Take Three: Veep

Veep: Season 1, Episode 3 “Catherine” (B+)

It’s no surprise that Selina isn’t on excellent terms with her college-age daughter since she’s not capable of catering to her needs without thinking about the political implications or, more importantly, censoring herself. Catherine, who hilariously had a roommate with an Iranian father, seemed quite taken with Dan, and who wouldn’t be, given his miracle working to pick a truly abhorrent candidate for the committee so that the original choice, who was both too Oily and not Oily enough, could be accepted as a compromise. The invented feud with the First Lady (and her daughter FDOTUS) was amusing, but not quite as much as the scrambling to get the name of Hurricane Selina changed so that headlines wouldn’t prove damaging to the vice presidential office when the next natural disaster hit. Selina’s frequent usage of the widow shield was entertaining, as is her frequent taking of fake calls from the president, which some politicians managed to see through and dismiss as clearly fake. The existence of Mike’s known fake dog was terrific, and I like that Selina was most angry since even Gary knew about it, prompting her to demand that Mike adopt the dog she was going to get. Gary’s rattling off of facts, sometimes less relevant or plausible than others, is one of the funniest parts of the show, and I enjoyed that the credits rolled over such a montage in this week’s episodes, since it’s a great way to capture the show’s irreverent nature in just a few short snippets.