Two episodes in and Veep has never felt more like Veep.
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10
With episodes of Veep being only half an hour – and ten a season – it’s an easy show to binge watch. Thankfully, the Gods at Sky Atlantic premiered the fifth season of Veep with not one, but two episodes. For everyone’s binge-watching needs.
‘Nev-AD-da’, a play on Selina’s constant mispronunciation of the state, sees the key events of the Nevada recount helmed by Selina’s entourage of misfits. It’s only a matter of time before someone is screwed on both ends; literally in Selina’s case.
Selina is led by her presidency, her motherly yet thinly veiled disdainful instincts towards her daughter and the urges of a woman. Regarding those urges, Selina delightfully quips, ‘I’m human. I just sometimes need a little banking task force.’ And that ‘little banking force’ comes in the form of John Slattery, a C.E.O. of whom she hits it off with at the meeting organized by Tom. From there, flirting ensues. Awkward flirting, thus eventually leading to Selina trying (and nearly failing) to seduce John, by giving him a tour of the White House, showing him a random closet where ‘Harding fathered a child with his teenage mistress.’
In true Veep fashion, Selina and John’s liaison turns out to be a terrible idea. It transpires that John may be linked to Bill O’Brien, Selina’s rival. Additionally, John may serve as treasury secretary if O’Brien wins, with Selina finding this out through a communication breakdown; a common theme that runs throughout this entire series.
Again, this episode hits the nail on the head in terms of pacing, hilarity and calamity. You’ve got Selina’s urges, video conference calls that don’t work, hilarious voting ballots, Mike deciding to adopt a Chinese baby with his wife and Dan and Amy so very nearly giving shippers of their dysfunctional relationship a heart attack.
Speaking of said heart attack, I can’t be in the minority, right? Those two are meant for each other. In the most twisted way, they know what’s up. And yet, they both manage to ruin it. Dan getting drunk and going home with Amy’s excruciating sister Sophie, and Amy inadvertently thinking she’s sending requests to spend the night with her, which in reality are being sent to her co-worker Ben Cafferty (Kevin Dunn).
This episode also saw the return of the Chinese hackers who were breaking into the NSA firewall, this time managing to breach the White House employee files, to which Selina remarks: “Maybe they can find out what some of these people are doing.”
That pretty much sums up this show in one sentence.
Veep airs on Sky Atlantic on Tuesdays at 11:10pm.
