S05.E01: Morning After

[ElectricBoogaloo]

On the night after the election, Selina discovers a possible road to victory. Meanwhile, Amy must figure out if she is back or not; Catherine kicks off a behind-the-scenes documentary project; Mike announces that he and Wendy are adopting a baby from China; and Dan considers a new career.

[Wouldofshouldof]

I love this show's writers.  They are some clever bastards.

[Bama]

I seriously loled at the zitzilla and the all white "Symposium on Race".

[pivot]

Oh, I love this show so much. I am especially liking that the gang is getting back together - Amy and Dan back at the WH and Jonad their inferior. Pitch perfect.

[represent]

I seriously loled at the zitzilla and the all white "Symposium on Race".

OMG, this show brings me so much joy. Oh, these people are so horrible, LOL.

 

 

And, what is wrong with Mike?  Did he seriously think that anyone in this crew would be happy about his baby news?  

 

Mike lives in a bubble of his own making right? 

Edited April 25, 2016 by represent

[TrininisaScorp]

I love this show!  It consistently makes me howl laughing.  

 

The all white race conference was amazing, but my favorite set-up was Meyer saying FU to Tom by publicly announcing that he's the economic czar.  His non-meeting with her was icing on the cake. "I LBJed you"  I know this will somehow come back to bite her on the ass, but I enjoyed it for the moment.

 

Also enjoyed that the POTUS (Pimple of the United States) got its own Twitter handle.  It feels like a real thing that would happen these days.  In Orlando when a cobra got loose, it got a twitter handle.  Locals were dying laughing (he's at Disney on Splash Mountain!  he's at Wizarding World and he's a slytherin, etc).  

 

IMO, the stockmarket crashing when she was giving the pimplezilla speech also shaded the inherent sexism that women in the public eye receive.  These writers are really so clever.

[Irlandesa]

The all white race conference was amazing, but my favorite set-up was Meyer saying FU to Tom by publicly announcing that he's the economic czar.  His non-meeting with her was icing on the cake. "I LBJed you"  I know this will somehow come back to bite her on the ass, but I enjoyed it for the moment.

Oh he's definitely going to try and get her back for that.  Watch the economy recover while he's in charge. 

 

I just love Richard.  And Richard and Jonah.  I love how they're in that cramped office space but they had to switch once Richard was put in charge even though I couldn't really see a reason why.

 

I am so happy this show is back and still feels like Veep even with Armando gone.  He left a well oiled machine. 

[patty1h]

So happy the show is back; the writers are geniuses. Why is Selina freaked out about the new female Secret Service agent (Clea DuVall)? She doesn't see a resemblance but she also implied something else was different...

This show makes me tired. So much seems to go on in one day, in context of the show. So many press conferences, doctor visits, staff meetings, personnel updates. No wonder Selina is a hot mess.

Edited April 25, 2016 by patty1h

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I am going to pretend that after Marcy completed her FBI assassination training, they found a way to make her visible and that's how she joined the secret service.

 

I LOVE that Richard is now Jonah's superior. All is right with the world again. Jonah's weird Harry Potter rant made me laugh. I kind of want to read the version of the story he has in his head where Harry Potter kills all the muggles.

 

I loved that not only did Selina have Bill arrested but she had Mike blame him for what happened at the race symposium.

 

I have been expecting Catherine or someone like Richard to accidentally spill something really important in the past (just in general, not in any specific situation) but now that Catherine is filming this documentary, the countdown clock has begun.

 

Who the hell selected all of those people for the race symposium? Because whoever it was needs to be fired! Ben's comment about it looking like NHL All Star weekend was great.

 

Maybe I am just an old person, but getting fired by text? I remember when everyone was aghast at Carrie Bradshaw being dumped via post it note but getting fired by text while the person is sitting right in front of you takes the cake.

[cincivic]

Richard has two doctorates. Of course, he does. I loved that part.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Heh, but he found fetching coffee for Amy more challenging!

 

What did Amy dig up on Candi to get Selina to change her mind about hiring Candi?

 

Mike's FitBit storyline was not the funniest part of the episode but it rang true. One of the VPs at Mr. EB's company is always bragging about how he walked 5000 steps in one day. Meanwhile Mr. EB walks 12K on a regular day without even trying. He never says anything to the VP about it though because he doesn't want to get stuck being his FitBit buddy.

