Matt Smith reviews the tenth episode of Veep season two…
Christmas is, obviously, the next big event coming up. It’s built up into such a huge spectacle that it invades everything. You can’t escape it. Some say it’s to maximise profits, some say those people should get into the spirit of things. Whatever the truth, as the time piles down to the inevitable date, madness reigns in some places. People fighting for all they can get, trying to turn left and right at the same time so they can get as much as they can.
It’s the same in both politics and this series of Veep. Bringing gifts of good TV into the house has cast Armando Iannucci as Father Christmas in this metaphor that outstayed it’s welcome half a paragraph ago. And in this manic, farcical take on politics, every character is changing direction quicker than it takes to actually register what’s in front of them.
Farces specialise in a few things, one of them being the way everything can change in one moment of immense screwing up. It must be hard being one of the characters in this DC. Jonah has to snap one day.
This week, we see the consequences of previous episodes coming down hard on everyone in DC. The President can’t decide if he’s going to quit amid serious allegations and in fighting. In fact, there’s so much in fighting it’s amazing anything gets done. It’s genuinely worrying how some of the storylines in Veep are realistic to the point of actually happening, making you wonder how much might actually be true when it comes to the behind the scenes at the West Wing. Veep might be better described as a horror, if you were trying to be glib.
Such madness behind the scenes actually makes Selina Meyer seem like a sympathetic figure. Having such power but simultaneously being stuck in the middle must make these people feel empty at times. That must be why Meyer’s continuing her focus to be a future President. What is ahead for Selina, and for her staff? Their fates changed several times in twenty minutes, so it’s difficult to see where they could be come series three.
This series finale does what all good temptations do. It finished off plot lines (and in some cases, characters) while setting up the next series. It was funny, smart and kept to the tone. And it can never be accused of staying focused on one thing for too long, just like it’s main cast of tragic figures. Here’s looking forward to the next series and, part of me strangely wishes, more bad politics to screw everyone’s lives up. I think I truly am feeling the spirit.
Matt Smith – follow me on Twitter.
Originally published December 21, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
