Veep: Morning After
April 25, 2016 8:34 AM - Season 5, Episode 1 - Subscribe
The tie in the Electoral College may not be one. Selina has a stress pimple that drives the stock market into "Black Wednesday", and a plan to use Tom James.
In non-Selina-character news:
Amy isn't working for Selina anymore, except that she is.
Dan gets fired, then hired.
Mike is adopting a Chinese baby.
Richard has a PhD in electoral process, and Jonah is working for him now.
Catherine is trying to make a thesis film about the election.
Bill is going to prison.
In non-Selina-character news:
Amy isn't working for Selina anymore, except that she is.
Dan gets fired, then hired.
Mike is adopting a Chinese baby.
Richard has a PhD in electoral process, and Jonah is working for him now.
Catherine is trying to make a thesis film about the election.
Bill is going to prison.
So this was good (as it always is, even when it's bad), and I was pretty interested to see how the first non-Iannucci episode would go, since all the reviews were saying extremely positive things about how "snappy" and "quick fire" and "jokes overlapping jokes" this was, but it felt strangely sludgy and non-electric to me.
Still, can't wait for more. Louis-Dreyfus was phenomenal, as usual.
posted by turbid dahlia at 4:14 PM on April 25, 2016 [2 favorites]
Still, can't wait for more. Louis-Dreyfus was phenomenal, as usual.
posted by turbid dahlia at 4:14 PM on April 25, 2016 [2 favorites]
So this was good (as it always is, even when it's bad), and I was pretty interested to see how the first non-Iannucci episode would go, since all the reviews were saying extremely positive things about how "snappy" and "quick fire" and "jokes overlapping jokes" this was, but it felt strangely sludgy and non-electric to me.
Glad I'm not the only one. The jokes just felt a little - trying too hard. How many times was Catherine in the background filming? I caught her in the hallway scene with Bill, but forgot to look after that.
posted by one_bean at 8:27 PM on April 25, 2016
Glad I'm not the only one. The jokes just felt a little - trying too hard. How many times was Catherine in the background filming? I caught her in the hallway scene with Bill, but forgot to look after that.
posted by one_bean at 8:27 PM on April 25, 2016
Agree that this was still an enjoyable episode, but afterwards, thinking about it, it felt just a bit too formulaic, like some vital component was missing. May have been Iannucci, may not have been. At any rate - a little too on the nose? Paint by numbers? Ugh, hard to pinpoint but it was there.
Yes JL-D was wonderful, and Hugh Laurie. Whole cast is really talented so no problem there - but was I the only one cringing at the 'round-eyes' joke? Many of the jokes are edgy (see: Dan saying eating a sandwich in front of a homeless person makes it taste better), but that one made me wince.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 6:58 PM on April 27, 2016
Yes JL-D was wonderful, and Hugh Laurie. Whole cast is really talented so no problem there - but was I the only one cringing at the 'round-eyes' joke? Many of the jokes are edgy (see: Dan saying eating a sandwich in front of a homeless person makes it taste better), but that one made me wince.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 6:58 PM on April 27, 2016
To be fair, though, it was Ben making the 'round-eye' gag, and he's got loads of form for that kind of stuff.
I think the cast is strong enough to carry the show through the post-Iannucci period, because by all that's holy I would watch Sue raise a sceptical eyebrow at a paint can for 23 minutes if that's all it was. The simple fact that JL-D can make the whole show revolve around a damn zit - that was the central dramatic transaction of the show, people, a skin blemish - means that I will follow it until it is cold and dead in the ground.
posted by prismatic7 at 6:58 AM on April 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
I think the cast is strong enough to carry the show through the post-Iannucci period, because by all that's holy I would watch Sue raise a sceptical eyebrow at a paint can for 23 minutes if that's all it was. The simple fact that JL-D can make the whole show revolve around a damn zit - that was the central dramatic transaction of the show, people, a skin blemish - means that I will follow it until it is cold and dead in the ground.
posted by prismatic7 at 6:58 AM on April 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
I felt the slowness as well- especially the first half of the episode. Not that I didn't like it; just that I could feel it was missing . . . Something. It seems to get moving a bit better as the episode moved along, and the cast is fantastic, so I'm still all in.
And omg Jonah! I died. They telegraphed it a mile away, and still died when Richard called Jonah to heel.
If I could put my finger on the difference, my guess would be this. Iannucci's characters get themselves in trouble because they are so self absorbed that they think they can't lose/are never in the wrong until it all come crumbling down in the worst possible way. But before that's even over, they've began to lift themselves back up in a bubble of denial, never learning a single thing as they fuck up into the next crisis.
This episode seemed more just to be "shitty people doing shitty things." Of varying intensity. Which, I enjoy far too many shows with this premise and I'll still watch the hell out of it. But it didn't have quite the same "look at how far my head is up my ass" of Iannucci's characters.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 9:01 PM on May 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
And omg Jonah! I died. They telegraphed it a mile away, and still died when Richard called Jonah to heel.
If I could put my finger on the difference, my guess would be this. Iannucci's characters get themselves in trouble because they are so self absorbed that they think they can't lose/are never in the wrong until it all come crumbling down in the worst possible way. But before that's even over, they've began to lift themselves back up in a bubble of denial, never learning a single thing as they fuck up into the next crisis.
This episode seemed more just to be "shitty people doing shitty things." Of varying intensity. Which, I enjoy far too many shows with this premise and I'll still watch the hell out of it. But it didn't have quite the same "look at how far my head is up my ass" of Iannucci's characters.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 9:01 PM on May 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
I'm late catching up with this, but...
On the one hand it seems like a new team have been tasked with coming up with something that looks like the previous seasons, on the other hand they've gone out of their way to stick in as many joke jokes as possible, so I'm laughing a lot more even though it's lost a measure of edge. But since a lot of the things that made it wonderful were more cast-related than edge-related it's still hugely watchable.
Was calling the doctor Dr Abernathy a reference to this track by Scritti Politti (which doesn't seem likely, I admit), or are they both references to a third thing that neither I nor Google can ascertain?
I realise that as a filthy foreigner my opinion in this matter isn't required, but Seline Meyer is the only candidate I've seen so far this year that I'd willingly vote for.
posted by Grangousier at 4:27 AM on May 14, 2016
On the one hand it seems like a new team have been tasked with coming up with something that looks like the previous seasons, on the other hand they've gone out of their way to stick in as many joke jokes as possible, so I'm laughing a lot more even though it's lost a measure of edge. But since a lot of the things that made it wonderful were more cast-related than edge-related it's still hugely watchable.
Was calling the doctor Dr Abernathy a reference to this track by Scritti Politti (which doesn't seem likely, I admit), or are they both references to a third thing that neither I nor Google can ascertain?
I realise that as a filthy foreigner my opinion in this matter isn't required, but Seline Meyer is the only candidate I've seen so far this year that I'd willingly vote for.
posted by Grangousier at 4:27 AM on May 14, 2016
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posted by gladly at 2:37 PM on April 25, 2016 [4 favorites]