[teddysmom]

Mike's FitBit storyline was not the funniest part of the episode but it rang true. One of the VPs at Mr. EB's company is always bragging about how he walked 5000 steps in one day. Meanwhile Mr. EB walks 12K on a regular day without even trying. He never says anything to the VP about it though because he doesn't want to get stuck being his FitBit buddy.

 

 

Our health insurance company gave us pedometer/FitBit things and altho I normally walk or jog, this past winter was a total bust for me.  I started using the device just to make myself get up and move during the day. It beeps every hour so you get up and walk for five minutes. 

 

And then there are times when it beeps at me after I just walked 4 miles and I yell at it I AM NOT WALKING AGAIN YOU ASSHOLE LEAVE ME ALONE. 

 

So this bit had me LOL. 

[CofCinci]

What a brilliant episode! The moment she said "Jonah you're working for Richard," I squealed with delight.

[candall]

For me, way too much zit, never enough Hugh Laurie on my screen.  I loved how TJ immediately recognized Selina's motive and refused to engage in the standard pussyfoot dance with her, but then accepted his defeat, for now, and gritted out that prosperity was right around the corner.

 

Good to finally have everyone WH-centric again.

 

I need a Fitbit.

Edited April 25, 2016 by candall

[teddysmom]

Could Tom James end up President?  Or was that just a throw off line from last season.

 

I swear I watched last season but I don't remember what TJ does in the Administration.

 

And isn't O'Brien, Selena's opponent, the guy who walked by and said "how zit going?" 

[Joimiaroxeu]

Highly enriched, weapons-grade bullshit. What Veep most certainly is not.

[Wouldofshouldof]

What did Amy dig up on Candi to get Selina to change her mind about hiring Candi?

 

Selena wanted Amy but she kept saying "I'm not back."  I take it Amy simply told her she wanted back in.

[ChicksDigScars]

I'm at the point where every time Kevin Dunn is on screen, I'm prepared to laugh so hard, I fall off the couch. Never get rid of him, He's perfection. 

 

Oh, I missed you, Veep. HBO Sunday Night is BACK. 

[EdnasEdibles]

So much amazing in this episode.  

 

"I had that thing last semester where I was tired all the time." - Oh Katherine. I love seeing you in the background in all of these shots. Filming.  

 

Also, what does it say about my own mother that she has said "Why is that your hair?" - and once when I had a bunch of pimples she said "What is your face right now? What is all that?"

 

Also, Vulture quoted this magic: Ben: "Two great Greek contributions to society: democracy and getting fucked up the ass." (Selina's reply: "I've tried both, and they're way overrated. Like jazz.")

[Pallas]

Mike lives in a bubble of his own making right?

 

Yes. And his job is to read the pulse of the nation (not his resting heart rate).

[LuciaMia]

 

Why is Selina freaked out about the new female Secret Service agent (Clea DuVall)?

 Cause they kept referring to the view from the back, I assume Selena thought the agents butt was too big.

[iMonrey]

God I missed this show. They do so much with so little. Like the stress pimple being a major factor in the story. Just something as simple as that, they run with it. It's amazing the mileage they can get out of things. 

 

 

I am so happy this show is back and still feels like Veep even with Armando gone.

 

Is Iannucci gone? I know he created the series but I wonder what capacity he served in during the last four seasons. Did he write the episodes? I honestly couldn't detect the slightest hint of change in writing or directing. It's as sharp as ever.

 

 

What did Amy dig up on Candi to get Selina to change her mind about hiring Candi?

 

I think someone else pointed this out upthread but the whole thing with Candi seemed like it was a ruse on Selina's part in order to get Amy to take the job. She knew Amy wouldn't be able to stand the thought of someone else doing it and so she went after the one person she knew would drive Amy the most insane. That was my perception anyway. Love Sue just walking in and telling her she could go. LOL.

 

I also loved how Kent kept correcting everyone on the pronunciation of "Nevada" which totally made Selina stumble on the word in her speech.

