Veep isn’t always about plot, but “East Wing” had a lot of material to get through, as the Selina Meyer and her team struggle to adjust to the presidency. But hey, at least she has been in office longer than William Henry Harrison.
At the center of “East Wing” is Selina’s first visit with another head of state. Of course, it’s the Israeli Prime Minister and the day is set to end with her first state dinner. But first, there is some business to attend to: Families First. Dan, Ben and Kent are still strategizing on how to get the plan to reach the floor. Dan is assigned to meet with members of the House to get them onboard.
The meeting also reveals another sad problem. No one likes Selina’s daughter, Catherine (Sarah Sutherland). Her usual frown is even turned into a meme. Catherine thinks that giving her something useful to do in the White House will help her look better, but Kent has done the polling. Later in the episode, he ends up “firing” her. “America doesn’t like you,” he tells her. Just before the state dinner, she gets her hair done next to her mom, who tries to teach her how to smile.
Also during the meeting, everyone makes fun of a painting with crazy triangles. Gary sees this as an opportunity to prove he is useful, so he gets the White House Social Secretary (Michaela Watkins) to remove the painting. Now suddenly feeling powerful, Gary goes rogue and starts spending like Elton John when he’s fat (so says Ben). He goes completely overboard with the state dinner.
Everything in “East Wing” is spawned during that early meeting. Amy is stuck in traffic because she let her awful assistant Richard (Sam Richardson) drive her. She tries to get in on the meeting via Skype, but it doesn’t quite work. She does learn that Selina has hired a new Director of Communications, who happens to be her rival, Bill (Diedrich Bader).
Dan is stuck with Jonah while meeting members of Congress. They run into Amy, who complains to Dan about how terrible Richard is even though Richard is standing right there. Dan comes up with the brilliant plan of making Richard Jonah’s assistant. Of course, he only did that so Amy will owe him one.
Remember that painting Gary had taken down? Well, it turns out that it was the only piece of art by a Native American in the White House. Now, Native Americans are angry with Selina, even though Mike says the painting is being “cleansed.” Oh, and the press found out about Gary’s spending. Selina is now incensed that the press is focusing on this stuff and not her success. (Why is she still surprised by that?)
Selina confronts Gary in his office and tells him flat-out that he’s unimportant. But Gary finally stands up for himself and proves that he’s her calendar, Google and Wilson the Volleyball. After all, if it wasn’t for Gary, Selina wouldn’t even know her own daughter’s birthday. It’s the moment all Gary fans (there must be some out there, right? Tony Hale does have an Emmy for this role after all...) have been waiting for. Selina realizes this, so they bond over a piece of the “Happy Harrison Day” cake.
During the credits, Mike spots Bill photoshopping out his red-dyed mustache and Catherine is stuck giving out medals to girl scouts. Selina also takes a Native American group around the White House. She shows them a painting, which one member of the group says is called Massacre. Whoops.
You can check out our recap of the previous episode here.
image of Tony Hale courtesy of Peter West/ACE/INFphoto.com