It seems only fitting that on the same day that Hillary Clinton announces that she’s running for president, Armando Iannucci's brilliant Veep kicked off its fourth season. Even though Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) has a new job, which could require a new title for the show, it’s clear that Iannucci, his team and his cast have not lost a step between season three and four.
The new season kicks off with Selina’s first speech before a joint session of Congress (hence the episode title). As she shakes hands with politicians before heading down to center stage, she struggles to even hear herself think. When she gets to the lectern, the teleprompter stops working in typical Meyer style.
Iannucci then flashes back to 24 hours prior to the speech. Mike (Matt Walsh) and Dan (Reid Scott) are frantically trying to get the speech together with President Hughes’ old communications director, who is no help at all. “Some content in this speech would be nice. It’s just noise-shaped air,” Dan says. As other new staffers pop in, Mike is called a “lady racist” because he thinks all the young female staffers look the same. Meanwhile, Selina is learning that as President, everything is her fault and Gary (Tony Hale) is also learning that he’s useless.
New Vice President Doyle (Phil Reeves) is also coming to grips with the fact that he now has the powerless job of VPOTUS. Jonah (Timothy Simons) rushes in, revealing that he is still the POTUS’ liaison to the VPOTUS. Sadly, Doyle’s chief of staff Teddy (Patton Oswalt - YES! It’s about time he showed up in this series) doesn’t really like Jonah popping in unannounced. “It takes balls” to be in Washington, Teddy tells Jonah as he literally grabs him by the balls.
Back in the Oval Office, Selina, Dan, Mike, Ben (Kevin Dunn) and Kent (Gary Cole) are discussing how to get Selina’s Families First program into the budget. Unfortunately, something has to be cut and Selina suggests cuts to the military. So, they set up a quick meeting with the Joint Chiefs. At that meeting, the Joint Chiefs reveal that $50 billion is being spent on an outdated submarine program that was started during the Cold War. Selina and her team think they have solved the problem!
Mike and Dan write the speech, including the plan to cut the $50 billion program in order to pass the Families First program to help poor mothers. Selina loves it, and runs into Congress feeling excited.
BUT (and there is always a “but” in Washington), Congressman Furlong (Dan Bakkedahl) and other congressmen run into the room to tell Selina’s team the bad news. If they cut the $50 billion program, thousands of people in their districts will lose their jobs and they won’t support Families First if that comes up for debate. “Live long and f**k off!”
The team scrambles to fix the speech, which is why Selina’s teleprompter suddenly went blank. Hilariously, they upload a first draft into the teleprompter, instead of the new speech. Gary also has Selina’s glasses, so she can’t read the hard copy.
Selina ends up winging it during a long blank space that was supposed to be about the future. This also included a moment of silence for her predecessor (who Ben has to remind everyone is not dead). Sadly, the draft also included President Hughes’ old plans to invest $10 billion more into the submarine program. That really pisses her off.
Why hasn’t Selina fired this team yet? Can Amy (Anna Chlumsky) really convince voters to give Selina a full term? Will Selina find a new use for Gary? Will Sue (Sufe Bradshaw) ever curse again? Did Kent really major in fortune cookies? Where can I go to get a degree in fortune cookies? This will all probably be answered in the rest of season four.
image courtesy of Peter West/ACE/INFphoto.com
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