in this sharp, scathing, binge-worthy series.
As we begin Succession, The Roy family is on the verge of significant change. Logan Roy (Brian Cox) suffers a stroke on his 80th birthday, and his family has now got to figure out how the family company, Waystar Royco, a huge media conglomerate will move forward as Logan’s health declines. Kendall (Jeremy Strong) is the heir-apparent to the company but has had a lot of issues beforehand and this leads his siblings Shiv (Sarah Snook), Connor (Alan Ruck), Roman (Kieran Culkin) to also splinter off with thoughts of what to do with the company should Logan pass away. There are ulterior motives from each family member with greed being part of the process, as well as an exposition of grief and generational trauma from everyone.
When Logan shows signs of improvement, his children are baffled by the recovery, as well as some strange choices. There is the desire to buy all local TV which feels bizarre to the younger Roys as well as Logan attempting to fix things in therapy which feels forced and even fake to most of who attend. When Kendall attempts to squeeze Logan out of the company, things only worsen. Mind you, this is all just the first season. The family is almost always at the brink of falling apart and never do they appear to love one another.
Shiv has her eyes on a political career as well as an impending wedding. Kendall tries for sobriety, but his depression and self-doubt lead him to dangerous places. Roman has issues with all the family members and simply wants to be seen as worthy of working for or leading the company. When the scenarios are all boiled down, the family has been blinded by greed, money, power and double crosses. Nobody is loyal or even redemptive and therefore, it’s so hard to see the good in any of the Roy family. This could prove troubling for some, but delightful for others.
Succession is fascinating viewing for people looking for something more biting. There is a bitterness to each season as we barrel forth seeing who will sabotage who. There are motivations and scenarios in the series that will cause you to cringe, laugh out loud or break your heart. There is a strangeness in tone that can challenge you – Are we supposed to laugh now? Should we be shocked? The show really questions a lot of things. Where is the family’s loyalty? How do they help each other in downfall situations? Will the Roy family eventually come together? It’s all in the balance as each season ends.
At the end of the day, Succession may not be for everyone. The show is incredibly dark, even if there are moments of the guffawingly funny variety, and moments of jaw dropping surprise also. It’s a brilliantly written show that challenges its viewers to get as venomous as the characters of the show and questions the loyalties of family in a business situation. Everything can come to a head in a moment and still there are so many layers to dive into. For fans of challenging TV, this is your show!
Video:
Encoding: MPEG-4/AVC
Resolution: HD (1080p)
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Layers: BD-50
Clarity/Detail: Filmed in 4K for streaming at HBO and Max, Succession comes home with a capable Blu-ray image. Clarity overall is still first rate with no degradation of detail in evidence across the 4 seasons.
Depth: Cityscapes and dense mansions dominate the look of the show. There are no out of focus moments unless called for by the story and the handheld camera work really keeps things going in each episode.
Black Levels: Black levels look excellent throughout the series.
Color Reproduction: Colors can appear rich and saturated throughout with some intentional moments of less saturation.
Flesh Tones: Skin tones look perfect throughout.
Noise/Artifacts: Clean
Audio:
Audio Format(s): English DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH
Dynamics: Dolby Atmos was the default audio for the show on HBO and Max, and at home on disc, the DTS-HD MA 5.1 track plays very similarly to the Atmos mix. The loss of height surrounds does not kill any immersion as the show is mostly all dialogue with some music peppered in there from time to time.
Height: N/A
Low-Frequency Extension: Music is the most bass-centric piece of the mix, with some sound effects carrying some heft at times.
Surround Sound Presentation: Not much to report, but office and city ambience come into the surrounds when needed.
Dialogue Reproduction: Dialogue is always perfectly intelligible.
Extras:
Extras for Succession: The Complete Series are all items created for HBO and Max. Inside The Episode featurettes appear for some episodes as well as some cast and crew interviews, and character recaps. These things are interesting but not exactly weighty additions to the overall package.
Summary:
As I mentioned earlier, Succession is a very dark, very challenging series. The show is funny and tragic and frustrating and compelling. Acting is first rate and the story rages on demanding to be watched compulsively. It’s also a show that could possibly be not for everyone. This is not shocking, as often great shows, films and music can be thought of in a negative way at first and loved closely following the negativity. For me, Succession is bitingly funny and a little bit sad. But, as a whole, this is must-see TV.
