Succession season 4, episode 8 recap: America Decides

This politics-heavy episode of HBO’s Succession begins with far-right Presidential candidate Jeryd Mencken lamenting immigrants, the welfare state, and “cultural Marxism.” We also see ATN News election coverage coordinator Darwin Perry (Adam Godley) trying to make the chaotic night as smooth as possible.

We are also reminded that Greg Hirsch has been getting some key information relating to the business deal between Waystar RoyCo and GoJo. Greg learns about a questionable business agreement made between Siobhan “Shiv” Roy and GoJo’s Lukas Matsson.

The election is filled with iffy developments; Shiv mentions an incident in which vans apparently kidnapped likely voters for Mencken’s Democratic Party rival, Daniel Jiménez (Elliot Villar). Kendall Roy is also concerned about an incident where his adoptive daughter, Sophie (Swayam Bhatia), had an encounter with a Mencken supporter (it also appears she has been picked on in school because of her family’s ties to ATN).

To show that he cares, Ken has an SUV follow Sophie and Rava Roy, but didn’t inform Rava beforehand. So, she and Sophie become frightened by the vehicle.

Basically, it’s another example of a Succession character having good intentions backfire.

Succession season 4, episode 8 recap: Coked-up coverage, false flag folly, and touchscreen tomfoolery

In a personal phone call, Mencken tells Roman Roy that if he loses, he wants to still look like a winner, establishing that Mencken indeed has a deep connection to ATN and some of the Roys. Meanwhile, a highly stressed Tom Wambsgan pressures Greg into sharing cocaine with him.

Shortly after Connor Roy calls Tom about the lack of coverage for Connor’s campaign, Tom nearly blows a gasket over a malfunctioning touchscreen. His frustration is understandable, as it’s largely his responsibility to make sure ATN’s coverage doesn’t look like a bad joke.

Due to his bias in election night topic selection, Tom is also not covering the news of a fire suspected to be election interference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Fittingly, for his character, Roman dismisses the fire as a “false flag,” and continually urges ATN to just overlook the story.

It’s only for a brief moment that Tom can duck away, during which time Shiv quickly apologizes to him for some of her harsh words during their latest breakup. However, it seems hopes of them patching things up are ruined after Tom says she killed her dad.

However, he seems to potentially regret that after she reveals she is pregnant with his child.

Succession season 4, episode 8 recap: Milwaukee mayhem and an eye full of wasabi

With perhaps up to 100,000 Milwaukee ballots missing, Roman and other Mencken-backers urge ATN to not push for any revotes due to missing votes. The suggestion is that, in the real world, mass media (like ATN) can have massive sway over how elections are handled, including whether or not prominent pressures will be applied for certain outcomes.

ATN’s extremist anchor, Mark Ravenhead (Zack Robidas), adheres to his stereotype and, during his coverage, scoffs at the idea of fire only burning Democratic Party votes. It also becomes clearer that, when push comes to shove, Ken is more likely to accept Mencken because his electoral victory will kill the GoJo deal, which Ken and Roman want to cancel.

Darwin Perry decides to make a “pending call” about election results in Wisconsin, which is an interesting way of calling an election, while simultaneously not calling the election. Later, almost as if a bit of karma, Darwin Perry somehow gets wasabi in his eyes, from some of Greg’s sushi.

It’s a fun little bit of comedy in an otherwise mostly serious episode. At the same time, we all know such things can happen to us in real life.

Succession season 4, episode 8 recap: Mencken consolidates his win

Connor Roy strategically withdraws his candidacy, still open to receiving a luxurious ambassadorship under Mencken’s administration. His wife Willa agrees to it, despite also having fears of Mencken’s politics.

Meanwhile, as Mencken needs ATN’s support, Shiv understands that, if she wants to prevent his victory, she will need to flex her power, perhaps even in some fundamentally dishonest ways. Knowing that her brothers hate the GoJo deal, she pretends to call people within Jiménez’s orbit to see if they could block the GoJo deal.

Though it seems like something Shiv would be above, she really does believe Mencken will be the death of American democracy, which is why she pulls out all the stops. Ken calls the Jiménez team himself, to find out Shiv was lying.

He also knows she was in a quiet deal with Matsson, which adds a fresh rift between her and her brothers. Next, Tom tells Greg to tell everyone at ATN to just call it for Mencken, despite the lack of finality in Milwaukee.

Roman, in his dismissive little way, assures people that ATN just, “made a night of good TV.” However, as the episode winds down, Greg tells Tom about a large number of phone calls coming in, and that, “a lot of very important people want to scream at you.”

What are your thoughts on this episode of HBO’s Succession? Let us know in the comments!