Succession's Finale Shows That TV Can Be As Vital And Profound As Any Work Of Art

The King is dead. HBO’s peerless drama Succession, set among the venom and venality of the corporate uber-rich, came to a resolute close in the early hours of this morning (on Sky and Now in the UK), after five years and four glorious seasons

- LOUIS CHILTON

The past 10 weeks have been a masterclass in the art of TV; by the time the finale rolled around, I don’t think anyone was doubting that creator Jesse Armstrong would stick the landing. And he did – Succession wrapped up with a 90-minute instalment that was moving, propulsive and unsparing.

While it will take some time for the dust to settle, for Succession to be judged and situated within the history of television, a few things are already apparent. First and foremost, this was one of the best TV series ever made. This is not some woolly hyperbole or even, really, much of a subjective opinion. TV is still a young and emergent medium; there have been only a handful of series to have ever really achieved the layered depth and creative ambition of a truly great work of art. Succession did this, in its writing and in its execution. It deserves to sit beside series such as The Wire, The Sopranos and (the slightly lesser-seen but no less masterful) Deadwood at the very top of the pantheon of TV dramas.

Throughout this last season in particular, Succession has seemed to relish being television’s Top Dog. The other three dramas mentioned above all ran concurrently, during what is sometimes referred to as TV’s “golden age” in the Noughties. Later greats, such as Mad Men and Breaking Bad, had to compete with each other, as well as an increasingly congested TV landscape. But throughout its run,