Veep ends with a daring and searingly funny series finale

The Hollywood Reporter

"It's impossible not to use the word 'searing' for Veep, particularly this year, because as the finale proved in multiple ways, there's more than a little bit of anger in the jokes, anger at not just the coarsening of American politics (that's been going on forever), but the venality of it as well," says Tim Goodman. "The finale made clear that was a worthy point to make. In the end Veep decided that the awful aspects of Selina (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), which were her defining characteristics, would need to go that one inch further, moving from the thing about her that made the audience die laughing to the thing that made her truly despicable. Selina was always a terrible person. It's not like there was some Walter White-like Breaking Bad evolution. Veep just decided to be more starkly honest about the toll of her presidential ambitions. It was a very bold decision from writer (and director) David Mandel and company — no doubt, Louis-Dreyfus had to be all-in on the decision — because it wasn't just that it shifted the emphasis from hilariously awful to unacceptably awful when it came to Selina and her craven pursuit of the presidency; it pushed Veep, at several points near the end of the nearly 48-minute episode, into dramatic territory it hadn't trod before. Luckily, Louis-Dreyfus is an actress, not just a fabulous comedic actress, and she sold the shift beautifully, depicting how absolute power in the form of gaining the presidency corrupts absolutely."

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• Veep's series finale was a cautionary tale: "A show that began as an absurdist comedy about Washington weasels run amok ends as a tragedy about a society in which morality no longer seems to matter," says Jen Chaney. "David Mandel, the showrunner who took over Veep in season five after (Armando) Iannucci’s departure, and who wrote this episode, makes it clear that this is not how anyone should strive to be, especially not if one of their goals is to be happy and accomplish something meaningful. On one hand, the Veep finale is a commentary on and reflection of where things stand in American politics. But on another, it’s a pure fantasy. There is no way a woman could do all the things Selina does and be embraced by the public."
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• The series finale was poignant yet unflinching, hilarious and heartbreaking
• Happily, the finale leaned far more on Veep’s established strengths as a work of fiction
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• Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Tony Hale break down that big Selina-Gary moment
• Go behind the scenes of Veep's series finale
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• Veep cements Julia Louis-Dreyfus as one of the greatest performers in TV comedy
• Veep showrunner David Mandel: Selina Meyer "got what she deserved"