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Veep – D.C. Review: Great Drama Ensues With an Exciting Finish to the Season

On the latest episode of Veep, we pick up where Selina and her staff left off last week, with talks of the President being impeached and the great turmoil surrounding the West Wing and the Vice President's office. This is a very dramatic episode as the President and the Vice President engage in a constant back and forth about running and not running in the next election. Audiences are on the edge of their seat throughout, wondering what will end up happening and what we will be left with at the end of the season. In one of the more impressive acting performances on the show, we see Selina is on edge and freaking out through almost the entire episode as she prepares to potentially run for President.


At the beginning of the episode, we see a headline showing that discussion of impeachment is continuing, with the Senate and House of Representatives both turning on him. Selina starts to face the fact that she will abandon the President in two years if he decides to run again and tells her staff to come into the office in order to brief them on the situation. As audiences know, Dan and Amy have already begun to look for other jobs as they have come to fear the worst with Selina, and in this meeting, she informs them and the rest  of the staff that they should start looking for other work. Everyone is on the hunt for new work as Dan immediately calls Chung, Sue looks to Kent for a position, and Mike attempts to suck up to Ben for a position in his campaign. 

Veep

Soon after this, Selina learns that POTUS will not be running again in two years. In just part one of the back and forth cycle that will continue throughout the episode, Selina becomes overjoyed with the news and  she tells the staff that she is no longer out but that POTUS is. She will run for President in two years, and with excitement and jubilation, she tells them that they no longer have to look for other jobs. This creates some trouble, and ironically the one who has the biggest problem giving up a new job offer is Gary. I'm as surprised as Selina when he says that he has a new job already, as she adds, "Well I didn't mean you, Gary." While in theory, it seems that Gary has the most dispensable job when compared to the others', it is nice to see how closely Selina values him. His new job involves working with his girlfriend Dana, who does not value his job with Selina at all, saying that the VPOTUS could easily find someone to replace him. Gary's girlfriend is very annoying and after the one instance of seeing her earlier this season with Gary and Selina for lunch, I am surprised to see her return to the show. 


It is later revealed that POTUS cannot say that he is not running again, because then it will look like he is being forced out. In the previous scene, we see Selina meeting with Furlong, and with a simple slip of the tongue she tells him that she will be getting ready for the election, instead of re-election, making him think that she plans to run for President because POTUS plans to step down. As a result, POTUS decides to stay and seek re-election. It becomes hard to tell what is going on during this episode at times due to all of the flip-flopping of both Selina and the President. Selina is informed of this news while attending a kids' science fair, and she demands to leave quickly before she does something outrageous in front of the kids. Jonah is instructed to entertain the kids and ends up bringing a few of them back to Selina's office, causing more trouble. 

The drama in this episode continues to build and Selina is freaking out once again, not knowing what to do or where her future may lie. Jonah is trying to get in contact with Mike while they're at the science fair, but can't get ahold of him due to his phone being off, delaying the news even longer. Of course, Jonah finally gets there to deliver the news in person and it is not as if Selina cares that he is there. Throughout this episode, Jonah is constantly being told to F**k off and audiences are almost forced to feel bad for Jonah in recent episodes; since he has changed his behavior and even finally did something right in the last episode, it's tempting to feel some kind of sympathy for him, especailly since he still gets no respect from anyone. Dan finally tells off Chung and decides it would be the wrong thing to work for someone like him, who obviously does not care about him and simply needs someone to add to his staff.  Dan is a good character to keep around and it would be sad to see him leave Selina's staff. 


Selina learns that POTUS is making an unannounced appearance in her office, something that has never happened on the show before, and of course she freaks out as anyone would. She is fearing that he is coming to inform her that he's kicking her off the ticket. While she certainly wants to leave on her own terms and not be kicked off, she wants to make a public statement that she is leaving before he can kick her off. Moments later, Chung is shown announcing his run for the presidency and Selina jokes that she should run against both of them, creating a political massacre. While Selina and the rest of her staff are clearly fearing the worst, POTUS comes in to announce, surprisingly, that he will not be running and the spot is left open for Selina to run instead. She is elated and announces it to her staff in a very exciting end to the season for the characters and for the audience. Everyone will be able to keep their jobs after all and Selina is set to run for President. What a great, positive note to end the season. With the exception of a couple subtle remarks, there's little comedy in this episode yet again. These past few episodes have been very dramatic and exciting, and this one offers a good end to the season, but I hope that the comedic element will not be completely eliminated from the show after the start of the third season next year.

Veep

Thoughts and Quotes

-- On the dramatic news of POTUS' impeachment, Selina ironically exclaims, "I hate impeachments. They're so 90's." Good one, Selina, except that isn't the only impeachment that has happened and there is actually a serious issue going on here too.

-- This isn't the last time even in this episode that we will hear it, but the popular line of the episode is featured from the beginning when Selina says, "I decided that I'm not going to join POTUS in the next election." 

-- "If you want to get some cardio exercise, you kind of need to have a heart." Selina flings a cold insult at Congressman Furlong when he is in her office talking about the President. It just does not seem like Selina can get along with anyone that works in the West Wing for some reason.

-- After Mike claims that he couldn't find his charger, Jonah angrily tells him, "You're at a science fair; one of these kids can build you a charger." Good one, Jonah. I am really starting to like Jonah thanks to the past few episodes. He is making jokes that are not completely inappropriate and has become more of a likable person.

-- After Jonah brings the kids back from the science fair, we are treated to a surprisingly funny line from Sue when she says, "Jonah, this is a restricted area, like area 51 only more restricted." Seems like he would have known better than to bring them in to her office, especially at such a critical time. 

-- Dana, upon seeing Gary come into her cheese shop: "There he is. Hey quit being so hot, you'll melt all my cheese." Wow, Dana...seriously? Hopefully she won't be back for next season. Her two short appearances in this season seriously hurt those episodes.

-- Ben: "Well it's not the job that is depressing. Life is depressing." Yikes, sucks to have that attitude. He says this to Selina after she suggests that he might be glad to get out of the office when POTUS steps down. It must be tough dealing with him on a daily basis. 

Rating
9.2

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