Succession: Roy family feud directly impacts election night in America as Kendall, Roman and Shiv face off over dangerous truths

The Roy family preside over conservative news network ATN on a controversial election night in the new episode of the Emmy-winning HBO series Sunday.

The new episode – entitled America Decides, the eighth edition in the show’s final season – follows last week’s New York City election eve party which saw showdowns between Kendall Roy (Jeremy Strong) and Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgard), as well as Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen) and Shiv Roy (Sarah Snook).

Sunday’s episode focused on the ongoings at the network amid the race between Democratic candidate Daniel Jiménez (Elliot Villar), Republican nominee Jeryd Mencken (Justin Kirk) and independent candidate Connor Roy (Alan Ruck).

The episode – which happens within days of the death of Roy patriarch Logan Roy (Brian Cox) – began with Tom and Greg Hirsch (Nicholas Braun) in the ATN office scrambling to keep up, as Tom is seen checking in with Kendall and other coworkers in the newsroom.

Greg revealed to Tom he spent the night partying with Mattson and his crew, and asked Tom if he was aware that Shiv and Matsson have a business alliance arrangement.

Focused: Kendall (Jeremy Strong) walks with purpose down the halls of ATN on the historic evening

News director Darwin tells the ATN newsroom that the early indicators from exit polls is that Jimenez is winning.

Shiv, Kendall and Roman (Kieran Culkin) discuss how they have been in touch with both campaigns, with Roman telling his sister, ‘My team’s playing your team – it’s only spicy cause if my team wins they’re gonna shoot your team.’

Shiv and Roman argue about politically-charged incidents across the nation on the tense day.

Shiv and Mattson talk about strategizing for a Jimenez win, telling the eccentric GoJo CEO, ‘It’s good for democracy – and great for us’ as Mencken will squash Mattson’s attempted buyout of parent company Waystar-Royco at Roman’s behest.

Matsson says he was discussing his issue with inflated subscribership with his second-in-command Oskar Gudjohnsen (Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson) and Greg, the latter of whom caught Shiv by surprise.

Shiv and her ex, Dem political aide Nate Sofrelli (Ashley Zukerman), discuss the ongoing results as he urges her to keep an eye on ATN’s coverage of developing incidents of unrest on election day. They agree to keep the channel open.

Roman and Ken, looking to tank the merger with GoJo, discuss their lessened prospects of doing so with Jimenez winning.

Roman is summoned by Mencken for a visit but without Kendall, as Roman tells his older brother, ‘Just me – it’s a bit tight for both of us.’

Republican nominee Jeryd Mencken (Justin Kirk) chats with Roman Roy (Kieran Culkin) about how he wants ATN to cover him

Roman is summoned by Mencken for a visit but without Kendall, as Roman tells his older brother, ‘Just me – it’s a bit tight for both of us’

Sunday’s episode brings about the onscreen debut of Democratic presidential candidate Daniel Jiménez (Elliot Villar), who headlines the ticket with Sen. Gil Eavis (Eric Bogosian)

Kendall’s ex-wife Rava Roy (Natalie Gold) calls Kendall amid fear that a vehicle following her, which Ken admits to sending after his daughter was pushed by a Mencken supporter, and says their daughter is scared, as Kendall reassures her Jiménez will win.

Kendall calls Nate and send supportive message to Jiménez and apologizes ‘if things got a bit heated’ during their last discussion about campaign coverage.

Kendall and Jiménez share a brief chat in which he vows the election coverage will be ‘fair as f***’ and tries to discuss regulating big tech, which would help him tank the GoJo merger.

Mencken hassles Roman about not delivering Connor, and urges him that if he loses, he wants it to be classified as a huge victory.

‘If I lose, I need to work on what a**holes would consider the narrative,’ the Republican presidential candidate tells him. ‘If I lose, I want it correctly characterized as a huge victory … I want to be the president, I want you to be a partner in that … you, me, we’ll go far.’

Greg tells Tom that Mattson treated him ‘quite abominably but trusting’ on their night out, while he chastises Greg to get him a coffee.

Greg asks Tom, ‘Do you want some of what you asked for?’ and gives him cocaine, which they do together in his office after Tom browbeats him into doing it also.

‘What, you’ll do it with Matsson but not with me?’ Tom asks Greg, then chastises Greg over bodega-bought sushi, yelling him and wants his specific food needs met.

Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen) has a busy evening ahead amid a high-stress work environment

Greg asks Tom, ‘Do you want some of what you asked for?’ and gives him cocaine, which they do together in his office after Tom browbeats him into doing it also

‘Tonight, my digestive system is basically part of the constitution,’ Tom yells at his longtime underling.

Connor calls Tom at ATN for not giving his campaign ample coverage, he is reassured by Willia (Justine Lupe) and senior advisor Maxim Pierce (Mark Linn-Baker) to stay positive in hopes of winning Kentucky.

The eldest Roy son says he is glad he didn’t drop out, as ‘It just makes an election so much more interesting when you’re in it.’

After Kentucky is called for Mencken,’ Willia tells him, ‘F*** Kentucky,’ to which a calm Connor says, ‘No. I… I shan’t become that, no -alas, Kentucky, Willa – alas, vanity.’

Tom goes berserk when he sees the touchscreen on the broadcast is malfunctioning.

‘What’s happening with the touchscreen?’ he tells staff. ‘Tell him to stop touching the touchscreen! The touchscreen is malfunctioning! It’s not fine! You can see that it’s not fine!

Tom receives an upset call from Kendall about technical difficulty, and Kendall chastises Greg over the malfunction.

