S07.E07: Veep

[DCCFan197605]

On 5/13/2019 at 1:52 PM, TV Anonymous said:

So Selina Meyer Presidential Library is in Smith College in Massachusetts. I am a bit disappointed as Smith College is actually a very good school, member of the Seven Sisters

I really enjoyed seeing the vagina library come to life.  After all of the hubbub last season about the library, it paid off.

[Starchild]

I love that not only did Catherine NOT attend the funeral, she treated it like a party.

[ChicksDigScars]

The monologue about how shitty the Vice Presidency is, was funny for me. Declawed, defanged, neutered....heh. 

Amy’s commentary about how Selina cannot pick Jonah as VP and have “an embittered, vindictive, narcissistic man child be one heartbeat away from the Presidency, let alone be the President”....yup. 

ETA: Did anyone notice the quote engraved on the wall at the Selina Meyer Presidential Library? “Someone needs to do something about this”

Edited May 15, 2019 by ChicksDigScars

[RealReality]

7 minutes ago, ChicksDigScars said:

The monologue about how shitty the Vice Presidency is, was funny for me. Declawed, defanged, neutered....heh. 

Amy’s commentary about how Selina cannot pick Jonah as VP and have “an embittered, vindictive, narcissistic man child be one heartbeat away from the Presidency, let alone be the President”....yup. 

And you know it probably burned Selina up inside that whatever little she accomplished as president was overshadowed by Jonah getting impeached.

[RealReality]

On 5/13/2019 at 12:29 PM, peeayebee said:

It makes sense to me. I'm sure there were people working on Trump's campaign who didn't expect him to win, but it was a high-profile job.

Mine, too. I think Selina's heart was broken as well.

What!? I'll have to rewatch for that.

I think that's the happiest she's ever been.

Oh, and the funniest thing to me about the Tom Hanks story is that he made Philadelphia 2.

Ha ha, I just got why Philadelphia 2 would be a joke.  Thanks for pointing that out!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I'm eagerly awaiting Tom Hanks' next two Oscars!

[txhorns79]

22 hours ago, Ottis said:

And I still don't know what happened to Amy that she went all Jonah Ryan.

I think the writers really had no idea what to do with the character, but wanted to have some version of Kellyanne Conway in their universe, so they went with Amy.  She was kind of a weak point of the season and the episode.  She seemed thrilled over the possibility that the terrorist attack could propel Jonah to the nomination, the turned around and freaked out when Selena was ready to make him VP. 

[Roaster]

Two questions for you all:

1)
Did we ever see Leon get fired from Selina's campaign?  I don't remember it.  He just showed up in the final episode as Kemi's aide.  And were we supposed to think he was a creep/peeping Tom?  Ben made a joke about him installing cameras.  I know earlier in the season he expressed lust toward Amy, but other than that I never got any sense he had a sex drive.

2)
Speaking of sex drives, when did Buddy Calhoun start coming across as gay?  Selina thought he was closeted.  In the past we saw him engaged to a woman (Amy).  They changed this character to fit into a stereotype.

And why do some (e.g. Marjorie) think Gary is gay?  He had a girlfriend in the past (played by Jessica St. Clair).  Gary had some weird attachment to Selina, but there is no indication he was gay.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

1 hour ago, txhorns79 said:

She seemed thrilled over the possibility that the terrorist attack could propel Jonah to the nomination, the turned around and freaked out when Selena was ready to make him VP. 

I think that when Amy left, it was a combination of the fact that she was sick of dealing with Selina and she wanted a bigger job/better title. Once she was Jonah's campaign manager and she started getting publicity/face time on tv shows, she got caught up in winning/beating Selina/having her fifteen minutes of fame. But once Selina offered the VP slot to Jonah, Amy got slapped with reality - that this wasn't about her at all and that Jonah could be in a position of power.

12 minutes ago, Roaster said:

Did we ever see Leon get fired from Selina's campaign?  I don't remember it.  He just showed up in the final episode as Kemi's aide. 

Yes, we did. After the Nobel speech at the end of the previous episode, Selina told him he was fired.

[Ottis]

8 hours ago, RealReality said:

Ha ha, I just got why Philadelphia 2 would be a joke.  Thanks for pointing that out!

Hanks couldn't play the same character, obviously, but I thought maybe it was the continuing adventures of Denzel Washington's lawyer on another AIDS case in Philly, and Hanks produced. Too much?

[ganesh]

57 minutes ago, Roaster said:

Speaking of sex drives, when did Buddy Calhoun start coming across as gay? 

I always thought he was simply because those doth protest too much.

(I actually thought there was a Philadelphia 2.)

[tennisgurl]

Count me in for Philadelphia 2! 

So Selina got everything she wanted, but in the worst way possible. She was a one term president known for doing a few crappy things and then disappearing, whos term was "underrated" which is political talk for "no ones cares" who was all alone in the end, having alienated everyone in her life with her awfulness. She got into the Oval Office, but with no one to celebrate with, having her road to the top cost her everything and everyone. I mean, Selina did some really awful stuff this season (Tibet, outlawing same sex marriage) but what hit me hardest was setting up Gary, the one person who was just totally devoted to her no matter what. That was just brutal. And then her funeral being interrupted by Tom Hanks dying (love the call back!) and being instantly forgotten, was just icing on the cake. And apparently Kemi got two terms later on? Oh, you know Selina was pissed. 

 I love that Richard ending up being an amazing two term president who won the Noble Prize, getting everything that Selina wanted and more, but by being a kind well meaning person who just wants to help people. And the epilogue with everyone was fun, and raised about a million questions (Amy and Bill are married? Kent is raising Alpacas?) with Catherine making margaritas to celebrate her moms death, and "dead" Andrew showing up, that was hilarious. 

This season certainly wasnt as good as previous seasons, both with Selina becoming so awful that even Kent had to leave her in disgust, and the dialogue became less clever and just more "cuss cuss insult insult" without much real fire and smarts, but its still been one great run. 

[patty1h]

3 hours ago, Roaster said:

And why do some (e.g. Marjorie) think Gary is gay?  He had a girlfriend in the past (played by Jessica St. Clair).  Gary had some weird attachment to Selina, but there is no indication he was gay.

Not sure if you were just wondering about the onscreen characters take on Gary's sexuality or whether some of us viewers had thoughts about him.  I know about Gary's GF but I never got any kind of loving feeling from the couple.  I think she was added to flesh out Gary's backstory/character but the relationship came off stiff. didn't blossom into anything and was dropped.

I also picked up a vibe from him.  He had this weird thing with Selina, but I viewed it as him being attracted to fierce, dynamic or tragic women, like the stereotype of gay men loving Beyonce, Oprah, Judy Garland, Lady Gaga, etc.  Also, he tended to a lot of the more... artistic things for Selina, like overseeing various parties, picking out flower arrangements and what art should go on the WH walls.   He had control of her wardrobe, makeup and hygiene products.  I also remember Gary saying something like "my father wanted a boy, but got me instead" a few seasons ago.  It sounded to me like he was outing himself.

[ganesh]

2 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

And apparently Kemi got two terms later on? Oh, you know Selina was pissed. 

I would think Selina would take credit for that. 

Amy's famous monologue said that she was such a bad president (the first time) that another woman wouldn't be elected president for another 100 years, so maybe Selina did something in her last term. 

[meowmommy]

2 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

And apparently Kemi got two terms later on?

Probably not too much later.  If Selina served for four years, and Richard was near the end of his second term, then Kemi's two terms were squeezed in either before or after someone else had a single term presidency, to get to 24 years.  Wonder who replaced Jonah after he was impeached?  

Tom Hanks is only 62 now.  He won't be 88 in 24 years.  And Julia is 58, playing a woman aged 54, no, 53, no, 52, no, late forties.

[PrincessPurrsALot]

30 minutes ago, meowmommy said:

Tom Hanks is only 62 now.  He won't be 88 in 24 years.  And Julia is 58, playing a woman aged 54, no, 53, no, 52, no, late forties.

You're all right!

[hertolo]

I just wonder what the third state is in the three-state solution in the Middle East...

This show has so much going on in the background that I‘ll probably need to watch it again. I thought it funny, but it was time to end, so yeah, thumbs up for Veep.

[Roaster]

2 hours ago, meowmommy said:

Tom Hanks is only 62 now.  He won't be 88 in 24 years.  And Julia is 58, playing a woman aged 54, no, 53, no, 52, no, late forties.