[Traveller519]

And isn't O'Brien, Selena's opponent, the guy who walked by and said "how zit going?" 

 

If I'm remembering the scenes correctly that was Doyle, the current VP, whom she didn't want to run with and went with James instead. He's a lame duck at this point, so nothing to lose.

 

Glad to see they came back guns blazing. Poor Bill, being the patsy for this administration would be a swift kick in the balls.

 

I was a little disappointed she wouldn't be hiring "Red" (now Blonde Candi) from the Wendy's commercials.

Edited April 25, 2016 by Traveller519

[Danny Franks]

Well, this episode showed me that they can do this without Armando. Yes, he was the creative influence behind the show, but it seems to me that the other writers and the actors all have the essence of the show, and of their characters, down perfectly.

 

Kent counting his steps in his head was one of those wonderful little gags that the show does so well. It's the perfect, one line summation of who the character is.

 

Mike being preoccupied with his Chinese baby and his Fitbit was great too. It's an irritating fad, this 'buy an expensive gadget just so you can count your steps' nonsense, and one that I can absolutely see Mike getting into.

 

Clea Duvall! I've always liked her, and the deadpan delivery should really work for the show. And of course having a body double would set off Selina's arrogance.

 

Richard becoming Jonah's boss was great. Jonah being kicked never, ever gets old. And Richard doing it while being such a nice guy works.

 

Amy being competent and running things, even though she's not working there, was amusing. Shows how important she was to Selina, and it's actually kind of sweet that Selina so quickly fell back into relying on her. And, of course, knew how to manipulate her into doing what she wanted. Then, of course, she gets Dan back because those two amoral little bunnies just belong together.

 

Didn't really care for the zit gags. They felt cheap.

 

The all-white race symposium was hilarious. Was it airing on Fox?

 

They have to keep Selina as president, and they have to get rid of Tom James. The running joke about him overshadowing her is played out, and it's sadly too meta, when it comes to the writing of the show. I love Hugh Laurie, but the show already has too many cast members, and he's surely too expensive to use for only a few scenes.

[represent]

Richard has two doctorates. Of course, he does. I loved that part.

And did't he say that he also had medical degree in Veterinary Science? It was his fall back, LOL.   I loved it, that little touch of Amy noting in disbelief that with all his credentials he was getting her coffee.  Followed up by Jonah's demotion and Richard's "Jonah follow me..."

 

IMO, the stockmarket crashing when she was giving the pimplezilla speech also shaded the inherent sexism that women in the public eye receive.  These writers are really so clever.

 

 

Yeah, I got this too.

 

 

Cause they kept referring to the view from the back, I assume Selena thought the agents butt was too big.

 

I thought she saw the agent as not having the same figure, so how on earth could she possibly look like her. They even had Gary to the hour glass shape with his hands. I think the agent didn't look hot enough IMO.  Cause Selina makes it no secret that she thinks she's hot. 

 

 

What did Amy dig up on Candi to get Selina to change her mind about hiring Candi?

 

Nothing. I think these people know each other so well, they know what makes the other tick. Selina knew that rubbing the credentials and the "youth" of Candi in Amy's face would do the trick. If nothing else, every one of these people are ultra competitive, and they have these egos that require a certain amount of ass kissing too.  Amy might have been waiting for some long apology or some begging which she knew deep down there wasn't a snowballs chance in hell that she was getting. But she was still hanging around waiting until her insecurities and ambition won over.

 

Sue escorting Candi out and telling her the job had been filled was priceless. 

Edited April 25, 2016 by represent

[CofCinci]

It's it fair to assume that Mike's wife told him about the Chinese adoption because she believed Selina would lose the election.

Edited April 25, 2016 by CofCinci

[dcalley]

I am going to pretend that after Marcy completed her FBI assassination training, they found a way to make her visible and that's how she joined the secret service.

Heh!

 

I also loved how Kent kept correcting everyone on the pronunciation of "Nevada" which totally made Selina stumble on the word in her speech.

I remember Hillary getting booed there in 2008 when they didn't like how she said it.

[ganesh]

...my favorite set-up was Meyer saying FU to Tom by publicly announcing that he's the economic czar.

 

That I what was saying. I don't know why she didn't just do that in the first place. LBJ queen. 

