"Succession" continues to remind me of Patrick Melrose.
In one of the most recent episodes, Kendall visits his mother. He tells her he has something he wants to unload; like Eleanor Melrose, Kendall's mother briefly seems to *want* to be supportive, but then finds a way to evade the task.
The sadism of the former Mrs. Roy also makes me think of Eleanor. The former Mrs. Roy could help her children, but instead she finds a way to upset them more: "You want money for your father? Tell him he can either (1) have X amount or (2) give up his Christmases with you. See what he picks."
This awful situation--making the children understand that Daddy actually wants cash more than "togetherness" time--recalls something Eleanor does in the Melrose novels. She gives her estate to a "transpersonal foundation"--perhaps imagining how the move would irk her detested former husband--and she doesn't consider (or *really* consider) the pain that this decision will inflict on her child.
Finally, like "Patrick Melrose," "Succession" shows an interest in the ways in which characters with addiction can find one another. "I'm in recovery," says one woman to Kendall. "And I see something in your eyes...."
Before the end of that particular episode, those two characters, "in recovery," are snorting coke together--huddled in an unsupervised private chopper, risking both an OD and a crash.
This is the kind of pitch-dark terrain that Edward St. Aubyn would seriously appreciate.
In one of the most recent episodes, Kendall visits his mother. He tells her he has something he wants to unload; like Eleanor Melrose, Kendall's mother briefly seems to *want* to be supportive, but then finds a way to evade the task.
The sadism of the former Mrs. Roy also makes me think of Eleanor. The former Mrs. Roy could help her children, but instead she finds a way to upset them more: "You want money for your father? Tell him he can either (1) have X amount or (2) give up his Christmases with you. See what he picks."
This awful situation--making the children understand that Daddy actually wants cash more than "togetherness" time--recalls something Eleanor does in the Melrose novels. She gives her estate to a "transpersonal foundation"--perhaps imagining how the move would irk her detested former husband--and she doesn't consider (or *really* consider) the pain that this decision will inflict on her child.
Finally, like "Patrick Melrose," "Succession" shows an interest in the ways in which characters with addiction can find one another. "I'm in recovery," says one woman to Kendall. "And I see something in your eyes...."
Before the end of that particular episode, those two characters, "in recovery," are snorting coke together--huddled in an unsupervised private chopper, risking both an OD and a crash.
This is the kind of pitch-dark terrain that Edward St. Aubyn would seriously appreciate.
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