After an excruciatingly long wait, the greatest show on television is back. The third season of Succession has begun, and it’s everything we always hoped it would be. If you are a Succession fan, you know that this season has been in the works for at least two years now. Delays due to the pandemic have given fans a lot of time to build up lofty expectations for what the show would do next, and luckily enough, the series has lived up to and exceeded those very expectations. The second episode in the season, which premiered on Sunday, is a perfect example of how well they maintained the show’s quality despite all the setbacks in production. 

It gives us everything: Roman and Gerri, Tom and Greg, Logan yelling, Kendall yelling, Connor being clueless. It’s a perfect episode, and achieves exactly what we all want it to. Still only twenty-four hours after the infamous press conference, every character is scrambling. For the most part, Kendall maintains his manic enthusiasm for what he has done. He believes himself to be “cleansed”, and wants to offer that to his siblings. All of the Roy kids (Connor, Kendall, Shiv, Roman) end up together, and for the majority of the episode, discuss what is the right course of action. This creates possibly the most emotional and wholly familial series of scenes in the entire show. Rarely do the Roy children communicate like a normal family, but here in this moment of disaster, they almost achieve some normalcy. 

They argue, but they argue like actual human beings, not business drones. They talk about the past and what their lives have actually been like. A lot of unspoken things get spoken, and it opens up a facet of the show that has yet been closed. Often, it’s easy to forget that they are siblings, but they are. Never has the show reminded us more of that fact. The discussion takes place mainly in Kendall’s daughter’s bedroom, surrounding these tough, emotionless people with stuffed animals and pink glittery posters. This is a setting that feels real and extremely personal, much like the entire episode. 

It is a bit slower in pace compared to the rest of the show, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. You get a lot more time to ruminate with the characters and really bask in how good the dialogue is. Especially after the hectic premier from last week, a slow, calm, and calculated episode is a welcome shift in the season.

Overall, the episode gives us all of the classic things we look for in Succession but also includes a tonal shift that is only comparable to the horrifying “boar on the floor” scene in season two.