Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Veep 6x09 Recap: "A Woman First" (The Lost Diary of Selina Meyer) [Contributor: Erin Allen]

tumblr_ors9yz0Qnc1rfsyaho2_r2_500.gif

“A Woman First”
Original Airdate: June 18, 2017

Did Selina free Tibet or did Tibet free Selina? Her only saving grace in her epic scandal is what Leon accurately described as “a fluke, a success despite an almost pathological level of incompetence.” She negotiated to free Tibet for purely selfish reasons, and now it is finally serving her as intended.

When Leon’s expose came out, I thought there was no way Selina would recover. Jaffar’s suggestion of leaving the country sounded pretty good. Selina was talking to her lawyers, and her staff was discussing the advantages of pleading guilty. Ben says, “I wouldn’t mind a little time in prison, get away from my wife; spend time with guys who get it.” No such luck for Ben, the news of Tibet overshadows all the horrible and sometimes illegal things Selina did while in office. This turnabout will also help the dismal reception of her book, A Woman First, which was ghost-written by Mike, so it needs all the help it can get.

This rollercoaster of an episode was so well done that the doom and gloom of such a catastrophe was silly and funny. Mike goes from being banished from Catherine’s brownstone, to damage control, to gleefully happy that he was an idiot and lost the diary in the first place. Amy narrowly escapes being sacrificed to Leon, and commiserates with a recently demoted Dan. I like Amy and Dan together in this capacity. The quick foray into a romantic possibility was comical, but I think they play best as friends who can relate to each other as well as tease one another relentlessly.

Speaking of Dan, he is content with his CBS digital platform spots until he sees himself on-screen in a taxi. He calls up Ben to tell him that he’ll join him and Kent (who was also recently fired by Jonah) as the Three Meyersketeers. Finally! I’ve waited all season for this. Jonah’s recent successes take a turn as his fiancee dumps him, he loses his financial support, and his uncle takes him off the congressional ballot. News which is not well received as he sits in the hospital recovering from his circumcision.

All of the changes and plot twists kept the episode moving which goes so well with its lightning-quick wit and barrage of one-liners. My favorite going to Selina berating Mike, “Why do you work for me, you stupid mustache?!” And second place to Peter MacNicol’s Uncle Jeff to Jonah, “You made the Hindenburg look like a normal, on-time blimp landing.” I guess I like when the biggest morons on the show get insulted. It was a very tight episode. So tight that it didn’t include President Montez’s reaction to Selina stealing back her Tibet praise. I really wanted to see the president and her team take that blow. She has been one-upping Selina since last season, and it would’ve been satisfying to see her knocked down a peg. Maybe next week in the season finale.

Meanwhile amidst the hubbub, Catherine is put on bed rest for her incompetent cervix. “Why should her cervix be any different from the rest of her?” She is drinking special uteran tea (which Selina accidentally drinks and vomits up) and being neglected by her mother. She is used as a fake emergency for Selina to back out of her Tonight Show commitment, and then has a real emergency about which Selina could not care less. And as a very pleasant surprise, Adam Scott plays the host of The Tonight Show. He bombards Selina with children reading bad reviews of her book as the credits roll.

Stray Observations:
  • Selina’s staff book inclusion stats: Amy is not mentioned until page 134. Gary is on page 93, “As Gary poured my tea, I realized the hostages, blah-blah-blah-blah-blah.” Mike’s name doesn’t come up until page 213. “And I wrote the book.” Kent appears 12 times. Jonah isn’t mentioned once. “I ruined her administration, like, four times. You think that’d count for something.” Richard made it in the book, but “just the dedication.”
  • Jonah’s low office ceiling is all of us.  
  • Does Selina think that Johnny Carson still hosts The Tonight Show?
  • I could watch Selina and Marjorie interact forever and ever.
  • Jaffar is adorable. 
  • “The history books are being rewritten and this time it’s not Texas saying Satan made fossils.” 
  • Peter MacNicol as Uncle Jeff psychotically laughing at Jonah’s plight was a wonder to behold. Truly glorious.
  • ADAM SCOTT, YOU GUYS!

0 comments:

Post a Comment