Veep ‘Fundraiser’: Someone Ordered A Dick-O-Gram

American politics in the modern age is an interesting little monster. Politicians surround themselves with underlings who maintain their public image, to free them up for more speech-giving and handshaking. Veep, HBO’s new political comedy from Armando Iannucci, is as much about the V-POTUS Selina Meyer, as it is the team of people working around her, keeping her political vehicle moving. And as we see in the pilot episode, keeping her in line is a 24/7 job.

I was a little worried Veep was going to feel like a high-brow version of Parks and Recreation: we’ve got an intelligent, clumsy female lead in a 2nd-in-command position, similar camera styles, lots of jokes… but Veep does more than enough to establish its own distinctive, non-partisan voice. The best of these is in the interactions between the public relations teams working underneath these political entities: in some ways, their interactions in modern governing are just as important as what Meyers does with the Senate and the House.

Thankfully, the show doesn’t try to shoehorn personalities in with expository dialogue, keeping an immediacy to conversations, imitating the ridiculous fast-paced life of the political machine. In the 30 minutes of the pilot, Selina deals with a number of political minefields: a badly forged birthday card to a dead, rapey Senator; making a retard joke during a public appearance in the place of the President; and finally, her attempts to forward her clean jobs initiative by inadvertently turning utensils into political devices.

Since it’s an HBO comedy, things are bound to be a bit dense early on, but Veep, like most good television, doesn’t exist to hold our hands through story lines, and try to determine who’s good and who’s evil. It’s politics, which means everyone’s alliances to any given issue are anywhere from tenuous to strained at any given moment. Thankfully, Veep isn’t concerned with conservative or liberal ideologies, or exploring them in some kind of thoughtful way: it’s a wonderfully post-modern view of the American political system, where survival far outweighs any allegiance to an ideology or proposal.

With three whirlwind PR disasters occuring almost simultaneously, Veep drops us right into the center of Selina’s inner circle: her chief of staff Amy, loyal underling (and group punching bag) Gary, mustachioed  press secretary Mike, and gate-keeping press secretary Sue.  Lots of dense plot allows for a lot of interactions between these guys, providing character outlines without having to explicitly say things like: “Gary, you’re so loyal it makes my heart warm” or “Amy, don’t let Selina’s career define yourself.” It speaks to the writing that Iannucci is both confident in his abilities to build character without exposition, and in the audience to pick up subtle little moments like Amy’s unsettled feelings or Sue’s overall bad-assery.

It can certainly be funnier, and characters like Jonah, the mouthpiece for the invisible President, are a little bland – although the unspoken fact of his complete power over anyone on the Meyer’s fact is a great aside the show will most certainly visit through its first season. All in all, Veep‘s pilot was a fun, cynical look at politics, a fantastic return to television for Julia Louis-Drefyus (I just pretend The New Adventures of Old Christine never happened).

Grade: B+

Other thoughts:

– when will we meet Selina’s daughter? very interested in seeing that relationship (and hopefully, the president’s kids will also make an appearance to shit on the VP crew at some point)

– the other big plot line seems to be slimy Dan joining the team. His talents were on full display throughout the pilot, but his maneuvers and lack of loyalty make him the Littlefinger of the group, to make comparisons to that other political HBO show.

– “It’s intern season.” Isn’t this a catchphrase over at ESPN?

– Using plastics as a political powerhouse was a great – and possibly quite accurate – little bit of writing. Plastic is so prominent in our culture, we forget how much we spend on it… and that makes them almost like a secret political entity. Fantastic bit of writing.

– So happy this show isn’t trying to be liberal or conservative. It’s so accurate: today’s politicians are more concerned with self-preservation than actually getting anything done for the good of anyone.

– Really liked the different personalities on the staff, toning down Tony Hale and Matt Walsh’s often over-the-top comedy and allowing them to be more humanized versions of the oddballs they always play.

what did you think of Veep? Are you mad I didn’t make a single My Girl reference? We’re throwing Veep into the rotation, so stop by next Monday for a recap of ‘Frozen Yogurt’ (Seinfeld reference?), and feel free to leave your comments below!