What I’m Watching: Veep

Veep: Season 3, Episode 8 “Debate” (B+)

Who knew that this show was so close to the end of its season, with just two back-to-back episodes left this coming Sunday? I guess a lot has transpired thus far with Selina’s campaign, and this installment launched it in a few important new directions. Firstly, seeing Amy as campaign manager was actually rather uneventful, which means that she was doing a pretty good job keeping things under control since Dan was always ready to explode with his multiple iPads in hand. What I enjoyed most about this episode was having Kent and Ben around to make wisecracks and contribute to the team. I always liked Gary Cole and Kevin Dunn, initially in “The West Wing” and “Samantha Who,” respectively, and I’m glad to see that they’ve become such regular featured players. It was also fun to have a few political guest stars whose remarks were off-color, witty, and overall quite entertaining. Selina’s new haircut was quite a change, and of course only Gary thought that it was a good move while everyone else came up with quips about her look and the puns that people would come up with to make fun of her. The debate was a blast, with some great deadpan performances from all involved and some fantastic commentary from the staffers predicting just what the vet, the coach, and the other guy would say. Forgetting the third “r” could have been disastrous and a repeat of the “Daniwah” incident, but Selina’s repeated use of the word “repel” seemed to work pretty well for her.