In the pilot episode of Succession, the satirical family drama written by Peep Show's Jesse Armstrong, Kendall Roy (Jeremy Strong) sits in the back of a chauffeur-driven car blasting music to pump himself up for his day at work. In the meeting he squirts ketchup from a sachet onto a breakfast wrap and stuffs it into his mouth while announcing that he'll sweeten the business deal with a blow job, a reach-around, hell, he'll "even even cup his balls".

His grandstanding is made all the more repugnant by the fact he scrambles to get his feet off the desk when he realises his father Logan (Brian Cox) is in the room. But by the final episode of season two Kendall has emerged as an unlikely hero after a press conference where he proves himself to be the "killer " that his dad says he never was, knifing him in the back before ripping up the statement he was meant to read.

It's a moment which gave me a similar sort of air-punching glory as watching Eliud Kipchoge break records to run a sub-two hour marathon last week, yet this was a television show where wealth and arrogance ooze from every pore of the screen. I wasn't alone, with hundreds of tweets celebrating Killer Kendall alongside images of slam-dunks and videos of Obama mic-dropping.

Kendall has been through hell for two seasons, with several numerous failed coups against his father, various manipulations as revenge for these betrayals, and the death of a stranger weighing on his conscience. While his revenge was satisfyingly Shakespearian and perfectly enacted, we are rooting for Kendall not only because Logan is an unpleasant rival, but because the show is so skilled at showing the shades of darkness and light in all of the damaged characters.

Succession isn't compelling for the way it shows the gaudy lives of the élite, and the way they move the underlings of the real world around like pieces on a chess board. It is impressive because it gets you to feel compassion for the unpleasant people that do this. As Armstrong told The Guardian: "Some people will just feel, ‘Fuck them – they’ve got so much money and power. But if you care to think about it, this is also a form of a tragic situation."

HBO

Roman Roy (Kieran Culkin) starts the series as the paragon of smug entitlement: offering a child $1M if they can hit a home-run and ripping up the cheque in their face when they fail. He speaks with the aggression and animation of a wind-up toy designed to insult anyone that picks it up, and is so cartoonish and unbearable it took three attempts for me to complete the second episode of Succession.

Comparing his behaviour in the second season finale to our first impressions of him, it's a much-matured Roman who we see give shrewd business advice about Waystar Royco not relying on the Sovereign Wealth Fund's investment, visibly shaken from the hostage situation he found himself in, and defending Gerri and Kendall from being sacrificed.

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When Logan announces Roman will take over as solo COO, he and Kendall share a meaningful smile across the table, a moment that has elicited gushing from the internet after seeing the pride on Kendall's face. Horrifyingly, I felt a twinge of pride at Roman too, before reminding myself this is a man who used the window of his new office as a Kleenex after pleasuring himself.

We see another tender moment in the scene where Roman asks Kendall and Shiv (Sarah Snook) if, after the meteorite heading toward the family hits, they could have a normal relationship with each other. Reminding us not too expect too much emotional growth on this show, his siblings put on ridiculous voices to mock him.

HBO

Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen) has been the perpetual punchline of the show with his ill-fitting suit, fixation with wealth and incredible one-liners. In the finale he became far less funny as he delivered the doleful line: "I wonder if the sad I’d be without you would be less than the sad I get from being with you."



Tom was always too foolish to be taken seriously as a real villain, but in their sad beach scene his jester costume was off, and you realise he's spent two seasons desperately trying to keep his wife's attention.

Shiv, however, finishes the season in a much darker place than where she begun after throwing her brother under the bus to protect her marriage. She started the series firmly outside of the family company, but as she has become entangled in the Waystar Royco web she's sunk lower and lower.

The extremely awkward scene where she pushed a victim not to testify against the company should have been something impossible to come back from, and yet you get the sense her real punishment is going to be painful and drawn-out.

HBO

Character arcs on Succession aren't neat, and one step forward often precedes two back: Logan letting Roman have some responsibility comes before he hits him in the face, and Kendall getting closer to Naomi Pierce (Annabelle Dexter-Jones) leads to him having her ejected from the family yacht.

Kendall's middle-finger finale was a satisfying way of freeing him from the gargantuan thumb of his father that's been crushing him, the direct inverse of him floating gormlessly through his sister's wedding at the end of season one. The curtain call gives the impression he's let in light over darkness and turned a corner from villainy, yet what will keep the intrigue going until season three is knowing he's just as likely to let us down again.

After all, there are no heroes on this show.

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