Veep 6.07 "Blurb" - Review:
Directed by Morgan Sackett & Written by Ian Maxtone-Graham
This episode was very much an epilogue to the relationship between Selina and Tom, which the show explored to great effect in earlier seasons when they were running as President and Vice President respectively. This all comes down to Selina's book and her desires to publish information about her relationship with Tom in order to drive up sales, and even though she goes to give Tom the heads up about this, Tom objects to this. Of course, Selina being Selina, she's going to publish the details about this anyway regardless of Tom's consent, so Tom goes on CBS This Morning, with Dan for an interview to break the news before Selina's book deal. This damages Selina, hurting her for the revelation, especially as she's in uneven territory with the publishers who threaten to pull back the advance figure that they've given her when she pitches the idea of a trilogy of novels, looking at Selina's early years, followed by her run for President and then culminating in "The Meyer Year". It sounds like something I'd read, but it doesn't look like the publishers are particularly keen on Selina's idea, no matter how much Mike is.
Jonah's storyline continues to be one of the gems of this season and incredibly hilarious as his character bamboozles his way through power. After attending a meeting for converts to Judaism he soon discovers that he has two problems with the religion, not only is the hat too small for his head, but also they don't believe in heaven, meaning that although he can say "Jesus Christ" as often as he wants and not have to worry about not making it, it also means that he won't get to see his dog again. He's not okay with this, so storms out, and is even more annoyed to find out that he apparently is one of the only people who hasn't been invited to Selina's gig that she's throwing with President Montez, who are surprisingly on good terms despite their apparent frosty, competitive nature in the past. Believing that Montez can get him an invite Jonah is incredibly frustrated when things don't go his way, when she passes it off as being Selina's idea so he must consult things with her. Jonah cares more about the principal than actually knowing what the event is, the very fact that he alone has been left out is insulting to him, to such an extent that he calls together the Jeffersons, who are still throwing up ideas of a better name.
Jonah somehow has managed to garner the support of these like minded colleagues who all vote against the wishes of Roger and Kent in a proposed bill, sending shockwaves through Congress. The Jeffersons all one by one to Kent and Roger's surprise, declare no one by one. This means that a potential Government shutdown is in order, and Jonah believes that it it might be for the best given that he believes the Government is so broken it can only be fixed by turning it off and on again. It's really interesting to watch Jonah's growth over this season from a puppet into his own figure, and you have to wonder just how far Jonah will rise in the coming weeks. He's clearly out of his depth but so far, seems to be gaining attention from people who are willing to listen to him. The Government shutdown threat could lead to a fascinating new storyline in the weeks to come, so there are as ever, plenty of options to explore on this show going forward.
Catherine and Marjorie also have a baby problem, and are one again at odds with Selina, who has decided that their relationship isn't juicy enough of a material to write about in her book. They're coming up with names so bad that Gary views as basically child abuse, and plan to wait to find out what gender the child is rather than let Selina know immediately, which is something that she as a grandmother disapproves of. Selina isn't too keen of letting the child decide what gender it wants to be when it's ready, either, despite Marjorie's insistence. Gary naturally supports Selina on this issue.
The meeting between Tom and Selina at the unveiling goes as spectacularly well as anyone could have predicted, with the two quickly descending into a shouting match inside the White House, Selina's old stomping ground. Selina believes that Tom was angry at her for not calling him, and the refreshing direction to avoid painting Tom as a villain is a welcome one that I'm glad the show stuck to here. It's always great having Hugh Laurie around on this show, and the dynamic between the two characters in particular is fantastic as is, so there's no need to shake things up. Throwing Tom back into the picture as well also served as a great way to increase the tension in this episode as well, and as a result, things were a lot more on edge throughout Blurb than any of the previous episodes of Season 6, at least so far.
Blurb itself really proved effective in balancing Selina and Jonah's storylines this week, giving powerful character moments in their respective arcs. They've been the main focus of Season 6 so far and their two storylines have really paid off because of this extended focus, and stories such as Dan's adjustment to his new position in CBS This Morning are best in small doses. I did like the fact that as soon as Jane was removed from her role audiences wanted her back, and that he did actually end up sleeping with Jane's replacement. However despite not actually sleeping together Jane and Dan by the looks of things had more chemistry than the people who were, causing problems for the network if the test audience's reaction was anything to go by. Like most of the storylines this season Dan's maintains as much as an unpredictability about it as Selina's, so next week could take us in some more unexpected directions. But for now at least, the episode had plenty of material to go through, and I know I say this often, but both this show and its sister series, Silicon Valley, have proved really effective at time management, because the episodes always seem to go by really quickly. Does anyone else wish they were longer?
Stay tuned for tonight's episode of Veep at 9:30 on HBO.