The final season was supposed to take place in 2020.  When Selina was in the Oval Office as president and talking to the Israeli PM, it was 2021.  Then they flashed 24 years ahead to her funeral, by which time Tom Hanks would be 88.  They's pretty good with these details.

[meowmommy]

9 minutes ago, Roaster said:

They's pretty good with these details.

Well, pooh.  You're no fun.  😼

[HyeChaps]

An in-depth post mortem:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/veep-series-finale-boss-david-mandel-unpacks-exquisite-torture-ending-1210254

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I loved that Selina's dresses were on display at the library. She did have some fabulous clothes.

[ganesh]

I liked the article, but I got the impression the showrunner was trying to out think himself. Just because Selina ended up again as VP is predictable doesn't mean it's not a satisfying ending. I don't know if it works that Richard would be the one to have asked her though.

I mean, I do like how the show ended up, but if she ended up VP that would have been fine with me too. 

The thing about her ending up president is we missed the entire election, and you're asking the audience to buy that she won with no Ben, Kent, or Amy. 

[RealReality]

On 5/15/2019 at 10:13 AM, patty1h said:

Not sure if you were just wondering about the onscreen characters take on Gary's sexuality or whether some of us viewers had thoughts about him.  I know about Gary's GF but I never got any kind of loving feeling from the couple.  I think she was added to flesh out Gary's backstory/character but the relationship came off stiff. didn't blossom into anything and was dropped.

I also picked up a vibe from him.  He had this weird thing with Selina, but I viewed it as him being attracted to fierce, dynamic or tragic women, like the stereotype of gay men loving Beyonce, Oprah, Judy Garland, Lady Gaga, etc.  Also, he tended to a lot of the more... artistic things for Selina, like overseeing various parties, picking out flower arrangements and what art should go on the WH walls.   He had control of her wardrobe, makeup and hygiene products.  I also remember Gary saying something like "my father wanted a boy, but got me instead" a few seasons ago.  It sounded to me like he was outing himself.

One of the more interesting things the show did this season was have Marjorie, a gay woman, do a better job with selinas wardrobe than Gary...who may have been a gay man.

Such a juxtaposition of stereotypes.

On 5/15/2019 at 12:12 PM, ganesh said:

I would think Selina would take credit for that. 

Amy's famous monologue said that she was such a bad president (the first time) that another woman wouldn't be elected president for another 100 years, so maybe Selina did something in her last term. 

I think she would TRY to take credit for that.  But if she was an inconsequential one term president, it's likely no one paid attention to her attempts to take credit 

On 5/15/2019 at 12:58 PM, PrincessPurrsALot said:

You're all right!

Dead!

[RealReality]

12 hours ago, ganesh said:

I liked the article, but I got the impression the showrunner was trying to out think himself. Just because Selina ended up again as VP is predictable doesn't mean it's not a satisfying ending. I don't know if it works that Richard would be the one to have asked her though.

I mean, I do like how the show ended up, but if she ended up VP that would have been fine with me too. 

The thing about her ending up president is we missed the entire election, and you're asking the audience to buy that she won with no Ben, Kent, or Amy. 

The only reason I preferred her becoming POTUS is that she finally got what she wanted and she found out that it wasn't as worth the sacrifice as she thought.  We could not have gotten that moment of realization if Selina never became president.  She would have still been under the impression that no matter who or what you sacrificed....it was worth it to become president.

[ganesh]

Given that they ended the show with Richard as president, and were trying to land on a hopeful note, and Amy's prior monologue, it's reasonable that if Selina even had a tepid presidency, she didn't screw it up so bad that another woman was able to be a two term president. 

[RealReality]

2 hours ago, ganesh said:

Given that they ended the show with Richard as president, and were trying to land on a hopeful note, and Amy's prior monologue, it's reasonable that if Selina even had a tepid presidency, she didn't screw it up so bad that another woman was able to be a two term president. 

Even worse for Selina -- to be considered inconsequential.

Or....fingers crossed....maybe in the future if one woman screws something up, it's not held against all women...

I like both interpretations!

[TexasGal]

On 5/15/2019 at 4:42 PM, hertolo said:

I just wonder what the third state is in the three-state solution in the Middle East...

