HBO’s Succession is halfway through its third season, making this the perfect time to review some of the things the show absolutely nails about the law and clients and corporate America and a dozen other things we don’t have room to write about right now.
First, let’s address the two burning questions left unanswered from the halfway episode (don't worry, no spoilers): Yes, Kendall, bagels are [very] bad for rabbits; no, Greg, there’s no way to “affectionately sue a relative” (and you have no standing to sue Greenpeace).
Succession has been a hit since it started, a good chunk of its audience is attorneys. Estate planning/corporate/attorneys in particular. As a show about an eighty-year-old three-time married media mogul with four entitled avaricious children and a pack of relatives who work for the company[1] would be.
The patriarch, Logan Roy, keeps promising to step down; three of the four children (Kendall, Shiv, Roman) are constantly scheming to be the chosen one. The fourth, Connor, just wants his money and maybe to run for the presidency.
This, then, is the story of a pack of wolves at each other’s throats. It’s funny, profane, dramatic, and dead on for those of us who deal with the issues Succession raises on nearly a daily basis.
As you would expect, Succession is a series about what not to do - a series about a family-owned business that did everything right would be deathly boring.
There is no succession plan, obviously. Everyone exchanges great dialogue but there’s no communication. Logan keeps his business plans and strategy to himself. An impending scandal is kept from Jerri, the general counsel, until it blows up into a crisis. Logan continuously tramples over shareholders, ignoring their rights. He bullies the directors. He treats executive positions like high-stakes musical chairs. There are questions about his mental capacity and how it is affecting his decisions – and therefore the company.
We’ve dealt with clients, companies, and issues like these over the years but not, thankfully, wrapped up in one client. We can see the impending disaster(s) coming, the ones that will keep Succession going for at least another season or two.
Through two and a half seasons of family and business dysfunction Succession has managed to impart at least one lesson everyone should take to heart.
It came early in the first season.
Logan had a stroke. He was rushed to the hospital, unconscious. The doctor is not optimistic.
Kendall, Shiv, and Roman hit the hospital like a hurricane. While awaiting word, they are horrible to everyone who had the bad timing to be in the hospital at the same time. They fight over everything. Everything. There is no issue, however trivial, that they will argue about.
They treat doctors, nurses, and Logan’s current wife, Marcia, with equal disdain.
Finally, the doctor has a prognosis. He meets with the family. Logan’s stroke is serious but he’s out of the woods now. He’s going to live, but because of his age there’s no effective way to treat him. The only thing they can do is make him comfortable and wait for nature to take its course.
The Roys being the Roys go ballistic. They don’t accept what the doctor says. He didn’t go to the right schools. There are bigger and better hospitals with doctors from bigger and better schools a short helicopter ride away. Implicit is their belief that money will cure Logan.
Shiv had spent the day pestering her personal assistant to research everything: strokes, neurologists, aging experts, hospitals, treatments, the works. She demands that Logan is moved “at once!”
Her brothers agree
At this point Marcia speaks for the first time and says, “No.”
Shiv answers, “Well, we need to have a discussion, first.”
“No. I am his spouse, I have his health care proxy[2] and he stays.”
Shiv starts to argue, her brothers join in, but the discussion is over. The doctor walk away. The health care proxy rules. There are no further discussions about Logan’s treatment. No more drama.
Succession gets a lot right, but it will never surpass this scene for accuracy while providing a public service.
Two seasons removed from that scene and it’s still the only evidence we have of Logan doing any planning. Come to think of it, the health care proxy was probably Marcia’s idea.
[1] The popular take is that Waystar RoyCo is based on the Murdock empire. There are some similarities, but we think the better match is Viacom and the Redstones.
[2] Also known as the Medical Power of Attorney.