“Succession” is the rare show that never dropped the ball in any significant way. Each episode improves on the last throughout Season 1, before the series rightfully attains and maintains its prestige status for the rest of its run.
The show could’ve easily gone on for five seasons if it wanted to — maybe even longer — but showrunner Jesse Armstrong chose instead to end it at just Season 4. This makes the run of “Succession” far shorter than most of the other acclaimed dramas it’s compared to, but it also guaranteed that the show could end on a high note. Fans of “Mad Men” and “The Sopranos” sometimes argue their series lost its spark in the final season or two, but few have ever made that argument for “Succession.”
But while the consistent quality of “Succession” is unparalleled, there are still a few disappointments sprinkled into its run. With that in mind, here’s our ranking of all four seasons, with the worst of them still being a B+ at worst.
4. Season 1
“Succession” starts off on an awkward note. There are several odd character details that are quickly abandoned — most notably that Roman (Kieran Culkin) appears to have a wife and kids in the pilot. And while the decision to put family patriarch Logan (Brian Cox) on the back-burner for the first few episodes makes sense and pays off eventually, the series doesn’t truly become “Succession” until Logan is back on top of his game.
Season 1’s attention is also a bit too lopsided towards eldest boy Kendall Roy (Jeremy Strong). Ken may be the show’s most complex and tragic character overall, but his siblings Roman and Shiv (Sarah Snook) would prove themselves to be just as compelling in their own right. By Season 2, the show fully commits to the idea of Shiv, Roman, and Kendall as co-protagonists, but Season 1 is all about Ken.
If there’s another nitpick to be made about Season 1, it’s that you can really feel the hand of the writers interfering to screw Kendall over. His failures may be mostly his own fault, but there are certain moments — like theterror alert grounding his helicopter in the sixth episodeand thedeer stumbling onto the road in the finale– where it feels like he’s simply the unluckiest guy in the world. That’s sort of the point, of course, but later seasons are more satisfying because Kendall’s failures have increasingly little to do with bad luck and are rooted in his behavior.
3. Season 3
Perhaps the biggest criticism viewers levy at “Succession” is its circular plotting. The complaint is that the Roy siblings are stuck in a self-sabotaging doom loop where their father always ends up on top. While this characterization of the show is over-simplified, Season 3 is where it absolutely rings most true. The first half shows Kendall’s coup attempt against his family crash and burn, while the second half builds up to the siblings finally banding together — only to crash and burn again.
There’s a lot that stops Season 3 from feeling too repetitive, like how the finale’s big betrayal from Tom (Matthew MacFadyen)is an unprecedented blow that the story had been slowly building up to. Still, Season 3’s ending served as a clear sign the series needed to wrap things up. After three seasons straight of Logan winning, viewers were growing restless.
The writing is still as sharp and nuanced as ever, however, and the characters are all as fun as they’ve ever been. By this point, all the major characters feel so real and familiar, and it makes every new plot swerve hit harder than ever. The particular stand out here is Roman, of course, who enjoys his brief run as Logan’s new favorite child before he ruins it in spectacular fashion. He started off as the most cartoonish of the core trio, but by Season 3, Roman feels just as nuanced as Shiv and Kendall.
2. Season 2
Maybe the most exciting thing about Season 2 is how much extra depth it adds to Shiv, a character who was sidelined slightly in Season 1 due to her career outside of Waystar Royco. Season 1 might’ve tricked some viewers into seeing her as a step above her family in the morality or competence department, but Season 2 makes it clear she’s just as much of a disaster as the rest of them.
With Shiv at the forefront and Logan at the height of his power, Season 2 is “Succession” firing on all cylinders. It’s also the season where all the characters — from Greg to Tom and Gerri — feel fully settled in. The writers now know exactly where they want to take everybody, and that extra confidence makes the whole series shine even brighter. Season 2 also shows a fun new side of Kendall; it turns out he can bevery competent when he’s not trying to overthrow his father.
If there’s a flaw to Season 2, it’s that this is when Logan’s wife Marcia (Hiam Abbass) is quietly downgraded in importance. She feels like such a major player in Season 1 that it’s a little disappointing the show doesn’t explore her much going forward. There are very few characters on “Succession” that feel like they’ve had their potential wasted, but Marcia’s one of them.
1. Season 4
“Succession” needed to shake things up after Season 3, and that’s exactly what Season 4 did.Episode 3 radically reshapes the entire family dynamic, pushing the story’s final stretch into completely uncharted territory. Not everyone was happy with how the series finale played out, but no one can credibly argue that Season 4 was more of the same.
Making the final season even better is its unique timeline: Almost every episode takes up only one day. It’s an ambitious approach that pays off well, especially with Shiv and Tom’s messy romantic angst driving so much of the narrative. The handling of the presidential election, a storyline that’s been quietly brewing in the background since the pilot, is masterful here. It’s the perfect way to escalate the stakes and remind us that these rich people’s power plays have repercussions far beyond their own family.
The most controversial part of the finale is the outcome of that final board vote, but I’d argue this was the most impressive choice the show’s ever made. “Succession” pulled no punches; that ending stung, sure, but it fit in perfectly with everything we know about these characters. It’s a bold, thought-provoking note to end on, the sort of choice few other shows would have the guts to do.
