Succession: The Complete Series [Blu-Ray]

Cast: Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook

Release Date: August 27, 2024

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Disc Rating: 8.5/10

Synopsis:

Power, politics, money…it’s all in the family in this provocative, satirical series about a highly dysfunctional dynasty. When the aging patriarch of one of the world’s largest media conglomerates considers retirement, his family members position themselves for a takeover. But tensions rise as corporate battles threaten to turn into a family civil war in this sharp, scathing, binge-worthy series.

‘Succession’ tells the story of the wealthy and powerful Roy family who control a massive media conglomerate. Led by the family patriarch Logan Roy, a rich, bitter and indecisive man who is prepped for retirement but at the last minute decides to retain control; a move that initiates a brutal power struggle among three of his children who fight for priority and notice in the hope of becoming his eventual successor. As each vies to become the new favorite or make moves that will earn favor, the series chronicles the twisted family relationships that build, implode and reform along the way as every player within must constantly reevaluate their position and plays amid the chaos of the world and constant unexpected hurdles.

Created for television by Jesse Armstrong who also wrote numerous episodes, ‘Succession’ features a powerful cast of talented individuals that includes Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook, Kieran Culkin, Alan Ruck, Matthew Macfadyen, Nicholas Braun, J. Smith-Cameron, Peter Friedman, David Rasche, and Fisher Stevens, along with more who each contribute admirably to the excitement and twists along the way. The series also features a handful of noteworthy guest stars including Alexander Skarsgård, James Cromwell, Danny Huston, Holly Hunter and Adrien Brody among others.

‘Succession’ is television at its finest; a tense, darkly hilarious and often quite beautiful look at the lives and struggles of a media conglomerate family that spends much of their time butting heads or conflicting with one another as each fights tooth and nail to try and secure their father’s favor and the hopeful promise of the company’s top spot that comes with it. It’s a fascinating exploration of a privileged family that may come together in trying times and when needed, but are more often at war with one another than they are comforting and supportive, with every move and comment one day to potentially be used as a weapon the next as they each vie for the crown so to speak. Always hesitant of where they stand from one day to the next as their father Logan Roy changes his opinions and favoritism as frequently as one typically changes clothes.

Its satirical approach, along with the various twists and turns along the way and the occasional glimmers of real humanity peaking through on occasion, ‘Succession’ never pulls punches with its snarky, vulgar style that’s never worried about offending and always more concerned with the reality of the situation and the wild events that repeatedly see the course of each character changing along the way as they are forced to adapt in their fight for success, and of course to be the eventual successor. Creator Jesse Armstrong does a marvelous job of guiding the series through countless surprises and changes in hierarchy, and the immensely talented cast led by Brian Cox only seals the deal and quickly helps this series to become something memorable and truly special that has earned its place among many of television’s greatest series. If you haven’t yet had the chance to check out ‘Succession’ but are even mildly intrigued by it, I would strongly urge you to give it a chance because it’s definitely well worth taking the time to give a shot, just don’t be surprised if you end up wanting to spend forty hours straight binging it once you begin.

Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment brings ‘Succession: The Complete Series’ home on Blu-ray at last in a 12-disc set that features all 39 episodes from the show’s 4 seasons sporting very nice High Definition video presentations that look quite solid as a whole. The rewarding HD video presentations are only further complemented by multichannel DTS-HD MA soundtracks for every episode, with each season spread between three discs allowing for a largely decent amount of room for each to breathe bitrate wise, with a handful of entertaining extras featured for the majority of the seasons within.

The release does follow a recent trend by studios of including Blu-ray and 4K sets in packaging more aligned with DVD sets previously, with all twelve discs packed within a DVD sized Epik-Pak set that fits inside an amaray case and arrives with a slipcase in addition. While many might not be fond of the way the set looks, the quality of the content within still delivers without any issues and for anyone that’s been hoping to own ‘Succession’ on Blu-ray in its entirety, then this Complete Series set should still satisfy and is recommended, especially if you can find it at a price that fits your budget.

