Follow-up Season 4 Episode 8 Summary

This recap of Succession Season 4 Episode 8 contains spoilers for America Decides.

At the beginning of America Decides, Tom and Greg inject cocaine while hiding behind a whiteboard. It doesn’t seem to have a huge impact on her, but it went straight into the bloodstream of the most hectic episode in history successor‘s story.

The full hour takes place in and around the ATN newsroom on election night, where either Democratic frontrunner Daniel Jiménez will preserve the fragile state of the American republic for another four years, or far-right conservative challenger Jeryd Mencken will usher in a new era of fascist anything-goes -Demagogy.

Follow-up Season 4 Episode 8 Summary

Of course, ATN is on Mencken’s side. That said, so are the Roy siblings — or at least most of them are. America Decides has a key dilemma, and that is this: Does the Roy clan place their own financial self-interest above the core tenets of democracy and decency on which the Western world is built?

Of course we already know the answer. But it’s a lot of fun to see how they can do it all by themselves.

Why does ATN support Jared Mencken?

Of course, there are various personal subplots and private motivations to consider here as well. In episode 7 That season, we learned that Kendall was planning to bar his siblings from a potential GoJo acquisition. Whatever happens, it needs ATN in order not to completely lose its credibility as a news organization.

Roman, meanwhile, has made himself useful by getting used to Mencken, assuring him cheap cover if he loses and in exchange for completely blocking the GoJo deal if he wins.

How does Tom find out about Shiv and Matsson?

Since Shiv is – figuratively, for now – involved with Lukas Matsson, she needs Jimenez to win the presidency and she also worries, albeit secondarily, about the fate of the republic. Their latest problem in a long list of theirs is that cousin Greg has spent some time with Lukas and is aware of his arrangement with Shiv, which Lukas shared without knowing how loyal Greg was to Tom.

Shiv is trying to forestall this possible catastrophe by apologizing to Tom for the argument they had which happened last week for us but last night for them and is therefore still very fresh. But Greg has already casually mentioned Shiv’s arrangement with Lukas, so Tom doesn’t believe it for a second. Obviously still extremely bitter, he tells Shiv that she is at least partially responsible for Logan’s death, and when she takes up arms and reveals that she’s pregnant with his baby, he wonders if that’s even true.

What’s happening in Wisconsin?

It’s amazing that ATN even has a cultural cache, since nothing works there – two out of three touchscreens start blinking, much to Tom’s hysterical annoyance – and nobody knows what they’re doing. They are particularly upset when a Wisconsin voting center is burned to the ground before votes can be counted.

Perhaps the problem with ATN is that nobody knows who’s in charge. It’s supposedly about Tom trying to be something of a responsible journalist by not reporting on the fire until all the facts are in, but Roman sees this as an opportunity to explain Mencken’s condition simply by some sort of vague mathematical Explaining logic – Adam Godley’s beleaguered statistician Darwin is a real eye-catcher in this episode, especially on this matter – making him the new President of the United States.

Mencken’s candidacy gains even more momentum when Connor of all people shows up to vote for him on a live broadcast, which quickly turns into a bizarre national threat. Nonetheless, Connor is out of the race, which he was never actually involved in, at least not in any significant sense, and his endorsement is swaying public perception in Mencken’s favour.

The ending of Succession Season 4 Episode 8 is explained

Who will be the new President?

As is so often the case, it is Kendall who, in a roundabout way, has the decisive vote.

And Kendall is worried, especially for his wife and daughter. He develops something like a conscience. If he is responsible for appointing a fascist far-right candidate as leader of the free world, what does that say about him and his legacy? What effect does this have on his family?

Because of this, even at the last minute, Kendall is still pushing Shiv to try and get a Democratic guarantee against the GoJo deal instead. Since this is Roman’s main negotiating ploy, a counteroffer from Jiminez means they get the best of both worlds — no GoJo deal and no White House bully. Shiv is happy to comply.

But she’s lying about the call. Unable to provide a definitive answer as to the outcome, Kendall calls herself and apparently learns that Shiv never got in touch. Suspiciously, he asks Greg if he knows something worth sharing, and of course he does – Shiv’s deal with Matsson.

Kendall is so furious at Shiv’s attempts to dupe him that he gives the green light to ATN to call the election for Mencken, which is likely to cause all sorts of problems for everyone involved – right on the eve of Logan’s funeral.

You can stream Succession Season 4 Episode 8 “America Decides” exclusively on HBO and HBO Max.

Additional reading:

• Release date of Succession Season 4 Episode 9
• Follow-up Season 4 Episode 9 Summary