On Succession, No One Ever Enjoys Their Food

If you're not already watching Succession, I know you're probably tired of hearing this, but stop reading this article right now and go watch the first two and a half seasons. Trust me, you won't regret it. All caught up? Okay, good, now head over to Eater and read Amy McCarthy's piece on the existence of food in the Succession universe (beware, there are spoilers for the most recent episode).

Every character in the show has less humanity than the last, all exuding privilege and ego. Where in many, more pleasant television families meals are a time to come together to show love, McCarthy points out that every meal shared among the Roy family only further showcases each character's deplorability.

McCarthy writes:

For the Roys — evil patriarch Logan, petulant (yet desperate to please) children Shiv, Roman, Connor and Kendall, and even dipshit cousin Greg — eating isn't something that feels essential to their existence, and meals are rarely acts of pleasure. They feed on intrigue and the scraps of Logan's meticulously doled-out attention, not pastries and omelets.

The Succession-themed ice cream release earlier this year, S'more on the Floor, may sound like a pleasant enough flavor to indulge in, but even that is based on one of the darkest moment in the series: Logan forces his closest confidants to crawl around on the ground fighting over sausages like wild animals to prove their loyalty. Not exactly the warm and fuzzies that often come with a "family dinner" episode of television.

Without giving too much away here, the episode that aired this past Sunday was more food-focused than ever, and McCarthy breaks down each sip and bite as it fits into Succession's larger culinary ethos. In the Roy family, food is not to be enjoyed but weaponized. As she states in the title of the article, it only exists to create more misery.