Veep (Season 7)

After four fantastic seasons of Veep one after the other, Season 7 is a bit of a step down for me. While it has a solid main storyline and brings the series to an earned close, but it leans way too far into the mean-spiritedness and shock value for my tastes. 

Season 7 mainly focuses on the election between Selina and Jonah, which was set up incredibly well in the previous season. It's a great idea for a storyline and whenever the two are butting heads is when Season 7 is at its absolute best. Election storylines are always a fun time and as much as I loved the election in Seasons 3-5, it was nice to see Selina not have the advantage of already being in a presidential role this time. In addition, Season 7 is able to layer on the political satire a lot more than last season did, even if it's a bit more on the nose due to obviously being based on the 2016 election. However, Season 7 is held back a bit by its pacing. It's the first season since the first to not have ten episodes, only seven, and as a result, the season feels a bit rushed at times. Super Tuesday crams in like twenty different plot twists in a single episode and watching it feels like having a full-on panic attack, but directly afterwards we get the penultimate episode Oslo, where not much happens and the major points of plot progression were meant to set up an episode we never ended up getting. 

The truly big problem with Season 7 for me, though, is how incredibly mean-spirited it is. I criticized Season 5 for having some mean-spirited elements, but Season 7 of Veep is one of the most cruel seasons of a sitcom (It's Always Sunny doesn't count) I've ever seen. Some of the mean-spirited moments are based around awful actions that Selina did, like her drone strike in Oslo or annuling gay marriage in the finale. Don't get me wrong, these moments are hard to watch, but they at least feel earned and make sense. On the other hand, there are plenty of moments where it feels like the characters suffer just to suffer, in completely over-the-top ways. The best example of this issue is in the episode Super Tuesday, where Selina's ex Andrew dies. How does he die? Selina tells someone to "take care" of Andrew so he blows him up on his yacht. This is not normal, this isn't grounded, and it's not that funny either, it's just meant to shock the audience. Also, in the same exact episode, Jonah learns his wife is his half-sister and that he's committing incest. Once again, this isn't funny, it's just cruel. 

Highlights:

Veep: However, as much as I will complain about Season 7, one thing it absolutely nailed was the finale. Veep is what the entire series was building up to, the perfect destination for Selina's character arc. Selina finally became president, but she lost all of her morals and alienated all of her family and friends to get there, even Gary. She walked back on the one good thing she managed to accomplish, ruined her relationship with Catherine, and ended up not being remembered at all. Also, Richard became the best president in US history which is just the best and funniest payoff ever.

Overall, Season 7 is easily one of Veep's weakest seasons, with rushed pacing and an overwhelmingly mean-spirited tone. Thankfully, the strong series finale is enough to make up for the otherwise rough final season.

2/5 Stars

My ranking of the Veep seasons is:

4 > 3 > 6 > 5 > 2 > 7 > 1

My ranking of the Veep finales is:

7 > 4 > 6 > 2 > 3 > 5 > 1

Favorite Episode: Kissing Your Sister