It’d be tempting to refer to Sunday’s episode of “The Veep” as the one where Allison Janney returns to the West Wing.
But the vice president’s residence isn’t in the White House, it’s on the grounds of the U.S. Naval Observatory. So the guest star turn by Janney, who once played C.J. Cregg on that other D.C. series, only gets that close while playing a high-powered interviewer with a few axes to grind.
Bringing in the esteemed TV journalist who is also considered a lightweight was something Selina Meyer thought was a good idea – a way to burnish her image after the string of recent, or actually never-ending, flubs.
Turns out the interview, described by Dan as “a walk in a park” is actually more like a walk in a minefield, with Janney’s character, playing a shark much in the way Mo Collins plays Joan Callamezzo on “Parks and Recreation,”trying to trap her interviewee.
First, there’s the thing about the American spy among the young people taken hostage in Uzbecistan. Even worse, a breaking story about Selina’s ex bragging that he could provide influence to the vice president, to whom he’s rekindled a sexual relationship.
“He screwed us in all known dimensions,” is how Amy describes it.
There is also good news during the walk through the residence -“It’s like living in a doll’s jail,” Selina describes it — the government shutdown is over. Selina doesn’t know much about it, but is more than happy to take credit for it.
Most devastating is the picture of the Meyer family unit, with college age daughter Catherine so ignored by her parents she has to get Gary to write a cue card to remind them that she’s a vegetarian and told them about it three months ago. (So stop the talk about meat and chicken and no she won’t pretend to eat it just this once for the cameras). Also, her favorite family vacation was one to Disneyland with her nanny.
They start talking about absurd things, like Michael Jackson’s qualities as a parent or solo act, but eventually the episode makes way for a serious moment, when Selina suddenly takes responsibility on behalf of the administration for the whole spy debacle.
And she develops a whole campaign persona before our eyes.
“Sometimes I have to ask, but always I have to listen,” she says. “In politics, backbone and heart are only as good as your ears, and my ears are my livelihood.”
Everybody pauses, they’re so surprised she says something worth hearing. She’s a little surprised too. And by next episode, she hopes to parlay any bump from that rallying moment into a whole presidential campaign. Even so, Dan is still weighing jumping ship.