This show is something that a lot of my friends have been talking about for a while now but I never really bothered to get into it because when I first watched it I was distracted by my phone and other things that were going on in my life. Because of this, I watched about the first half of the first season, was completely lost, and didn't really know the characters or the story. Basically all I could tell at that point was that I really liked Brian Cox as an actor and the music was wonderful in the series.
Here we are perhaps a year later and I gave it another shot based mostly on not having much else to do.
Keep in mind that in this write-up I am referring to season 2 only.
I didn't finish season one because there are a ton of 1-hour episodes in this and at the time I decided to give it another go-round I wasn't willing to devote that much time to get back up to speed. Instead, I simply relied on the recap that they tend to give on the first episode of any series that kind of lets you know what you missed if you didn't watch the first season at all.
I was somewhat familiar with the various characters but like I said before, I didn't pay full attention to the show when I was watching it the first time around. I am here to tell you that they do a very good job of encapsulating the events of season 1 in a concise manner in just 90 seconds. You don't see everything, but you see enough so that when they jump into the action at the start of season 2 you know enough to get it. The things you don't know you can fill in the blanks. I say this as someone that doesn't necessarily consider himself to be hyper-intelligent so yeah, I think that most people can start at the beginning of season 2 and be fine.
The story follows an incredibly wealthy family that is invested in just about anything but the main focus of the show is their media empire including newspapers and tv-news. It is rumored that this is based off the live of Rupert Murdoch of Fox News and how that company successfully navigated the tech takeover of news. It is easy to understand how one would draw that conclusion because of all the legacy media companies that existed in the world, only a few remain valid.
The series follows the Roy family, with Brian Cox playing the role of the head of the family, Logan. He is a ruthless businessman and manipulates everyone around him including his own family. The apples didn't fall far from the tree because basically the entire premise of the series is to keep the audience guessing about who is screwing over who at the current point in time. Many instances occur where it appears as though the family is working together in an awful fashion but in reality one of them is secretly seeking to screw over everyone including the members of their family.
The show is quite interesting in this regard because each family member has their own method of manipulation and the writers do an excellent job of hiding the true motives of each of them at all times. When big reveal about the real intentions happens, you normally can't see it coming but when one of the family members takes a hit to their ego, you can't help but feel as though they deserve it because let's be real here, all of them are assholes.
The opulence that is showcased might cause a great deal of envy with some viewers and perhaps this is a sneak peek for most of us that live normal lives about what the day-to-day of billionaires is actually like. Their problems seem so otherworldly to those of us that make normal amounts of money and the things that they just consider to be a regular part of their days such as collecting art, making hundred million dollar deals, and completely screwing over a company that has been in existence for decades simply for personal gain is well beyond what almost anyone alive would ever be privy to.
I think it is a good look into how narcissistic a person of this level of pedigree could be. There are a few outsiders in the show and you can't help but feel like they have something truly awful waiting for them later in the show, which I have not yet seen.
Greg (sitting on the table) and Tom (wearing the jacket) for example are not part of the core family. Greg is a sort of black-sheep cousin and Tom married into the family. They attempt to blend in to the ruthlessness of the family but ultimately aren't very good at it. It just isn't in their nature.
That's basically the show and perhaps I am not doing it justice as far as explaining the plot is concerned. Basically, it is about the ultra-wealthy and how they have the connections, money, and cunning to destroy almost anyone. They are so untouchable in fact that they have nowhere to direct their wrath and turn on one another. Perhaps that is human nature. I can't say.
I will say this though: You cannot casually watch this show. It requires your undivided attention if you are going to have any idea what the hell is going on. New and temporary characters are frequently introduced only to be done away with in the same episode and this can get very confusing as a lot of names are thrown around. Perhaps it is merely because of my own diminishing hearing, but I needed the subtitles to be on in order to follow the show, even in complete silence.
I think that for the correct person, in the correct environment, with a complete lack of distractions that this show can be extremely good. The twists and turns that take place in the show are extremely devious and for me at least, it kind of made me happy that wealth of this magnitude never entered my bloodline because I would rather my family be a lot less wealthy and actually be genuine towards one another. Perhaps that is the entire point of the show. We've all heard the expression "more money more problems" and I think that is what this show is attempting to convey. These people have more than enough money to live a life of total frivolity for many generations yet they still feel driven to achieve more and much of the time, it is at the expense of people considerably less privileged than they are. They don't seem to ever feel and remorse and just look around the corporate world of today and think to yourself "this is art imitating live now, isn't it?"
That being said this might be too long and too focused for a lot of people out there. If you can't devote your attention to it and put your phone away for an hour at a time, just forget it. This will not be for you.