As we head into Season 6 of Veep, we find that for the first time in 6 seasons, Selina Meyer’s is not in political office. How’d we get here? Well, I’m glad you asked…Here’s an overview of that last five seasons as we anxiously await the return of the Emmy-award- winning political comedy.
Who is Selina Meyer?
In the first season and a half, we get to learn all there is about the Veep (Vice-President of the USA). Meyer’s boasts a 20-year political career, and an attempted run for President but faltered and landed the role of VP. Some would say that the role of the VP is the most insignificant role and the writing seems to use this as a driving theme on the show.
Key Moments
We often hear Selina ask Sue Bradshaw, her secretary, “has the President called?” This question finds its way through multiple episodes and forces us to recognize that we never actually see the President (which is to be expected right? It is a show about the Veep!). I’d also argue that this question speaks to her need to be validated and feel important (but we’ll get there).
By the end of Season 2 great news… Selina Meyer’s is now the President of the United States. Congrats!! Well kind of, see, POTUS poor performance among other things forces him to resign and well as we know, Selina is next in line.
The next couple of seasons we find Selina in office working with her team (Amy Brookheimer, Gary Walsh & Dan Egan), to solidify her legacy as the first female President all the while running a campaign to actually be elected President. What’s so great about her character is her fearlessness in her mess. Nothing is ever off limits. And if you’ve seen every episode or hop on the Veep train this Sunday evening, you will notice, trouble seems to follow Selina everywhere she goes!
Selina keeps an interesting team around her but their role is simple: make Madam President feel important, relevant and powerful! No one does this better than Gary, who often times loses himself in admiration for the Veep and celebrates her more than anyone else. While we see her interact with constituents with ease, the true comedy comes behind closed doors, as she spares no demographic, person, ethnicity or topic. We see the team deal with her pregnancy scare (Gary even takes the cup of urine and manually tests each pregnancy stick), a team member masturbating at work (Matt Walsh, for IVF purposes), misogynist congressmen (Roger Furlong & Jonah Ryan), her fear of one-legged veterans, and her true disdain for the role of VP.
The series does a great job following the path to Presidency. Over the next couple of seasons we see Madam President debate prep, work the Iowa caucuses, vie for the ever so important New Hampshire vote, and battle with her running mate (Tom James), only to find herself in the middle of an electoral tie. No worries right? Well, it’s time to be worried…
Where we are now…
Remember that VP she chose as her running mate? Well, Tom James finds himself as the Presidential nominee after the House votes him in as the candidate (which could happen according to our constitution). That means Selina is off the ticket (like she’s not even the Veep at this point, she’s just a President waiting to be moved out of the White House)! In true Veep fashion, the vote goes to the Senate where a tie happens again! In Capitol Hill fashion, Selina makes one last attempt to remain relevant by agreeing to go back to Veep (even though her Communications Director, Matt Walsh, goes on record and says she’d never take that big of a step back) for Tom Jones! But one last vote stands in their way. The vote for the next President of the USA goes to the Senate and it’s a split vote. That means the current VP, Andrew Doyle (Selina’s VP if you’re lost in all the madness) gets to decide the next POTUS, and that he does. To her surprise, he chooses Laura Montez (because she offered him Secretary of State behind closed doors; well they both did but he knew Meyer’s was full of it—ahh the drama of the Hill) and just like that, the Veep is out of office!
We can only imagine what Selina’s future looks like outside of D.C. but one thing is for sure, I’m sure the normal chaos, madness and scandal will follow her. The show premiers April 16th, 2017 and I’ll be waiting to see how she finds her way back to the one thing she know best: politics! Enjoy the official trailer below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DU_VyHcWL4
