Succession Season 4 Power Ranking: America Decides Every Roy Is A Loser

(The bid for power has not only intensified in season 4 of "Succession," but is approaching its end: now more than ever, anyone can come out on top. As the series comes to a close, we'll be tracking the rise and fall of the Roys, their allies, and their never-ending list of enemies.)

A high-tension election created far more losers than winners on a very ugly episode of "Succession." Having the ear of the future president was a huge selling point for Waystar with a Murdochian media titan at its helm, but without Logan's support, a neo-nazi leader of the free world is kind of a hard pill to swallow — especially if the person taking said pill is a certain European billionaire that despises ATN's right-wing political lean and wants to "Ikea-fy" the news network.

Matsson didn't have to care about the election before Logan's death. He wasn't concerned with it because he was willing to hand the news channels over to the old man. Now that he's gone, the Musky tech mogul sees ATN as a huge power grab. Not only would it act as a temporary chess move against Roman and Kendall, it would give him the chance to have a heavy hand in American politics — a messy game for a boy like Matsson, but one that he seems interested in playing. Now that the Roys started insurrection on the playground

Without Logan around to out-weigh everyone else by several pounds, the power pendulum is in a constant swing. "America Decides" finds Roman finally starting to have fun playing boss, Tom developing a coke habit, and Shiv forced to reveal her cards before she has a chance to play them. But in an election that might have hit a little too close for the viewers at home, who really came out on top?

10. Tightrope Tommy, riding his subtle cycle across Niagara Falls

Things weren't looking great for Tom at the outset of election night, and they only got worse. For one thing, he didn't get a whole lot of sleep after his wife told all the all-important people at their party that he was going to be fired when Matsson took over. He wore the wrong pair of shoes to election night, his replacement Greg wasn't Gregging correctly and he learned that his wife was pregnant within about an hour.

Ever since Logan's death, Tom has been in free fall. He's always been the fall guy, but now he's just falling. Kendall and Roman have made him no promises, Shiv went back on hers as quickly as she created it, and their marriage broke just as fast as it was mended.  In "America Decides," Tom proves rock bottom is not as low as you can go.

Tom's cocaine use gets progressively more blatant throughout the episode, from bumps behind the whiteboard to Greg cutting up lines in plain view of his bosses. He throws himself into action at Kendall and Roman's command without much thought, whether it's a malfunctioning touchscreen or a piece of misinformation that threatens the fabric of America's democracy.

The disastrous, election-making decision to call Wisconsin officially for Mencken was as much Roman's fault as it was Tom's. The only problem is that Tom is the front-facing figure, and rival news network PGN held him personally responsible for the call — even going so far as to attach his face to the decision. Maybe Tom will finally go to prison, just not for the same Roy he signed on for.

9. The old guard

Frank, Karl, and Hugo have enjoyed a lot of airtime this season, which definitely butters my beanpole, but it disappointed me to see them asleep at the wheel this episode. With Gerri out of the fold, it seems the voice of reason that called the senior advisors to action is gone. Frank, Karl, and Hugo just watch all this chaos unfold on TV while they banter and yell at Jimenez, without so much as a phone call to either of their fail-son co-CEOs.

The old guard presumably wants Mencken to win because they are (supposedly) devout ATN supporters. They also haven't been made privy to Matsson's alliance with Shiv and Nate which would give Matsson an advantage if the Democratic candidate won. But even without knowing about these backdoor deals, why would they not be supervising things over at ATN to make sure the deal goes through? Are their red flags not going up after all of Roman's successive firings and Kendall's crazy Living+ projections? To quote Nate, who watches the watchmen?

So, the question remains, did the senior advisors decide to take a backseat and let the young Roys self-destruct on purpose? Or were the Roy brothers smart enough to make sure their minders were tucked in for the night before they started misbehaving? The old guard all undoubtedly have money on the line in Waystar stock, and Karl in particular wants to get his money and get out, so they probably wouldn't purposefully let the company fall to pieces. Where was the council of elders when their empire crumbled?

8. Darwin from the data desk

Oh, Darwin — living proof that cool heads do not always prevail. He tried to do right by his company and his nation, and unfortunately, he failed on both counts. He steered Tom away from adult diapers, but he couldn't steer him away from throwing a presidential election. It wasn't exactly old Darwin's fault, though. It was Greg's — or Greg's Greg — and that damned bodega sushi. 

