Opinion | Could HBO’s Succession save serial television from binge watching? Streaming platforms experiment with weekly releases
- Season 3 of Succession has reached its finale, and HBO has shown that the serial format – releasing episodes weekly – is still important
- Streaming platforms and boxed sets got viewers used to binge-watching series, but they are recognising the power of the weekly instalment
The best television is serial television, and the best serial television is magic, as HBO’s Succession just proved with its incredible finale.
Going into the highly anticipated end of season 3 (panned by some as a retread of season 1), all eyes were on Kendall (Jeremy Strong). Deprived in the first episode of the titular promise, Kendall has spent the series doing everything to replace his father, Logan Roy (Brian Cox), as head of the family media empire.
Having failed at every turn, weighed down with self-loathing (and unfortunate fashion choices), he closed out this season’s penultimate episode floating in a pool in a way that might suggest imminent suicide.
Those who were not worrying about Kendall were focused on Roman (Kieran Culkin), the profane and sexually stunted Loki of Succession, who after months of trying to prove himself to Logan appeared to blow it all in a single obscene text. Or maybe Shiv (Sarah Snook), who had moved from strategic ingratiation to active back-stabbing.
That final scene in this season that evokes a collective gasp from viewers – the holy grail of television – requires not only great skill, but also a real-time audience that wants to know what happens next as soon as possible and experience it with others so they can talk about it the minute they know, spoiler alerts be damned.