Veep - HBO

Just as a note… I mention incredibly light spoilers for the end of Veep, and less light spoilers for Game of Thrones below.

Just finished watching Veep yesterday. I liked it a lot. The middle seasons (3-5) were probably my favorite and have a lot of the same charm that a lot of other ensemble cast shows I’ve loved (The Office, Parks & Rec, etc.) had back in the day.

The beginning of the show took some time to grow on me, I think the humor moving so quickly makes for sort of a mental adjustment, but once you get into the swing of things and sort of understand the pacing the show goes for, the comedy starts to land pretty excellently. And there were a ton of genuine laugh-out-loud moments during my watch-through.

That said, I have some criticisms for sure…

I’ve seen talk online about the final two seasons of Veep being the worst, with many people saying that season 6 was the worst of them all. I disagree. I enjoyed season 6 even though I admit it was very different. In contrast, I actually found season 7 to be pretty disappointing. So much so, that I actually feel like it’s approaching Game of Thrones-ending territory. While the final scene in the show sticks its landing really well, almost everything leading up to it was immeasurably difficult to get through.

Almost every character had been Flanderized to the point of no-return in season 7, and the pacing of the season itself was miserable. What’s more, given th e general tone of the show, the Flanderization logically plays up each character’s extremely negative traits. Season 7 reduces each character to a single trait (sociopathic Selina, big oaf Mike, sex-addict Dan, crazy Amy, fascist(????) Jonah, stupid Richard).

While it was made clear at the outset of the show that the characters were not good people by any stretch of the imagination, earlier seasons always did a good job of making them appear human in spite of their terribleness. Yes, Selina is a raging narcissist and outright terrible person, but the show balanced these moments by showing her, on occasion, reeling from the consequences of her actions and suffering in relatable, yet deserved ways.

In the final season, much like Game of Thrones’ Daenerys, Selina becomes corrupted by her desire for power and throws every last shred of her humanity away in a matter of episodes. While Game of Thrones should have approached this change in character over the course of several seasons, Veep could have gotten away with it in one, it’s just that season 7 was both already shortened and had immense pacing problems. And unfortunately, this same concept more or less applies to every character in the show (I could probably write an entire thesis on how poorly they handled Jonah’s character towards the end).

Obviously, I watched this show outside of the time period it aired, so the cultural and political climate, things that were both immensely informative to the show’s development and writing were divorced from my viewing of it. I know that, at the end of its run, Veep kind of ran into the unexpected insanity Trump’s presidency injected into American politics. In that sense, it’s very understandable that the show felt the need to ramp up in ridiculousness come season 7. I just wish it had done so a little more gradually, and with the depth and nuance that the earlier seasons were so good at.

I would be remiss to mention that I learned the writing team shifted around season 5, which makes complete sense when you stop and think about it. Kind of a shame…

Like many, I’m sure, my favorite character is Richard. As someone who loves Netflix’s I Think You Should Leave, I was delighted when Sam Richardson joined the show. His comedic timing is phenomenal, and Richard’s brand of cluelessness was a much-needed addition to the cast dynamic. That said, I do realize that the show kind of started revolving around him a little too much in later seasons. At first, this was fine… but after some time it became a little tiresome (this was definitely a writing problem and not Sam Richardson’s problem).

I also loved Gary. It kind of felt like the showrunners cast Tony Hale to play the exact same character as Arrested Development’s Buster Bluth, but somehow it works tremendously in the context of Veep. However, to give credit where it’s due, Hale was also able to deliver one of the most gripping dramatic performances of the whole show in season 4’s “East Wing.”

Overall, I liked Veep, but I don’t think I can say I loved it. Had the show ended when season 5 ended, I might feel differently. But the final season and final episode, made me feel almost grimy with how mean-spirited and cynical they were. If you’re curious about it, I think it’s for sure worth a watch, but be warned on that last season.

On a final note: I really do want to emphasize that the final scene of the entire show was pretty expertly done. If anything we can all rest easy knowing that stuck the landing.