 

Oh he's definitely going to try and get her back for that.  Watch the economy recover while he's in charge.

 

 

That's the risk. If the economy bounces back strong, he's taking all the credit for sure. 

 

I think the decision to go with a plot of recounts, etc., is a smart move for the show, rather than just focusing on the votes in the House. I makes sense in real life too because you'd expect both candidates would say something about "letting the people decide" and it seems like becoming president based on a vote in the House would just dog you the whole time.

 

I thought it was nice Selina won the popular vote. I don't think she's necessarily a bad politician and

 

I was dying about how the agent looks like Selina from behind, and Ben comes in and addressed the agent first and was really confused. 

 

Mike is an idiot if he thinks he can compete with Sue. 

[Happytobehere]

I love this show, so glad it's back.

The Richard scenes were priceless, as was Jonah seething as he was demoted to his assistant's assistant. I love the little reminders that Jonah is basically an ode to nepotism.

Kevin always kills.

Kent with the Nevada pronunciation was hilarious. His deadpan is second only to Sue who always manages to throw in a bit of shade with a smidge of of FU in for good measure. They really are the perfect pair -- put them back together show.

Race Symporium -- I see faces from England, Holland, even perhaps Norway. Completed only when a gun was pulled on the black person. LOVE IT!

Forgot Jonah is pure idiot mode asking where the line ends as he clearly sees people out the door waiting in the line, which would indicate to anyone who is not an imbecile that the end of the line would be behind them -- no wonder he got no response. A show, what would you be without Jonah to crap on.

Edited April 25, 2016 by Happytobehere

[peeayebee]

Nice to have the show back.

 

Oh Katherine. I love seeing you in the background in all of these shots. Filming.

 

I saw her once -- when Ben was talking to Bill in the hallway -- and I might to keep an eye out for her in other scenes, but I forgot. Where else was she lurking?

 

When Selina said that she was putting heat on the zit like Gary said, I was thinking it was supposed to be ice. I'm glad the doctor confirmed that for me. So horribly funny when some of Selina's hair got stuck on the zit makeup as she talked on TV. 

 

I just love Hugh Laurie and his character here. I wouldn't mind him becoming the Prez and Selina being his Veep.

[Jeezaloo]

Oh Katherine. I love seeing you in the background in all of these shots. Filming.

Yeah, how could that possibly backfire on Selina? LOL

 

Where else was she lurking?

I might be wrong, but I think we're supposed to gradually forget that she's there filming so that there will be a big joke payoff when her film gets leaked and we get to revisit her mom's biggest gaffes all in a row, one after the other. I think we're supposed to assume she's there even if we don't always see her, so the big payoff doesn't get telegraphed too early?

 

 

[scrb]

Yeah Wendy shouldn't have gone blond for the interview.

[scartact]

I absolutely loved Selina assessing the extreme whiteness of the symposium on race, partly because I have a friend working on her PhD in Ethnic Studies and of course academia is still dominantly white, so it's pretty much not all that far from the truth. I laughed out loud when the camera panned over to the extremely white audience too, as well as the staff's frantic attempts to inject some last minute color in there by collecting Sue.

 

Echoing what others have said: I loved Selina knowing just the right way to manipulate Amy so that she would officially be back on the team. I also love Amy and Dan's inability to not work and compete with one another, despite alleged accounts of hate. I'm definitely gonna have to watch closely for any Catherine filming moments, both in this episode and in future ones.

 

I'm so glad Veep is back.

[EdnasEdibles]

On April 26, 2016 at 10:41 PM, Jeezaloo said:

I might be wrong, but I think we're supposed to gradually forget that she's there filming so that there will be a big joke payoff when her film gets leaked and we get to revisit her mom's biggest gaffes all in a row, one after the other. I think we're supposed to assume she's there even if we don't always see her, so the big payoff doesn't get telegraphed too early?

Yes. I know she was there outside of the race symposium and she was there when they were having the discussion about how Greeks only gave us butt sex and democracy. I'm pretty sure she was there for at least one of the zit conversations . . . But yes, overall I'm pretty sure we're just supposed to forget she's there and then the video is going to be amazing. 

