Succession, Episode 8: Predictable yet spectacular

Spoilers ahead for Season 4, Episode 8 of Succession!

Welcome back to Content Consumed’s Succession recap and review. This week, we watched yet another questionable American election go down, this time from the Roy family’s ATN war rooms.

A lot of people predicted this. An example via the Content Consumed DMs:

The general consensus was that there would be election interference, violence, and success for the alt-right. Personally, I was hoping it wouldn’t replicate the 2016 election quite as on-the-nose as it did. Sure, we have an alternative perspective that most of us didn’t have in 2016—from literally inside the Fox News-esque media company skewing public perceptions of the election results and validity—but the end result remains the same: political division at the largest scale.

Oh, and Roman Roy has gone full fascist. Disappointing but makes sense.

Anyways… a quick recap on the most significant happenings from this episode:

• Shiv finally told Tom that she’s pregnant, which he immediately doubts and questions as a strategic tactic, and she literally did use her pregnancy as a strategic tactic when telling him about it, so he’s not wrong! Two very shitty people!
• We got one (1) opportunity to laugh out loud when primary analyst Darwin gets bodega wasabi in his eyes and Greg pours lemon La Croix on him in an effort to help.
• Actually TWO moments—I can’t forget when Greg and Tom do cocaine and Tom tells him: “This is not a thing. It’s not going in a book.”
• Did someone keep track of how many times Greg may have personally interfered with the election? Because it’s more than once.
• Shiv was also finally exposed for playing all sides. It’s a brutal episode for Shiv stans.

• Visually, I think one of the most impactful scenes was Kendall’s phone call to Nate. We see him realize that Shiv faked her own phone call to Nate. Then, Kendall walks over to talk to Greg, who Shiv knows is aware of her consultations with Matsson. Shiv’s face falls when she sees Kendall connecting the dots. The exposure is swift and savage.
• However, it’s an even worse episode for Roman apologists. With every word that came out of this guy’s mouth… his character may officially be irredeemable. Roman Roy did everything in his power to fuck with the Wisconsin ballot count and declare Mencken as president. Going behind his siblings’ backs and physically delivering messages to the ATN Decision Desk himself? Easy.

• You know who lost…but also won? Connor Roy and the Conheads. He took his loss well, wild concession speech aside. Karl had a funny line, as he and the Old Guard watched ATN: “Connor’s running for president?”
• Unusually silent and at a crossroads, even during a Ravenhead rant during ATN’s “neutral coverage”: Kendall Roy. Just look at his wife and daughter, being tailed by extra security to “keep them safe” even though the surveillance scares them more. He could’ve done it for his daughter. He could’ve worked harder to stop Roman, ATN, and Mencken. But he didn’t. Because he cares more about the Gojo deal than his daughter. It’s the sad reality of Kendall Roy. On that note: are we more sympathetic to Kendall than Roman? Something to consider.

I respect Jesse Armstrong calling this the most shocking episode of the season. I understand the fear from a showrunner that people would see episode 3 (Logan’s death) as the peak.

But again: many people expected the election to be messed with by ATN. That in itself wasn’t shocking. All the characters’ decisions and dialogue and their screwy chess game? Now that was entertaining and maybe—MAYBE—a bit shocking in some ways.

I wonder again if Roman Roy will be redeemed. We know he’s depressed as hell—it’s been ONE WEEK since Logan died—but damn. Shouting “false flag” at Shiv every time she made a valid point about Mencken’s fascist supporters wasn’t just an annoying, immature little brother move. It was encapsulating everything Roman thought he was better than: the actual fascists that follow Mencken. If ATN says electrical fire, Roman says Antifa bombing.

One last note: Tom is in trouble. Shiv has told her brothers that he needs to go (though this was before they realized her Mattson relationship, so they may no longer take action against Tom). Tom’s also already being nationally blamed for the Wisconsin chaos and for ATN calling the election for Mencken.

The election isn’t really over. Jimenez will fight for Wisconsin. Don’t forget that the next episode—the day after the election—is Logan Roy’s funeral. There’s no way that doesn’t get ugly and political.

What did you think of episode 8? Let me know.

Thanks for reading! Be sure to follow this column for more Succession chatter.

Cheers,
Casey

P.S. Did anyone else keep expecting to see Dan Egan?

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