Connor even suggests North Korea as an idea. Connor declines he’d prefer something in Europe, or the UN. Like he’s offering a piece of gum, Roman suggests Connor take the ambassadorship to Somalia. It’s asking a lot - Connor proudly boasts that he’s getting 4, 5, even 6 percent in Alaska - but it’s not a firm no, depending on the trade. The latest poll numbers are showing a tight race, and what Mencken wants is to “divert the Conhead stream to the Mencken river,” as Roman explains. Meanwhile, Jeryd Mencken (Justin Kirk) - the ultra-conservative Trump caricature and Republican presidential candidate backed by the Roys’ news network, ATN - wants Roman and Ken to convince Connor to drop out. Despite how eager he is to flirt with Shiv, telling her how much he likes talking to her, he demurs the moment she asks for real power, which her father always denied her, too. Instead, Shiv looks out for herself as always, asking Matsson for a “very, very, very significant role” at the new company. Shiv uses the opportunity to tell him she wants something from him: For a moment, one might expect her to plead the case for not getting rid of Tom. He’s unfazed among the party guests, chewing gum arrogantly and dressed in a hideous brown velvet track jacket. Matsson rolls up to the party with his crew, interrupting a moment of silence for Logan. They’ve already ordered the infamous Ratfucker, master of uncovering every bit of information on a person, to dig up the filthiest Matsson dirt possible. The CE-Bros are covering all their bases. This is Tom’s worst nightmare: two men that Shiv has some kind of flirtation with at his party. Shiv acts like it’s a decent idea and then immediately calls Matsson to tell him what her brothers are cooking, insisting that he also needs to attend the party to get Nate and other bigwigs on his side. They want to invite Nate (Ashley Zukerman), Shiv’s ex-boyfriend and ex-affair partner, to the party: He’s a political operative who’s now working with the Democratic presidential candidate, Daniel Jimenez (who, in another day or so, could be the next president of the United States). As in, tip off someone high up in political circles to get the DOJ, FCC, FTC - doesn’t matter which scramble of letters - suspicious of the sale and investigate it on antitrust grounds. ![]() Now, they want to take the regulatory tack. Apparently, it wasn’t enough to snuff out the deal. In the last episode, Kendall and Roman attempted to drive up the Waystar stock price so that Matsson, unable or unwilling to match it, would walk away. And most of the bullshitting they engage in during this episode boomerangs and knocks them back down to Earth. They are full of mundane desires and wounded feelings. But they can’t come away completely unscathed. The Roys are careless people, leaving others to clean up their mess, as the famous line goes in The Great Gatsby. Hedge your bets, and get ready to cozy up to whoever ends up president. The election itself is a funny little distraction: Partygoers are encouraged to participate in a cutesy game guessing which candidate will win by how much, and there’s a pervasive sense of ideological nihilism in the room - people might have a preferred candidate, but it’s all the same in the end. This episode is classic Succession: There’s a swanky event going on, but the main characters are scurrying around with ulterior motives, trying to outwit their opponents. Connor (Alan Ruck) is trying to barter his cratering presidential bid into a prestigious diplomatic gig. Matsson, it turns out, is conjuring numbers out of thin air. Shiv is lying to her brothers’ faces while working with GoJo chief Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård), hoping to secure herself the role in the company that Logan and her brothers have long denied her. Everyone at the party is engaged in a kind of tactical bullshitting: Kendall (Jeremy Strong) and Roman (Kieran Culkin) are spreading rumors and innuendo to powerful people in hopes of tanking GoJo’s acquisition. We see plenty of help - cleaners, caterers, waiters, drivers, doormen - milling about in the background as Tom and Shiv giggle about their naughty machinations. ![]() In “Tailgate Party,” the seventh episode of the final season of Succession, Tom (Matthew Macfadyen) and Shiv (Sarah Snook), who are in a better place than ever in their relationship, are about to throw a pre-Election Day soiree at their apartment - a continuation of an event Logan (Brian Cox) threw for some of the country’s most influential political movers and shakers. ![]() Note: This article contains spoilers for several Succession episodes, particularly season four, episode seven, “Tailgate Party.”
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