By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy. We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
How, after a week aptly described by Tom as “a long glass of frozen strawberry fuck-up,” are the Presidential staffers expected to survive a congressional investigation? They can’t stay on the same page when they’re in control of the questions, so I can’t imagine they’ll survive this unscathed. If Season 4 was the last season of “Veep,” I’d be expecting a “Seinfeld”-like finale where everyone ended up in jail as a fitting moral to the story. After all, if Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer did enough damage to justify a jail sentence, this crowd would be put away for life.
But despite everything going on in “B/Ill” — a title that, unlike the insults hurled between characters, feels like it’s trying a little too hard to be clever — the episode felt a little too slow, overall. With the exception of Kent and Bill’s early explanation for why they wanted to kill the bill, very little of the dialogue felt as snappy, quick and devastatingly ruthless as usual. Maybe I’m just biased, because Ben didn’t get any of the best lines, but trolling Gary’s fear of incarceration and Selina’s voice memo addiction didn’t pay off. With only two episodes left — both in this season and as showrunner — hopefully Armando Iannucci is saving the best for last.
Exposition and action drove “B/Ill”: Rather than the quick wits of characters beseeched by problems, Episode 8 focused on the problems themselves. Issues escalated so quickly it wasn’t until the final few seconds that we saw just how disastrous things have become for the Meyer White House. A Congressional hearing can’t be beneficial to a campaign already on the rocks, and that’s likely the least of their worries, given prison is on the table. Will that happen? It’s doubtful, given the satirical tone of the show — how many politicians actually go to jail versus how many get away with it? Still, where Selina ends up at the end of Season 4 is anyone’s guess right now.
The same can be said for her diegetic role in the campaign. As the official candidate, it would be dead without her, but the Democratic party may turn to someone new if Selina and her team are awash in scandal. This week was the biggest catastrophe to date, but was it because Selina was out of commission? Does her staff need her to keep them in check, or does a real authority need to come forward? Tom James has been making a case for himself since he walked through those elevator doors, but never did he look more presidential than shouting over Selina’s sickly person. If he can somehow stay clean despite ties to this administration, Tom James could be on the top of the ticket before the year is up.
In a week with plenty of Jonah put-downs, the above label takes the cake; not because it’s the most ruthless, but because it’s the most accurate. “Veep” has always excelled at finding creative ways to describe its characters, physically, emotionally and mentally. I wouldn’t have thought to compare Jonah and the Joker until Dan did it, but in that instant the similarities stacked up immediately in my mind. Outside of his tall, lanky physique, Jonah is cartoonishly evil. He’s always working against the VP-turned-P’s cause even when he’s trying to work for it, creating a kind of anarchy the Joker would be proud to mimic. Throw him in a purple suit, paint his face white and before too long I’m sure Jonah would be asking, “You know how I got these scars?” (even if he wasn’t the one to inflict them).
Even though last week saw multiple contenders try to topple Amy’s reign, the ex-campaign manager’s quip is still the one to beat heading into Week 8. “B/Ill” didn’t offer much in the way of literal similes for contention, but Mike was able to slip the above gem in at the last second (or at least, the last scene). It got me thinking, too — did Julia Louis-Dreyfus come up with the voice and then the writers and/or Matt Walsh found its perfect negative descriptor or did it happen the other way around? Either way, it’s right on the mark.
2) Ben Cafferty
– Ben’s season-long streak came to an end, as his part in the bumbled attempt to get the “Mommy Meyer” bill shut down may be his end as well. Ben can lie with the best of ’em, but relying on consistent lies from everyone involved may be too much for even his fibbing capacity.
– “Two giant children in their father’s suits.”
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy. We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.