'Succession' season three delivers on drama and laughs in the midst of an all-out familial war

It's been nearly two years since the bombshell that was season two, and the drama picks up right when it left off - in the midst of a sh*tshow scamble to try and save face.

The face that's looking to be saved is the leader and essentially the Godfather of the pack (well, the actual father), Logan Roy (Brian Cox). The first episode of 'Succession' season three follows Kendall's (Jeremy Strong) 360-degree press conference, whereby he revealed that it was actually his father, and not him (he was to take the blame), who knew about Waystar's illegal crimes. Logan is now desperately trying to drum up all of the support he can in order to save his family's multi-billion dollar company.

Shiv (Sarah Snook) and Roman (Kieran Culkin) are on-hand to revel in this family upset, both with their minds now focussed on who their father's successor will be. Greg (Nicholas Braun), meanwhile, is with Ken volleying to him all of the negative and positive tweets that he can see on the social media network - he truly is the character responsible for bringing viewers back to Earth when the various other players in their business suits look like they're becoming too trigger-happy.

One of the best moments of the early part of the third series sees each of the family members (well, just Shiv and Roman, really) stake their case as to why they should be the successor, with one of them making an absolute hames of their phonecall with their father - little do they know that said chat completely wipes them out of the running, all done in perfect deadpan by Brian Cox.

It's this tit-for-tat that the series is known for that really balloons into something bigger than its ever been. You think you know what a character is going to do, and then *slam* the brakes are pressed and they do a u-turn in the other direction.

Just like the real world, 'Succession' has always been about power; power-hungry players wanting to control other less fortunate but just as power-hungry people. This cat and mouse game is taken to a whole new level of dirty during the new season, but this time around it feels like even though the stakes are the highest they've ever been, the dialogue is also the wittiest it's ever been.

As you work your way through the series with its hour-long episodes, you'll sometimes find it hard to keep track of who is siding with who - which is all part of why 'Succession' works so well. The constant changing of alliances, while still keeping each character's traits very much intact, is why we go crazy for the Roys; it's impossible to predict what's going to happen next.

And so, with that, there have been seven episodes released to critics ahead of 'Succession' season three, meaning we've been left in the dark as to how those final two episodes wrap up the Roy's third journey. Just like the rest of you, we'll be eagerly tuning in to see what - if any - bombshell is about to be dropped during that season finale.

'Succession' season three launches on Sky Atlantic and streaming service NOW on Monday, October 18.