This show has so much going on in the background that I‘ll probably need to watch it again. I thought it funny, but it was time to end, so yeah, thumbs up for Veep.

Three state solution cracked me up. And then Gary leaving the lipstick actually made me tear up.

The last season definitely tried to pack a little too much in, but I still enjoyed it.  I’ll miss these crazies.

[biakbiak]

On 5/15/2019 at 12:28 PM, meowmommy said:

If Selina served for four years, and Richard was near the end of his second

He was just starting it our maybe hadn’t even started it because they referenced his recent landslide re-election.

[iMonrey]

Quote

Speaking of sex drives, when did Buddy Calhoun start coming across as gay?  Selina thought he was closeted.  In the past we saw him engaged to a woman (Amy).  They changed this character to fit into a stereotype.

I thought that too. It's the too-obvious joke that all homophobes are closet cases. And then after he walked out of the room, Selina said "he's not just gay, he's _ gay" and name-checked someone I'd never heard of before. Can't remember the name, but at the time I tried Googling him and came up empty.

Quote

The thing about her ending up president is we missed the entire election, and you're asking the audience to buy that she won with no Ben, Kent, or Amy. 

I'm assuming there was some kind of scandal with Montez, because the only time anything ever goes right for Selina is when something goes wrong for someone else. On the other hand, you can argue most of Selina's downfalls are due to her advisors, and when she takes matters into her own hands (like turning Tom James' campaign manager against him) she comes out on top.

I just want to know what's with HBO and its penchant for shortened final seasons for their top shows. I mean, this wasn't too bad but the ending was definitely rushed. I just hope Game of Thrones doesn't end with some cheesy flash-forward to show where all the characters are 24 years in the future.

[amazinglybored]

On 5/17/2019 at 1:39 AM, RealReality said:

Even worse for Selina -- to be considered inconsequential.

Or....fingers crossed....maybe in the future if one woman screws something up, it's not held against all women...

I like both interpretations!

I think she would have been pretty bad. Permanently overturning same sex marriage (weird that it was permanently) and she sold out Tibet. Maybe the Tibet thing never came out and she was otherwise mediocre. Between Montez, Selina, Kemi and Richard the Veepverse went very optimistic for who got elected President. Those 4 took up 20 of the last 28 years of elected Presidents and Richard would make it 24/32 when he’s done and Selina was a female VP who served as President for awhile.

[ganesh]

I can't imagine how she could overturn it though because it was a court ruling. 

I don't know that I'd lay Selina's failures totally on the staff. Kent crunches numbers and Ben has a huge network. She did get all the way to the presidency the first time with Amy. Ben was the one who told her to go scorched earth in the hospital. 

I guess we're to assume she beat Montez because of the Chinese. 

[littlecatsfeet]

11 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I thought that too. It's the too-obvious joke that all homophobes are closet cases. And then after he walked out of the room, Selina said "he's not just gay, he's _ gay" and name-checked someone I'd never heard of before. Can't remember the name, but at the time I tried Googling him and came up empty.

I found a transcript of the script; the line is "....he's Sam Rayburn gay". And then I had to google Sam Rayburn; he was a 25-term (!!!) Congressperson and a former Speaker Of The House. Apparently Barney Frank at one time referred to him as being gay. It seems like kind of a stretch for a 'gay joke' but there seemed to be a lot of pretty random references and non-sequiturs  in general this season. 

[TexasGal]

21 hours ago, ganesh said:

I guess we're to assume she beat Montez because of the Chinese. 

I think that’s right, since she did sell out Tibet.  I didn’t get why they weren’t helping her win the nomination.  I mean, we never really went anywhere with Jonah and his wife being half siblings instead of step siblings.  I kept waiting for that to drop to take him out of contention. 

[ALenore]

12 hours ago, littlecatsfeet said:

Sam Rayburn; he was a 25-term (!!!) Congressperson and a former Speaker Of The House. Apparently Barney Frank at one time referred to him as being gay. It seems like kind of a stretch for a 'gay joke' but there seemed to be a lot of pretty random references and non-sequiturs  in general this season. 

Sam Rayburn is actually pretty famous, the Congressional Office Building is named after him.   I'm not surprised there are rumors he was gay, he was married for only a few months when he was 45 years old.   During his lifetime (he died in 1961), homosexuality was illegal, so it's quite possible he was a closeted gay man.

