Veep has always been a bit of a cartoonish show, much like a live-action political cartoon revealing how incompetent Washington looks to outsiders. But this week’s “B/ill” felt more like a live-action Wile E. Coyote short, in which he constantly fails to catch the Road Runner.
In the most preposterous turn the show has taken yet, Selina and her team decide that the only way to salvage her presidency is by killing her dream Family First Bill. It has become so toxic that its passage would put Selina’s chances of winning a full term in the Oval Office in jeopardy. So, they decide to send the most incompetent people in the White House - Jonah and Richard - to convince Congressmen on the fence to vote yes. The idea is that Jonah and Richard will unwittingly highlight the bad parts of the bill, convincing the Congressmen to vote no.
As a safety net, they also have Gary recruit Amy and Dan to lobby Congressmen to vote against the bill. Gary, of course, accidentally promises to pay them, which is a crime. In typical Veep fashion, this scene takes place in a young kids art class. Seeing Amy’s disgust at the very sight of children is hilarious.
The Congressmen Dan and Amy go to should not be the same as the ones Richard and Jonah go to. But somehow, Congressman Moyes (Tom McGowan) is on the same list. When Dan and Amy show off the same numbers that Richard and Jonah had, he grows suspicious. Is POTUS really trying to kill her own bill and using lobbyists to do it? To screw everything up, Moyes decides to vote yes on the bill.
When Selina, Kent, Ben and Bill catch wind of the Moyes screw-up, they decide to go after idiot Congressman Pierce (Paul Fitzgerald). Dan, Amy, Jonah and Richard get Pierce all confused, but since he thinks he is helping out the President, he votes against the bill. (In exchange, Pierce will become an ambassador in Paris... or Mogadishu.)
While all this is going on, Selina has caught the flu, which makes everything tougher. Everyone has to meet in her bedroom, which is where Tom (Hugh Laurie) finally flies off the handle. He’s disappointed in Ben, particularly and it’s clear that he sees how this “long glass of frozen strawberry f**k-up” will screw up his career.
Thanks to Pierce, Families First is officially killed. Selina, while sounding like an underwater Bob Dylan, tells CNN that she’ll work on a trimmed-down version, but that’s not her top priority. At the end of the episode, we see everyone get sworn in to testify before Congress.
Selina really is the captain of the Titanic “and I carved the iceberg myself.” These scandals keep getting out of control, so the last two episodes will see how she reels them in. After all, the show was renewed, but we don’t know where Selina will end up.
You can check out my recap of last week’s episode right here.
image courtesy of Peter West/ACE/INFphoto.com