NEW YORK—In a dramatic twist that shocked viewers who had waited more than a year for a new episode of the HBO drama, Sunday’s season premiere of Succession featured an unexpected reappearance of the show’s shadowy Dr. Succession character. “Longtime fans of the series were appalled and delighted when its powerful but seldom-seen antagonist, the nefarious Dr. Succession, stepped out of the darkness in the warehouse to which he had lured the Roy family and let out one of his trademark cackles,” said TV critic Emily Barnes, who argued that the eponymous villain’s return had been subtly foreshadowed ever since Siobhan Roy pushed him into a volcano at the end of season two, leading her family to believe he had finally been vanquished. “The reemergence of the menacing psychologist and inventor who swore to wreak terrible vengeance on the Roys after their media empire inadvertently killed his wife is a welcome development for the new season. From the moment Dr. Succession revealed that he was Logan Roy’s evil twin brother as they did battle in their mech suits atop Waystar Royco headquarters, viewers have appreciated the Shakespearean dimensions of this nuanced character. In the early seasons, audiences tuned into Succession to see if the Roys could put aside their differences and harness the power of love to stop Dr. Succession when he strapped a bomb to the president of the United States or turned back time, causing Manhattan to be overrun with dinosaurs. One can only hope the show’s final season is a return to form in which Kendall, Shiv, Roman, and the rest of the crew face off against this chilling puppet master who seeks to rule the world with a bionic fist.” In a sneak peak of the season’s second episode, Dr. Succession is seen laughing hysterically as he tells the Roy family, “Now, my friends, it is you who will fuck off!”
