The final season of HBO‘s smash-hit Succession has been absolutely wild. After three seasons of being the world’s worst dad, media mogul Logan Roy died on his private jet. That left his four children – Connor, Kendal, Roman, and Shi – to try and pick up the pieces left behind by their father. Primarily, that’s seen them discover their father’s alleged successor (Kendall) before trying to ensure that a merger with a Swedish streaming service doesn’t fall through.
Only that went and took a big hit after said streaming service’s owner, Lukas Matsson, made a Holocaust joke on Twitter. That brings us to episode 7, “Tailgate Party, and the eve of the 2020 election. At the party hosted by a slowly reconciling Shiv and Tom, everyone tries to push their own agenda while publicly playing nice. Shiv tries to cement herself as the woman behind Matsson. Roman, having skipped an event that led to Kendal shining brighter than ever, is trying to get Connor to drop out of the Presidential race and back the Republican candidate. Meanwhile, Kendall takes a sledgehammer to political glad-handing.
“America Decides” Brings The 2020 Election to 2023
All of that brings us to the upcoming episode 8, “America Decides”. Described by series creator Jesse Armstrong as the most shocking episode before the finale, it’s a scathing look at how the 1% view elections. In the running for the Presidency are the Roman-backed far-right Republican Jeryd Mencken, Connor Roy, and the unseen Bernie Sanders-inspired Democrat Daniel Jimenez. We hear zeitgeist phrases like “every vote must be counted” and “false flag”, that ring with a new pitch in 2023.
But it’s clear that the episode will channel the election through the four siblings. With ATN, Waystar Royco’s flagship news channel and obvious Fox stand-in, set to have its future decided by the election, everything’s on the line. Furthermore, the results of the election will likely dictate the events of the 90-minute finale. If the Republicans win, Roman literally has the President in his pocket. If the Democrats win, Kendall has to be careful not to poke the bear he just put to sleep. But what is going to make this episode Armstrong’s magnum opus in terms of shock value? The easy answer is that Connor wins the White House, but that feels too expected. The only way we’ll find out for sure is when the episode drops on May 14.
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