That’s probably why Beltway insiders of both stripes adore it. The show’s greatest triumph is its devastating portrayal of the lobbying, schmoozing and psychological terrorism of the political elite. Much as in Yes, Minister, the status quo will always prevail. Because in the Veep world, nothing ever really works because nothing ever really changes. They’re everything wrong with everything, yet together they work. Worst of all is her gaffe-magnet communications director, Mike, who sees his role as “the last guy in a human centipede”. Her chief of staff, Amy, is “a weird mix of lack of self-worth and narcissism”, and her sometime staffer Dan is a “massive and total shit”. Her crew of political cut-throats, chancers and deadbeats jostle for position, tidying her messes, somehow making everything worse in the process. While she is the centre of the Veep universe, those around her make for compelling viewing, too. It is true she has had a couple of political hobby horses in her time – who could forget the Clean Jobs Commission and the Families First Bill (pretty much everyone) – but overall she’s the kind of politician who doesn’t like to get bogged down in politics. ![]() And that’s you, peanut.” It’s not as if she particularly enjoys the demands of her job (“I feel like that porn star who had to do 200 men in one day”). Maybe it was the time her father told her as a child: “You know, a lot of people don’t like Nixon, but by God they respect him. She calls the US “this cocksuck of a country” and suggests that the door to her office should be “half its height so that people can only approach me on their goddamn motherfucking knees”. It’s not entirely clear what attracted her to politics, but proving her “pathological narcissist” mother wrong was part of it. Not noticeably clever, rarely charming and unencumbered by anything you could call a political philosophy, she nonetheless rises to become leader of the free world. Enduring an avalanche of humiliations and indignities throughout the show’s run, Selina demonstrates a perfect mix of drive, ambition and venal self-preservation to survive the Washington bearpit, despite her gaffes and the limitations of the bozos around her. Selina, who is not a great leader, is neither defined nor taught by failure – she just presses on regardless, eventually stumbling into the presidency itself. Hail to that chief for doing so because that decision powered what, for the past seven years, has consistently been the funniest show on TV.įrom Alexander to Obama, all great leaders must decide whether failure defines them or teaches them. Such a defeat would end a lesser woman, but Selina (played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus) buckles down to jump on the ticket of her opponent as his running mate and take on that most unloved of roles, the vice-presidency. ![]() When we first encountered her, in the series premiere in 2012, she had failed to secure her party’s presidential nomination after casually referring to one of her staffers as a “retard” at a fundraiser. Selina Meyer’s career started with failure and she has been failing spectacularly ever since. A s HBO’s Veep enters its seventh and final season, we should reflect on the maxim that all political careers end in failure.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |