'Succession': A real-life therapist breaks down the Roy family's daddy issues
With its fourth season up and running, HBO's "Succession," one of the most layered and nuanced portraits of family dysfunction to air on television, has begun its long conclusion of the saga of the Roys.
Based loosely on Rupert Murdoch's media empire and Shakespeare's "King Lear," "Succession" is a family drama about the uber-rich Roy family and the various schemes and plots its siblings undertake in the hopes of being named successor of Waystar Royco, a media conglomerate founded and shepherded by patriarch Logan Roy (Brian Cox).
("All the rich white folk are going to argue, and then whoever's best is going to win a kiss from daddy," summarized comedy writer Demi Adejuyigbe in a viral "remix" of the show's theme song.)
"I thought it was interesting how well the show's writers were able to articulate what it looks like to have family trauma," said Elizabeth Earnshaw, a licensed marriage and family therapist and author of "I Want This to Work: An Inclusive Guide to Navigating the Most Difficult Relationship Issues We Face in the Modern Age." "How individual children can all grow up in the same family and respond so incredibly differently."
"Another really big theme was watching them continually try to placate Dad — who uses financial abuse every step of the way — hoping that one day they're going to be the favorite," she added. "That plays
