The last time I wrote about Veep was when I reviewed the pilot in April 2012. I didn’t love it but I found a lot of potential in Julia Louis Dreyfus’ performance and the show’s premise. Slowly but surely, Veep evolved into one of the finest comedies ever made. In fact, the show has had one of the most consistent streaks of brilliance I’ve ever witnessed on a series (comedy or drama). And now, seven years later, the show has come to an end. But does it go out on a high?
I used to love Dreyfus on Seinfeld, but nothing could prepare me for her performance on Veep. Her Selina Meyer is a fireball of insecurities and craftiness, and it’s been an absolute pleasure watching her character cunningly (sometimes by accident) navigate her way to the Presidency and back. This series finale makes her dream come true once more, but at predictably great cost when she throws Gary under the bus. The dynamic between the two has always been the show’s secret weapon, and it’s so heartbreaking to see him get taken away by the FBI after Meyer concocts a plan to frame him for her misdeeds. Even more depressing is watching Selina in the Oval Office all alone, surrounded by none of the faces that helped her get there. The price of power people!
And then there’s the flash-forward. Selina is dead after serving only one term and banning gay marriage. Just as she’d always been overshadowed all her life, even the news report covering her death is pushed aside in favor of Tom Hank’s death. It’s hilariously sad but also a very fitting end to the story of a a narcissistic woman who could just never get the spotlight she so deeply craved. Simply perfect!
Presidential Bits
- Jonah’s anti-math speech is a hoot.
- My favorite moment in the finale: Gary offering Selina six almonds to which she just implodes with a screechy NO that sends him flying to the floor.
- Ben is the closest thing Selina ever had to a father, so their final scene in the hospital room after his heart attack is shockingly moving.
- Selina’s entire insulting speech to Tom’s Chief of Staff (read it below) is so crass and so perfect and so Selina. How in the world do they come up with this stuff?
- Sue is back and all is right in the world!
- So Kurt is homeless now and sells watches. Amy is married to whatshisname. Dan is a real estate agent and still dating younger girls. Gary is presumably out of prison and still has affection for Selina as he puts her “Dubonnet” lipstick on the coffin. Catherine is actually happy now that her mom is gone. And Ben I’m guessing is dead?
- I almost forgot: Richard is President and he solved the Palestine/Israel crisis with a three-state solution. Such an insane but hopeful development as the guy had a real heart of gold.
- The shtick with Selina’s crypt not going in is just harsh.
- If I’m being totally honest, I kind of wanted a happier ending for Selina (although the Presidency is certainly her happiest ending) simply because Dreyfus battled cancer recently and the whole death thing hit too close to home.
Selina Quips
Selina: If you can’t figure out how to steal South Carolina, you have no business being president.
Roger: Hey! All right! Right now, every Sunday pundit and poli-sci major is treating this brokered convention like it’s a big-titted college gymnast whose daddy fucked with her just enough that she’ll do some dirty shit, but she can still cum.
Selina: Hittin’ a little close to home there, Roger, minus the big-titted part.
Gary: We’ve never had a complaint, have we?
Amy: Ma’am.
Selina: Oh God. Go away Amy.
Amy: Ma’am really.
Selina: Your voice is like a crow.
Amy: But ma’am I just want to-
Selina: No! There is no place for Jonah Ryan in my administration. Or anywhere in the universe where the building blocks of life are present.
Ben: She’s also gonna take the line “No matter what, I will always stand for America.”
Devito: That’s a reference to my leg.
Ben: She’ll tweak it.
Selina: Amy, we’ve been working together a really long time, it just occurred to me, and you’ve always been like a-
Amy: Daughter?
Selina: A sister to me.
Gary: More like a childless aunt.
Jonah: Look, I love America, but it is time to face facts. This is a horrific country that is falling apart because it is full of people who are different than me.
Jeff: You know, the Jews have a word for this feeling I’m having right now. I can’t remember it sounds like three Germans cumming real hard inside something that doesn’t want them to.
Selina: Listen, Ben, you gotta go back to Texas right now, OK? And just tell ’em they can violate me with their assault rifles and a full slab of ribs on top of a stack of slavery-free history textbooks.
Selina: The only difference is that I was the most exciting conquest of his life, and you just had the motel room closest to the ice machine. Trust me, he will never see you as anything other than the TGI Friday’s hostess on Proactiv who lets him bend you over his desk while you close your eyes to avoid coming face-to-face with that framed photo of his family’s trip to Aspen while he drowns your Little Mermaid back tat in a pool of jizz and admires his own reflection. I just hate to see smart women throw away their political careers on powerful men who only see them as the gash of least resistance.
Amy: Ma’am, you can’t let an embittered, vindictive, narcissistic man-child be one heartbeat away from the presidency, let alone be the president.
Selina: There’s no safer place to stick Jonah Ryan in all of Washington D.C. Being vice president is like being declawed, defanged, neutered, ball-gagged, and sealed in an abandoned coal mine under two miles of human shit! It is a fate worse than death. Besides, I’m not gonna die, ’cause I got the heart and the twat of a high school cheerleader who’s only done anal!
Amy: I am begging you, please – Ma’am,
Selina: Enough! I didn’t come to North Carolina to lose. I don’t even like to change planes here.
Amy: Ma’am, Joint Chiefs are getting a little squirrely about Chinese tank movements – near the Tibetan border.
Selina: What a bunch of pussies.
Amy: And we’re expecting a call from the Israeli prime minister about the Palestinian food riots.
Selina: That reminds me, I’m starving.
Conclusion
A perfect ending for a perfect comedy. What a delightful, razor-sharp show. Veep you will certainly be missed. Outstanding!
I’m surprised by how much Veep has become House of Cards this season. Not that I’m complaining. Veep outshined House of Cards in its final season.
I’m one of those people who wanted Dan and Amy to end up together due to their chemistry and that they are alike. But it makes sense that because they are alike, they could never truly be together.
Proud of Richard becoming a better President than Selina. Goes to show that not all politicians have to be two-faced scumbags.
It warmed my heart a little to see Catherine happy for the first time in a long time even though it came at the expense of her mother’s death.
Still creeps me out that Jonah is still married to his half-sister. No one else found out about that connection? I was hoping it would come out during the finale and destroy his political career. I do get some satisfaction that he is barely a footnote after becoming Selina’s Veep.
Thank God Julia Louis Dreyfus survived cancer because the ending would have been too much to bear. And I’m curious what she’ll be doing next after Veep.
Thanks for this Justin! Love to read your thoughts! Glad we agree!