Veep: C**tgate

May 30, 2016 7:13 AM - Season 5, Episode 6

A U.S. financial crisis looms, forcing Selina to make a game-changing decision; Jonah returns to New Hampshire; Amy looks into the staff's personal and professional histories; Catherine struggles to schedule time with her mother to share some big news.
posted by everybody had matching towels (18 comments total)

Jonah's campaign website is perfection (and you can watch his ads in full).
posted by naoko at 2:49 PM on May 30, 2016 [2 favorites]

This may be my favorite episode this season. Jonah's axe! Amy setting iPhone reminders to freeze her eggs! That look between Selina and Gary after Catherine and Marjorie spill the beans about their relationship!
posted by Dr. Zira at 3:36 PM on May 30, 2016 [3 favorites]

That website is hilarious. One of the Events is a Maple Sugar Industry Listening Session.
posted by Dr. Zira at 3:39 PM on May 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

I'm not sure how Julia Louis-Dreyfus can make the most annoying fucking plotline in the history of television work, but damn, she sure can.
posted by Etrigan at 6:29 PM on May 30, 2016

Who were the men Tom was meeting at the Korean BBQ place? I figured at first they were from the other two banks, but Tom was all for Selena choosing Charlie's bank so now I'm not sure.
posted by tracicle at 12:15 AM on May 31, 2016

Who were the men Tom was meeting at the Korean BBQ place?

Sidney Purcell and Speaker of the House Jim Marwood.
posted by Pendragon at 2:45 AM on May 31, 2016 [2 favorites]

I'd missed it until the AV Club review pointed it out, but the Catherine/Marjorie storyline becomes much more interesting when you recall the fact that Marjorie was chosen primarily because she could serve as a plausible body double for Selina...
posted by Rhaomi at 7:03 AM on May 31, 2016 [5 favorites]

Interesting, in the sense of "EW EW STOP IT EW DON'T EW", yes.
posted by Etrigan at 7:05 AM on May 31, 2016

Whenever Selina and Gary look at each other like that my impression is always that he's waiting for her to react so her can copy her, then there's this suspended moment where it's not clear which way she's going to go, so he teeters with her.
posted by yonega at 9:32 AM on May 31, 2016 [1 favorite]

Is anyone keeping a running list of VEEP insults? There must be thousands by this point, but this episode had a line about the "most left swiped tindr face" and I want to deploy that in my own day to day. I haven't really enjoyed this season until this episode-- all the stories were hilarious, even those little brush off lines (Ben: "You still have college loans?" Mike: "I'm terrible with money").
posted by thefang at 10:47 AM on May 31, 2016 [1 favorite]

(Ben: "You still have college loans?" Mike: "I'm terrible with money").

This was less hilarious than tragic to me -- the Obamas only paid off their student loans in 2004, when he was 43 years old, she was 40, and Dreams from My Father was selling pretty well due to his Senate campaign and Democratic National Convenstion keynote.

If we assume that Mike is roughly the same age as the actor who portrays him, he's at or around 50, he's been working for Selina for years in (relatively) low-paying bureaucratic functionary positions and hasn't had a bestselling book providing money to throw at his student loans.
posted by Etrigan at 11:05 AM on May 31, 2016 [1 favorite]

(I personally paid off my school loans in eight years, but that route doesn't work for everyone.)
posted by Etrigan at 11:09 AM on May 31, 2016 [1 favorite]

Is anyone keeping a running list of VEEP insults?

A lot of them get posted on the Previously.TV forum for Veep.
posted by fuse theorem at 1:40 PM on May 31, 2016

This show paints masterpieces with profanity.
posted by Dr. Zira at 5:35 PM on May 31, 2016 [2 favorites]

My cat jumped on the laptop and paused the episode just as Selena's [silently] reacting to Gary's sentimental little reverie about Charlie, and I was really able to appreciate the look on her face which was the most perfect blend of incredulity, disgust, and impatience.
posted by Aubergine at 8:48 AM on June 1, 2016

I'm not sure how Julia Louis-Dreyfus can make the most annoying fucking plotline in the history of television work, but damn, she sure can.

You mean the bank bailout thing? Yeah, that was a pretty abrupt setup out of nowhere and I don't love the Jonah election either; we've seen much funnier dissections of campaign trail madness on the show and so far the Jonah version is more obvious and not as funny. But at least Amy, Gary and Splett are still great (loved the hateful banter between Amy and Leon).

The show's always had a ridiculous crisis or three of the week, but this week's batch seemed clunkier than usual.
posted by mediareport at 4:54 AM on June 2, 2016

Yes, Margery has been giggly recently.
??!?!

Selina does have moments of lucidity.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 8:44 PM on June 2, 2016

I'm not sure how Julia Louis-Dreyfus can make the most annoying fucking plotline in the history of television work, but damn, she sure can.

You mean the bank bailout thing?

More precisely, I mean the "No, this one. No, that one. No, this one..." part of it. I find flip-flopping infinitely more annoying than good old-fashioned indecision.
posted by Etrigan at 5:37 AM on June 3, 2016