In ‘Succession,’ Food Exists Only to Create More Misery

Instead of offering us a tie to their actual humanity — everyone has to eat, after all — Succession uses every single ortolan and tumbler of scotch to remind us just how miserable this disgustingly wealthy family actually is.

At the diner, Tom and Greg order omelets and contemplate their futures.

It’s clear that, in the midst of a loveless marriage, a tanking career that’s tied to that marriage, and his impending imprisonment, eating luxurious, delicious food is one of the few ways that Tom Wambsgans still experiences joy.

Sitting inside his hotel suite with Shiv, Tom pops open a bottle of wine produced by a vineyard the couple owns but have probably never visited.

In the second season’s finale, Tom aggressively snatches away a chicken leg from Logan’s plate in an act of defiance as he debates whether or not he’d be better off without Shiv, his wife who all but openly hates him.

As the Roy family visits their summer palace in the second season, Logan commands the staff to throw out a lavish feast involving king crab legs, lobster, and caviar because it’d been “sitting around in the stink” of a dead raccoon that’d mysteriously found its way into the mansion’s chimney.

The Roy family manages to fashion simple experiences like eating a meal with family and surprising someone with pastries into weaponry, and that works beautifully into a narrative that is deeply concerned with the trappings of power and privilege.

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