Succession recap: America is burning — some in over their heads and some fighting to be top dog
With the sale of Waystar Royco inching ever closer, who will end up on top? The fourth and final season of the BAFTA-winning drama continues for Ed Power review May 15/16, 2023
This week on : the Roys v American democracy.
It’s election night and Shiv, Kendall, and Roman are in the cockpit at ATN, Waystar Royco’s Fox News-style rabble-rousing cable news network.
Democracy is a complicated apparatus at the best of times. For the Roys, it’s especially tricky. None have any morals beyond the rapacious desire to own everyone and everything. But this race for the White House is fraught for them because of its potential impact on the takeover of Waystar by startup GoJo.
Kendall and Roman want the deal to fail so they can remain in charge of their father’s empire. They also have a direct line to right-wing candidate Jeryd Mencken, to whom Roman has been unstintingly obsequious (he may share his scary views too). Mencken has given the brothers the nod: if he wins the Oval Office he will use American regulatory muscle to block the acquisition. Of course, to do that ATN has to help parachute Mencken into the White House.
That’s not great for Shiv though who has secretly courted GoJo’s weirdo founder, Lukas Matsson, and thinks she’ll come out of the merger as top dog amongst the Roys. She also knows Mencken is a potential dictator who will ruin the lives of millions — but that’s not why she’s against him, is it?
Tom, Shiv’s ex, is running ATN. Or, at least, trying not to run it into the ground. He’s in over his head on the biggest night of his professional life, which is why he taps hapless Cousin Greg for artificial stimulants.
And now his estranged wife and her hideous in-laws are prowling the floor trying to exploit the vote for their gain.
Outside, meanwhile, America is burning.
As with populists everywhere, Mencken has unleashed destructive violence among his supporters who torch a vote centre in Milwaukee in Wisconsin. With the ballots up in flame, the Roys pressure Tom into having ATN 'call' the state for Mencken — a move that would push his campaign closer to the presidency.
But there are still one or two journalists at ATN — including data analyst expert Darwin, who is reluctant to declare Mencken the victor in Wisconsin (he knows all those liberal votes in Milwaukee might have denied Mencken victory). Kendall and Roman have an idea: ATN makes a “pending call” for Mencken. Darwin folds and with that ATN is formally repurposed as a personal instrument for Kendall and Roman to keep GoJo at bay.
Realising that the wind has turned, eldest Roy Connor decided to withdraw from the presidential race — while making clear his support for Mencken (he wants a juicy ambassador job). “Conn-heads, I salute you,” he says in a typical bonkers address. “America be warned. Be afraid. The Conn-heads are coming.”
Whatever about the Con-heads, the Mencken camp believes it is on the brink of defeating liberal candidate Jiménez — who has sealed his fate by refusing to even consider a deal with the Roys regarding GoJo.
Shiv, to her credit, tells her Kendall and Roman they are doing a deal with the devil. However, Roman is on Satan’s side and arm-twists Tom and ATN into calling the election outright for his guy, despite those question marks over Wisconsin. Mencken goes on air to declare victory. Democracy has fallen — but, amidst the ashes, can the Roys rise again?
