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It’s captured our imaginations and, like Logan with his kids, broken our hearts many times over – even the Prime Minister’s Office confirmed that Anthony Albanese is big fan of Succession. Sadly, he didn’t have time to elaborate on who he loves, who he despises, and why – but other politicians around the country did.
As the wildly successful series comes to its end, we spoke to people in power in Australia – across business, politics and the media – to nominate their winners and losers.
Peter Dutton.
Peter Dutton, Leader of the opposition and federal member for Dickson, Queensland
Favourite: Greg is my favourite. He’s hilarious and indefatigable and I’m waiting for him to come up the middle and take over the empire!
Chris Minns.
Chris Minns, Premier of NSW
Favourite: Lukas Matsson. Weird energy but I think he’s cool. The India numbers will come good and I like his plans for Waystar.
Least favourite: Nate Sofrelli. Shiv’s too good for him anyway.
Zoe Daniel.
Zoe Daniel, Independent MP for Goldstein
Favourite: Cousin Greg. I love the slapstick and I still haven’t quite decided whether he’s a fool, a Machiavelli, or just plain lucky. It’s hard to work the character out, whether he’s the cleverest person or the dumbest person on the show; it adds a level of intrigue. Is he actually pulling the strings or falling into situations without intent? I really like that tension of trying to work it out. The show is quite dark and negative in many ways but then there are these laugh-out-loud moments, particularly involving Greg and Tom; it’s good light and shade. It’s close to a tie with Shiv because she’s a tough woman – and an Aussie!
Least favourite: Probably Kendall Roy, only because the character makes me cringe, which means the acting is actually brilliant. To the extent that when he is doing things you can just see it’s going to go horribly wrong, it’s like a train wreck. The most recent example is when he was giving that presentation and wearing the flight jacket on stage with the video of his dead father behind him, you’re like, Oh my god, what are you doing, do you have no self-awareness? I love the show – being a former journalist and having been the US bureau chief for the ABC, I look at it in a particular way in terms of the political influence in the leadup to the election.
Sarah Hanson-Young.
Sarah Hanson-Young, Greens Senator for South Australia
Favourite: One of the things I’ve often remarked during the show is that none of the characters are likeable, you end up loving to hate them. Shiv, of course, is my favourite. I love the sass and the fact that she has to pull the boys up so often and does it so well. Sarah Snook, who plays her, is from Adelaide, a local girl, I really think she is fantastic. The combination of the personal politics you can read on her face with the family, and then how that creeps over to her love life and the marriage. You can tell that there is no personal left, it’s all political. The way she is treated is incredibly dismissive, it does represent many of the things that as a woman in politics you see all the time.
Least favourite: It’s got to be Logan Roy, doesn’t it? He’s the centre of selfishness and hate. That’s what’s so clever about the show, it doesn’t hint at anything, it’s quite brutal, there’s no glossing over anything. It’s both a subtle and brutal exposure of dis-love – I know that’s not a word but that’s how it feels – in that family, the only person he is committed to and loyal to is himself.
Leigh Sales.
Leigh Sales, host of Australian Story, ABC
Favourite: Logan Roy. Brian Cox can make me laugh so hard with just the tiniest flicker of expression on his face. I’m also very partial to his corporate entourage – Carl, Frank, Jerry, Carolina and Hugo. They all feel like very distinct characters to me which is a great tribute to the writers and actors because they could so easily blur into one mass.
Least favourite: Probably Nate, Shiv’s slimy ex-boyfriend. He’s one of those operatives who imagines his side of politics gives him the moral high ground but he’s as craven as any of them.
Virginia Trioli.Credit: Justin McManus
Virginia Trioli, presenter Mornings, ABC Radio Melbourne
Favourite: Everyone is going to say Roman – he is my absolute favourite too – so I feel like I need to square the ledger a bit. I’m going to say Kendall just because of the arc and the journey his character has been on, and it’s such a credit to the writers and the showrunner of Succession that they’ve managed to have him travel such a distance and to take him in and out of our minds and hearts in so many different ways. From a faintly ludicrous figure in overpriced Lanvin sneakers to someone now who has morphed into a figure of great pathos and bathos at the same time, to the point where we are about to see whether he succeeds or not and turns into his father. I think that is so beautifully and brilliantly done with an economy of line that I’m going to stick with Kendall.
Least favourite: Greg, of course. Everyone thinks that Logan is the demon, the devil and the bad guy of this series. It’s the Gregs of this world who will always f— us up, it’s the Gregs of this world who shift every single line of morality and ethics that there is. And they always come looking like Greg, fresh-faced and wide-eyed in ill-fitting clothes and then gradually they absolutely corrupt everything. He’s awful, awful.
Anton Enus.
Anton Enus, co-host of SBS World News
Favourite: My favourite character is Shiv, the least venal of the lot. My sympathy for her stems from the succession deal she did with her dad, only to be humiliated in front of the family in a calculated double-cross manoeuvre.
Least favourite: The smarmy, entitled one (and that’s saying a lot in this coven of predators) who can’t get over being the baby brother with plenty of ambition but no talent. And whose name I obviously couldn’t be bothered remembering.
Sylvia Jeffreys.
Sylvia Jeffreys,Today Extra co-host, Nine
Favourite: Favourite is an interesting word to use for the Succession characters because they are all generally awful people. However, I find Roman to be the most compelling character in this season due to his complex emotional unravelling. And his razor sharp one-liners, of course, make him endlessly entertaining.
Least favourite: While they are all horribly ruthless and power-obsessed, Tom stands out as especially spineless and pathetic. Shiv hit the nail on the head in their balcony blow up when she described him as “servile”. Anyone who gifts their on-again-off-again wife a scorpion deserves that level of insult.
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