Friday, June 1, 2012

What I’m Watching: Veep

Veep: Season 1, Episode 6 “Baseball” (B+)

On any other show, a pregnancy scare wouldn’t have been handled like this. Yet here the first reaction is one of shock, to which Selina responded each time with claims of not being that old, and then an elaborate calendar of lies being spun to make the whole thing seem far less objectionable. Ted didn’t get much of a chance to react to the news, though presumably he’ll be much more featured going forward, no matter how this plays out. Gary telling Selina that she is very, very pregnant emphasized the comic nature of the pregnancy, which is sure to end up being a big nothing but will just as surely incite panic in the Vice President’s office. Selina’s melancholy “Did the president call?” to Sue was perfectly indicative of the miserable situation in which she now finds herself. Smile story is sure to make that worse, especially as the world’s meanest reporter is the one disseminating it, calling her repugnant. Firing someone for smiling was never a good idea, and I have a feeling it’s a problem that won’t be going away anytime soon. Gary’s one-sided phone conversations with his sports-loving disapproving dad were rather pathetic, but no interactions were more awkward than the ones between Jonah and Patrick Fischler’s photographer Ken. Fischler is always so magnificently unlikeable in everything he stars in, and it’s great to see him pop up here as a photographer with no social skills, excellent lip-reading abilities, and a proclivity for touching the Vice President.

No comments: