HBO Just Quietly Released a 100%-Rated Succession Replacement (And It’s a Docuseries)

How often does it happen that a newly-released show gets the highest score right away? Well, HBO’s newest documentary series managed to achieve such a goal in just two days after releasing the first episode out of the three-part show called Ren Faire.

Created by Lance Oppenheim, the series premiered on June 2 on HBO and is already rated 100% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, and we totally get why. At the center of the released episode called Daddy’s Dyin, Who’s Got The Will? is a real-life succession drama that happened at America's largest Renaissance fair, the Texas Renaissance Festival.

Everything turned into havoc when the founder of the festival, George Coulam known in Texas as King George, announced his retirement plans. Being the only main character of it, he is the unique person who idealizes Renaissance society for the way it venerated creative genius.

For decades, George has been the ruler of all he surveys. So now he wants to relinquish the crown at 86, but there’s a catch…

The story follows a desperate confrontation between the festival's righteous heir Jeff Baldwin, who is also its general manager, and a kettle-corn kingpin and former elephant trainer, all competing to transform the festival according to their own vision.

Needless to say, while George was the king, running around in perfect costumes and making loud announcements, it was Jeff who dealt with both the big picture problems and all the whiny employees ready to quit at the slightest inconvenience. Still, the writers make us wonder if he is strong enough to handle the powerful kingdom all by himself after the king retires?

The second and the third episodes are going to be released on June 9, but after watching the first one, the viewers are already in the “can’t even” mode.

“This 1st episode has elevated the entire art of documentary filmmaking. Legitimately the best edited doc ( at least so far ) I've ever seen. This sh*t is wild, it is so well done I had to rewatch it again. Somehow they capture the nuance of what's happening on a scripted/ narrative level. I can't wait until next week,” Redditor qualitative_balls said.

Ren Faire is available to stream on HBO.