[iMonrey]

Quote

I found a transcript of the script; the line is "....he's Sam Rayburn gay". And then I had to google Sam Rayburn; he was a 25-term (!!!) Congressperson and a former Speaker Of The House. Apparently Barney Frank at one time referred to him as being gay. It seems like kind of a stretch for a 'gay joke' but there seemed to be a lot of pretty random references and non-sequiturs  in general this season. 

Thanks. That seems pretty obscure to me but I guess you could take is as being a Washington-insider joke.

[littlecatsfeet]

3 hours ago, ALenore said:

Sam Rayburn is actually pretty famous, the Congressional Office Building is named after him.   I'm not surprised there are rumors he was gay, he was married for only a few months when he was 45 years old.   During his lifetime (he died in 1961), homosexuality was illegal, so it's quite possible he was a closeted gay man.

Yes, I hesitated about showing my ignorance there 🙂 I didn't/don't know a lot of political history other than presidents unless it was in my lifetime, and even then, there's a lot more I should educate myself on. I'm guessing, as IMonrey mentioned, that it was a Washington insider joke. It would have been great if the joke had been "Lindsey Graham gay" but maybe current politicians are considered off-limits? 

[scrb]

They portrayed the pols as not having principles or actual vision for what they’d do for their country.

They were very cynical, willing to say or do anything to gain power.

Selina never was depicted as having any core beliefs or what she would do if she won the WH.

Or maybe these later seasons were influenced by real life too much.

[ALenore]

4 hours ago, littlecatsfeet said:

Yes, I hesitated about showing my ignorance there 🙂 I didn't/don't know a lot of political history other than presidents unless it was in my lifetime, and even then, there's a lot more I should educate myself on.

I had heard of Sam Rayburn (because of the whole Congressional Office Building thing) but I didn't know much about him other than he was a Texas Congressman.   I had to look up all the other stuff on line.  

[meowmommy]

7 hours ago, littlecatsfeet said:

It would have been great if the joke had been "Lindsey Graham gay" but maybe current politicians are considered off-limits? 

Maybe not so much that they're off-limits, but since the Veep world is set in the current day, existing politicians do not exist.

[DrSpaceman]

In retrospect of.......a few weeks now, after seeing how AWFUL GOT ended and the mediocrity that was the ending to The Big Bang Theory (which is what I expected, that show has been phoning things in for a good 2-3 years), I think this finale was better than most and deserves more credit. 

It was a rushed finale and final season, but at least it fit in with the rest of the show, was consistent with everything we knew of Selina and wrapped up everything nicely.  And the ending did not ruin the show for rewatching, like GOT and How I Met Your Mother pretty much did, IMO.  You just have to kind of ignore how it all was resolved to enjoy the earlier seasons of those shows now. 

[meowmommy]

7 hours ago, DrSpaceman said:

And the ending did not ruin the show for rewatching

Well, maybe a little bit.  I've been rewatching for a bit and I just started on Season 3 (which also introduced Richard!).  Selina's dependence on Gary and her affirmations of undying devotion are a little hard to watch, given the ending.  The rest, ok.

[rejnel]

Quote

I still don't know what happened to Amy that she went all Jonah Ryan.

Amy to Dan, season 5: "If you made Jonah Ryan a congressman, you could run the town, because you would have just turned this enormous turd into something."

Edited May 27, 2019 by rejnel

[jww]

Jonah was right:

CivicScience polled 3,624 Americans on their opinions about mathematics instruction in U.S. schools. When asked, “Should schools in America teach Arabic Numerals as part of their curriculum?” 56 percent said no. Only 29 percent said yes while 15 percent had no opinion.

[100Proof]

On 5/13/2019 at 1:19 PM, teddysmom said:

I'm not offended by swearing, I'm the proverbial cusses like a sailor person,  but even I got tired of how over the top they were, who has the time to be that creative?  It wasn't realistic,  people have two or three lines they use, but it seemed like they all sit up at night coming up with insults to use. 

On 5/15/2019 at 12:50 PM, tennisgurl said:

just more "cuss cuss insult insult" without much real fire and smarts, but its still been one great run. 