VIDEO:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Succession: The Complete Series’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation with its original 1.78:1 Aspect Ratio on every episode of all four seasons. The video presentations look great as a whole and deliver clean, nicely detailed presentations on every episode in the series with no noteworthy or unexpected issues arising throughout; with the 39 episodes spread between twelve discs for sufficient bitrate and quality. Detail is solid throughout with character faces and clothing looking tremendous and clean, along with the various scenery and locations on display throughout and the various interiors all looking great. Overall, these are solid high definition video presentations that hold up nicely at every turn and shouldn’t have any trouble pleasing fans.

AUDIO:

The Blu-ray release features a 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on all 39 episodes of the series. These multichannel soundtracks do their job well and offer clean, crisp and fully capable audio presentations for each episode. The soundtracks for this dialogue heavy series keep much of the activity centered with dialogue and music remaining crisp, clean and fully audible at all times, although surround activity is often minimal, with the rear channels often being utilized for ambience and minor effects such as nature content including chirping birds, along with some crowd chatter and music at parties, vehicles passing by and other similar scenarios; something that shouldn’t surprise anyone familiar with the series which isn’t an aggressive or heavily immersive show for the most part by any means. Overall, these are very nice 5.1 DTS-HD MA soundtracks that deliver in every way required of them and shouldn’t disappoint.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Succession: The Complete Series’ features quite a few extras which are spread between the discs in the set and consist of previously released extras. I’ve broken down the extras by disc below for simplicity and easier navigation.

Season 1, Disc 3 includes the ‘Succession Wedding Featurette’ (running approximately 8 minutes in length) which goes behind the scenes of the season’s big wedding.

Season 2, Disc 1 features ‘Inside the Episode’ Featurettes for all four episodes on the disc (running approximately 2 minutes apiece).

Season 2, Disc 2 includes ‘Inside the Episode’ Featurettes for all three of the disc’s episodes (running approximately 2-3 minutes each).

Season 2, Disc 3 includes ‘Inside the Episode’ Featurettes for all three episodes (approximately 2-3 minutes each), in addition to some other Featurettes/videos including ‘Invitation to the Set’ (approximately 2 minutes), ‘Meet the Roys’ (3 minutes) and ‘6 Character Recaps’ (approximately 2 minutes each).

Season 3, Disc 1 features a ‘Controlling the Narrative’ episodic Featurette for one episode (running approximately 3 minutes).

Season 3, Disc 2 features ‘Controlling the Narrative’ episodic Featurettes for two episodes on the disc (approximately 3-4 minutes each).

Season 3, Disc 3 includes ‘Controlling the Narrative’ episodic Featurettes for two episodes (approximately 4-5 minutes each) along with 2 ‘Who Said It’ videos with the cast (approximately 3-4 minutes each) and the Featurette ‘Roy Family Food Chain’ (3 minutes).

Season 4, Disc 1 includes ‘Controlling the Narrative’ episodic Featurettes for all four episodes on the disc (running approximately 5-7 minutes each).

Season 4, Disc 2 features ‘Controlling the Narrative’ episodic Featurettes for all three of the disc’s episodes (approximately 4-5 minutes apiece).

Season 4, Disc 3 features ‘Controlling the Narrative’ episodic Featurettes for all three episodes (approximately 4-6 minutes each), along with other fun videos/featurettes including ‘Advice for Your Character’ (3 minutes), ‘The Best of Logan Roy’ (5 minutes)’ 2 ‘Who Said It’ videos with the cast (3 minutes each), ‘Scene Swap: Tom and Greg’ (3 minutes) and ‘7 Character Recaps’ (approximately 2 minutes each).

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

–

Disc Rating: 8.5/10

–

‘Succession: The Complete Series’ is Now Available to Own on Blu-ray from HBO – Warner Bros Discovery Home Entertainment

–

You can Purchase ‘Succession: The Complete Series’ on Blu-ray at Amazon HERE!

*Screen-Connections.com is an Amazon Associate that earns from qualifying purchases