The most recent episode of Veep treats audiences to an episode filled with laughs as the VP has returned from Europe; much of the episode focuses on a birthday celebration for Selina's daughter, Catherine. Unfortunately, another event takes precedence during the party for her daughter: a deal that she is negotiating with Mary King, a Congresswoman who is also the House Majority Leader. The episode begins with Selina in her office talking to Mary King about budget cuts, which Selina is reluctant to make. Mary starts having an allergic reaction to something in the room, and they later find out that the problem is the flowers that were bought for Catherine's birthday. She starts sneezing in the office and Selina plays it off like Mary is just trying to make a scene and that she's fine, making for some funny moments from her character. As it turns out, she's in pain from allergies to flowers in the office leading to another hilarious line when she tells Gary to "de-flower" the room.
The hostage crisis is heating up and Mike discusses Selina's role with the press and deals with the drama that is brought on by the recent information that they received. No matter which way they spin the story, it seems that Selina is in a bad situation and she will either look clueless or guilty. Selina's ex-husband Andrew causes much trouble throughout the episode as well. He initially calls to see if he can pick their daughter up from school on her birthday, which pisses Selina off because she has already made pick-up arrangements and she is understandably upset. Amy and Gary discuss how much they fear an encounter with him could be bad news for Selina and her reputation. This is the first mention of Selina's ex-husband since the show has started and it will be interesting to see how the show will deal with his character and if audiences will continue to see him. Amy talks about how she puts on a fake laugh and gets all giddy when she is around him, even though she acts like she hates him when he is not around. Later on in the episode, during the birthday party, she is forced to make small talk with Andrew and to try to get along with him. This proves to be so difficult that papers later report that Selina and Andrew were faking their entire marriage and were never really married.
Throughout the party, Jonah continues to hit on the young women that are there and is inappropriate to a number of them. He even keeps this up to hit on Amy even though she's on a date. Selina also continues to conduct business during her daughter's party and it seems that she is not capable of taking a break even for an occasion as important as her daughter's 21st birthday. She and Mary King attempt to engage in negotiations in the main room and even attempt to go to the bathroom while trying to avoid the noise. It is annoying to see Selina in such a business-centric life that she cannot take one night off for her daughter, but being the Vice President certainly is a full time job and it makes sense that she has to attend to VP business even at inappropriate times.
Prior to Catherine's party, Amy announces she is going on a date (she later brings him to the party as well). This starts to complicate things in the office and a hint of jealousy is seen from Dan, who used to be involved with Amy. Since Jonah pokes fun at everything and takes every chance he can to do so, he finds that he can bond with Dan by teasing her date, Ed. While it is nice to see Jonah and Dan getting along and joking around together, it comes at the expense of acting in a remotely mature manner. This is disappointing to see from Jonah on a regular basis, but Dan has certainly let his jealousy get to him and acts in a way that audiences have not seen from him before. In this scene, we also see Selina and Andrew take Catherine out to dinner for her birthday. Catherine is uncomfortable throughout the dinner as is the viewer, due to the way in which Selina and Andrew act toward each other. It is one thing to obviously hate or love someone, but they pretend to be nice while they are having a fight, which is awkward to witness, and Catherine comments on how it feels for her too.
There is nothing worse than having to keep up the good image that she is forced to present, while at the same time fighting with her husband out at a restaurant. People in the restaurant take pictures and tweet about their behavior, which Amy, Dan and Gary are observing. They are fighting throughout the dinner, but ironically what truly annoys Selina is the fact that the picture that gets tweeted referring to them having a fight is during a time when she was upset but was not specifically upset with Andrew. What is really surprising is that the three of them are eating in the middle of a crowded restaurant. Doesn't the Vice President get to have a private room when she is out to dinner with her family? It is sad that they have to be out at an event like this and feel like they are in the spotlight and keep up their smiling for the cameras.
Their dinner is interrupted early in order to avoid more negative media attention and they all leave in a fit of frustration. Gary brings out a cake and hopes to let Catherine blow out the candles but she does not see the point and Selina ends up blowing them out, telling her daughter that she can make her wish in the car. They leave in a limousine and Andrew gets out in the middle of their ride. In a surprising move, Selina follows him and tells him that he cannot run out like that. He tells her to come to him and kisses her in an unexpected end to the show. Catherine hears them, and she exclaims, "Oh my God!" in shock. It is nice to see Catherine with much more screen time in this episode and she provides some great humor for audiences, and the usual acting by Julia Louis-Dreyfus was spot on as well.
Thoughts and Quotes
-- A funny moment occurs at the beginning when Selina says "Gary, deflower the room," and Dan comments, "There's a sentence I bet you never thought you'd hear."
-- While at Catherine's birthday Jonah acts incredibly inappropriate, beginning with "You look so good, you're like a work of art...compared to you, that Monet, piece of sh*t."
-- Dan: "You know what they say: if it rhymes, it chimes." Selina: "Who says that? No one says that."
-- Selina: "Put your hand down, I can't stand that alpha male arrogant thing you do." Andrew tries to act like he knows what Selina will order when they are out to dinner and makes himself look like an idiot while doing it. He is very annoying and I can certainly sympathize with Selina when he acts like that.
-- Selina: "All you ever want from these kids is for them to be happy, healthy...and to stay out of Middle East politics, so two out of three ain't bad." In a funny but awkward quote, Selina makes a reference to a film that her daughter wrote about in a previous episode. It is nice to see references like this and to see Selina show her comedic side.
-- Catherine, during an awkward dinner "Well...I'm going to have to text my therapist, so..."
-- Catherine: "I think if you guys continue to smile, you are actually going to get permanent lock-jaw." I felt very awkward watching this as well; it must have been quite an experience to be in Catherine's place.
