Situated where it is, half-way through Veep’s final season, it follows that “South Carolina” would pivot the
show from its familiar first half to the series’ endgame. What’s unexpected is
how dramatic a turn the episode takes. Much of the first half of the season is
wiped away, both characters and plot points, and the shift is jarring. Tom James
is out of the running, Dan is off the campaign, Jonah is off the rails, and Amy
is unrecognizable. Selina conspires with a foreign power to help secure the
nomination of her party, and Keith Quinn is unmasked. This episode does a lot,
and while some of it works well, the simplistic, ripped-from-the-headlines
storytelling it sets up for the show’s final arc is disappointing.
“South Carolina” picks up months after “Pledge.”
Selina’s “Man up” moment has buoyed her campaign, helping her place second in
Iowa and win New Hampshire, while Jonah has managed to come in sixth in his
home state. The beginning of the episode is more or less Veep as usual. Peter MacNicol makes his final season drop-by,
delivering one more deliciously profane Uncle Jeff insult before bowing out. Selina
does her best to sweet-talk an endorsement out of a community leader, and Jonah
and Amy shop around, trying to trade Jonah’s endorsement for a Cabinet position
before suspending his campaign.
The episode shifts when Mike stops by the Meyer campaign to
pass along a message from the Chinese consulate. Connecting the dots—which
there’s no danger of Mike doing—Selina, Ben, and Kent realize President Lu is
offering to interfere in the election, should Selina make certain overtures
toward siding with the Chinese over the disputed sovereignty of a set of
islands. After mostly eschewing direct commentary on recent political history, Veep dives in head first. Seeing how
Selina handles this kind of blatantly illegal overture is interesting; she
certainly reacts differently than she would have a few seasons ago. Inching Selina
towards her worst, most power-hungry instincts while keeping her recognizably
savvy and aware keeps the storyline grounded and Selina still feeling like the
same character, albeit an increasingly grotesque version. Unfortunately, the
episode doesn’t stop with foreign electoral interference and racist dog-leaf
blowers.
After failing to make any headway trading his endorsement
for a future Cabinet position, Jonah gets called into mega-donor Sherman Tanz’s
office. Tanz doesn’t want Jonah to drop out of the campaign; he wants Jonah to
rile up as many fringe voters as possible so that he builds enough of a bloc to
give Tanz some power at the nominating convention, allowing Tanz to shape the
party platform to suit his business interests. Winning was never the point—no
one ever believed Jonah could actually get the nomination. Previous seasons
would have spent at least a moment with Jonah as he reacted to this news,
disappointed and hurt that neither his uncle nor Tanz was honest with him. This
season has different priorities. Instead of including a character beat to
humanize Jonah and earn the pivot that’s about to happen, the episode barrels
ahead, showing a newly spiteful and angry Jonah immediately back on the
campaign trail. He’s positioned as a direct Trump analog, funneling the ire of
his supporters towards his campaign staff and calling them out by name. Jonah
has always been offensive, but his vile remarks have usually been the product
of his ignorance and insecurity, rather than cruelty. With a bit more finesse,
this transformation could work. Instead, this new Jonah feels like a
caricature, a vehicle for political commentary rather than the far more
interesting, but differently terrible, character he has been to this point.
The most dramatic transformation happens in the final
moments of the episode. Amy’s impulsive decision at the end of “Pledge” to
leave Selina’s campaign in favor of Jonah’s felt arbitrary, a move driven much
more by the needs of future episodes than Amy’s personality or recent
experiences. That’s doubled and tripled here, as Amy declares, “God fuck
America” and goes full Kellyanne Conway, embracing Jonah’s destructive rhetoric
and new approach. There’s no attempt to show this as a progression; Amy’s
physicality, vocal inflection, and look all change. She feels like a completely
different character, and after six and a half seasons following Amy
Brookheimer, the prospect of spending Veep’s
final hours with KellyAmy instead is incredibly frustrating.
Veep has always
been one hell of a balancing act, a pitch-black political comedy with a massive
ensemble full of terrible characters who are somehow still dimensional,
interesting, and a hell of a lot of fun to be around. That balance has wavered
so far in season seven, with none of the episodes living up to the
terrific season
premiere. “South Carolina” is a clear statement of intent for the final run
of the series, setting up a race to the bottom. Now that most of the pieces are
in place and Selina, Jonah, and their aides committed, the only question left
is just how dark the writers want to go.
Stray observations
- I may have had problems with parts of this episode, but a
lot works too. Gary wanting to be promoted away from Selina doesn’t track, but
Marjorie as Selina’s bag woman is great. It’s nice to see Keegan-Michael Key
stop by, Jonah and Buddy’s parking garage exchange is delightful, and as
always, everything Richard Splett is golden. - I love the reveal that Keith Quinn is a Paul Manafort-style
diabolical international influence peddler, and cold as ice. This is an
appropriate use of Andy Daly, and I can’t wait to see what they give him next. - Tom James is already out? If this is it for Tom, I would
have rather spent less time with him and more on the time between “Pledge” and “South
Carolina,” getting to know Kemi a bit and fleshing out Amy’s motivation for
switching campaigns. Also, we did not get enough Rhea Seehorn. - I was under the impression that Bill, Teddy, and Amy are all
supposed to be good at their jobs. Shouldn’t they know Jonah doesn’t have a
prayer? Aren’t they just working on his campaign because of the ridiculous
salaries Tanz is paying them? - Matt Walsh nails his “tock” versus “talk” shtick.
- There are a few contenders, but the line/delivery of the
episode has to go to Peter MacNicol’s return as Uncle Jeff: “Shut the fuck up, ‘when
you’re president.’ I’ll jam my fist up my dickhole and pull out a 40-piece set
of Danish cutlery when you’re president.”