S03.E08: Debate

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Selina prepares for a debate with her primary opponents; Mike's wife writes an article about the vice president.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Promo:

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Wow, the five candidates are making this into a contest of who can be the least inept. I love how each one of them tried to casually stroll around during the debate but still managed to look so uncomfortable and awkward. I could not take Jackson seriously after seeing him on Bones. I was waiting for him to murder someone gruesomely.

 

Ha, Sue snapping at Gary and then Ben saying they should check to see if they were having make up sex was awesome.

[Iamsweetdee]

I knew Amy was as awful as everyone else, but I really appreciate that the curtains are being pulled back on just how awful she can be when she gets going. Sedate Dan was rather creepy. 

Edited June 2, 2014 by Iamsweetdee

[Tara Ariano]

No one else said what was the obvious inspiration for Selina's new look so I guess I had to!

[peeayebee]

Oh man. I didn't realize that about the haircut. Too funny!

 

Loved this ep. I thought the best thing about the candidates strolling around the stage was when Maddox did it, he stayed as close as possible to his podium, like edging along the walls of an ice skating rink. His whole performance was hilarious. The whole hole speech was incredible. Poor guy. And Selina's twitch sure came in handy. Loved when Ben says, "Thank God for Twitchy. He really saved us. Love that little guy." (I have been dealing with my own eye twitch for over a month, though thankfully it's not as noticeable as Selina's. I hope.)

 

Congressman Pearce was great. Spilling water, that stupid bathtub plug "joke." 

 

"Oh look, it's George Loony." Hey, Dan did look like Clooney. "You don't have the facial gravitas for a beard."

 

"You should only talk if someone pulls your string."

 

Selina: Is the twitch really bad?

Gary: [pause] Yes.

 

From the beginning I thought it was a mistake for the campaign to use Wendy in order to get a good story out there. It certainly would come out that she was married to someone in the campaign, and that would look bad.

 

It's so funny how Kent and Sue's relationship is being revealed. We first saw an interest from Kent, then courtship, then apparently involvement, and now a breakup or at least fight.

[LADreamr]

So many good lines in this episode.  I'll have to rewatch to catch them all.  I was thinking her new haircut looked a lot like Claire Underwood on House of Cards.

[Traveller519]

I was disappointed we didn't have Diedrich Bader's character there smirking during the debate. Thornhill has really mastered the art of talking in a long comfortable fashion without saying anything.

Edited June 2, 2014 by Traveller519

[Charmqn]

I actually thought that Selina was wearing a wig and would wip out her real hair.

 

So many amazing quotes:

 

"If there is any dirty trick I can not stand, it is honesty"

 

"Here comes the burning tank story where he saves that one guy, the rest of us get fucking tortured."

 

"Ahh! This feels better then having sex yourself"

 

“I was pretty disappointed in Governor Chung’s performance, but i did learn that he used to be a soldier. Learned that several times.”

 

“It’s the worst use of scissors since my failed vasectomy.”

 

“Well, I’m a baby-faced, know-nothing congressman from ‘Shit Stain’, Nevada who’s got the newly dropped balls enough to think that I can run for president.”

Edited June 2, 2014 by Charmqn

[Tara Ariano]

I actually thought that Selina was wearing a wig and would wip out her real hair.

 

Since the bob is also a wig, that would take some impressive wigsmanship!

[StatMom]

OMG, Tara, that is hilarious! I hope it was intentional on the show's part.

 

Mr StatMom was watching this episode (his first) with me, and we didn't really get to see Jonah being his usual assy self. The other characters continually said rude things to him, and I felt compelled to explain that he really deserved all of it.

[ganesh]

Jokes about being a lesbian or a boy because a woman has short hair? Yawn. Do better, show. That's hacked. Then, again, I suppose the press would run with the lesbian angle because it's such a contrivance. I just don't want to see the show fall into a hole of cheap jokes and trite one-liners.

 

However, it's a good point that no way does a lady politician get a different 'do without vetting the shit out of it. To do something like that seems to me Selina was desperate to put all the Jake and London BS behind her. I hope she's not freaking out and heading down the rabbit hole while the staff scrambles to stay on top of things. 

 

I thought she did fine with the debate. We knew she screwed up the third R, but no one else did and I think she made a good save. The way it played out was that Baseball and Selina ran away with the debate and that seemed right to me. Chung just always comes off as skeevy to me and he's always hanging on the one military thing he did that one time. It's not like he was career military. So that gets old fast. I'm surprised Maddox bombed so bad. Right from the start he looked awkward and unprepared. 