Excuse the necro thread post. I was just browsing around show threads I never visited before.

Have youse ever watched the british series, 'The Thick Of It',  Veep is loosely an americanized version of? I'm guessing not if you thought there was a lot of cursing in Veep.  ☺️

I do wish they did have a few more episodes but I liked it. The zingers and put downs came fast and furious. Impossible to keep up w/o subtitles, lol

Not safe for work or any sort of polite company....

Edited July 14, 2019 by 100Proof

[SuzieSioux]

On 5/13/2019 at 2:28 PM, SHD said:

What she did to Gary and his final scene broke my heart.

It was brutal, but Gary was also such a toady I couldn't feel that sorry for him and I'm not sure we're meant to see him as anything other than pathetic. His loyalty wasn't virtuous, it was creepy. Everyone in this show was a morally dubious person in some way, with the exceptions of Richard and Marjorie I would say. Don't forget in the same episode where Catherine and Marjorie loose their cool with Selina because she's prepared to give up same sex marriage, Gary is right alongside Selina, rolling his eyes and smirking at them with her.

After hearing how enjoyable this show was, my friend and I binge-watched the entire show in a month, and just loved it. I think that it was a bit cleverer under Ianucci, but really it was enjoyable the whole way through. Loved how interesting even the smallest of characters were, and how hilarious it was to see them pop up all the time. Loved Karen and Minna! As soon as they stepped onto the screen I was laughing. I also thought it was refreshing for an American show to make fun of its sacred cows (the military, religion, Israel) along with everything else, which you don't see much on US television. They can hold the banner of "we make fun of everyone" higher than most shows who say that but then chicken out in some areas. It was very much intentional I feel that the first (and last) thing we hear Selina say as president at the end is: "What can we (the US) do for you (Israel)".

[Milburn Stone]

On 5/12/2019 at 11:22 PM, Dots And Stripes said:

Amy jumping to Jonah's campaign still makes no sense...

I bought it. Seething, all-consuming hatred will make people do things they otherwise would not do, and Amy's hatred of Selina for firing her was all the sense I needed.

[nuraman00]

I finished the series over the past 8-9 weeks.

Is this Andrew?

 

 

I didn't like the last two seasons.  It turned dark.

 

I don't understand Amy turning dark.  Also, going with Jonah as campaign manager.  I get that it's high profile, but it would have been more high profile being on Selina's winning team.  (Or at least a campaign that had a good chance of winning.)

 

I did like that we finally saw the library.  And the Tom Hanks joke at the end.  And "Philadelphia 2".  That will be a great movie.

 

Gary turned darker too, during the last two seasons.  Before, he didn't laugh or add onto Selina's bad jokes as much. 

 

He wasn't completely a good guy at the end, but he didn't deserve what he got anyways.  He did have some ambition, to be able to get himself out of Alabama, to being a hospital volunteer, to then being detail oriented enough to be Selina's assistant.

 

Tom James got what he deserved.

 

I did think there was a chance that Richard would be President.  Glad to see it happened, in the future.  He was both smart enough, and earnest enough, to do a good job.

 

Question, what's the history on him with dogs or pets?  It seems like when he was at Mayor Biscuit's funeral, that wasn't the first time he was shown having known about pets.  But I don't remember the previous instances with him and pets.  So what were the times before Mayor Biscuit's funeral?

 

I didn't realize Jonah's Mom's name was Nancy, until he read off the birth certificate.  For some reason, I thought her name was Joanie.  And then it kind of made sense, to name her son Jonah.

 

I think if they wanted to, they could have had the good parts of the finale (Tom Hanks joke; Library; Richard being President) without her turning on everyone.

 

But I understand, that's what they wanted to do, as soon as Ben told her she knew what she had to do.

 

If same sex marriage is now outlawed, then what happened to Catherine and Marjorie?  They already got married, so is it annulled?  Are they just two people living together? 

 

I liked the show better when they would mostly screw up in the offseason, with maybe doing something decently once a season.  It was lighter that way.

 

 

[nuraman00]

So, at the end, when Mike McLintock says "let's take a look at the storied career of Tom Hanks", but his head is sideways to the camera, I guess that was intentional?

 

To show that McLintock's anchorman role could still have broadcasting errors?