Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

Veep: The Complete Sixth Season Blu-ray Movie Review

What keeps happening.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 14, 2017

A certain real life female presidential candidate is on a rather ubiquitous book tour as this review is being written, hawking a tome with the intentionally ambiguous title What Happened. It’s probably debatable who would benefit from the other’s advice more strongly, this real life candidate or Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfuss), the once (and perhaps future) President of the United States, since both Selina and the aforementioned candidate have weathered certain slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, some not so coincidentally flung by themselves. Having lost the job she kind of stumbled into inadvertently to begin with, Selina is, perhaps again like that real life candidate, not about to go gently into that good night, and much of the increasingly weirdly named Veep’s sixth season documents her post-office holding travails as she attempts to salvage or at least partially rebuild her damaged reputation while she also tries to come to terms with a series of events which left her battered and bruised and definitely on the outside of an inside the beltway career path. As mentioned in some of the reviews of previous seasons of this series, Veep has strayed fairly far from the the supposed focus of the show, at least as evidenced by its title, but it continues to offer some really strong character based comedy which in fact provides consistent laughs even if some of the characters no longer are in the hallways of power. There’s a somewhat bittersweet, almost melancholic aspect to this sixth season of Veep, and it will be interesting to see where the show goes in its announced final year, which is just beginning to unspool on HBO.

For those wanting to catch up on Veep’s fairly labyrinthine story, reviews of the series’ previous seasons can be accessed by clicking on the following links:

Veep: The Complete First Season Blu- ray review

Veep: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray review

Veep: The Complete Third Season Blu-ray review

Veep: The Complete Fourth Season Blu- ray review

Veep: The Complete Fifth Season Blu-ray review

It’s been a year more or less since Selina’s unceremonious fall from grace (and/or the presidency), and she’s being interviewed on CBS This Morning, a show that gets a good deal of ribbing, at least tangentially, in this season of Veep. Some cagey framing and editing keeps this opening sequence largely focused on Selina, with the ultimate joke being that her interviewer is Dan Egan (Reid Scott). It’s some indication of Veep’s continuing emphasis on “extracurricular” content that some of the funniest material in the early episodes deals with Dan’s attempts to work harmoniously with CBS This Morning’s imperious diva Jane McCabe (a hilarious Margaret Colin).

The opening episodes detail, often in very brief vignettes, what’s up with the rest of Selina’s former crew and other characters who have populated the show for years. Amy Brookheimer (Anna Chlumsky) is working for (and is engaged to) a relentlessly cheerful man named Buddy Calhoun (Matt Oberg) who is running for Governor of Nevada and who is not particularly supportive of Amy’s cutthroat campaign tactics. Jonah Ryan (Timothy Simons) isn’t above using his battle with cancer for his own ambitious aims, and has some skirmishes with Dan (including one on air), though his main goal is to propel his career by finding a suitable spouse. This season’s predilection for even more scabrously politically incorrect material is given one of its first opportunities with a vignette involving Ben Cafferty (Kevin Dunn), who is pitching an idea to Uber and who begins his spiral into insensitivity by citing “Chinaman” in front of several employees of Asian descent, but who then adds insult to injury in a patently laugh out loud series of pronouncements. Mike McClintock (Matt Walsh) is initially seen in Mr. Mom mode, but becomes indispensable to Selina when she discovers she’s spectacularly ill equipped to write a memoir she’s been given a (small) advance for (shades of art imitating life, or vice versa, considering this show's original air dates), and so she “hires” Mike (no pay) to get access to his detailed diary. Finally, there’s lovable schlub Gary Walsh (Tony Hale), still devotedly by Selina’s side taking every brickbat she throws his way, that is when she’s paying attention to him at all.

As much as I’ve enjoyed the last couple of seasons of Veep that I’ve personally reviewed, I had a sense that the show had lost at least some of its original mojo, revisiting plot points and especially character tics that had already been well detailed in prior years. I have to say that as far as Veep has strayed from its inside the beltway emphasis this year, this season is one of the most sharply written in the series’ history, though it is also among the nastiest (in several meanings of that word). With all of these characters thrown into various states of disarray, there’s abundant and fresher feeling comedy that is mined successfully in every episode. It’s especially interesting to see Louis-Dreyfus making Selina a kind of “quasi-Elaine” at times, completely self absorbed, but also at least somewhat more aware of issues that don’t necessarily revolve around her as the center of the universe. The supporting cast is as superb as ever, with some especially funny turns this year by Clea DuVall as Marjorie, Selina’s would be daughter-in-law. Plot points come and go this year, including Selina’s repeatedly frustrated attempts to get a presidential library underway, but it’s the character beats, not necessarily dependent upon larger plot arcs, that drive this season’s comedy and make this one of Veep’s most enjoyable years.

Veep: The Complete Sixth Season Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Veep: The Complete Sixth Season is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of HBO with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This season follows solidly in the footsteps of the pleasing if never "knock your socks off" video quality of the series' previous seasons in high definition. Occasional elements like some of the supposed "broadcasts" from CBS This Morning have a slightly ragged appearance, but generally speaking detail levels remain high throughout all episodes and sharpness and clarity are also excellent. The palette pops nicely without ever being really outrageous, though some elements, like the reds that Selina favors for some of her outfits, are richly suffused and look quite vibrant at times.

Veep: The Complete Sixth Season Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Similarly to the video presentation, Veep: The Complete Sixth Season's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is completely competent without providing a lot of "wow" factor. The tendency for the show to feature crowded environments, frequently offering people talking over each other, provides consistent immersion and good directionality. Some of the scenes in supposed capitol highways also have excellent reverberant qualities which sound environmentally accurate. Fidelity is fine across the board, supporting dialogue, effects and occasional score elements just fine.

Veep: The Complete Sixth Season Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Disc One

• Audio Commentaries

  Ep. 1: With Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Executive Producer/Actress), Reid Scott (Actor), David Mandel (Executive Producer/Director), Lew Morton (Writer)

  
  

  Ep. 3: With Matt Walsh (Actor), Timothy Simons (Actor), Sam Richardson (Actor), David Mandel (Executive Producer), Billy Kimball (Writer)

Disc Two

• Audio Commentaries

  Ep. 6: With Reid Scott (Actor), Matt Walsh (Actor), David Mandel (Executive Producer), Lew Morton (Executive Producer), Steve Hely (Writer)

  
  

  Ep. 7: With Matt Walsh (Actor), Timothy Simons (Actor), Clea DuVall (Actress), David Mandel (Executive Producer), Morgan Sackett (Director)

Veep: The Complete Sixth Season Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

A year ago, I might have given a passing shrug to the announcement that Veep would be ending its run, but after this bracing and often hilarious sixth season, I'm actually a little sad that the show is nearing its demise. For my money this is the strongest season the show has had in at least a couple of years, something that's perhaps a little odd given the fact that so much of the show has parted ways with Washington, D.C. Technical merits are strong if not mind blowing, and Veep: The Complete Sixth Season comes Highly recommended.