Season 6 of Veep is often considered to be one of the, if not the weakest season of the show. But believe or not, I actually find it to be super underrated and a nice change of pace for the series.
As of the end of Season 5, Selina Meyer's presidency has all but ended, and she is not taking it very well. Unlike the first three seasons, she's not even the Vice President anymore, she's just a normal citizen at this point, completely locked out of any important political decisions. As a result, Season 6 focuses on Selina trying to be a normal citizen again while also trying to create some sort of legacy for herself, specifically by writing a memoir and open a presidential library. While I'm sure a lot of people love the White House shenanigans, I actually really like the change of pace of a season mostly taking place in the "real world". But most of all, I think Season 6 works incredibly well as a character study for Selina Meyer. While plenty of episodes have hinted at a sad and slightly more sympathetic side to Selina, Season 6 really delves into those aspects, with episodes focusing around her family troubles and the cost of her ambition. While Selina is also more bitter than ever before, given the circumstances, I thought it was the easiest to feel for her in Season 6. I praised last season's Mother from toeing the line between Selina's sympathetic and immoral sides, and Season 6 does that for pretty much its entirety.
There's also a bit of a "getting the gang back together" vibe to Season 6, as most of the cast has gone their separate ways only to slowly find themselves having to deal with Selina again. It's another fascinatingly sad look into the cast, and how they seemingly can't stay away from Selina too long without being roped back into her schemes. Season 6 does a lot of heavy-lifting to set up the seventh and final season, most notably by building to Selina deciding to run for president again, and by continuing to strain the cast, this season had me wondering what the final straw for Selina would end up being (a question the series finale would end up answering). Jonah is the only exception here, as he has his own subplot that would lead to him also running for president, which is still such a great idea for a plot point. While Season 6 still lacks those frantic moments of Ianucci's run, I think it's still the best David Mandel season of the bunch. While the political satire doesn't get as much of a focus this time around, Mandel's writing is probably at its least mean-spirited and shocking here, being a lot more grounded instead. And even with Selina out of the White House, some of the best side characters like Richard and Marjorie are not still there, but probably get more screentime than ever before.
Highlights:
Chicklet: This episode is basically Mother: Part 2, as we and Selina learn that her dad was actually the awful person in her family for cheating on her mother, and it's another great moment of sympathy for the otherwise hatable protagonist. The scene where she destroys the family barn is another one of Dreyfus's best acting moments.
Blurb: I really liked the storyline about Selina writing a memoir of her life, and Blurb probably focuses on that more than any other episode. Selina spends the episode trying to think of the juiciest parts of her presidency to use for the book, as we learn she actually had sex with Tom James, and her subsequent attempt to get him into the book turned fight is a great final payoff to all their tension in Seasons 4 and 5. Also, Jonah singlehandedly shuts down the US government. Just priceless.
A Woman First: Season 6's last two episodes continue the trend of these last few seasons having some really grand and satisfying final acts. A Woman First has Selina finally release her book only for an exposé to reveal pretty much everything she's ever done to the world. It's a solidly tense episode that has a surprisingly happy ending where Selina gets credit for freeing Tibet. Also, seeing the awful reviews of A Woman First, First Woman is absolutely hysterical.
Groundbreaking: I've seen people call Groundbreaking a reset button for the season, since Selina sabotages the library and breaks up with her boyfriend Jaffar to start running for president again, but I think that's kind of the point. Selina would never be comfortable or happy living a normal post-presidential life until she's had a full term, and Groundbreaking is yet another episode that shows how Selina's ambition to rise up the political ranks no matter what hurt the people around her. Besides, between Jonah running for president, Amy's pregnancy, and Catherine having her kid, it's not like there aren't any big changes in this finale.
Overall, I really liked Season 6. It's a solid change of pace that delves into the characters a bit more, tones down the mean-spiritness of last season, sets up the final season incredibly effectively, and ends on one of my favorite finales of the show.
4/5 Stars
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