 

This is probably as close to a win Selina's had this entire season. She's been in a hole that's been tough to climb out of especially with London. 

 

Having the team impersonate all the debaters was pretty funny. I'm *shocked* Kent snipped at Sue like that! He has a hole in his heart where Sue used to be. 

 

On the whole, I enjoyed the episode. (I'll see myself out.)

Edited June 2, 2014 by ganesh

[Traveller519]

Well done, ganesh. Well done indeed!

 

Thornhill definitely seems to have that Howard Dean/Herman Cain element to him. The somewhat atypical politician who seems to be a breath of fresh air early in the debate process and gets people excited. I imagine he'll burn out and Maddox will pull it together, not before causing Selina and the team some heartburn though.

[ganesh]

That took me *all* afternoon.

[Sesquipedalia]

Selina forgetting the third R seemed like a reference to Rick Perry forgetting the third agency he would eliminate in one of the 2012 Republican primaries, except Selina recovered a lot better.

[ganesh]

Well, it's not like TPTB don't have a lot of source material to draw on. The debate field for the last election was wide and there were a lot of primary debates. 

 

I am *dying* to know why Kent and Sue are on the outs!

[dr pepper]

I really expected that the debate would end with Pearce doing the peepee dance and then running out.

[Danny Franks]

Jokes about being a lesbian or a boy because a woman has short hair? Yawn. Do better, show. That's hacked. Then, again, I suppose the press would run with the lesbian angle because it's such a contrivance. I just don't want to see the show fall into a hole of cheap jokes and trite one-liners.

 

 

As I recall it, the jokes were mostly about the staff fearing that there would be jokes about her being a lesbian. Not quite the same thing, in my view. And quite in line with the show's established mockery of politics and the thought that goes into image before substance.

 

The debate scenes were funny as hell, but packed to the rafters with second-hand embarrassment. How any of these people expect to run for president is beyond me. But Ben, Furlong and Doyle playing Statler & Waldorf, calling the candidates out on their hopelessness, was gold. They seemed to be having so much fun, and I like this show the most when all the main cast gets along, so seeing them all directing their ire at Chung, Thornhill, Maddox and plug-guy was great. Their utter contempt for Chung and his war heroism always tickles me. The cast all seem to be having so much fun with everything they do.

 

Thornhill's folksy, bluff charm is brilliant. I actually believe that idiot could get elected president, with his pro sports patois.

 

Blissed out Dan was fun, and I think the beard suited him. The scene where he returns, and Amy is just giving him the most intense death glares ever, while he prattles on about having diagnosed himself "with an acute case of 'everything's fine'" had me cackling. Love their dysfunctional mess of a not-relationship. Amy bringing in a "human comfort blanket" and then losing interest in him when Dan returned just says so much about how messed up they are.

[ganesh]

Well, there was the joke to the daughter: That's what you'll look like when you become a boy. As I did say previously, it's legit that the press would run with the lesbian angle, so yes they were commenting on that too. 

 

Everyone knows Chung's story is BS, right? I'm surprised no one calls him out on it.

[Lakewood27]

Well, it's not like TPTB don't have a lot of source material to draw on. The debate field for the last election was wide and there were a lot of primary debates. 

 

I am *dying* to know why Kent and Sue are on the outs!

 

Me, too! I thought their lovers quarrel had something to do with the London episode where Kent forced Sue to cancel the Prince Charles interview after she had to do some "humiliating" things to get it. She seemed more curt and acerbic than usual when she was on the phone with him at the end of the episode.

[ganesh]

She certainly had a right to be pissed, but it's not like Kent arbitrarily canceled the meeting for no reason. The trip was hectic and chaotic and lots of times those things happened. Sue is a tough customer, but I don't think she'd be that petty with Kent. 

 

Their plot is just totally separate from everything else on the show. When they walked into the bar to meet everyone after Amy's dinner. Where were they? Did they go out to grab a bite? I'd love to watch an entire episode strictly from their POV. 

[iMonrey]

Did JLD really cut her hair or was that a wig?

Was this the last episode of the season?

[cattykit]

 

Was this the last episode of the season?

Oh, please, say it ain't so!

 

I don't smile, I don't laugh, comedians bore me, and I live in a state of perpetual misery.  This show makes me LAUGH.OUT.LOUD.

 

Was the baseball guy channeling Bill Clinton?

 

I just wondered as I watched the (hysterically funny) backstage commentary what goes on during an honest-to-dog debate.

