Succession that merits a discussion

What are peoplerdquo Logan Roy Brian Cox asks and then answers it himself ldquoEconomic units Irsquom 100 feet tall Theyrsquore pygmies But together we make a marketrdquo Meaning he elaborates everything about humans merely form a marketmdashmarriage market job market money market market of ideasAs OTS overtheshoulder oneonone conversations go the abovementioned in the third episode of the finalfourth season of Jesse Armstrongrsquos HBO series Succession might well rank among the greatest such monologue on screenIn line with ldquoDonrsquot let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the cornerrdquomdashby Robert De Niro delivered to Al Pacino in Michael Mannrsquos Heat 1995 Or why not even the ldquoMere paas maa hairdquo line from Yash Choprarsquos Deewar 1975Mediabaron Logan Roy is seated opposite his bodyguard Colin at a diner He seems so obviously lonely at the proverbial top And itrsquos the first genuine peek into his mind Which is equally an authentic observation on the worldrsquos richest And thatrsquos what draws you to Succession firstItrsquos not that beyond a point money can drive Loganrsquos ambitions Thatrsquos more the scene with Loganrsquos soninlaw Tom Wambsgans Matthew Macfadyen the outsider to wealth who admits to wife Shiv Sarah Snook that hersquos essentially hooked to luxuries that money can buyFor the Logans of the world especially in the evening of their lifecareermdashisnrsquot money that runs into hundreds of billions of lsquounspendablersquo dollars merely a metaphor anyway I guess the hustle is the high As is a sense of powerThis could be truer for a newsmedia ownershipmdashprimarily a prestigebusiness punching above its monetary weightmdashthat allows for closer access to a nationrsquos highest political echelons Which can otherwise only be achieved through partysystem with elections in democraciesGovernments change Backroom wielders of power are possibly more permanent Logan is one of them Is he a sociopath to dehumanise people as markets at best MaybeEven his brother Ewan James Cromwell thinks so Logan wasnrsquot always this man There is a definite backstory to his lifemdashbesides an extreme addiction to anything power included must blindside you eventuallyWhat about Loganrsquos childrenmdashwho grew up unhugged uncared for wholly replacing that parental neglect with unhinged aspirations to replace their father at hisfirm insteadI guess they slurp at the entitlement that comes with belonging to a richpowerful family But feel like rebels in their heads while only some amount of servility to the patriarch must privilege them fruits to businesses they never builtAmong the Roy siblings the youngest Roman Kieran Culkin is possibly the most in awe of the father and likely to quietly carry on his legacy For all of the cynic lionlike Loganrsquos flawsmdashhersquos undoubtedly an indefatigable institutionbuilder None of his kids areAnother popular Logan line is of course when he speaks of his children thus ldquoI love you but yoursquore not serious peoplerdquo Similar to what Shiv tells her brother Kendall Jeremy Strong ldquoI love you but I cannot stomach yourdquoWhat do they really think of each other I donrsquot think they domdashsimply fixated with being protagonists of their own lifersquos storiesOr as Roman puts it ldquoStop ganging up like yoursquore Lennon and McCartney and Irsquom George Irsquom John yoursquore Ringo and YokordquoOnly these delusional young pricks are not quite The Beatles Theyrsquore certainly sharksscorpions to each othermdashall Lady Macbeths to be more Shakespeareanmdashin a zerotrust highsociety dysfunctional family where Logan is debatably the loneliest of rsquoem all Also obviously the most confidentApart from the fact that the most dramatic talkie scenes in Succession are strikingly securely staged in complete quietness that is without a background scoremdashwhat you notice about the show is the extensive use of sassy similesmetaphors throughoutldquoSanta Claus whorsquos a hitmanrdquo ldquoJaws if everyone in Jaws worked for Jawsrdquo ldquoBallsack with a toupeerdquo ldquoCzechoslovakia itmdashsmooth and velvet partingrdquo ldquoItrsquos like IsraelPalestine except more importantrdquoldquoOman poor manrsquos Saudi Arabia rich manrsquos YemenhelliprdquoThis is because showcreator Armstrong is evidently as much a poet as a political writermdashmaking his characters sound smarter than they probably areIf you havenrsquot seen Succession yet let alone its farewell season I suggest you stop here and switch it on right anyway instead of a spoiler ahead Already I envy you Revisiting a masterpiece is hardly as rewarding as an experience anew I didnrsquot expect Logan to exit stage in the third episode of S04 Too soon His sudden death and the lsquoRoycalypsersquo after is discomforting Itrsquos not that you engage any less with all other characters including the maverick techbro Mattson even lsquoGreg the Eggrsquo But theyrsquore not the shit as Roman would sayArguably the finest ever drama in world television history Succession brilliantly crescendos before lsquocurtains downrsquo The show is over yes Feels like a lull Only I must add Did any of you see Loganrsquos corpse How do you know for sure hersquos deadIrsquom just gonna assume hersquos notmdashjust disappeared into the wilds where he truly belongs and his kids donrsquot Hersquoll be back Okay just heard him groan from the imaginary grave ldquoF offrdquo FineMayank Shekhar attempts to make sense of mass culture He tweets mayankw14Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper