“Contention,” the fifth episode of Veep’s fourth season, featured the biggest meltdown in the show’s history as Amy’s frustrations finally reached a boiling point.
The episode starts on the second day of Selina’s party’s national convention. Catherine is practicing her bubbly family-friendly speech, which of course isn’t good enough for Selina and Karen as is. Even the way Catherine says “I love you mom” is up for debate. Poor Catherine can’t even kiss her fiance correctly.
During this, it becomes increasingly clear that Amy is getting more annoyed by Karen’s very existence. She says nothing worthwhile, spewing word vomit that Selina always agrees with. Amy insists that they start going over Selina’s speech, but they keep going over Catherine’s speech.
Later, Teddy tells Doyle about the hacking scandal. Between that and the fact that Selina doesn’t like Doyle finally convinces him that he has to leave the ticket.
Just as that’s happening, Sue comes in with some interesting news. Senator O’Brien, Selina’s chief rival, has picked New Mexico Sen. Laura Montez as his running mate. Selina is pissed, since Montez is “f**kin’ ethnic” and a “Sexy Mexy,” making her decision to run with Doyle look even worse. Who’s going to vote for Steve Martin’s older brother?
Doyle storms into Selina’s room to tell her that he’s off the ticket. Ben comes in and says that Doyle has to come up with a sexy excuse for leaving. Amazingly, without even taking one second to think, Ben brings up Jonah’s story about being fondled by Teddy. Looks like they got more than just a “funny story” out of that. So Doyle has two excuses for leaving: prostate problems (which he really doesn’t have) and an office sex scandal that he didn’t even know about.
Selina’s team is convinced that Danny Chung (Randall Park) - Selina’s main rival in the previous seasons - would be the best possible running mate as her “minority retort.” After consulting his wife and Bible (actually, both are his Bibles), Chung unfortunately declines the offer.
That leaves the whole team stumped. Selina has to have a running mate tomorrow, before the end of the convention. At this point, Amy suggests Senator Tom James. Everyone loves him, plus he’s a wounded war veteran with a disabled son. He’s the best possible choice... but Karen insists that they continue looking into candidates.
The name of Gen. George Maddox (Isiah Whitlock, Jr.) is brought up, so Selina goes over to him, but he declines as well. So the team scrambles to go through all the people Selina vetted back when she previously ran for president. Kent suggests a woman, but Selina shoots that idea down.
Amy again insists that Tom James would be the best person for the job and is continuously ignored. Here’s the one person who has stuck by Selina through the whole series and she is being shut out of the process. She finally explodes, which is exactly what we’ve need all season. Anna Chlumsky gives one of the best performances seen on the show in this moment, tearing into Selina’s incompetency. Her voice trembles as she insists that Selina is the worst thing to happen to this country, especially since she will make it impossible for there to be another woman president.
And Selina just... sits there? Yup. She treats Amy just like everyone else, as if Amy is an alien. True, Amy did insult POTUS to her face, but everything she said was true. You always wonder if Veep exists in an alternate reality where the people in Washington embrace the fact that nothing works. But Chlumsky’s performance here proves that Amy really was the one person the entire time not happy with the way things were being run. She too understood that everyone is incompetent.
After Amy storms out, Selina finally asks Karen what she thinks of Tom James and the answer is just as useless as ever. But it does finally convince Selina to ask Tom.
Tom is played by House’s Hugh Laurie, who arrives like a superstar, ready to save the day. Selina and her team treat him like that, too. He eventually agrees to be her Veep and everyone is suddenly happy. “It is with deep regret,” Tom begins, “that I have to accept!” This joke makes everyone laugh, but when it has to be repeated for Mike, Karen kills it.
While all this is going on at the convention, the PKM lobbying firm is quickly realizing that Dan is useless. The only contact within the White House he has is Jonah, who does come to the office. But when Doyle leaves the ticket, Jonah becomes useless too. Dan thinks that Amy can be another connection, but then she leaves. Oh well, at least the lobbyists won’t reach the president for zucchini support.
During the credits, Ben tells Karen that she’s fired. (YES!) Chung also tells the convention crowd about joining the “hero club” and Tom tells more fantastic stories. Catherine also reveals that she and her fiance are still practicing kissing. The completely inept Congressman Owen Pierce (Paul Fitzgerald) also makes one final appearance with his speech about how much he loves America.
Oh, and yes, the death row guy did die.
You can check out my recap of the previous episode right here.
image courtesy of Jennifer Graylock/INFphoto.com
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