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Veep (Season 2)
007b
Country of origin United States
No. of episodes 10
Release
Original network HBO
Originally aired April 14 – June 23, 2013
Season chronology
Season 1 ←
Season 3
Stick a thermometer up Washington's ass. See how much heat I just created.
– Selina

Veep Season 2 was announced in 2012. It premiered on April 14, 2013 and ended on June 23, 2013.

Summary[]

Selina grows more and more bitter with POTUS, while having more authority with foreign policy; the administration goes into crisis mode following a hostage crisis and a government shutdown; Dan continues work with the Veep while looking for other positions; Amy analyses her personal life; Gary gets a girlfriend.

Plot[]

Selina campaigns across the country for various senators and congresspeople for the upcoming midterm elections. However, Selina's efforts are unsuccessful as her party does disastrously. It is revealed that Selina has a 0.9% lead over POTUS when it comes to campaigning. POTUS notices this and gives Selina more to do with foreign policy, starting with a hostage crisis in Uzbekistan. When the hostage crisis ends, it is revealed that a marine lost his leg, for which Selina feels guilty. Selina also learns that Kent Davison, who she despises from POTUS's General Election campaign, is back.

Selina and the staff begin writing a song about House Speaker Jim Marwood, but Kent says to avoid it since their reaching across the aisle for budget talks, so the staff writes a new song making fun of Kent--which inadvertently offends Europe. Kent asks Selina for Mike to be a part of his "Dream-metric team", and in exchange, Selina will get to take over for POTUS on a trip to Helsinki, which ends up being an apology tour on behalf of the song.

Selina conducts budget talks with House Majority Leader Mary King to prevent the Government from shutting down. Meanwhile, news breaks that one of the hostages from the Uzbek crisis was a spy, endangering the lives of the other hostages who weren't spies, and that POTUS knew this. To distract from the spy story, POTUS rejects Selina's budget deals and the Government shuts down, and POTUS blames Selina.

With Selina's image growing more and more toxic, a lot of the staff begins looking for other job offers for a Plan B. Selina does an interview with Janet Ryland, who keeps on insisting if she knew anything about the spy. Jonah later announces that the Government shutdown is over. With the interview doing nothing to rehab Selina's image, Dan tells her to do something bold soon. Selina then reveals that she had knowledge that one of the spies was a hostage and apologizes on behalf of the administration, which boosts her favorability.

Acting off of her newfound favorability, Selina sets a meeting with donors for a possible Presidential run in 6 years. While this is happening, the House Judiciary Committee is discussing an impeachment vote, resulting in the Senate and the House after POTUS. Selina, frustrated with POTUS, reveals to her staff that she isn't going to run again with POTUS in two years, but still plans on running in six. However, POTUS reveals he isn't going to run for re-election, and Selina reveals that she is going to run.

Episodes[]

Picture Title # No. Original airdate
1960 "Midterms" 9 1 April 14, 2013
Selina's party does poorly in the midterm election, though Selina has a successful campaign, which she attempts to leverage into greater influence for herself.
202 "Signals" 10 2 April 21, 2013
Selina attends a North Carolina pig roast in support of the president's "Listen to Rural America" initiative. Dan takes up Pilates.
Detail-2 "Hostages" 11 3 April 28, 2013
When a hostage crisis in Uzbekistan ensues, Selina has conflict with the Secretary of Defense George Maddox during their joint appearance at the Marine Corps Base.
204 "The Vic Allen Dinner" 12 4 May 5, 2013
Selina performs a comic song at the Vic Allen Dinner that seems, at first, to go over well; To placate Gary, Selina has lunch with him and his girlfriend.
205-11 "Helsinki" 13 5 May 12, 2013
Ben and Kent argue over new intelligence, while Mike employs the services of Jonah to help him on a special White House project.
206 "Andrew" 14 6 May 19, 2013
After an unexpected hitch shuts down her budget negotiation with the majority leader, Selina moves the talks to Catherine's 21st birthday bash.
207 "Shutdown" 15 7 June 2, 2013
A damaging story leaks about Selina's ex-husband, Andrew; Danny Chung takes advantage of the shutdown; Gary and Jonah go on a run to retrieve Selina's trash.
208 "First Response" 16 8 June 9, 2013
After being prepped for a "puff piece" interview at the VP residence, Selina is thrown by Janet Ryland's "gotcha" questions.
209 "Running" 17 9 June 16, 2013
The Veep continues her plans. Dan attempts to play both sides of the Selina-Danny Chung rivalry.
210 "D.C." 18 10 June 23, 2013
With the administration in full crisis mode, Selina and her staff try to cope.

Reception[]

The second season received acclaim from critics. It averaged a Metacritic score of 75 out of 100 based on reviews from 10 critics.  On Rotten Tomatoes, it received an 88% approval rating with an average score of 8.4 out of 10 based on 16 reviews. The site's consensus reads, "In Veep's second season, the satire is sharper, the insights are deeper, the tone is more consistent, and the result is a comedy of unexpected heft."  David Hiltbrand of The Philadelphia Inquirer praised the series saying "HBO's Veep is the sharpest Beltway satire the medium has ever seen, mostly because it focuses not on the power wielded by politicians, but on their desperate venality".  Bruce Miller of Sioux City Journal also praised the show, writing: "The show is smart—smarter than most on network television—and it has life."

Gallery[]

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