[starri]

 

Was this the last episode of the season?

Two more, that are being aired back-to-back next week.

 

Veep is probably the only comedy on the air that can make me laugh out loud, and this one hit that especially hard.  Every word out of Ben, Furlong, and Doyle's Greek Chorus act was priceless.  I think the comment about the inept Congressman not being around to spill his water on Chung's burning tank was what put it over the edge.

[ganesh]

Bill Clinton was a long term politician and known policy wonk, so the baseball guy wouldn't be modeled after him. I think he was just the folksy, plain talking outsider taking advantage of the usual dissatisfaction with established politicians. 

 

He didn't really say much past baseball metaphors except when he was copping to the affair. None of the really did. Selina at least had some policy statement prepared with the 3 Rs. 

 

The baseball guy is going to whither when pressed with specific questions on policy issues. The way it's looking now, I think only Maddox is credible besides Selina if he can bounce back. 

[Rinaldo]

This episode really lends itself to rewatching, even more than most Veep episodes. The way the preparation interlocks with the actual debate, and then all the commentary from behind the scenes... There's just a ton to take in, and it's all hilarious.

[StatMom]

Did JLD really cut her hair or was that a wig?

 

Selina's usual hair is itself a wig. JLD's real hair is quite a bit longer, so yes, the new short do is definitely a wig. (That is, JLD is wearing a wig, not Selina... if you know what I mean.)

[Lakewood27]

Was the baseball guy channeling Bill Clinton?

Thornhill's folksy, platitudinous bullshit and Washington outsider appeal was giving me shades of Herman Cain. And much like Herman Cain, Thornhill won't survive under further scrutiny.

Owen Pierce reminded me of Rick Santorum, especially not getting a chance to really speak, and then bringing that dumb bathtub plug. Reminded me of Santorum bringing an etch-a-sketch to campaign stops. His constant water bumbling seemed like a nod to Marco Rubio.

Even though Maddox had an off night because he got mesmerized by Selina's twitch, he will bounce back.

Edited June 4, 2014 by Lakewood27

[Baltron9000]

Great episode. I'm late to the party and most of what I wanted to say has been said, so I'll just go with the superficial - JLD looked AMAZING on that stage. I'm part of the problem - I'd vote for her simply because she looked awesome while the rest where just suited pontificating douchey dudes. 

And then, on top of looking gorgeous, Julia was also hilarious as usual. The lady deserves every award she gets and more. 

Edited June 4, 2014 by Baltron9000

[Tara Ariano]

I'm in a hotel and re-watched this episode again last night waiting for Playing House to start (still funny), and I was struck by the same thing: Julia Louis-Dreyfus is so elegant and graceful! And those shoes were to die.

[ganesh]

I figure it's got to come down to her and Maddox. He's been introduced on the show long before. I suppose Chung has a shot, but everyone is so derisive of him, I can't see him doing well. 

[Rinaldo]

Plus Maddox is the one with Jonad on board, and he'll need to stay visible as a whipping-boy.

[ganesh]

Jonah would jump ship and go with the winner in a heartbeat. He was basically trying to do that at the end of the debate.

[Lakewood27]

I figure it's got to come down to her and Maddox. He's been introduced on the show long before. I suppose Chung has a shot, but everyone is so derisive of him, I can't see him doing well. 

 

Chung is Giuliani. Noun, verb, [iraq War], with a little Pawlenty. In other words, a non-factor.

[starri]

I actually kind of see Chung as the Howard Dean of the race.  I'm fulling expecting a "YEAAAAH!" after they have a primary.

[Baltron9000]

Rewatch notes: This show has really evolved. Remember when it was just the Veep's staff and Senator Doyle and some random assholes of the week? I love their expanded cast! Chung is Giuliani (As someone said, 'noun, verb, war, burning tank'), Thornhill is Herman Cain (no experience except his 'real world' nonsense), Maddox I'm not sure about, and I have a feeling that Pierce is Rick Santorum ('my family didn't allow us to play sports' can't drink water right, fucking bonkers weirdo) And this is just the (presumably Democratic) primary! Who knows what hilarious nonsense will come our way with the other side? 

So my final prediction would be: Selena wins primary, loses to opposition candidate, end of show, four amazing seasons and out. Which leaves one question: who will she be defeated by? 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Deleted scenes:

[Sesquipedalia]

Jim Webb's answer to the question in the debate last night about which person he's proudest to have made an enemy of was so Danny Chung.