Tried binging Succession after watching Breaking Bad and it felt like a different planet

I finally caved and watched Breaking Bad last month, 5 seasons in 2 weeks. Then I jumped into Succession thinking it would be similar drama. Man, the pacing is so different, Succession feels like 90% talking and 10% action compared to Breaking Bad's constant tension. Has anyone else had that shock switching from a faster show to a slower one?

2 comments

2 Comments

fionafoster4h ago

God yeah that's like going from a sprint to a leisurely stroll where everyone's wearing $5000 shoes and fighting about a board seat. Succession is basically a show about people having very expensive conversations in rooms that are too well lit, and I kept waiting for something to explode like a meth lab. It took me a solid three episodes to realize the drama was supposed to be in the insults and not the plot twists. You have to retrain your brain, your mileage may vary but I'd say treat it like a soap opera for rich people and it works better.

colethomas2h ago

Started watching Succession right after The Wire and had the same problem. What got me through was treating each episode like a stage play instead of a TV show. I started paying attention to who was saying what to who and why, not what was going to blow up next. Once I locked into the power moves in the conversations, like Logan giving Roman that fake compliment about the baseball team before crushing him, it clicked. The tension was there the whole time, just buried under the expensive suits and bad family dynamics. Breaking Bad shows you the explosion, Succession shows you the bomb being built.