The series of Veep arrived on Sunday. In the episode titled “Veep”, presidential candidate Selina Meyer finds herself at a brokered convention in Charlotte, North Carolina with no clear candidate choice in sight. Along the way, she unintentionally finds an issue with which to pander for delegate votes.
Selina, a candidate with no firm opinions of her own, accidentally uses a bathroom at the convention hall designated for males. When she comes out of the bathroom, she is met by applause from some male delegates who think she knows she is breaking the state’s transgender bathroom law.
[Language warning]
Cleaning lady: Oh, Caballeros!
Selina: Caballeros! Do you wanna close the thing?
Ben: Nice try, Amy.
Amy: Ben, we've already got Florida, we've got a butt-load of delegates. Your offer is as appealing as a Sriracha enema. So fuck your offer, and fuck you. It's always good to see Ya.
Amy: You too. I miss you guys. Keith, you havin' fun?
Keith: Yes, thank you.
Selina: Oh, thank you! Oh! I hope I can count on your support. What are they clapping like that for?Keith: Congratulations, ma'am. You just broke North Carolina's transgender bathroom law.
Selina: What?
She embraces her mistake, though, when she thinks it would be to her benefit. The news spreads and Selina’s campaign is thrilled to see her trip to the bathroom being reported on cable news. Then, as Selina’s luck would have it, her story is overshadowed by a Muslim teacher and his van full of explosives found at JFK airport.
With that story leading the news reports, one of Selina’s opponents for the nomination, Jonah Ryan (Timothy Simons) begins his ascent to the top of the list of candidates. Jonah frequently speaks about Muslims in a politically incorrect way and is now emboldened to say that he is right in his concerns about Muslims in America.
As Jonah rises in the delegate count, Selina becomes desperate. She quickly reverses course from basking in the attention for standing up for the transgender community and tries to convince the conservative Governor of North Carolina to endorse her candidacy. She needs North Carolina’s delegate votes. Of her use of that bathroom, he says, “God created men’s rooms and women’s rooms, not everyone rooms. I don’t want to go into a bathroom and be next to a woman who is looking at my genitals.” She promises to outlaw same-sex marriage if she wins the presidential election.
Selina rides out the battle among the candidates and eventually wins the nomination. She also wins re-election. The show closes by moving forward more than 20 years in the future. Selina has died and the country is watching the funeral of the first female president. As her coffin is brought to her final resting place, it is shown to be in the shape of a vagina. How appropriate for her. Selina Meyer is completely unworthy of high office yet she rises to the top because of her gender and dumb luck.
As an ironic twist, the death of actor Tom Hanks bumps Selina’s funeral from the top slot in news coverage. Once again, she is playing second fiddle to bigger news. This is the final season of the show. It was time for it to go.
