Succession: The Complete Series - Blu-ray Review

Movie
The machinations of the uber wealthy is not something new to the world of television. Watching the inner turmoil of an elite family and all of the back stabbing and politics and betrayal carries with it a sort of lascivious glee, giving viewers the ability to seemingly see into a world that they aren’t privy to normally. Shows like Power, Empire and various others were all the rage 5-10 years ago, only for them to have mostly vanished. I’m still actually amazed that Empire had managed to eek out a broadcast lifespan on Fox, but due to the fact that Fox had pretty much stopped releasing shows on Blu-ray it had fallen off of my radar (so to speak) and ironically, so had Succession. The series had been highly lauded the first season, with article after article praising the series for it’s innovation and dark look into the life of a media conglomerate. Filled with an amazing ensemble cast and amazing reviews, I remember really looking forward to the show back in 2018-2019 era, only for HBO to release the first season on Blu-ray, and then follow Fox’s pattern and never release another season in High Definition home media again.

Low and behold, a couple weeks back I suddenly receive a complete DVD box set of the series and am confronted with the fact that it had dropped off my radar so much that a full 4 seasons (with a year break for covid) had dropped since 2018, and that I had a LOOOOT of binge watching to do in order to catch up.

The series starts out with a tried and true formula. The Roy Family are the 5th largest media conglomerate on the planet. Headed by patriarch Logan Roy (Brian Cox), an aging titan of industry who has set up a sort of succession lineup with 2nd son Kendall Logan (Jeremy Strong) slated to take over as empire head, only for everything to come crashing down in the first episode. Logan has been manipulating things behind the scene, and making plans of his own, upending Kendall’s announcement for taking over the Roy family business and staying on indefinitely as CEO and leader of the media conglomerate.

As is the case with all of these shows, it’s the internal power grabs, relationships with the rest of the family, and all of the hidden plans and coups that make Succession fascinating. Kendall is the brilliant new world businessman with a bevy of business school degrees hoping to take the family into the future, while Roman Roy (Kieran Culkin) is the spoiled rich brother who has no real ambition to run a corporation. Instead he’s content messing around and having fun with his wealth vs. showing ambition. Shiv and Connor (Alan Ruck) seemingly want to stay out of things as well, but each one of them has their own agendas that unfold over the course of 4 years of machinations and back stabbbings

Razor sharp dialog and the characters themselves are really the mainstay of the show, and by golly, this is an ensemble cast that really shines. Kieran Culkin is by far my favorite in the show, actually showing some incredible growth and purpose as he changes from happy go lucky rich kid into someone who has to make decisions for once. And Brian Cox can do no wrong as patriarch of the entire Roy family. The man exudes power, contempt, and a sort of brazen energy that literally drives the series forward with a sense of mad purpose whenever he’s on screen. The break between season 3 and 4 shows a few hiccups, with the final season feeling more disjointed and broken compared to previous years, but honestly? I had a ball with the series and after a near 40 hour binge of all 4 seasons the last few weeks, really wished I had been able to catch this when it Aired on HBO over the last 5 years.




Rating:

Rated TV-MA by the MPAA




Video:

Up until this point ONLY the 1st season was ever released on Blu-ray, with the DVD set being sadly a bit sub par on the video side. Going over the entire series on Blu-ray this go around, it looks to be a faithful replication (and in the case of the 1st season, simply a re-pressing of the original discs) despite some visual oddities that are baked into the cake. Unlike most modern TV shows, Succession was shot directly on 35mm film, and given a heavy teal color grading and is just draped in shadows. There is a dark and gritty atmosphere to the entire production, which actually compliments the use of actual 35mm film stock quite nicely. There’s not a lot of visual “wow” factor, but the film (stock) looks incredibly natural and textured compared to the glossy/noisy digital look. Fine details are done well enough, but I noticed in the really dark shots we get some banding and other artifacting that want to come and go (the opening scene of the series with Danny Cox into the corner is really noticeable). It’s never going to be a show that really stands up and awes you with fancy filmography, but the show replicates the gritty and grim look to the show quite nicely on Blu-ray.









Audio:

Much like the DVD lossy Dolby Digital track, the 5.1 DTS-HD MA track fares pretty well, giving us a solid dramatic mix that thrives off of quiet whispers and growled out dialog rather than being big and flashy. The surrounds channels don’t get to shine a lot of the time, but there is still plenty of activity with the somber and tense score, along with having a few “bump in the night” moments with helicopter blades thudding during a landing, or a car crash to liven things up. Basically this is a VERY dramatic track that tends to live a majority of the time in the front of the room, and allows the surround channels and LFE to add some background accompaniment from time to time. The real advantages for the lossless mix shine with the score, as well as adding some extra depth to dialog heavy scenes where I felt that the Dolby Digital track was a tad “thin’. All in all, a nice little upgrade.
.







Extras:

• Inside the Episodes Featurettes
• Character Recaps
• Cast and Crew Interviews

Binge watching an HBO show like Succession can sort of take it out of you. The entire series is so bleak and dark that it doesn’t kick start the happy endorphins in your brain that you get from watching an action or typical drama. Instead it’s a dark descent into near madness and the twisted machinations that the uber elite use to maintain their status quo. That being said, Succession is certainly worth the accolades it got in the press over the last 5 years and is well worth checking out, especially now that the entire series is out on Blu-ray (which was one of my 2 compliants), which brings me back to the final complaint I have with the Boxset. This being that Warner used the same single clamshell case with overlapping discs on double sided trays that Paramount used for years in their “complete series” DVD sets (and what Warner used for the DVD release). It’s not the end of the world, but these have always been known for falling off the trays and scratching discs as a result, but luckily for me the set I received didn’t have that problems. Still, both of those complaints are not the end of the world, and Succession is definitely a show I’d still heartily recommend regardless.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Kieran Culkin, Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook, Matthew Macfadyen, Nicholas Braun
Created by: Jesse Armstrong
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, French, Spanish DD 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, French (Season 1), Spanish (Season 1)
Rated: TV-MA
Runtime: 2340 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: August 27th, 2024