Why Succession’s Greg and Jess election scene was more important than you think

Succession episode 8 spoilers follow.

In the eighth instalment of the final season of Succession, America decided — or so the episode title told us. In reality, the election was decided in a corporate boardroom by three despots nurturing major father issues.

Boosted by ATN and the criminally inept Roy siblings, alt-right imp Jeryd Mencken (Justin Kirk) is en route to the Oval Office. That is unless the scrambling Democrats of Succession find a way to salvage the 100,000 ballots lost in a suspiciously murky Wisconsin fire.

The decision to announce Mencken as the president-elect before all the votes had been counted came down to a pivotal sibling showdown, where Shiv's (Sarah Snook) secret alliance with GoJo was laid bare. As revenge, Kendall (Jeremy Strong) and Roman (Kieran Culkin) decide to destroy democracy.

The order is sent to prepare the vitriolic Fox News-style mouthpiece Mark Ravenhead (Zack Robidas) to call the election. The lackey given the job of taking the message down to the ATN newsroom is Greg (Nicholas Braun). On his way, Greg runs into Kendall's assistant Jess (Juliana Canfield).

Responsible for saving a giant rabbit from bagel exposure and reporting on the activity of the Kendall Roy hashtag, Jess likely knows everything about her occasionally cocaine-fuelled billionaire boss, except for his Chappaquiddick incident.

She's always been on the edge of the Waystar Royco executive inner circle, parsing Kendall's bro speak, while her eyes alone communicate frantic harried confusion. Yet in this moment with Greg, we finally see Jess in a context separate from Kendall and get a glimpse behind her long-held poker face.

Greg tells her he's the missive of Mencken's win and Jess gasps, with a look of frightened disbelief.

"It's not really my choice. I'm asking them to prepare to press the button," Greg says, to which Jess replies that button will "launch a nuclear attack".

Greg walks forward a couple of steps, stumbles and backtracks, with Jess at his side. They acknowledge that even if he doesn't go downstairs to raise the ATN alarm, it's not going to change anything. But for a moment, they have the power of that decision and wonder if they should take some sort of stand.

As Kendall said at the tailgate party in the previous episode: "We watch history, we make history, and then one day, we become it." But this upstairs/downstairs moment with Kendall's assistant and Tom Wambsgans' former assistant shows us the people who will not be remembered in the history books the Roys are so conscious of.

Jess is one of the only people of colour in the orbit of the majority-white world of Waystar and the Roys, reminding viewers of those who will be most affected by a far-right populist and white supremacist like Mencken winning the presidency.

Mencken is the sleeker and more articulate model of the bombastic oafishness of real-life former president Donald Trump, but the echoes of the 2016 election hover over the entire episode all the same. By the end, Mencken is already grinning on TV screens as he delivers an acceptance speech filled with racist overtones.

While a shellshocked Kendall watches on, Roman sits disinterested, having run around making flippant comments about the election all night. While the Roys ignore the possible consequences of this presidency, Succession refuses to let us forget them, with small references to the people who will bear the burden of their decision.

There's Jess, who's already on the phone as Greg walks off, presumably texting loved ones the horrible news. Elsewhere, we briefly see Kendall's terrified adopted daughter Sophie, who's already been targeted as a result of the divisive election battle.

Then, in the final scene of the episode, Kendall leaves the Waystar offices and says to his driver: "Some people just can't cut a deal, Fikret." This is yet another member of support staff who's flitted on and off screen and who will be affected by the dangerous rhetoric from the highest office.

Jess' poker face cracks in this episode. We've never seen her calling friends to offload the latest shambles Kendall has tripped into — although we're sure she does so, regularly. But in this moment, the weight of what has happened pushes her to speak up and ask Greg if he's sure.

Despite the apocalyptic feel of this, the ball keeps rolling and the next day/episode will be patriarch Logan Roy's (Brian Cox) send-off. You would have thought they could push it a couple of days after the election — if only so Darwin (Adam Godley) can actually get the wasabi and lemon La Croix out of his eyes.

The description for episode nine, when Logan will be laid to rest, states that Kendall receives "inopportune news" from Jess. So, their election manipulation may prove to be the push she needed to draft her resignation letter.

It's a miracle Jess has stuck it out for this long, but she could now be able to take the stand she was clearly itching to when Greg broke the news of Mencken's win.

Succession season 4 airs on HBO in the US, and Sky Atlantic and NOW in the UK.

Warner Bros/HBO Succession: Season 1 [DVD]

£15 at Amazon

Warner Bros/HBO Succession: Season 2 [DVD]

£15 at Amazon

Warner Bros/HBO Succession Season 3 [DVD]

£15 at Amazon

Quercus Putting the Rabbit in the Hat by Brian Cox

£3 at Amazon

Rebecca Cook

Previously Deputy TV Editor at Digital Spy and, before that, a TV Reporter at The Mirror, Rebecca can now be found crafting expert analysis of the TV landscape, when she's not talking on the BBC or Times Radio about everything from the latest season of Bridgerton or The White Lotus to whatever chaos is unfolding in the various Love Island villas.  When she's not bingeing a boxset, in-the-wild sightings of Rebecca have included stints on the National TV Awards and BAFTAs red carpets, and post-match video explainers of the reality TV we're all watching.