This is my first time reviewing Veep, and I find myself presented with a quandary. It would be so easy to list the best jokes of “Some New Beginnings” and call it a day (for instance, I laughed way too hard at “It’s a nice day for a Mike wedding”). Few shows, if any, have the machine-gun delivery of Veep‘s cast, or the bitter chemistry between all its characters. It is truly a singular creation, like a hysterical version of House of Cards.
“Some New Beginnings” finds Selina signing copies of her book in Iowa, while the rest of her team attends Mike’s wedding. At first I was wary of the idea of separating Selina from the rest of the cast in the season’s first episode, but for the first twenty minutes or so, tonight’s premiere seemed less interested in narrative momentum than in reacquainting the audience with the cast of characters.
And God, what a cast! Everyone is doing career-best work. Matt Walsh plays an excellent sad sack, but it’s nice to see his Mike McClintock happy for once, and I love the joy that he and his reporter wife Wendy (King of the Hill‘s Kathy Najimy) get out of checking their phones. Tony Hale is magnificent as Gary, and I especially loved the way he immediately assumed the role of Wendy’s assistant when she was on the phone with Selina. Dan and Amy have great competitive chemistry, refreshingly bereft of any tiresome will-they-or-won’t-they undercurrent.
What else can be said about Julia Louis-Dreyfus? Were it not for Seinfeld, this is the role that would define her career. She’s great at both sides of Selina, whether she’s pressing the flesh with potential Iowan caucus voters, or somewhat shamelessly crashing a congressman’s funeral so she can court a campaign manager. But when called upon to deliver a eulogy at said funeral, she brings the house down. It’s great to see her be so good at her job – it’s a win not just for her, but for viewers. As Veep‘s opening credits remind us, Selina was once a presidential hopeful, and speeches like tonight’s are a helpful reminder that she could be a viable candidate again.
Veep‘s third season is off to an incredibly strong start. There’s really no other show like this on the air; it’s not necessarily mean-spirited (unless Jonah is involved), it’s more no-holds-barred. It’s comedy that goes for broke, but it’s also a hell of a satire.
A Few Thoughts
– I love Dan’s assessment of Iowa, “a place that thinks soup is for fags”
– Jonah got fired! I really hope this isn’t the last we see of him. Either way, it’s a ballsy way to open a season
– Of course Mike’s ringtone is “Bad to the Bone”
– Selina’s book is called Some New Beginnings: Our Next American Journey, which means less than nothing
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