‘We’re about to get a new batch, Greg, and if we drop numbers now, I’m gonna come down there and put your f***ing head through that touchscreen,’ Kendall tells him.

Connor calls Tom at ATN for not giving his campaign ample coverage on the busy night

The eldest Roy son says he is glad he didn’t drop out, as ‘It just makes an election so much more interesting when you’re in it’

Connor is reassured by Willia (Justine Lupe) and senior advisor Maxim Pierce (Mark Linn-Baker) to stay positive in hopes of winning Kentucky

Tom is informed about a fire at a Milwaukee voting center, but looks to downplay the potential occurrence of right-wing violence as an electrical fire.

Shiv, Kendall and Nate urge coverage of Milwaukee incident, but Tom resists their overtures, telling them, ‘Just because something is on fire doesn’t make it news.’

Tom adds: ‘I just think to keep our unique perspective because we are getting conflicting reporting … there are many, many things happening in this nation right now. Uh, there are a million data points, and we – we have to select the ones that are consequential.’

Roman suggests it’s Antifa and urges it is a falls flag.

‘You can’t just say ‘False flag’ every time you don’t f***ing agree with something,’ Shiv tells Roman, who replies, ‘False flag, false flag!

Reps from both campaigns tell the Roys that votes in Milwaukee that are critical to election have been destroyed in the blaze.

After news of the Milwaukee incident is reported on ATN, Roman, Kendall and Shiv make their way down to the newsroom floor, which is breaking with the normal custom.

‘Roman, no brass on the battlefield, okay? That’s one of Logan’s Geneva conventions,’ Tom said.

Tom tries to persuade Greg to corral the siblings off the newsroom floor, after which Shiv summons him for a private meeting.

Tom is informed about a fire at a Milwaukee voting center, but looks to downplay the potential occurrence of right-wing violence as an electrical fire

After news of the Milwaukee incident is reported on ATN, Roman, Kendall and Shiv make their way down to the newsroom floor, which is breaking with the normal customs and protocols

Tom tries to persuade the Roys off of the newsroom floor, after which Shiv summons him for a private meeting

Shiv apologizes to him about previous remarks from the election party, and Tom brings up her secret alliance against her brothers with Matsson.

‘I just wanted to apologize for some of the things that I said last night, okay?’ Shiv tells an indifference Tom, giving him a chance to apologize too.

‘How should I frame my face? You scared that I’m gonna blab about you and Matsson?’ Tom tells Shiv, who reminds him that her father just died.

This gets no sympathy from Tom, who tells Shiv that she hated Logan and ‘also sort of killed him,’ to her dismay.

Shiv tells him she’s pregnant with his child – which she had kept secret – saying, ‘I’m pregnant. Yeah? By you. And there’s – there’s never a good time to say it, but you need to know.’

A skeptical Tom asks Shiv, ‘Is That even true? Like, is that even true, or is that like a new position or a tactic?’

A devastated Shiv leaves the room and tells Kendall and Roman of Tom, ‘He’s just a piece of filth, and there’s stuff I would like to tell you, but, uh … I mean, you just can’t trust him.’

In an ATN news control room, Roman cracks a racially-charged remark – ‘I’m kidding. It’s a f***ing joke,’ he says – and Tom finally has Greg escort them out of the room.

A bargaining Connor calls Roman to ask Mencken for an ambassadorship after turning down the offer the previous night.

Tom tries to persuade Greg to corral the siblings off the newsroom floor, after which Shiv summons him for a private meeting.

Shiv apologizes to Tom about previous remarks from the election party, and Tom brings up her secret alliance against her brothers with Matsson

Shiv tells him she’s pregnant with his child – which she had kept secret – saying, ‘I’m pregnant. Yeah? By you. And there’s – there’s never a good time to say it, but you need to know’

A skeptical Tom asks Shiv, ‘Is That even true? Like, is that even true, or is that like a new position or a tactic?’

While it was announced just before the season started that Season 4 would be the last, fans were quite shocked when Logan Roy was killed off in the third episode.

The shocking death came as Logan was trying to finalize the merger, which resulted in the company’s stock price briefly plummeting.

The family managed to get more out of Matsson than they had planned… though Kendall has had designs on tanking the deal, while Matsson has been getting closer to Shiv as well.

Succession creator Jesse Armstrong first confirmed that Season 4 will be the end of the show in a wide-ranging interview with The New Yorker, where he was asked why he decided to confirm the final season before it debuted.

‘One, we could have said it as soon as I sort of decided, almost when we were writing it, which I think would be weird and perverse,’ Armstrong began.

‘We could have said it at the end of the season. I quite like that idea, creatively, because then the audience is just able to enjoy everything as it comes, without trying to figure things out, or perceiving things in a certain way once they know it’s the final season,’ he added.

‘But, also, the countervailing thought is that we don’t hide the ball very much on the show. I feel a responsibility to the viewership, and I personally wouldn’t like the feeling of, “Oh, that’s it, guys. That was the end.” I wouldn’t like that in a show. I think I would like to know it is coming to an end,’ he clarified.

He added, ‘And, also, there’s a bunch of prosaic things, like it might be weird for me and the cast as we do interviews. It’s pretty definitively the end, so then it just might be uncomfortable having to sort of dissemble like a politician for ages about it. Hopefully, the show is against bulls**t, and I wouldn’t like to be bulls****ing anyone when I was talking about it.’

Last stand? It’s the most important night in the career of Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen) as he and assistant Greg Hirsch (Nicholas Braun) take in election results