Darwin got wasabi in his eye, and just like that, American democracy collapsed. Luckily for Darwin, it seems like the blame is getting pinned on Tom, so he should be okay — as soon as he gets the rest of the lemon La Croix out of his eye.

7. Lukas Matsson

It might seem strange that Matsson would be so low in the ranks. He didn't tank his father's empire. He can walk away from this deal relatively unscathed, right? Wrong. Those fake subscriber numbers are coming for Matsson, and they are going to haunt him unless this deal goes through. What's more, Matsson put his trust in the wrong lovable oaf on election eve night, just as he put his trust in the wrong Roy to keep a handle on the company.

Matsson aligned himself with Shiv because he thought she had some modicum of control over Waystar and her brothers. Within just a few days, Roman fires one of the few people the Swede wanted to retain and Kendall launches a product that he hates, and Shiv does nothing about it. ATN is one of the few parts of Waystar that Matsson wants. On election night he tells Shiv, "Don't let them break my toy ship" — then she pretty much does exactly that. If it wasn't clear to Matsson at the beginning of the night that Shiv had no pull at the company, it certainly would be by the morning.

The Musk-like tech mogul might be a smarter CEO than the Roys, but he needs this deal to cover up those funky numbers in India. He doesn't need Kendall or Roman on board to make it happen, but now that ATN has lost whatever credibility it had left, Matsson is buying a faulty product — a toy ship with a broken sail.

But the faux-pas that landed Matsson so low in the ranks this week was telling Greg — and probably Nate — about his "business alliance agreement" with Shiv. Now his girl on the inside is on the outs, and he only has himself to blame.

6. Kendall One Head, One Crown Roy

Waystar's resident dark prince got sloppy and let his upper hand slip again — surprise, surprise. He puts his cards on the table with Shiv and tells her that he wants to take the company for himself in hopes she will persuade him to do the right thing. He lets his plans to get Jimenez to block the deal, his principles, and his fear for his daughter get swayed by Roman's sweet talking. What really does it for him, though, is Shiv's betrayal. When Kendall learns Shiv has been working against them with Matsson and Nate, he only has revenge on his mind.

Kendall's been in deep mania for most of the season. He's made a lot of bold business decisions, all of which have been guided by blatant delusion. He clearly thinks he's making the smarter call by sticking to his guns and pulling for Mencken, but in the long run, he's tanking the company. He might sink the deal, but between the election and the false promises of Living+, he is sure to lose a lot of more liberal shareholders' trust. He's also tying himself to the sinking ship that is Roman and Mencken's partnership, which by their own admission is headed straight "over the road and into the bar." With Mencken attached and Shiv on the outs, he needs Roman more than ever, and that guy is a ticking time bomb that keeps on exploding.

5. Shiv Roy

After a couple of seasons of major turbulence, Shiv's enjoyed a stay at the top for the past few episodes — until now. Matsson let their alliance slip to Greg and she neglected to take his offer for blackmail. Both she and Matsson underestimated Greg, and he hit them both with one stone. To make matters worse, when she drops the pregnancy bomb on Tom, he is so numb from cocaine and betrayal that he thinks she's lying.

With Tom and Kendall turned against her, Shiv's whole spiderweb of influence collapses. The only reason she's not lower on the list is that Kendall and Tom are totally screwed, and even her other enemies in Roman and Mencken only secured a very temporary and tentative win — in fact, I hesitate to call it a win at all.

The reason Shiv isn't higher on the list is that when Kendall finds her out she becomes completely hysterical, while Roman and Kendall manage to keep their cool. Even if Shiv does win the war, she clearly and unmistakably lost the battle for power in that room. However, once she leaves ATN that night, her mind immediately turns to revenge, proving that she can be tactical after all — she was simply caught off guard.

4. Connor Roy, who happens to be a billionaire

Okay, so Connor is technically the biggest loser of the race for power, but was it really such a bad night for him? He got to disgrace his former political partners on national television, keep the Con-heads hopeful for a future election, and even secure himself a cushy spot in Mencken's administration without ever having to drop out.

