- Kendall.
Connor.
Roman.
Shiobhan.
Logan.
Meet the key players of the Roy family
from HBO's hit drama "Succession."
The New York City-based show
is chock full of private jets, big egos...
- Uh, yeah, maybe not today, Con.
It's not the best day for a chat.
No time. - ...
lavish apartments with sweeping views on Manhattan,
and a unique family dynamic.
- If this is the way things are gonna go, then [bleep] off.
- And at the center of the show is one burning question --
who will succeed patriarch Logan Royce in running Roystar Wayco?
The four Roy children are adults,
yet their communication with each other
is objectively and inherently bad.
- You're [bleep].
- They're left to compete for both their father's attention
and a seat at the top, with one caveat.
- All four of them are utterly inept,
and are utterly incapable of actually running the empire
that they so desperately want.
- Underlying many wealthy people is fear --
fear that it's all going to go away because they don't have
the skills to go out and get a job.
To take their lifestyle down several notches,
they've never had to do that, and it's scary.
And so, there's a great deal of fear among siblings,
sometimes, that they're not gonna get their inheritance,
that they're gonna get screwed out of
what is rightfully theirs.
- Roystar, it's -- you know, it's the family business.
It's your inheritance. - What explains this behavior?
- That was low. - That was an overreaction.
It was not.
- Can we just try to keep this nice?
- It could trace back to childhood.
- I think it's a result
of a lifetime of lack of consequences.
When you don't have a consequence for not
cleaning up your room, or saying a bad word,
or being mean to your brother, why stop?
- No, she thinks you're a dip[bleep].
Or maybe you're just too much of a [bleep] dip[bleep]
to see that. - [Bleep] you.
- Their relationship to one another is quite terrible
because they have only seen each other as competition,
and yet, at the same time, because they are so distrustful
of anyone entering their inner circle,
they can't rely on anyone else.
- What I hear a lot from some of my clients is, they say
"I don't want my kids to struggle like I did,"
ignoring the fact that the struggle
that they had created who they are --
their resilience, their grit, their imagination.
- Everything I've done in my life...
I've done for my children.
- Each child vies for their father's attention.
- I want your help. - Oh, yeah?
Someone needs to run to the store for smokes?
- They yearn to be taken seriously,
and, though fleeting...
- Stop buzzing in my [bleep] ear!
- ... infrequently receive approval.
- Well, someone is feeling better.
- They desperately want acknowledgement and purpose.
- If Dad didn't need me right now...
I don't exactly know...
what I would be for.
- I think Kendall is obviously
the most tragic figure on "Succession"
because when he's under his father's thumb,
he's just dying inside, from the inside out.
And yet, the only way that he has had to be in relation
to his father is either as an ally or an an opponent.
And when he is his father's opponent,
he goes on these crazy, narcissistic ego
[indistinct], and basically self-destructs.
- This is the day his reign ends.
- Aside from the family are the relationships
with those immediately outside the inner circle,
the long-serving employees
and friends who help keep the company --
and the Roys' daily lives -- afloat.
- Please don't [bleep] help her.
- Despite that responsibility,
they aren't always treated the best.
- They're used to dealing with staff.
And there is a lack of humanity, sometimes,
in speaking with people that are not at your level.
- What is he doing? - I don't know.
Reading?
- Thanks, Useless.
Take your smoothie, and shut up.
- The inextricability of family and business,
it's an aspect of the show that maybe lots of people
can actually really relate to.
I think that most of us are willing to admit
that our family dynamics are a lot more complicated
than we want to admit. - You know what?
None of you have been through what I've been through,
so just...
- "Oh, my mommy got sent to the booby hatch,
and now I'm sad."
- [Bleep] off. - And are a lot more wrapped up
in what we feel like we deserve from our family members,
even if none of us are the potential trustees
of a $70 billion company.