America Decides
The episode takes place on the night of the United States presidential election, a close call between far-right Republican Jeryd Mencken (Justin Kirk) and Democrat Daniel Jimenez (Elliot Villar).
[a] Shiv, still secretly aligned with Matsson and concerned about the threat Mencken represents to American democracy, backs Jiménez, who she believes will allow the GoJo deal to go through.
Torn between his family and business interests, Kendall confides his anxieties about failing his children to Shiv, who attempts to appeal to his sense of morality to sway him away from Mencken.
"America Decides" was written by Succession creator and showrunner Jesse Armstrong and directed by Andrij Parekh in his sixth episode for the series, and his second for the fourth season after "Kill List".
Armstrong named the 1960, 2000, and 2016 U.S. presidential elections - all historically close races - as points of inspiration for crafting the episode, aiming to illustrate the characters' "different political instincts [and] corporate interests colliding in this very direct way.
"[2] Parekh recalled that the table read for the series' pilot episode was conducted on the day of Donald Trump's victory in the 2016 election, describing it as "a good place to start in terms of the reality check of it all" for "America Decides".
[3] Eric Schultz, the former Deputy White House Press Secretary who served as a political consultant for the series, recounted in an interview how the episode drew from the 2020 election in depicting various events.
[9] Additionally, Adam Godley guest stars in the episode as ATN pollster Darwin Perry, a character partially inspired by NBC News data analyst Steve Kornacki.
[10] The episode features appearances by numerous real-life journalists as ATN anchors, such as Tom Nichols, Dave Briggs, David Kerley, Sharla McBride and Kelly Nash, the latter two having recurred on the series since the first two seasons.
[11] Nichols later recalled his experiences with filming in a column in The Atlantic, writing "I was “reporting” the show’s events with lines meant to imply racial animus, gravely agreeing with offensive, right-wing conspiracies, and it occurred to me how easy it was to fall into that persona.
"[12] "America Decides" received critical acclaim, with reviewers praising Armstrong's script, Parekh's direction, the performances of the cast, and the episode's tension and dramatic weight.
The website's critical consensus states, "A nightmare countdown filled with so much dread that wasabi in the eyes proves welcome comedic relief, "America Decides" lays bare how poison can drip through a family and onto an entire nation.
[7] CNN's Brian Lowry called the episode "brilliant", writing that it "presciently mirrored" the internal discussions at Fox amidst the Dominion lawsuit, and applauded Armstrong for "deliver[ing] a thought-provoking observation about dysfunctional media dynasties, placing corporate interests ahead of ethics or journalism and the potential collateral damage that can inflict.
