S05.E03: The Eagle

[ElectricBoogaloo]

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Mike must deal with the consequences of Selina's tweet. Feeling usurped by Bob, Amy begins to be troubled by his behavior. At a museum gala, Gary finds himself the belle of the ball.

Promo:

[MrWhyt]

Anna Chlumsky's "I'm so fucking frustrated but can't say a word" face

the triple simultaneous "shut the fuck up Jonah"

soooooooooo good

[Ms Blue Jay]

I feel like I used to like this show and find it funny.

Now the only thing that makes me laugh or happy is Richard.  

[AlliMo]

As someone who worked in politics for years, no show has ever captured the sheer absurdity of the whole thing so perfectly as this one.

[CofCinci]

This episode was so delicious! I wanted more. 

Gary is falling for that charming Silver Fox and will be heartbroken when the couple splits. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Hearing people tell Jonah to shut the fuck up always makes me happy. Hearing three people do it at once is even better!

Selina really needs to calm the fuck down. She is alienating just about everyone on her team. Gary is used to her belittling him and dismissing him (and Mike to a lesser extent) but you can see the foundation cracking with Ben and Amy and she really needs them.

I keep waiting for Catherine's footage to somehow get released to the public, but that's something that I don't think Selina can recover from. It's one thing to say your twitter account got hacked but if there is actual video of her saying things she can't deny it. I was asctually expecting the hackers to prove that she posted that tweet herself.

Richard continues to be a delight. Of course Meet the Parents is his favorite De Niro movie.

[peeayebee]

I can't imagine Catherine's footage getting released. I don't know what will happen with it. Actually, I have an idea, but I don't want to speculate.

Loved this ep. It was wonderful seeing everyone release how demented Bob was. Sticking him in the basement out of trouble (and cell range) was great.

Charlie Baird is too good to be true. I'm not saying he's going to turn out to be a jerk. I'm just making a general observation at how perfect he is and how I want a Charlie Baird in my love life.

Amy was great in every scene. 

Poor Mike. First having that asshole Furlong take his reservation, and then losing the Chinese baby adoption. I did like that he got Selena to stop tweeting.

And Furlong... Geez, what a gigantic dick, and only in the figurative sense. 

Richard is so great, inadvertently doing the right things. Loved his face when the guy in the meeting made the joke about not having his wife anymore.

Selena looked gorgeous at the stegosaurus party.

[Traveller519]

Nobody sets themselves up for more fuck ups than Selena, but her ability to manage the crisis when it hits is always first rate. Directing the whole operation from a screen in her Limo? Sublime.

[Catherinewriter]

I'm having trouble with Selena this season. She's become so harsh and unfunny. Granted, she never has been a shining light of sensitivity, but she and Gary used to be buds of a sort and now she can't even speak to him politely. Wanted more out of the reveal of CVS/CBS for Dan. Does Amy even care that he slept with her sister. 

Does it seem insensitive to make humor out of Alzheimer's? I didn't think so. 

[represent]

The plane door opening and slamming Selena's face to the ground while Tom James' face remains seen next to the "For President" said it all.  Hilarious and I didn't miss that one.

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Richard continues to be a delight. Of course Meet the Parents is his favorite De Niro movie.

LOL, but at least he mentioned Heat, which is my favorite.  Richard is just everything, how does he do it exactly.  I keep waiting for the "real" Richard to show up and for him to let loose a stream of caustic, offensive dialogue like the rest of them. But no, I think he's for real.

[iMonrey]

OMG there were so many LOL moments in this episode. OK - I can't remember the name of that lady who talks and talks but never says anything. What is her character's name? She's the reason Amy ended up quitting last season. What a stroke of genius to put her in charge of the court hearing so she could talk in circles and delay everything. What is a vote? What is a deadline? What is passing? 

And I don't know how many people caught this because I thought it was going to turn out to be a huge thing (and still may) but the postal worker who took home 10,000 uncounted ballots had been laid off work as a result of Selena cutting the post office budget when she was VP and heading some kind of post office task force (which Mike referenced earlier when saying she had cut their budget deficit from 65 billion to just under 62 billion). 

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Selina really needs to calm the fuck down. She is alienating just about everyone on her team. Gary is used to her belittling him and dismissing him (and Mike to a lesser extent) but you can see the foundation cracking with Ben and Amy and she really needs them.

