Marcia (Hiam Abbass) is a recurring character inSuccessionand while she’s not always present, she’s as effective a villain as Logan is when she does appear. Marcia appears in the pilot ofSuccessionand, like a lot of things in the premiere of what would become one of my favorite shows, she didn’t make complete sense to me. I understood she was Logan’s (Brian Cox) wife, and it was apparent she was not the mother of thethree (sorry four) Roy children, but what part she had to play besides being mean to the staff was unclear.
That quickly became obvious as season 1 progressed and even in later seasons where her character stepped away from the show, Marcia’s presence could always be felt. It’s hard to say who’s a “villain” inSuccession. Every character is shades of evil or opportunistic or aggressively dumb, and I absolutely love them all for it. Logan, is of course, the “big bad”, but when it comes to ice-cold meanness, Marcia may have him beat, andAbbass is just a joy to watch every time she’s on-screen, spitting venom in her French accent.
Marcia Is Logan Roy’s Third And Final Wife
Logan Cheats On Marcia In Season Two
Marcia is Logan’s third wife. It’s unknown how they met, but it appears that they’ve been together a long time. She seems to know all the staff members in her New York City home andshe and Logan appear to have an easy way of communicating, that necessitates few words and is generally respectful from both parties. After Logan’s stroke, Marcia takes control of the situation withsome powerful and confident linesthat prove she’s been in charge the whole time.
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When Shiv (Sarah Snook) does some digging on Marcia, she finds out that Marcia has hidden her history very well, an ominous sign for the kids who are worried that her son from a previous marriage, Amir (Darius Homayoun), is angling for a chance to run the company. As the seasons go on, and Logan has an affair with Rhea Jarrell (Holly Hunter), Marcia leaves the show. She appears a few times in season 3; and in season 4,returns for Logan’s funeral, to give one last sendoff to a man who shifted her life for better or worse.
Logan Meets His Match In Marcia In More Ways Than One In Succession
Marcia Can Stand Up To Logan Like No One Else Can
Marcia is no pushover when it comes to dealing with Logan, and she’s arguably one of themost terrifying characters inSuccessionthanks to her sharp tongue and total fearlessness in the face of a man who makes everyone else around him quake. I adore the scene of Marcia sitting at Logan’s birthday party in season 2, episode 8, “Dundee”, when she turns to the old man and saysone of the most biting lines inSuccession, “I’m bored.You’re boring me.”
It’s soul-crushing and the look on Logan’s face may be the only time in the series I’ve seen anything even approaching regret.
It’s soul-crushing and the look on Logan’s face may be the only time in the series I’ve seen anything even approaching regret. Marcia can cut even Logan down to size, and though she eventually has to admit that he embarrassed her, she only has to do so after he has to beg her to return to him. She holds a lot of power in the relationship and, surprisingly, Logan seems to accept it in a much more human way than he does with anyone else.
With almost everyone in his life, maybe save his brother, Logan treats relationships like a business transaction. With Marcia,there’s definitely something more down-to-earth about the way they deal with each other. Logan is emotional, but Marcia is not. She has ice in her veins while Logan has fire, which is maybe why they work together. That’s a betterlove story than Dany and John Snow, at least. It’s not TV, it’s HBO.
If the government-thwarting, union-busting, maybe-kid-poisoning Logan is treating someone as an equal, you can bet they can be a pretty bad-to-the-bone villain if they want to be.
Her Moments Of Humanity Make Marcia’s Cruelty Even Worse
Marcia Has A Particularly Strange Relationship With Kerry
What’s even more villainous about Marcia is that she seems to have genuine moments of kindness, which makes her moments of cruelty even more shocking. In some ways, Marcia is a fairly moral character inSuccession, and she seems to genuinely want to help Logan. In other ways, she seems like the meanest person alive. When she grabs Shiv on the stairs during her wedding and tells her to do something that rhymes with “cluck” and “doff”? Ouch.
During the funeral scene, Marcia graciously grabs a sobbing Kerry’s (Zoe Winters) hand. But just a few episodes before, Marcia had coldly watched as Kerry struggled to pick up her personal items off the floor during the wake and essentially kicked her off the premises in humiliating fashion, sending her back to her “little apartment”. It’s these moments of casual cruelty that make Marcia seem so villainous, even in comparison to someone like Logan.
Marcia Wins More Than Any Other Character
By The End Of The Show, Marcia Has Everything She Wants And Closure
Then, of course, there’s the fact that Marcia basically winsSuccession, not that there’s anyone who’s really a winner, but what’s the point of the internet if we can’t gamify everything into a bunch of statistics? She does have a good claim to winning it though. In season 3, she and her lawyers come to meet Logan’s with guns blazing. I think I heard one of her lawyers mention that the new terms of her prenuptial may seem preposterous at first, but compared with her going public, they’re quite reasonable. Get that bag, Marcia.
Marcia also has an unnamed daughter from a previous marriage.
Then there’s the notable achievement that she actually seems to genuinely make up with an enemy, Kerry, something that never happens on the show. Her hand grab could be seen as a power play, but I view it as her saying, “good game, it’s over now, we can relax.” Oh, and she also gets the New York City apartment, and she immediately sells it to Connor (Alan Ruck) for a pretty penny and seals the deal with a handshake and spit.
None of the Roy siblings would be caught dead spitting in their hands for a back-alley deal. That’s not how “bizniz” is done in their limited world views. Well, for Marcia, Logan, and the other people who truly understand the dirty world they’re living in, there’s nothing wrong with spitting on a palm. Marcia may be the biggest villain inSuccession, but in this show, sometimes you need to be a villain to deal with an ogre like Logan Roy.
Succession
Cast
Succession is a Black Comedy and Satire television show created by Jesse Armstrong. It stars Hiam Abbass, Nicholas Braun, Brian Cox, and Kieran Culkin and follows the story of an aging conglomerate owner as he deals with his declining health and the sudden realization that one of his children will soon inherit his position and run his company.
