VEEP (Seasons 5-7)

So I think I knew that VEEP eventually evolved beyond a show about the first female Vice President of the United States and she would, in one way or another eventually be the actual President, I guess I just didn't know how it was going to end and I will say, the last three seasons of VEEP really don't go any which way you think they're going to go. With very few exceptions, the show continues to shake up the fate of the characters, the premise, and just the stakes to the point that even though the finale kind of came out of nowhere for me (I'll talk about Season 7 in a little bit more in depth later), it built up so well that the ending felt perfectly landed. 

My first review was of the first four seasons of VEEP, this one will conclude my thoughts on the series as a whole giving my honest opinion of what I liked, what I didn't, and why. 

Much of the fourth season was Selina Meyer (played by Julia Louis Dreyfus) adjusting to the role of President while running to legitimize herself as an elected President. Season 5 picks up after the election is a tie and there needs to be a tie breaker vote in the House of Representatives. 

I think the draw of Season 5 is this is where she really starts to take the gloves off. The show is by no means a rosy picture of politics, but Season 5 is where VEEP distinguishes itself as a dark comedy, not just a ridiculous satire. There are a lot of moments that are funny, but ultimately very dark. It's also where things start to go off the rails a little bit, but in a good way. Some unthinkable things start to happen and it's really, really entertaining. 

I will say a theme among all three of these seasons with maybe the exception of Season 7 is the idea that while Seasons 1-4 were largely this cast of characters failing upwards, Seasons 5 and 6 definitely feel like they're just failing. 

Vox did a review of Season 6 where they essentially say its a smaller, meaner version of the previous seasons and I would agree with that. 

Without getting into too many spoilers. Season 6 is all about cementing a legacy but it also just feels a little smaller. With that being said, Season 6 arguably has some of the best performances from Julia Louis Dreyfus and explores some elements of DC politics that aren't as out front. 

There is an episode where she's doing a lot of back door dealing with a Qataris Prince (played by Usman Ally) which is a lot of fun. There are a couple episodes where you dive into Selina's backstory and why she is the way she is. 

I think of the three seasons I'm examining, Season 6 is definitely the weaker of the seasons because it lacks the clearest goal and feels more meandering than the other two. The 

Season 7 on the other hand is where things get realigned and it comes crashing towards a really brutal but hilarious end. 

While Season 6 was probably the season that took me the longest to get through, likely finishing it in two weeks, Season 7 I blew through in two days. 

Everyone is alligned towards the goal of the 2020 (I think) election and while the fast pace of the season might be due to the fact that it has less episodes, it is just a lot of fun. 

Part of the appeal of this show is the applications of these specific character types in a slew of situations. I mentioned in the previous review that Jonah Ryan (played by Timothy Simmons) is easily my favorite character in the show and he only continues to be the horrible person he is, but they expand him more and more as he goes along. The same goes for the other characters. Reid Scott plays Dan Egan and he shows the side of Cable News and how they cover politics. Anna Chlumsky continues to play the uptight campaign manager type who is toxically loyal to Selina despite being being treated horribly. 

A really great element of the show is how nothing is done on accident and everything almost certainly comes back around. Even little details have their impacts and it gets baked in with Arrested Development style in-humor. The show only gets more absurd but in a way that isn't really that absurd in relation to the world of politics. It's a brilliantly smart show and I was laughing in almost every episode, even the ones I didn't really like or remember that well. 

I mentioned this a little bit already, but I think the characters of the show get a little bit old when it feels like they're meandering back into similar situations they've been in in the past. 

At many points in these seasons, they're scattered doing different things, working different jobs in a way to show how incestuous life on the beltway can be, but I think these characters are funnier when they're together. 

My issue is more that these characters are mostly caricatures showing different aspects of the DC life. They're funny, but when they meander into the same scenarios over and over and over again with no change, it does feel a little repetetive. A good example is Selina's daughter Catherine (played by Sarah Sutherland). She's a really funny character and she sort of changes, but there seemed to be a couple of points that should have just cut the ties between Selina and her family and that never really happens. It's only exacerbated by the meandering moments and I think if they had done away with Season 6, or paired it down to be the first half of Season 7, it would have felt just a tad more succinct. 

On a side note, Sam Richardson is a delight in this show because he's one of the only characters who is legitimately a good person and they do his character so much justice that it's hilarious. 

The truth is, any "criticisms" I have of this show are pretty minor considering that it is a hilariously poignant show. There are hopeful shows about politics and then there are dark shows about Politics. If House of Cards is the dark dreary version of the West Wing, then VEEP is the dark dreary, and more popular version of Spin City. 

I do definitely recommend it if you haven't checked it out. For how much it feels like an HBO show, it is an easy watch. One criticism I have of HBO is that their shows, while great in quality, often feel very dense and not easy to watch unless you're totally invested. VEEP manages to be somewhere in between HBO deep and a casual watch. Obviously if you're totally invested you're going to pick up on the in jokes and facial reactions, but you can gather what's going on and really enjoy the wacky ride these truly horrible people are on. 

But those are my thoughts on VEEP (season 5-7). What did you think? What seasons of VEEP do you prefer? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for films and TV shows I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog. 

Thanks for Reading!