Agreed. Selina had the wherewithal to realize she needed Amy on the Nevada team then tossed her aside a minute later for shiny new toy Bob. Amy and Ben are really the only two people she's got working for her that are even marginally competent. Richard may be an electoral scholar but he's also a moron. He's not much more competent than Bob.

[candall]

3 hours ago, Catherinewriter said:

I'm having trouble with Selena this season. She's become so harsh and unfunny. Granted, she never has been a shining light of sensitivity, but she and Gary used to be buds of a sort and now she can't even speak to him politely. Wanted more out of the reveal of CVS/CBS for Dan. Does Amy even care that he slept with her sister. 

I dislike Selina to the same high degree I disliked Old Christine Campbell and Elaine Bennis.  Which basically goes to show that Julia Louis-Dreyfus is brilliant at creating unlikable characters I still find funny/fascinating enough to want to watch.

 

I expected more play from Dan's (literal) screwup, too.  He was not only not mortified by the nature of his sell-out, he taunted Amy with it!  Booooooo.

3 hours ago, represent said:

The plane door opening and slamming Selena's face to the ground while Tom James' face remains seen next to the "For President" said it all.  Hilarious and I didn't miss that one.

I did miss it!  That's some sweet LOL right there.

*************************

Could someone please remind me who was stuck in some dingy little mole hole office in a leaky stairwell in The West Wing and wound up saving the day?  Operatic music blasting . . .  I can see practically the whole scene except the face.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

The plane was hilarious!

I was cracking up over Bob being put in the sub-basement. Do you think he has a red stapler?

[represent]

I don't get how Selena got as far as she has in her career without consistently listening to the smart people and the people who have proven to be the most loyal. What is her issue with Amy? It's ridiculous how she dismisses her, she can't feel threatened can she? I mean WTF? I'm like is Selena supposed to be smart or what? Now she's getting defensive and snipping at Ben of all people as if he's acting like the Donald Trump's of the world who are threatened by a woman in power.  

That entire scene with Ben presenting the idea that the tweet was all caused by the Chinese because of the security breach, was golden, LOL.  And how it's been our country's  policy to blame other countries for anything and everything even if it's not their fault, it's the American way, I could not stop laughing.

Oh and just when I thought that Furlong couldn't get more horrid, I was mistaken. He's a nightmare who I wish was in this year's presidential Republican primary, just so he could have run against Trump. 

Edited May 9, 2016 by represent

[peeayebee]

4 hours ago, iMonrey said:

And I don't know how many people caught this because I thought it was going to turn out to be a huge thing (and still may) but the postal worker who took home 10,000 uncounted ballots had been laid off work as a result of Selena cutting the post office budget when she was VP and heading some kind of post office task force (which Mike referenced earlier when saying she had cut their budget deficit from 65 billion to just under 62 billion). 

I caught that. Awesome. I missed the thing with Air Force One.

[Stella]

7 hours ago, Catherinewriter said:

I'm having trouble with Selena this season. She's become so harsh and unfunny. Granted, she never has been a shining light of sensitivity, but she and Gary used to be buds of a sort and now she can't even speak to him politely. Wanted more out of the reveal of CVS/CBS for Dan. Does Amy even care that he slept with her sister. 

Does it seem insensitive to make humor out of Alzheimer's? I didn't think so. 

I totally agree. Selena is downright mean to her original core group of Gary, Mike & Amy. Maybe this is supposed to be some sort of twisted character growth in that as president her latitude and sense of power have exploded? I don't know but I don't find most of her dialogue/actions funny. I know these are shallow, narcissistic people and I thought the point was kind of "love to hate them" whereas for me it's becoming more of a "hate them". Especially Selena. This episode was the worst Veep ever IMO and it makes me sad because I truly do love these guys, or did. Maybe a second viewing will help improve my opinion

 

And yes the reveal between Amy & Dan while amusing didn't follow logically from what was set up in Ne-AD-a.  Such a wasted opportunity.

[Rinaldo]

I was grinning throughout this episode. Richard is just everything.

When Selina said she had just the right person to delay the court and we saw Air Force One, I thought "Oh please please, it's gotta be Karen." And it was!

[Traveller519]

The Karen reveal was so perfect. As soon as she appeared I was laughing knowing how this was all meant to play out. While I get that Amy's interaction with her pre-court room was necessary to re-establish Karen's nature and tendencies, I think it would have been even stronger to just have her stand up in the court room, open her mouth, then Selina turns off whatever monitor she's keeping tabs of all of this on, and says "Okay, that's dealt with, what's next?"