The size of Connor's base might seem like a joke in scale, but Alan Ruck put his character's political career into perspective. As it turns out, the eldest son's aspirations may not have been as delusional as they seem.

"Well, 1% is probably about a million people," Ruck pointed out in an interview with Collider. "Just being the devil's advocate here, that's not nothing. If you had a million followers on Twitter, or whatever, you'd be pretty happy about that. I don't think he's entirely wrong."

Connor and Willa have also been stronger than ever lately, which would be a huge point in his favor were it not for the look of sheer terror in her eyes as he gave his extremely reluctant concession speech. It's becoming clear that Connor's political ambitions are far from satisfied, and the expense of another campaign might cost him his wife.

3. Gregory Pegory

Gregory was demoted back to Greg for the night, so he was definitely tasked with lots of boot-licking and line-cutting for Tom, but he also got some very privileged information about Matsson that landed him at the top of the heap. His first attempt at using this secret to blackmail Shiv may not have gone over well, but in the end, he used this crucial information just as Tom had instructed him — he saved it for a special occasion and he smashed Shiv's face in with it.

Even though Greg's loyalty to Tom has wavered at times, he has never hesitated to let Tom know when Shiv is being unfaithful — even on the weekend of his wedding in season 1. This time, he uses his knowledge to help Tom and Kendall both. It's unlikely that Matsson would trust him again after this betrayal, but Greg still managed to squeeze enough juice out of the Swede to power himself up for one night.

It's ultimately Greg that delivers the call that Mencken has won the election. It's not technically up to him, though, he's just telling the people to prepare to press the button that launches the nukes. He almost seems to realize that he could always lie, that he really holds the power in his hands for a moment, but he is too scared to bite the hand that might one day feed him. He was always the most lovable Roy, but as Greg's power grows, he's become the Roy we love to hate.

2. Roman Roy

Today, Roman fired nukes into his father's empire, so why is he so high in the power rankings for the week? Well, because he was the one who wanted to push the button in the first place, and he isn't going to get blamed for doing it.

The youngest Roy son has been imploding this entire season, from his rampant firings to his grief-fuelled rant at Lukas. But on election night, Roman is back in business. He keeps a cool head, convinces Tom and Kendall to do his bidding at every turn, and comes out on top in the fight with Shiv at the end of the night. He calls her hysterical and sways the sometimes-liberal Kendall to his side once and for all, securing the election for his candidate by any means necessary.

There's no telling which way the courts will go on this since there's no precedent in Wisconsin state law or in state or federal courts. Considering re-votes are very rare, Roman's call isn't totally crazy, despite what Matsson says. He's right that holding off on a decision might have enraged their base on a night when ratings were extremely crucial — much more crucial to Roman than holding together the fabric of his nation's democracy.

As he puts it, "We created a night of good TV. That's all we did. Nothing happens." In Roman's world, he is the clear winner of the night, and he got away with his hands clean — it was Tom's face that was projected all over PGN, not his. Sometimes it pays to buy the news networks on both sides of the aisle, huh?

1. Our President, Jeryd Mencken

If you were watching ATN like we were, election night was Mencken's night. Logan and Roman backed him from the very beginning of his candidacy, and they were there to help with the narrative at every turn. He took advantage of a grieving Roman's crippling daddy issues and convinced him to twist the narrative so far in his favor that Roman compromised the integrity of the network just to crown Mencken the leader of the free world. As Roman said himself, "If he's not going to be the president, he's going to be our president" — by any means necessary.

Obviously, this call will be contested and hashed out in the courts, but it will be difficult to convince Mencken's base that he wasn't rightfully elected. ATN and Ravenhead, their Tucker Carlson mascot, have his base extremely fired up in support of their leader.

Mencken is a complex guy. Sure, he has an affectionate nickname for Hitler, but he's also a pretty compelling speaker, as we see during his acceptance speech. His speech includes heavy criticism of a transactional "marketplace" democracy, a take that is either ironically hypocritical, considering his deal with ATN handed him the election, or it foreshadows a betrayal to come.

"He's a guy we can do business with," Kendall says as he watches his speech with dead eyes, seemingly trying to convince himself more than anyone else in the room.