[vibeology]

On ‎4‎/‎25‎/‎2016 at 5:45 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Who the hell selected all of those people for the race symposium? Because whoever it was needs to be fired! Ben's comment about it looking like NHL All Star weekend was great.

Maybe I'm a candidate for getting fired, because I assume if I call up Howard University and ask for an expert on African Studies, I'm going to get a black professor. Same with Morehouse. MLK went to Morehouse. But of course the joke is that white people won't let black people have anything of there own, the reason that one professor pointed out that Morehouse is "historically" black. I died laughing when those two introduced themselves.

On ‎4‎/‎25‎/‎2016 at 2:22 PM, represent said:

I thought she saw the agent as not having the same figure, so how on earth could she possibly look like her. They even had Gary to the hour glass shape with his hands. I think the agent didn't look hot enough IMO.  Cause Selina makes it no secret that she thinks she's hot. 

Agreed. I thought the issue was that Selina thinks she's got curves in all the right placed and that the agent was a skinny rectangle.

[iMonrey]

Quote

Didn't really care for the zit gags. They felt cheap.

See - I kind of love the little things like this. The show is so smart, and so clever, and so intricate . . . and yet it manages to avoid being too highbrow and stuffy by throwing things like stress pimples into the story. It's not above anything - it keeps the show grounded in reality. 

[ganesh]

I have absolutely no doubt that if Clinton had a stress pimple she would be eviscerated on Fox News for not appearing presidential. People are tearing her to shreds because she "shouts" at political rallies. I don't know if that would cause the stock market to plummet, but that's the natural extrapolation of the joke on this show, and while I think that might be unlikely irl, it's not that unlikely. 

[Sesquipedalia]

Catherine was filming when Ben made the pardon deal with Bill Ericsson.

Gary saying the new secret service agent doesn't smell anything like Selina made me lol.

[represent]

Furlong is back tonight, it just always get better on this show.

Furlong making people cry, I can't wait.  

[Sesquipedalia]

Rewatching the ep, I just noticed that when Kent needs an African American for the panel on race, he chases down Richard  . . . to tell him to find Sue.

[dcalley]

On 4/28/2016 at 11:55 AM, vibeology said:

But of course the joke is that white people won't let black people have anything of there own, the reason that one professor pointed out that Morehouse is "historically" black.

You may be right, that it was part of a joke, but "historically" is part of a widely used phrase/initialism, HBCU.

[Milburn Stone]

On April 28, 2016 at 10:55 AM, vibeology said:

Maybe I'm a candidate for getting fired, because I assume if I call up Howard University and ask for an expert on African Studies, I'm going to get a black professor. Same with Morehouse.

Exactly.

As for why Selina's zit caused the markets to panic...This may be obvious, but I haven't seen it said here. Zits happen when people are stressed. After the election ended in a tie, the nation need to know that "everything was going to be OK." At a time like that, you need your president to be cool, calm and collected. The zit said that the president wasn't. Hence market panic. I didn't see it as a female issue. If a man had been president, and let's say he came down with a horrible case of dry-mouth while trying to speak (as Marco Rubio famously did a few years ago), the market's loss of confidence in the nation's stability would be the same.

[romantic idiot]

Zits aren't caused only by stress though, and stress can occur for various reasons. If traders are looking to the President's zits or lack thereof to make economic decisions, no wonder the country's economy is in a downward spiral. Also, would they have reacted the same to a zit on O Brien's face?

[Milburn Stone]

1 hour ago, romantic idiot said:

Also, would they have reacted the same to a zit on O Brien's face?

No, but what I'm saying is, traders would have reacted to some other sort of involuntary stress-signal O'Brien could give off. Like stuttering, sweating profusely, having dry-mouth, or any of a number of other possibilities. With a woman, whose appearance may count more (even though it shouldn't), a zit was the signifier that sent the markets tumbling. With a male president, it would be some other sort of physical manifestation of stress that undermined his effort to project calm. The idea is the same.

Edited June 27, 2016 by Milburn Stone

[romantic idiot]

As U said, those be some bad traders.

[Milburn Stone]

33 minutes ago, romantic idiot said:

As U said, those be some bad traders.

I agree...but that was the premise upon which the plot development was based.