[ganesh]

14 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Gary is used to her belittling him and dismissing him (and Mike to a lesser extent) but you can see the foundation cracking with Ben and Amy and she really needs them.

I think Ben kind of takes it in stride. It doesn't really matter to him because he's going to be around regardless of what happens. He's been doing forever. Given Amy's meltdown last season, this is obviously personal to her, and I'm surprised Selina is getting on her so bad. 

 

11 hours ago, peeayebee said:

I can't imagine Catherine's footage getting released.

She's using a normal camera right? I mean it's not wifi enabled, so she can't upload it anywhere. Basically all Selina has to do is take it away from her. I'm sure it will be a monumental clusterfuck to get it, so I'm looking forward to how it plays out.

10 hours ago, Catherinewriter said:

Does Amy even care that he slept with her sister. 

She only cares because I think Dan slept with her too. Is there a female equivalent to eskimo brothers? Because it's that. 

9 hours ago, iMonrey said:

And I don't know how many people caught this because I thought it was going to turn out to be a huge thing (and still may) but the postal worker who took home 10,000 uncounted ballots had been laid off work as a result of Selena cutting the post office budget when she was VP and heading some kind of post office task force (which Mike referenced earlier when saying she had cut their budget deficit from 65 billion to just under 62 billion). 

I caught it!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I did too! Which is the only reason I included that mention about how her postal committee reduced debt in the quotes thread (because it's not funny on its own).

Karen is hilarious. "But what IS a vote?" Even though it was helping them, you could still see how badly Amy wanted to roll her eyes just on principle.

She's using a normal camera right? I mean it's not wifi enabled, so she can't upload it anywhere.

You can upload footage onto any computer even if the camera isn't wifi enabled. I do it all the time with my cameras. I'm assuming she just has a run of the mill digital video camera. You can plug the cable into the computer or use a card reader for the memory card. Once it's on her laptop, it's just begging for a Chinese hacker to find it!

[Ottis]

It's funny that anyone would think this show reflects any realistic cause and effect between Selina's actions and the consequences. The hyperbole is the whole point. That said:

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As someone who worked in politics for years, no show has ever captured the sheer absurdity of the whole thing so perfectly as this one.

I've worked in and around politics as well, and this is exactly right. This show accurately reflects motivations, and then exaggerates actions/consequences for comedy. At its heart, it is dead on. And that should scare people.

I'm starting to like Ben a lot, and the way he rolls with whatever happens. Doesn't matter which way it goes, he's ready to be on board. I think that's the only way a sane person survives in that environment.

Edited May 10, 2016 by Ottis

[Totale]

11 hours ago, ganesh said:

She only cares because I think Dan slept with her too. Is there a female equivalent to eskimo brothers? Because it's that. 

In the first season she said they dated for about a week.

[ganesh]

That's what I'm saying. Is the video footage anywhere but in the camera right now?

Well, "dating for a week" basically equals sex. How does one date for a week? That's one date. They probably went out an drank a few times and had sex. 

[HyeChaps]

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Could someone please remind me who was stuck in some dingy little mole hole office in a leaky stairwell in The West Wing and wound up saving the day?  Operatic music blasting . .

That would be Ainsley Hayes.

[iMonrey]

Quote

I don't get how Selena got as far as she has in her career without consistently listening to the smart people and the people who have proven to be the most loyal. What is her issue with Amy? It's ridiculous how she dismisses her, she can't feel threatened can she? I mean WTF? I'm like is Selena supposed to be smart or what? Now she's getting defensive and snipping at Ben of all people as if he's acting like the Donald Trump's of the world who are threatened by a woman in power.  

Plenty of awful people have been elected to the Senate (and House). We know from the original opening title sequence once she ran for president she did badly in the primaries. She was picked as Veep for mostly the same reason Sarah Palin was and only became President by a stroke of luck and circumstance. They sort of skipped over how she eventually won the nomination in the last election cycle, she was coming in third in the early primaries. The fact that she even managed to tie her opponent in the general election probably speaks to partisanship and the unlikeability of her opponent. 

[ganesh]

She was portrayed as a popular senator though, right? And even though it was a tie, she did win the popular vote.

[represent]

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Plenty of awful people have been elected to the Senate (and House). 

