On ‘Succession’ What’s The Deal With Roman’s Jewish Joke?

It’s a razor tight presidential race as Republican Jeryd Mencken (Justin Kirk) and Democrat Daniel Jimenez (Elliot Villar) square off. The third-to-last episode of HBO Max’s “Succession,” “America Decides,” aired May 14, and shows things get nutty as ATN, Waystar Royco’s powerful, conservative-leaning cable news network, covers election night. A fire breaks out at a vote collection center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; crews are struggling to contain the blaze, and everyone in the building has been evacuated. But the uncounted absentee ballots inside the building are a complete loss.

As he watches the news footage, Kendall (Jeremy Strong) asks: “Who burnt this place down?”

Roman (Kiran Culkin), the youngest of the Roy children, is known for risqué humor, his answer to his brother’s question is more than strange.

He tells his brother “To me, it always comes down to a couple of old favorites: The Blacks and the Jews.”

He immediately says he is joking.

As more news comes in, the liberal Shiv, notes that with 100,000 absentee ballots unaccounted for and possibly destroyed by the fire, a call for Wisconsin can’t be made. Roman scoffs at the idea. “Your guys knew they were going to lose, so they did something crazy to throw it into question and get a revote.”

He repeatedly calls the fire a “false flag”  and demands that ATN calls Wisconsin for Mencken; Shiv argues they should wait until all the votes are counted. Their positions are based less on politics than a desire for power; Roman has a deal with Mencken, who has pledged to block the sale of Waystar/Roy, while Shiv wants the sale to go forward, because she has been promised a top position in the new company. If the fire was set by Mencken’s supporters, his candidacy would be in serious trouble.

“Succession” has elements of Shakespeare’s “King Lear” and while the show’s creators have insisted that the characters of Logan, Conor, Kendall, Shiv and Roman Roy and Waystar Royco, media conglomerate they own, are based on several entities and people, this season it most closely connects to News Corp and its founder Ruport Murdoch and Fox News is a mirror of ATN.

The penultimate episode will concern the funeral of Logan Roy, the recently deceased founder and chairman of Waystar Royco, the conglomerate that owns ATN.

With Wisconsin’s electoral votes up for grabs, will the losing candidate say it was stolen? Will there be riots? That remains to be seen. But it’s a pity that Roman’s joke about Blacks and Jews is reflective of reality.

The final two episodes of “Succession” air May 21 and May 28.