Veep (Season 3)

In my Season 2 review, I mentioned that Veep really gets good once Selina starts trying to become president, and Season 3 is perfect evidence as to why. This is the best season of Veep yet and the start of what is essentially the series' peak.

Season 3 is about the start of the show's version of the 2016 elections, as Selina tries to run for president against her rival Danny Chung, the Secretary Of Defense George Maddox, and an ex-baseball manager named Joe Thornhill (he doesn't get much screentime, of course). There's just something inherently fun about election storylines, and seeing Selina and the team try (and usually fail) to run campaigns and make good impressions on people is immensely entertaining. While Selina screwing up always had consequences in previous seasons, the fact that she's now in constant danger of tanking her campaign makes her failures all the more impactful and hilarious. I also have to give praise to the phenomenal final stretch of episodes, which includes a debate episode, a primary episode, and what is probably the show's biggest twist involving the current president of the US. Veep has a bunch of moments where I feel the show bumps up in quality, notably Nicknames, Hostages, and DC, and those last few episodes of Season 3 are another one of those moments.

Just like in the previous season, pretty much every character has their own subplot, but there's two in particular that I wanted to bring up in this review. First, there's Jonah, who probably gets his best material in this season. His whole storyline about writing his own blog and eventually news site is absolutely hysterical in how it creates even more chaos for Selina's campaign and pretty much solidifies Jonah as the lamest character in the cast. The other character I wanted to bring up is Richard, who was introduced in the very first episode of this season. Richard is one of my favorite characters in the show, and I think he's a necessary addition to Veep. His naivety, optimism, and bubbly attitude makes him pretty much the only nice character in the whole cast, and as a result everyone else finds him annoying and incompetent and pokes fun at him. His dynamic with Jonah is great, Sam Richardson's line delivery is great, and the way he grows in screentime and as a character throughout the show is fantastic. Hands down one of the best mid-series additions a show could have.

Highlights:

Some New Beginnings: Some New Beginnings was a strong premiere for how it followed up DC and established pretty much everything I liked about Season 3. Richard gets his first appearance, Jonah starts his blog and gets fired, and Maddox and the president both announcing their resignations sets the stage for the season's election plot.

Debate: Debate episodes are always a great time, and this episode managed to both be funny and a huge turning point in the election. Selina having an eye twitch and trying to hide it throughout the debate is a ton of fun, all of the political satire that comes from the candidates' answers during the debate is great, and Maddox possibly destroying his chances was a surprisingly turn of events. 

Crate: Crate has what is probably Veep's biggest and most iconic plot twist, where Selina and Gary learn (in a bathroom) that the president is resigning making the former his successor. The whole sequence where they find out is hysterical, as they laugh, panic, and completely freak out. 

New Hampshire: New Hampshire isn't as strong of a finale as DC, but that's because it's more of a denouement coming off the heels of Crate, meant to shift the dynamics of the show for Selina to take the role of president in Season 4. There are a bunch of great little moments in this episode, like how Selina still loses the primary anyway, and how Jonah loses his reputation on the internet and gets another job at the White House, basically ending the season the same way he started it.

Overall, Season 3 is definitely the best season of Veep yet and an huge improvement on the first two, with more consistent comedy and episode quality, a fantastic election storyline, and the addition of Richard Splett. 

4/5 Stars