Oh, this I know. I was just asking because I missed the first season or two and I'm trying to figure out is Selena really supposed to be competent. Whether they suck or not policy wise, I'm thinking a smart politician knows over time when they have a couple of good people who've backed them and came through for them and therefore, they don't try to fuck that up. She seems to repeatedly shit all over the likes of Amy and now she's starting on Ben and I think these two are the best she's got when it comes to this team. Amy should have her "ear" and she doesn't. Amy even more so than Ben because Ben recommended that mentor of his, while Amy was trying to tell dumb Selena that something was off about him and she wouldn't listen to her. She doesn't want to hear the sound of Amy's voice alone IMO. Not smart and here we go again, and she still hasn't learned her lesson with regard to respecting Amy. The only person I haven't seen her shit all over is Sue, but we've just learned that Sue must be an iron lady since she's been around since George Washington, LOL. Whoever said in the post above that they need to make Sue's age a running joke, I agree. It's hilarious.

Edited May 10, 2016 by represent

[iMonrey]

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She was portrayed as a popular senator though, right? And even though it was a tie, she did win the popular vote.

I don't remember them ever addressing her popularity as a Senator. But whether or not she was popular with her constituents in the Senate doesn't speak to her competency level. (Again - see Sarah Palin, or any number of other political figures.) They did say she won the popular vote in this last presidential election. But again - we haven't really been given any information about the general opinion of her opponent. People may think she's a screw-up but think her opponent is even worse for some reason. Hence the tie.

I think the show has made it clear from the beginning, she's pretty incompetent when it comes to picking the right people to listen to, but on the other hand, at times she's politically savvy enough  to worm her way out of some tricky situations. She's not stupid, but she seems to rely more on luck, and her opponents making even worse mistakes than she does.

[represent]

51 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

 

I think the show has made it clear from the beginning, she's pretty incompetent when it comes to picking the right people to listen to, but on the other hand, at times she's politically savvy enough  to worm her way out of some tricky situations. She's not stupid, but she seems to rely more on luck, and her opponents making even worse mistakes than she does.

OK, this is what I was trying to figure out. I missed all this background information because I missed the first season. So it is a pattern of hers to not pick and/or listen to the right people. 

[ganesh]

Well, I don't think the president would have selected her as a VP if she was *totally* incompetent. Then again, Dan Quayle. She can't be that bad.

[teebax]

On 5/10/2016 at 6:30 PM, Rinaldo said:

I was grinning throughout this episode. Richard is just everything.

His splettnet.net blog had me in stitches today. I sent him an e-mail; we'll see if he responds.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

That's what I'm saying. Is the video footage anywhere but in the camera right now?

Whenever I record anything on my camera, I upload it onto my laptop and then save it on my external hard drive. And that's just my personal stuff. If I were making a documentary, I'd be sure to save all that footage in at least one more place to make sure that I had a backup for my backup!

[ganesh]

I would too. But we're not Catherine. They've shown her enough now that there has to be a resolution to this plot line, so I'm wondering if they trash her film or it gets leaked/hacked.

[iMonrey]

They've made an awful lot of references to the Chinese hackers. Not sure if that was setup to blame them for the Twitter thing or if there's more to come, like hacking into Katherine's computer.

Speaking of whom - the actress playing Katherine has the easiest job in the world. All she seems to be doing this season is skulking around in the background until Selena finally notices her and tells her to get out.

[ganesh]

They've already pissed off the Chinese, so retaliation wouldn't be a surprise. 

[dinkysquid]

So glad to see Roger Sterling again. Yeah, I know but he'll always be Roger to me.

<Sigh> Boy! I miss Mad Men! I used to love how AMC would run episodes on Sunday morning. 

[goomba]

Richard's blog really exists!  Let's Talk About Splett

[biakbiak]

On 5/13/2016 at 11:57 PM, goomba said:

Richard's blog really exists!  Let's Talk About Splett

Thanks for that, I am pretty sure my dad could have written his open letter to Peter Jackson.

[cleo]

I just watched this the first time yesterday. It's strange seeing this now in light of what has happened in politics since January, the awful tweet, the comments about how cyberscurity is oh so important, etc. Real life has become stranger thann fiction.

Has anyone caught any of the clips on Youtube where they are mixing actual news clips of spicer and trump over the veep music? Worth looking at. Onion av had an article about it too.