SUCCESSION'S DEFEATED SON: THE STORY OF CONNOR

I think that the fact that humans, on the one hand, know that what they see on the screen is fiction that is distant from itself, and on the other hand, carries the possibility of contact with its reality somewhere inside, maybe an answer to why it loves TV series and films so much. Looking at films, TV series, and books to understand human nature has been a good reference point for a long time. In this article, I will try to get a little closer to understanding our inner worlds by looking at the series "Succession".

Succession, an Emmy award-winning American drama, captivated many viewers shortly after its release with its impressive performances, the complexity of family dynamics, and dark humor. Throughout four seasons, the series shows us the ups and downs of the Roy family, an empire in the media and entertainment industry. We only need to watch one episode to realize that the skeleton of this story is based on the concept of oedipal conflict introduced to us by Freud. It is also possible to say that it is a modern King Lear story. If we summarise it in a sentence, there is an endless sibling rivalry between Kendall, Roman, and Siobhan to impress their father Logan, who has difficulty in choosing a successor to Waystar Royco. It is a story that masterfully captures, both verbally and visually, the destructiveness of the conflict between these three siblings' need for their father's approval, their desire to emulate his success, recognition, and power, and their need to develop their own identity and independence. Throughout the series, we also learn that their mother cannot understand her children's emotions and that the Roy children do not have the chance to develop a deep and loving relationship with her. While I think that each character in the series, especially the father and the three children, provides a rich source of material for understanding the pitfalls of being human and that a separate article could be written about each of them, in this article I will take a closer look at the half-brother Connor, who seems to be the most obscure of these characters.

In the opening credits of Succession, four brothers line up side by side. In this frame, we see Connor standing at a distance from the other three brothers and when the camera shows the feet of the children, we see that, unlike his other brothers, his feet are not in a ready stance. Connor seems to have declared from the beginning that he would not actively participate in the fierce competition between his brothers. His physical distance from his family by living in New Mexico instead of New York is a representation of his psychological distance. For Connor, however, maintaining his self-esteem and realizing his potential is not an easy journey under the shadow of a self-centered and manipulative father and in a family filled with destructive feelings of envy. Moreover, the knowledge that his mother was sent to a psychiatric treatment center by Logan when Connor was still a child allows us to imagine the losses in Connor's early life story.

In the first episode, the Roy family gathers to celebrate Logan's 80th birthday, and Connor manages to give his father his present after several attempts. Unlike his son-in-law, who doesn't know what to give Logan, who has the luxury of access to everything he wants in his life, Connor gives his father a container of sourdough used to make old-fashioned bread as a gift. And yet, immediately after giving his gift, he regrets it, as if it was a ridiculous idea, perhaps due to the effect of the strange looks of his brothers and father. The fact that Connor gives this gift in a house full of servants as if he does not recognize this man who is dedicated to being at the top of his career, can be interpreted as a refusal to be in contact with his real father in his inner world. Connor seems to give his gift to a father in his imagination. When considered on a symbolic level, this "yeast" in a closed container that he gives to his father can be seen as an expression of his self that has been waiting to be touched and shaped since the old days. He thinks Logan might want to do something with it. Perhaps our empathy for Connor may increase when we realize that he can only express his desire as his father might want it. However, this unanswered invitation, again and again, reminds Connor of his bad yeast and causes him to turn away with the familiar feeling of shame when we reveal something inappropriate. We realize that the fact that Connor seems to have given up the hope of being seen by his father one day does not eliminate this desire but only waits in a closed container like yeast waiting for the day it will multiply. In a scene where Logan suffers a stroke and is hospitalized, Connor expresses his wish for his father to undergo cryogenic body freezing (the practice of preserving the bodies of people with an incurable disease or who have died at very low temperatures so that they can be revived one day in the future). Similarly, here, it is as if we are hearing something Connor says not about his father, but about how he copes with the knowledge that he will never be his only son. With this idea, which seems very strange to his other siblings, Connor seems to be telling us that he has frozen his authentic self to protect himself from the feeling of worthlessness brought about by his paralyzed relationship with his father, but he hopes that one day he will be revived.

Throughout the series, we see that Connor does not demand any position in the company from his father, but from time to time he asks Logan for money to make his lover Willa's theatre dream or his presidential dream real. Connor draws the impression of someone who does not produce anything meaningful for both the audience and his family but rather consumes what exists. We even see Willa insulting Connor with a joke that he "does nothing" at a party they attend. "I'm a plant that grows on rocks and lives on insects that die inside me," Connor says as if he is trying to tell us that even though he is not emotionally nourished, he can still survive on his own by becoming numb to all the losses inside him. The question of how Connor copes with such feelings of worthlessness leads us to understand his seemingly strange interest in his surroundings. For example, we see Connor showing an obsessive interest in Napoleonic history several times throughout the series. So much so that when he receives the news that Napoleon's penis has just appeared on the auction market, he gets very excited and goes on a quest to acquire it. This symbol of power, perhaps belonging to one of history's most glorious figures, serves as a prosthetic for Logan's incurable lust for power, which reminds him throughout his life that he is not good enough. Similarly, his illusion that he will win the race to become President of the United States when in reality he has no intellectual investment or experience in politics reveals Connor's identification with the power of politics and his need for this imaginary position of ruling the world. The fact that this fantasy, in which Connor sees himself in the most powerful position, takes place just as his father is going through the process of deciding which of his children will inherit the management of the company, appears as a response to his inner world to the call of emotional difficulties coming from the external life. However, rivalry is a process that includes the possibility of defeat. In this sense, Connor, who stays away from competition with his siblings, seems to neither win nor lose; on the other hand, in his imagination, he protects the situations and positions he has always won. Connor, who cannot experience the rewards and costs of taking responsibility in his adult life, similarly runs for the Presidency by expressing anti-tax propaganda with a childish dream of a world where tax payment, which ensures the continuity of the state system, is abolished. In parallel, we watch Connor trying to be the hero of Willa, who used to have sexual intercourse in exchange for money, but who now tries to write theatre texts and we understand that she does not have as much emotional investment in her relationship with Connor. If I had the opportunity to work with Connor in the therapy room as his psychotherapist, I think it would be important to understand how he alternates between wanting to feel valued and the other part that probably feels very worthless.

Logan's death on the day of Connor's marriage is an example of how Succession successfully shows us the irony of life. Connor's first sentence after hearing that his father is dead, "He never loved me anyway", tells us that he essentially feels that he never had a real home. Finally, Connor's wedding on a yacht seems at first glance like a small detail of a billionaire life. However, if Connor and I were in a therapy room, I would share with him that I was intrigued that this man, who could never have a settled home in his emotional world, would take the step to build a representative home in a place whose floor remained stable as long as the waves allowed.